Page 109 of Anarchy Missing

We all walk slowly towards the edge of the building, eyes desperate to keep track of the speck that begins to fade with the light as it gets farther and farther away.

“Oh, my God,” Molly says.

The rest of us glance at her, then realize she’s looking down. At the streets below.

There are hundreds of people sprawled out on the sidewalks, the street. Draped over bus stop benches and each other.

“They’re stunned,” Thomas says, voice shaking. “Just stunned, like everyone else. They’re gonna be OK,” he says. “They’re gonna be OK,” he repeats.

But he can’t possibly know that. And nothing down there looks stunned. They all look dead.

Even the woman I saw earlier, waiting for the City Alert System to tell her what was happening. What to do. How to stay safe.

Well, she’s not safe now.

And neither is the small bundle in her arms that I know is her baby.

Just then someone gets up. And then someone else.

“See,” Thomas says, like he’s still trying to convince himself things are fine. “I told you they’d be OK.”

More people stand up. Some just sit there, still kinda stunned. But a few are on their feet.

They begin walking towards each other.

We watch, trying to figure out what’s happening as their strides get longer and longer until they’re in a full-on run and then they clash together. Like titans.

Everyone is getting up now. They don’t just riot this time.

They attack like they have been given the gift of hate and violence.

Like they have been programmed to kill each other.