2064, August 6, Richard Mackerson State Prison transport bus, currently a normal day.

Mal sat in the power coated steal divider on the 5 tow of seats, the officer at the front brandished an 12 gauge shotgun to keep the passengers from acting up. of course with the shatterproof glass and reinforced steel walls, there wasn’t much worry of escape. The shotgun was just a precaution in the end.

Mal sat patiently, today was the day of their prison transfer to Miller Shade Maximum Security Penitentiary. Mal stayed calm, they had been in prison for 16 years already, and had already gotten used to it. Mal rather liked prison; free housing, free food, free Medicare, free clothing, etc.

To them, prison was much easier than everyday life, no bills to pay, no jobs to manage, no deadlines, no (more of this list) and so on. They had seen others cry and beg in prison before, it confused them, why would they cry about free stuff? That’s crazy.

Right on queue, Mal’s thoughts were interrupted by an older man silently sobbing to them self. ‘Strange fellow’ mal thought to themself. Mal looked outside the small reinforced window to their left, and saw destruction.

like the blast wave of an nuclear weapon a translucent slightly opaque blue wave of energy tore through the ground and into the bus. Cars, pedestrians, street signs alike were thrown from the impact, including the transport bus mal was in, sending it crashing off the overpass.

metal bent and shatterproof windows betrayed their name, as the bus tried to Imitate a paper airplane, and time seemed to stay still for a second before impacting the ground below snapping Mal’s neck.

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Mal sat in the transport bus, serenaded by the older man crying for some reason, mal blinked twice and felt their neck, still feeling phantom pains from their broken neck. Wait, broken neck? Mal’s neck wasn’t broken, that never happened, right?

the miniature clock finally ticked in Mal’s head, and they frantically looked out the window to see the blue wave of destruction, speeding towards the bus. Mal attempted to brace for impact, but was too late as the wave “drop kicked” the bus, and sent it tumbling off the overpass, Mal’s neck once again breaking.

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Mal sat in the bus, accompanied by the crying man— wait… oh shit, mal immediately tensed up, putting their head to the head rest, back straight against the seat to brace for the crash.

the display caused the man to stop crying, and give mal a weird look before noticing the window, and freaking out before being cut off by the wave slide tackling the bus with malicious intent.

the bus once again swan dived from the overpass, sailing down and getting a 7.5 from the imaginary judge. Mal’s neck however, didn’t break, instead leaving them winded.

after regaining their breath, mal turned to look at the once-crying man to see a body with a neck bending too far back instead. Mal then peeked over their seat to see the shotgun officer doing yoga bent in different angles, dead, the shotgun broken beyond use from the impact.

seeing as they were the only person left standing in the bus, mal stepped over the ex-crying man’s corpse, and made their way to the broken cop, ignoring the ocasional raspy plea for help from the other seats, and searched the cop for anything useful.

finding the pistol’s slide at a diagonal angle and the magazine permanently stuck into the gun, mal sighed as they put it aside and continued searching. With all the equipment unusable, mal decided to relinquish the cop of her belt, figuring it might be useful for carrying stuff, then took the officer’s hat, thinking it looked dapper.

But, as mal stood up from the crumpled cop, a message appeared before their eyes.

PUBLIC MESSAGE FROM 000-A TO All

the time has come, the collapse starts today. UNLESS SOMEONE IS TO BREAK THE GATE WITHIN 17 YEARS, ALL OF HUMANITY WILL DIE. Time time begins with this message, travel forward, followers of the path, and perceiver through the trials to come. Be weary that all lidiemos aren’t created equally, a lesson that will soon be learned. Venture onward, the end of every path leads to the gate, we will watching you. And we shall wait.

Mal swiped at the message, their hand going through it. after getting bored of that, mal decided to reread the message and mull over it.

after going over the message, mal came to a conclusion. It seems they go back in time when they die, they can still feel it though. if the gate isn’t broken in 17 years everyone would die, that includes them. If they die because of this, they would go back in time only to die again, and again, and again, and so on. If they break the gate, this doesn’t happen. They need to break the gate.

Walking to the broken opening in the bus, mal stepped forward, message disappearing as they did. Putting the police cap on their head, they stepped out of the bus and into the chaos, they had a gate to break, whatever that meant, but first they should get out of here.

and so they did, using the ongoing chaos as a smoke screen mal, fled the scene, and began towards their destiny.