A flashing sign caught the escaped test subject’s eye. The words, “New Resident? We’ll Help You Get Settled!” glittered hypnotically above a set of glassy double doors. Eva peeked at the well-furnished lobby visible beyond the entrance. She was a brand-new resident of this city. Maybe the people in there would help her. Maybe they could tell her more about the stranger who’d rescued her...

Acting on pure impulse, Eva walked in.

“Hello, miss.” A woman smiled at Eva from behind a desk. Her expression was pleasant, but her eyes were wide and agitated, as if Eva’s appearance alarmed her. Eva studied the woman, amazed by her glossy purple hair. She’d never seen such vibrant hair before, only the various drab browns and blacks and grays of the researchers’.

“Hello,” the woman tried again. Her smile became a bit strained. Eva blinked, waiting, then realized that she needed to respond.

“Hello.” Eva repeated the greeting awkwardly, tentatively waving. Her social skills were a bit rusty. The researchers hadn’t exactly been the most friendly of people. They’d mainly ordered her around, or talked about her as if she wasn’t in the room with them.

“Can I help you?” the woman asked. “You look a bit lost.”

Eva frowned for a moment, drifting off into her memories. Yes, she was lost. A lost mind, a lost soul, a lost childhood. Her hand digitized, and she quickly jolted back to reality.

“I’m sorry, I must be seeing things,” the woman muttered, rubbing her eyes. “It almost… your hand… never mind.”

“Um, I’m…” Eva licked her lips, finding it difficult to speak all of a sudden. Her chest seemed to be constricting. “I’m looking for somebody.”

“Oh!” The woman’s smile snapped back into place, and she pulled out a paper-thin device, something Eva had often seen the researchers carrying back in the facility. “Well, we have a list of city residents right here! If you could just tell me the name of this person—”

“I, uh, don’t know his name,” Eva frowned.

“Oh.” The woman’s smile became brittle. “Well, if you could describe his face for me—”

“I never saw his face,” Eva shook her head, panic rising in her core.

The woman seemed flabbergasted. “Well then, how on Earth am I supposed to—”

Eva quickly interrupted. “I could give you a description of what I did see!” she said. “This person, he was dressed in black, he had… uh… this symbol on his clothes, it looked sort of like a triangle with two dots inside it, and…”

“What?” The woman’s eyebrows shot up. She seemed especially flustered now. Eva’s hand digitized again, and a pixel collided with the desk, fizzling momentarily against the wood.

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “Who are you, and why are you looking for the Shadow Virus?”

“The what?” Eva asked.

“The Shadow Virus,” the woman frowned, hurriedly typing on her screen. She tilted the device so that Eva could see what she had pulled up—a detailed sketch of a masked man dressed in black. Eva spotted that distinctive symbol on his clothes, bright silver against the shadowy darkness of his collarbone, and wondered what it was meant to symbolize.

“That’s him!” Eva said excitedly, another pixel shooting from her hand. “Do you know who he is, or where I might be able to—”

“You aren’t from around here, are you?” The woman’s face was frosty, now. “Nobody goes looking for the Shadow Virus. He’s been terrorizing our city for years.”

“What?” Eva gasped. “But… but he helped me. He rescued me from the researchers...” She frowned. “Why do you call him the Shadow Virus? What does that mean?”

“From my understanding, the ‘Virus’ part is because he invaded our city, and now he spreads chaos like an infection. Rumor has it, he can make electronics go haywire just by looking at them,” the woman said darkly, voice dropping to a spooky whisper. “The ‘Shadow’ part, you can probably guess. No one’s been able to catch him. He’s very dangerous. If he really did ‘rescue’ you from somewhere, then you should get out of my sight before I call the police.” 

Eva was alarmed by this sudden change in the woman’s demeanor. This “Shadow Virus” person sounded like bad news. But he had saved Eva. If he was really such a terrible person, then why did he help her?

One thing was for certain. He definitely sounded like he had been subjected to the Cyber Initiative, just like Eva. Destroying technology with a mere glance? That was definitely not a normal human ability. In fact, Eva thought it was an ability only she possessed.

Questions swam through Eva’s mind, and she left the building feeling even more disoriented. Who was this Shadow Virus, and why had he saved her? Where could she find him? If other Initiative victims existed, then where were they? Would she ever be able to track them down?

Eva was lost in thought, wandering down the street with no direction. A trail of pixels undulated behind her, streaming from her calves. Her lower legs began to feel numb. Her digitized body was acting up again.

The overwhelmed young woman didn’t notice the trio of dark figures trailing after her, whispering among themselves about her blatant pixelation. She didn’t notice one of them signaling to the others, a silent command.

Suddenly, Eva was surrounded. A blast of electricity connected with her chest, and she fell backward, uncontrollably twitching and jerking.

What a warm welcome to the outside world.