#rotpp

RISE OF THE P-PODS

  The frantic screams from the crowd haunt me to this day. The day when everything changed. The day when they rose. 

  It seemed like any other day, nothing to really make it different than any other. I woke up and went through the same motions I did everyday. Shower, breakfast, teeth, coffee, and out the door. The hustle and bustle of New York City never stopped, and I was just another one of the millions of unremarkable people caught in the constant never ending rush that ran through the city. 

  I turned the corner and headed towards times square. As I approached there seemed to be a huge crowd of people in front of the Apple Store. I weaved through the crowd and didn't make anything of it. I opened the thick glass door that led into the large lobby of my office building. It was grand and modern, the floors made of glossy polished marble and red wood walls decorated with lavish paintings. It felt too classy and inviting to be the place that gave me great stress, low self esteem, and a severe case of anxiety. Its like a mask for the place that I called hell, but hey, thats New York for you.

  I took the elevator up to the 30th floor and walked up to my cubicle and sat down. I flipped on the small radio next to my computer and put my earbuds in. The news was buzzing about Apple's new device that was to be revealed in 5 minutes. That explains the crowd. I began to work on my report, half listening to the buzz on the radio, and quickly the 5 minutes passed and the unveiling was about to go down. The storefront windows opened and there was the new device, a shape shifting music playing companion robot. They called it the iShift. But the great buzz was soon to end, and hell was about to break loose.

  Little did they know that the robots were hacked by someone. The hacker had a sadistic sense of humor too because they made all the robots shift into the shape of penises. As soon as they were unveiled, the code launched but what the hacker didn't know was that the code he sent out had mutated. The penis-pods formed propellers and flew through the windows of the store, sending shards of glass into the crowd. The first reaction was panic and even from the 30th floor amidst the pecking of keyboards and phones ringing, we all heard the shrill screams of the frenzied crowd below. The radio exploded with the noise of hundreds of people screaming and cut off leaving a wave of static to fill the channel. My other co-workers and I moved to the windows to investigate the scene below. Thousands upon thousands of penises flew out of the the store and took to the sky, spreading around Times Square like a gigantic flock of birds as hundreds of people scurried away from the store. The penises flew in all directions, zipping through the streets in a systematic coverage. They didn't automatically show signs of murderous intentions, but they quickly showed.

  The gaggle of co-workers beside me gasped in horror and we all backed away from the window in disbelief. It was funny but that feeling was greatly overshadowed with fear. The pPods locked onto us and a storm of them suddenly began to ram at the windows of our building to gain access. THUMP THUNK THWUMP TINK THWAK THUMP.

  The noise was unbearable, and started to take its toll on the windows. Little cracks formed and grew with each hit. The whole room ran away from the windows in search for cover. I sprinted to a locked Janitor's supply closet and jiggled the handle frantically. I looked around quickly and saw a janitors cart parked alone the hallway. I ran over and fumbled through the contents searching for the keys. I found a ring full of keys hanging from the cart handle and ran back to the closet and anxiously tried each key.

   Time was running out fast, and I could see the cracks in the window becoming larger. Instead of hearing the thumps, it was replaced with cracking noises. The rattle of a key sliding into the lock caught my attention and I jerked the key to the side, unlocking the door with a click. I slid through the door and locked it, falling to the floor and crawling to the back corner.