No Way Out - A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words - 1/17/2022

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• What I see
  A person (looks to be male to me based on the physicality of his clenched fists) hidden under a hoodie, grasping tightly on a syringe and needle.

• What I feel
  A sense of desperation and helplessness. It seems that the person is feeling conflicted or lost. However, the way the light shines down in an otherwise grey and dull colored picture seems to indicate that there might be a ray of hope somewhere - if only the person could lift up his hoodie and see it.

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Gasping for breath as he stopped for a breather, he looked furtively over his shoulder. Even though he had been on the run for hours with no indication that anyone was on to him yet, he still did not feel safe at all.

"Gotta relax and look normal," he thought to himself. Taking in a deep breath, he tried to calm down as he pulled up his hoodie and mingled in with the crowd. He wouldn't stand out at all, especially with everyone in their jackets and umbrellas open under the gloomy skies and persistent rain.

He looked up and sighed. The weather perfectly reflected the world at large now, or rather, what was left of it. Dark clouds flashing with lightning dominated the skies with nary a stream of sunlight breaking through. He couldn't even remember what a world with blue skies and sunlight looked like anymore. The time where everyone took sunshine for granted, or cursed under their breaths at the hot sweltering weather, now seemed like a distant memory.

The entirety of what was left of the human race now resided inside the aptly named Megapolis - a city the size of New York City located in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Massive mega structures surrounded by fortress walls that reached into the skies housed nearly a billion people. The scarcity of resources and the density of humans living together made for a tense environment in which it was "every man for himself", having to scrape and hustle just to survive from day to day.

For an elite few though, the top ranks of those who ran Mega Corp - the only company and business entity allowed to run in Megapolis, life still went on like normal at the top of the mega structures which pierced past the clouds and where the sun still shone. Fresh produce and livestock were still being reared up in the gardens in the sky, as was the availability of fresh water converted via a special filtration system which took moisture from the air. The elites were living a life of luxury, while the masses below survived on recycled waste. Despite all this, Mega Corp controlled everything and ruled humanity with an iron fist.

Outside those massive walls, stood the rest of humanity - 9 billion of them, or at least, 9 billion of what were once human beings. They were now little more than a ravenous horde of flesh eating zombies, struggling to break their way into the last bastion of the human race. Relentlessly milling about outside the entire expanse of the walls, the groaning sound of 9 billion zombies lead to a constant droning sound that permeated into the very essence of the survivors. A warning that they were trapped in with no way to escape, with no hope of reclaiming what had been lost.

The hooded man was suddenly startled when he heard yelling and the sound of boots in the distance. He breathed another sigh of relief as he saw that the security forces arresting some random person. They weren't on to him yet. He still had some time to make his mission a success.

Gripping the package he was holding even closer and tighter to his chest, he hurriedly continued on his way. He was holding the contents of what could free humanity from the control of Mega Corp. A single vial of a self replicating anti virus that would spread among the undead horde outside, breaking down their immortal bodies into dust. It would allow humanity to reclaim Earth and would, of course, also end the stranglehold of power held by Mega Corp.

The evil and greedy suits of the Corporation had all along held the secrets to ending the disaster which had spread and destroyed nearly all of humanity, but they had rather seen the massive death and destruction of the human race than to lose the chance to seize power for themselves.

He wondered if the plague could have possibly been started by Mega Corp themselves all those years ago. He wouldn't put it past them to release a toxin which poisoned the atmosphere and turned 90% of the human population into the living dead. No matter, he now held the literal key to unlocking humanity from their prison. All he needed to do was to get it out.

Loud sirens blared throughout Megapolis as holographic images of a man were suddenly flashed across every screen - from mobile devices to TVs and billboards. A wave of panic set into him as he saw his face being screened across the entire city. They had finally discovered what they had lost. The hunt was now on in earnest. The small window of opportunity for him to save humanity had just gotten even smaller.

He had to hurry. The entire plan now lay precariously on a razor's edge.

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