Chapter 1: Internal Conduction

DANIEL STONE LURCHED despondently down the street with a beercan in his hand, sometime after 2 AM.

The city sounds washed over his foggy brain like the well-used blanket they were - an occasional horn from the nearby harbor; fire trucks grunting in the distance; cop cars whining and whooping nearby.

Twenty six years of age and the proud owner of a successful Internet Cafe business, he now looked more like an escaped criminal more than anything else. Watching his friends and co-workers get married, have children and lead happy, fulfilling lives over the years had not gone down too well with him.

He sighed, leaned against a post and stared randomly at passersby. Looking up he could see - barely - the full moon intersected by some overhead powerlines. A jet thundered past in the middle distance, lights winking merrily in the polluted sky. I wonder where they're off to? he thought. Some tropical paradise no doubt.

He was feeling lonely. Single and unattached, Daniel knew he had a long, long way to go. His entry into the world of hitech business had not left much room for a social life; on most days he spent the daylight hours sat behind a desk reading financial reports with his partner, who himself had already been married for six years. He even ate most meals there, only allowing enough time for a coffee in the morning before leaving for work.

Daniel downed the remainder of the beer, crumpled up the can and tried to throw it into a nearby trashcan. He missed. Looking at the piles of assorted rubbish in the vicinity, he decided against retrieving it and putting it...

Something wasn't right. He looked across the road, where a young couple were waiting to cross the road, hand in hand. The man pulled her closer and whispered something in her ear, causing her to visibly recoil with an expression of disgust her face.

Looking up and down the street, he could see that the evening rush traffic was over, down to the occasional car with large gaps of emptiness between them.

Those sirens are getting louder, he thought. Must be closer than I imagined.

He looked back across the street in time to see the woman attempt to retreat from the man's grip, a look of misery on her face as he started to pull her across the street in his direction. Marriage problems probably, he thought.

Suddenly there was an ear-piercing shriek to the left down the street, sounding like a family of pigs being disemboweled with a blunt pitchfork accompanied with a staccato hissing noise and a throaty roar. Whirling around, he saw a bottled water delivery truck come careening around the corner, its wheels spinning and leaving melted rubber on the road, and start heading in his general direction. Immediately behind it three police cars came charging out of three separate side streets, evidently giving chase to the truck.

Looking back, Daniel saw the couple stood there in the middle of the road, frozen in the truck's lights like deer on the highway.

Jesus, they're gonna get hit!

It was a good thing he was inebriated, otherwise he probably would have come to his senses and would not have done what he did next.

Daniel sprang - no, lurched - across the road, and dove at the couple, impacting heavily with the girl and wrenching her free from the man's grip who turned with a look of shocked anger at the jolt - a look that rapidly turned to horror when he looked back at the truck.

Then he vanished.

The truck crunched heavily into him, dragging him beneath as the driver swerved desperately to keep control. Wheels spinning, the truck span around leaving a red and black streak across the tarmac then flipped over onto its side and smashed into the post Daniel had been leaning against earlier. Bottles split open, water gushed all over the ground drenching both Daniel and the girl.

All was silent in the vicinity apart from the approaching police cars. Clinking noises came from the wrecked truck as hot metal came into contact with the cold water.

A moment of lucidity stung Daniel out of the numb shock he was in, allowing him to tear his eyes away from the carnage and look up. The post the truck had hit was leaning over dangerously, tottering on the brink of collapse - and visibly stretching the frail powerlines overhead. A dull cracking noise signaled a continuation of his nightmare - the post was collapsing.