Wet Dreams

The rain has not stopped since the machines took control, the day blends with the night everything dark and dreary. Time passes in a blur nothing making sense. Things changed so fast. A normal start to any week with the sun rising, birds chirping as the smell of coffee brewing fills the air. Loud noises echo throughout the building bouncing off empty work stations just powering up to earn that almighty dollar. My title is, Sam from Human Resources. Arriving early I start the coffee ensure their is a fresh variety of juices and bagels available for all employees. Supplying these items is not funded through the company, I pay for these items out of my own pocket. A happy alert energetic employee ensures a great performance. In my fifteen years working here five days a week going through the tasks of my daily routines, I have never heard anything like that. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Goose bumps begin to appear up and down my arms. My mind coaxes me to walk towards the direction of the noises but my body is frozen on the spot. Standing their trying to convince my body to co-operate shadows begin moving in the distance passing through the rays of the sun peeking through the shades of the buildings windows. Frozen, silent as if in a trance I cannot move. Screams vibrate in my head. But I cannot figure out where the screams are coming from. Looking around I notice reflections of silver glinting in the sun just ahead of me. They appear to be getting closer. Suddenly there is a loud humming sound, it is so loud it is bouncing off the walls. My mind cannot seem to accept what my eyes are seeing. The large older style photocopier that seems to run as if by magic never breaking down or glitching that is usually sitting in a cozy corner in the company staff room seems to be not only operating on its own accord but moving slowly towards me. I begin to question my sanity, perhaps I am hallucinating. Unclear how long I stood there silent frozen voices began filling the room. As the employees make their way into the building snaking their way to their work stations they seem oblivious to what is going on. Or at least that is how it seems. The loud exchange of words grows silent as all eyes turn to me. That is when I realize the screaming that has been vibrating inside my head was coming from me. I barely see them as if they are transparent. All I can see is that Older style photocopier slowly moving towards me as if gliding. As others follow my line of site seeing what I see there is a clicking noise now coming from my right the coffee maker is now spurting hot coffee towards the employees like tiny steaming liquid bullets. People begin ducking, shouting for others to follow suit. Finally my body complies joining the others I take shelter. People are shouting from behind me. Turning I find they are pinned down. The bosses industrial paper shredder is dangerously close to reaching them. I am having difficulty recalling how we managed to get out of the building. My memories from that day are vague. Looking back I now realize it was the first day the machines took over. Since then the streets are empty aside from the occasional person attempting to make a run for supplies hoping not to be discovered. How it all began was as a result of a new program developed by a highly intelligent tech student at our local community college. All by accident he created a virus of some sort that started it all. Nothing the greatest minds have tried has worked to delete or find a fix. As time went on people stopped fighting the machines. They just vacated most of the larger cities, moving towards mountains or finding areas when travelling people called dead zones. The machines glitched or even failed to work in the mountains I believe it has to do with the elevation. Many people have set up shelter in caves to stay dry and get out of the rain. much of the lower flat lands are flooded. The dead zones were the safest. Often being located near ditches that were created as a result of nearby farm lands to aid with water run off to avoid over saturating their crops. Communication is limited to in person, meaning we have no way of knowing if our situation is an isolated one or if the whole world has been affected. I assume the virus by now has made its way further than just our city. I have not met anyone traveling from further away than a few hours. The creator of this virus cannot be found he seems to have vanished. Rumors have spread that he is hunkered down trying to find a solution. Its been a year now since everything started. About six months in Scientists even tried setting off electro magnetic pulses hoping to disable the machines to no avail. Many have resorted to bicycles for transportation. A few weeks ago I met a couple with a horse and buggy. They found the buggy in the natural history museum. I would not be surprised if that becomes the new normal as a form of transportation. Motorized vehicles are not safe. They began travelling off bridges trapping their occupants inside. Some even drove into road barriers. the army set up attempting to keep the machines within the city unware that there was no stopping them. I still have nightmares from the first few months the machines took over. Some are so vivid. I can still hear the howls of the dogs in the shelter as the automatic food dispenser began eating them. Several people including me ran to free them but it was too late. The scene was horrific. Bits of teeth and fur covered their kennels the ground soaked red with their blood. Animals not yet devoured huddled in corners trying to escape. We could not save them. So many people have starved struggling to manage. We as people have grown to rely on machines for everything we do. Many not knowing any other way to do things. Those that spent much of their time preparing for the world to end. The survivalists, Their knowledge was fundamental in helping people manage our new normal. From building fires even in wet conditions, to knowing what plants are safe to eat or which can be used for medicinal purposes. They became sought out for information. Money no longer held value. Instead Survival information was purchased using tools for farming or building as well as non perishable food items. As I laid on my make shift bed in my tiny shelter exhausted wondering what new surprises the next day held I closed my eyes. Only to wake what only felt like several hours later feeling as if I was laying in a puddle of water. My body and hair soaking wet, I opened my eyes confused. Looking around I found myself in my big comfortable queen size bed sunk into my pillow top mattress covered in my king size mink blanket with vibrant purple and blue colors reflecting in the sun light streaming in through my bedroom window. Confused I sat up Looking around my room. My body covered in sweat. At first I thought I was dreaming of my old life before the machines tool over until my alarm clock on my bed side table began beeping loudly alerting me to wake. It was the start of a new work week. Time to shower and head into the office where I held the title as Human Resources and have held that title for the last fifteen years. I was dreaming more like having a nightmare. From my kitchen in my apartment I can hear my coffee maker come to life the smell of morning coffee filling my apartment. For a moment I panicked until I remembered I automatically programmed the coffee maker. At least I think I did.....