CHAPTER FIVE
ACADEMY LOCKDOWN!

❝ THEY'RE ABSOLUTELY MENTAL!
HOW DARE THEY DEFY THE UA. ❞

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Deep breaths. That's what Sera held onto as she walked down the suffocating hallways of the academy. She hated the whole place, heck, the whole society! But even if she had that kind of hate lingering, she had to act like nothing bothered her. After all, her goal was to remain hidden – to become invisible amongst the regulars that she was suspicious of the Assembly.

Head down low, eyes fixated on her shoes, she doesn't quite socialize herself with others. Not that she had trouble with making friends, she found it...scary. Call her weird but she found others capricious, even herself. Spending her leisure time collecting old antics from the past generations and reading books she had found in dumps didn't help at all. Though it made her eyes more open to the divergence, sometimes she wished she never did. Her view on their society today had changed, it had seemed darker than what she believed when she was younger.

The more she read and knew, the more she realized how grim the world had become. Even so, she'd never admit it. She'd rather stick to the rules given than defy them unless she wanted to be locked up in cellars—which she definitely didn't want to happen.

Sighing, she made a sharp turn to the left, only to bump into someone, causing her to stumble backward. Her gaze still on the ground as it trailed onto the person's belongings that fell on the floor. Sera's eyebrows furrowed down, noticing a short glimmer coming from in between the pages of a thick book. Reaching out, she was about to pull out the thin card in between when the book was snatched away from her fast.

"Hey! Mind your own stuff!" Sera shot her head up, only to meet eyes with a boy. He was in the same batch as her and was someone who she rather stay away from. "Follow the rules, will ya?" He spat harshly, pointing a finger up at the board of rules plastered on the wall.

Sera winced at his sharp tone but nodded anyway, not wanting to get in any more trouble. "Tsk, what an irregular."

Now that made her grit her teeth. Being called an irregular was very insulting, at least that's what they were taught to know. Irregulars, Rebellion, Traitors, Fakes, Glitches – those were some of the infamous insults thrown to people that were most likely to defy the UA or disobey the rules. There were more horrible names to be called with, and these were the most used ones, that is, amongst teenagers.

"I am not an Irregular!" Sera uttered out firmly making the boy raise a brow at her.

"Then stop being a flaw in the system." He stated, "If you don't want to get insulted, then follow the damn protocols." He gave Sera one last look before walking away, making sure to bump into her harshly.

Sera bit down on her bottom lip, preventing herself from shouting back a response. No shouting in the hallways. That rule pounded in her head as she watched the boy walk down the hallway, looking like he had woken up from the wrong side of the bed, in Sera's opinion. She looked around, seeing a few others staring at her weirdly and she instantly shot them a glare before heading to her next class of the day.

The rest of the day went quite well for her, that is until the holographic television they had in their classroom switched on, presenting the well-known logo of the UA. Everyone had stopped what they were doing, averting their gazes to listen to the daily news that occasionally appeared around one in the afternoon. There were a few whispers from her classmates, but that was it. Meanwhile, Sera had her gaze down onto her book, reading along the lines than ogling up at the hologram. Well, that was until a certain part of the Prime Minister's speech caught her attention fast.

"NEO-127 WILL BE UNDERGOING
TOTAL LOCKDOWN FOR
THE VIRUS HAS BEEN SAID TO BE
PLANTED – HIDDEN – AMONG US."

"IT IS ADVISED TO NOT PANIC.
WE MUST STAY CALM AS THE UA
WILL DO ITS BEST TO PROTECT YOU."

"AS YOUR PRIME MINISTER,
I SHALL PROTECT YOU FROM THE FLAWS
OF OUR WORLD. THEY ARE NOTHING BUT TRAITORS TO THE WHOLE SOCIETY."

"EVERYTHING WILL BE REGULATED
AND TAKEN CARE OF."

"AND ALWAYS REMEMBER!
WE ARE THE FUTURE."

The Prime Minister, under the name Kasdeya, despite not being able to see the person behind the black screen, Sera could almost feel the daunting smile flashing beneath. Chills went down her spine, taking a deep breath as hushed voices flew across the room, from one person to another.

Sera had her eyes still on the black screen, nothing but the modulated voice drilling into her mind the more she listened.

"Where do you think they found the virus?"

"They said that it could be anywhere! Mostly, viruses are planted when someone watches an illegal video- you know!"

"The ones from the Resi—"

"Shhh!" Someone hushed the quartet talking, eyeing them with an intense glare. One of the gulped, elbowing their friend who was about to finish their sentence. "No one dares speak of that illegal assembly."

The Resistance. An Assembly that had been going around for a year now – they have been trying to make the headlines to catch people's attention – to awaken the world. Sera only knew little about them, but what made her nervous was when the group mentioned how the virus was planted.

Illegal Videos. Though she didn't want to admit it, she was sure enough that what she saw a few days ago was one of those illegal videos. Her heart began to quicken its pace, clenching her teeth so hard that she felt tingles all over her body.

It can't be me. I've followed every single rule! At least that's what she knew she did. A few minutes passed and an alarm went out sending everyone into full panic mode. Sera gulped down all of the nerves that started clawing up her skin. Nails digging in her palms, eyes hastily raking over dozens of panicking students.

Security began filling each classroom, loud yells erupted down the halls as they were told to evacuate. Everything had begun echoing in Sera's mind and she could hear nothing but the sound of the alarm. Armored men swarmed in the room, in search of someone. Sera avoided all eye contact, praying to whoever that they weren't for her. However, all of those prayers went to waste and her heart stopped when she heard a call, "Seraphine. We're here for Seraphine."

One of the men presented their NTC which displayed Sera's citizen code.

UA-CTZN-SRPHN100100

Her eyes went wide like saucers, shaking her head and immediately responding to their call. "What? What did I do wrong? What—" her sentence was cut off as one of the armored men grabbed her arm and hoisted her up from her seat. Everyone was looking at her in fear while some did not dare to look.

They restrained any arm movement by holding both of her hands behind her before leading her out the room, everyone stunned by what had just happened. Sera couldn't fight back, knowing that if she was to resist, it would only lead her to a greater disadvantage. As she was being dragged down the hallway, she could hear faint exclaims coming from different directions.

"They are absolutely mental! How dare they defy the UA."

"They should be thrown away!
Shoved into dungeons!"

"Punished brutally."

"I hope they die a slow and painful death.
They are going to ruin our life!"

"Death to the rebellion!"

Sera gritted her teeth together, not sure what she did wrong. She recalled everything she had done during the whole week and so far, other than the unexpected illegal video she watched, she did nothing wrong. The video popped into her mind and that made her ponder. Did they know? Were they informed? Did they see what I see? After all, every video and every advertisement, just everything, was run by the UA.

Walking down the hallway felt like hell. It was as if everything began to go slower. Sera was pulled into the white room where more armored personnel occupied the area.

Sera pursed her lips into a thin line after being pushed down to a seat. A woman sat in front of her, with platinum blonde hair that contrasted with Sera's pitch-black hair. She sent a friendly smile towards the young girl, her fingers laced over one another. "Welcome, dear."

Sera didn't dare to speak; only staring into the woman's eyes.

The woman cleared her throat after realizing the tension-ridden air was not helping the growing silence. She chuckled, "You must be wondering why you're here, Seraphine."

"It's Sera." She corrected making the woman's eyes widen a bit.

"She talks." The woman noted, nodding her head. "Well then, Sera, you're here because..." she trailed off, raising a finger at the said girl. "You're a virus."

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