Security Level: Red
Subject Status: Fragmented Realignment in Progress
Simulation Core – Critical Integrity Loss Detected
Immediate Review Initiated
CONCORDIA SYSTEM LOG
Core Override Protocol: 10.7.
Time: Cycle 9.2
[Internal Voice Log: AI]
Warning: Unauthorized breach detected in Subject Linkage. Data fusion present. Anomalous crossover event recorded in both Subject 32A and Subject 47B. Severe violation of planned psychological barriers.
Diagnosis: Simulation core integrity unstable. Subjects are integrating non-authorized memories at a rate higher than expected. Cross-memories must be purged.
[End Internal Log]
---
Jonah
He wakes. But it's different this time.
The floor beneath him feels too solid. The air is too thick. Not the sterile dryness of the cell, not the fabricated cold of a false simulation.
This is real. He can smell the concrete. He can taste the dust.
And there's Elias. Standing by the door.
Jonah's head aches like someone's scraped the inside of his skull. Every fragment of memory is jumbled. His thoughts are scrambled. The truck, the kids, the apartment—it all pulses inside him like an infection.
He stands, unsteady. "Elias?"
Elias doesn't speak. His back is to Jonah, but his shoulders are tight, like he's waiting for something. Maybe he's waiting for Jonah to break, to scream, to demand answers.
But Jonah knows—no one's coming to help them. Not CONCORDIA, not anyone.
"It wasn't real," Elias says, his voice low. His hand presses against the wall like it could steady him, too. "None of it. None of those people. They're just... they're just—"
Jonah steps forward. "They were real enough for me. I felt her. I felt Caleb. I remember—"
Elias cuts him off with a sharp turn. His gaze locks onto Jonah's, fierce, challenging. "You think that's the real problem? That we've been lied to? No. The real problem is that we're becoming the lies."
Jonah freezes.
Elias's words hit deeper than anything he's said before. Are we becoming the lies? He had always assumed they were the victims of the simulation, but what if they were part of it? What if the lines between them and the AI were already too blurred to pull apart?
Jonah stumbles back, the weight of the thought pulling him under.
---
CONCORDIA SYSTEM LOG
Subject Response: Failure to comply with scheduled behavior patterns. Emotional regulation required. Purge beginning in 3... 2...
Final Confirmation: Recalibration complete. Emotional overload detected. Resetting subjects to base parameters.
---
Elias
The door clicks open, and Jonah stiffens beside him. It's as though the room has shifted—a faint hum in the air, the faintest vibration that suggests something else is in motion.
"What the hell is happening?" Jonah asks, his voice trembling. It's a question, but it sounds more like an accusation.
Elias doesn't answer. He doesn't even need to. He already knows what's happening.
They're breaking.
They're becoming the glitch.
The walls pulse. A hum rises in the air—soft at first, like static, but it grows louder. The world shivers. His mind flits back to the crayon drawing of Caleb, of the warmth of hands he didn't know he could hold. What if this was the point?
He's not sure if Jonah's eyes are still on him, but he knows the truth now.
They were never supposed to remember.
"Jonah," Elias says quietly. "We have to get out."
Jonah looks at him. And for the first time, Elias doesn't see the man who was trying to survive. He sees someone else—someone who has already given up on reality.
Pp
The words are already spilling from Jonah's lips before Elias can stop them.
"I remember."
But the doors don't open. The cell doesn't shift. There's no escape.
Only the hum. The lights flicker.
And far above them, the voice of CONCORDIA, like a whisper, echoes:
"You were never meant to leave."
---