Eva smoothed down her colorless hair and took a nervous breath, feeling a digitized fluttering in her chest. A few pixels darted from her fingertips as she took in the overwhelming scene before her – a wide city full of sparkling glass skyscrapers, teeming with people. Everywhere she looked, she found a seemingly infinite stream of other people, talking, laughing, walking, crowding together in heaps… She inhaled deeply, suddenly queasy. The sun beat down on her fair skin, sending beads of sweat dribbling down her face. There were just so many people, so many colors, so much space… An impending panic attack seemed to be clawing its way through Eva’s torso, trying to reach her heart.

She was not used to all this noise and color, this glaring sun. She was used to solitude. She was used to her small white room in the research facility, where she had spent most of her youth.

Her eyes found a sign: “Welcome to City 75505.” She had never even heard of City 75505. Then again, she had been confined to the same building for most of her life, and the researchers she’d had for company never told her a thing about the outside world. 

Unless, of course, the information was relevant to one of those dubious “field tests” she’d never wanted to be a part of…

Briefly, Eva pixelated, freezing up for a moment as her skin went digital. Sometimes, strong emotions induced her little “glitch.” Hatred, revulsion, fear… She felt all of those emotions at once, crashing together in her chest, whenever she thought about her old life.

It had only been a few hours since a mysterious stranger rescued her from the facility and told her to seek out the “other Digitized.” Eva had no idea what he’d meant. Did he mean that there were others like her? How was that possible? Eva had gained her “powers” from a secret experiment. She didn’t know much about it, only that her body had somehow been converted into digital information and transported into cyberspace. Had other people been sent there, too? She wondered briefly whether the stranger who had rescued her was “Digitized.” Though it was selfish, Eva hoped so.

She still had so many questions for that man, whoever he was. She wanted to see him again.

She was fairly certain that he had expected her to search through this city to “find the other Digitized.” But every time she tried to set foot in this colorful, loud, busy place, her head began to pound, and she pixelated quite painfully.

Eva stopped trying for a moment and closed her eyes, attempting to calm her fearful mind with a breathing exercise the researchers had taught her. There is nothing overwhelming about this many people in one place, she told herself. Nothing at all. She would not freeze up again. She would enter the city. The mysterious stranger had darted into its cavernous, crowded depths like it was nothing. Eva knew that in order track him down, she’d have to do the same.

“Alright,” she told herself. “You can do this.”

She took one step forward, then another. A strange pain erupted in her skull, and her body flickered, shuddering into light and code.

“No!” she gritted her teeth, forcing herself onward. She hated those researchers for experimenting on her without considering the risks. She was so glad to have finally escaped them. She wouldn’t let her fears of the unknown keep her from living the life she could have had — should have had, if not for her “little error.” Eva took another few steps, passing by the “Welcome to City 75505” sign. She was officially within the city limits. Eva smiled, face pixelating briefly, then began walking at a steady pace. She suddenly felt quite confident. She inhaled the fresh air, smelling the electricity in all the buildings, sensing the vibrations of technology all around her. This place could definitely be a home for her, she decided.

She glanced around at the towering skyscrapers, many of which were buried beneath a dizzying array of glowing signs and advertisements. She had no idea where she was, or where she was supposed to go. She frowned. Why had her mysterious rescuer abandoned her at the outskirts? Did he not realize that she would have no clue what to do next? He hadn’t told her anything, other than to find those mysterious “other Digitized.” But how was she supposed to figure out how to find them, if she knew nothing about them?

Distressed, Eva pixelated again. A nearby pedestrian did a double take. He whispered to his friend as they passed by the young woman, making her feel self-conscious. She suddenly realized just how out-of-place she looked in this city, with her pallid skin and color-drained hair, dressed in her tight lab uniform. Why hadn’t the mysterious stranger given her any inconspicuous clothing, or even a bit of useful advice, before he’d disappeared?

Anxiety coursed through her veins. She was alone out here, in this wilderness of strangers. She really needed to find him.