Algorithmic Division

Kelly put her device face down on the beaten and frayed barista table. The table wavered on its bent legs. One leg had been propped up by a piece of broken plaster, placed in order to maintain some semblance of a level surface as it tried to perform its supportive role just a little longer. The small table, like the rest of the dingy establishment, and the few people in it, were survivors of the never ending civil war that had become so common place in the world now.

Okay, stay cool. Think this through. She thought to herself. You can handle this, just think of a good response and change the subject. He’ll let it go, this isn’t that hard to pass off. She had come here to meet her friend, Sherry, for a quick coffee before heading to work. The two of them did this a couple of times a week ever since they met last year after the most recent attack from the leftist bombs. She had set up some semblance of a good life here over the past year, and everything was going smoothly. But now this text. Just breath.

Sherry came through the door with an excited air about her. She probably had some new story about someone, or some couple, at the church or at her work, maybe even a drama in the quasi-government that now lead the people. Gossip was Sherry's greatest passion, and today it was written all over her very being. Kelly supposed that it helped her ignore the state of the world. Hell, it helped Kelly. A little drama to help distract from the suffering and the hate that abounded throughout the world. She loved these meetings with her gossipy friend, it made her feel real. It made her forget her own life-threatening skeletons.

Sherry came directly to the table. “That broadcast, right?” She quietly exclaimed, eyes wide with joy.

“Broadcast?” Kelly responded, trying to force herself to focus on the conversation with her friend. She was having trouble getting into it this time, the impact of that text was growing. She was suppressing panic.

“What? You’re joking right? Tell me you’re joking? The hackers that spammed everything last night with their psycho message?”

“Umm?” Kelly had no idea what was going on.

“Were you under a rock last night? Oh my god, I can’t believe you didn’t see it! You’re serious aren’t you?”

“Well, I don’t know, I kinda checked out last night and read a bit and went to bed.” That was her every night, Kelly avoided media most of the time. It didn’t agree with her. She preferred to read what books she could get her hands on, saved from the improvised toilets. Toilet paper was near extinct now, only the essentials made it through the supply chain, and even then there was never enough food, water, or warm clothing.

“Um…okay, I’ll recap I guess.” She looked over her shoulder at the owner of the establishment. “Can I get a cup, Hank? Thanks.”

Hank brought her over a cup of his finest rusty drip, jerry rigged, expired grind, coffee. Kelly wondered how these two would react if they found out.

“Thanks, Hank and blessings to you and your family.”

“Same to you and yours, Sherry. God bless, dear.” The proud older man said as he walked back to his counter and his device, where he would spend his time doom scrolling while tending to his cherished brew.

Sherry sipped her bitter coffee. “So, a bunch of hackers took over everything last, night. And I mean everything. All social media, music, streaming, everything. They took it over and broadcast their weird message.”

“When? Everything, even Dotify?” Kelly asked, a little intrigued now.

“Around eight last night, and yes even Dotify. Lit-er-all-y ev-er-y-thing!” She emphasized with a wave of her hand.

“What did they want?”

“That’s the thing, nothing really. Well I guess something, they wanted to tell everyone the ‘Truth’.” Sherry air quoted ‘truth’.

“Soo...” Kelly was fully engaged, her worries were side-railed, but the anxiety still lingered under the surface, however Sherry was too engrossed to notice.

“Well, they said that these civil wars that are happening literally everywhere now, were caused by the big tech companies.” She gave Kelly a smirk and continued. “They said, that the social media and search engine companies all sold us what we wanted to hear based off of some algorithm and that they flooded our feeds, and search results, with crap. They said that we were essentially told what we wanted to hear, whether it was true or not. We would be fed stuff based off of our salary, location, political beliefs. The list goes on. Essentially, if you fit a number, your entire feed was tailored to that number.”

“Wow.” Kelly was trying to put this together, it didn’t make any sense.

“Right? They were trying to tell us that the whole reason we are at war with the leftists is because we let the media companies mess with our minds” She took a sip. “And do you wanna know why they said the companies did it?”

“It was the Secret Societies, right?” Kelly naturally assumed. Totally missing the implications this had on her own situation.

“Nope. Money. They said it was simply because of money. That’s when I knew it was leftist propaganda. Damned Commies. They almost had me. But of course, they had to show their hand, idiots.” Another sip.

“What would money even have to do with anything like that, something like that could only be organized by the Masons or even the Illuminati. How stupid do they think we are?” Kelly knew she wouldn’t have to worry so much about her secret if she were with the lefts. But she would never even entertain the thought of defecting to those brainwashed baby killing terrorists, she would never work for their devil worshiping secret elite. No matter how much she suffered, she would never stoop to that level, even though her sins were already going to send her to hell.

“Well, they tried to say that the corporations were just selling our info to advertisers. Something about the more excited we were to scroll, the more advertising we saw, and the more money they made.”

Kelly cocked her eyebrow, “Sure, hackers. I see you. Socialists.” She shook her head and they shared a laugh. “So, then what happened?”

“Well, the Paladins of the Word are saying they’ve caught some of the hackers already, executed them on site, of course. See,” she unlocked her device, which opened on the image of a man and a woman lying on the ground with exit wounds blossoming out of their foreheads. Kelly wondered what the Paladins would do to her if they found out. From what she had heard, it wouldn’t just be a simple bullet, they would take their rage and disgust out on her first. “…But they’re still looking for a couple of them. And the Word! The Word is pissed. Saying that now is the time we need to be the most vigilant, keep an eye out for Satanists, Muslims, Gays, yada yada. You know, The usual suspects. It was all so wild. Everyone has been loosing their minds about it, but of course you were sleeping.” She teased her friend. Another sip.

“I can’t believe I missed all of that.”

“Right.” Sherry said before she finished the coffee in her small, chipped mug. “I’ve got to get going, things are going to be busy at work, hacks always spin things up.” Sherry, like Kelly, worked at one of the telecom companies. The only real institutions that were left over from all the fighting. “you let me know if you get any more dirt, and I’ll do the same. See you at study?”

“Um, yeah, I’ll be there. Take care and Bless you.”

“Bless you, catch you later. And try not to sleep through any more breaking news events.” She said over her shoulder with a smile as she left, hurrying off to work.

Kelly sat there staring at her overturned device, unconscious of her hand fidgeting with her Grandmothers locket. Her Grandmother was the only one who had known the full story. They were close, and she could forgive Kelly anything, and did. The heart shaped locket was an heirloom and given in symbolic gesture of that forgiveness. The locket contained a photo of Kelly’s Great aunt, who no one ever talked about. But her Grandmother died, along with the rest of Kelly’s family when the first bombs started to fall. Most of what she had known had been destroyed in those first days. It was then that she decided to leave the past behind, she left and took on a new identity. Her name was Kelly from that point forward. Originally, she found it difficult, but when someone found out about her past, she would just uproot, move to another town, and start over again, but that was before the Paladin ministry. Luckily, she got better at hiding, thanks to the odd person that would ignore the political movement in exchange for food, and sometimes, other services. She knew things were worse for her now. She knew that the next time there would be no escape, the Word and the Paladins would find her and bring her to their justice. She almost wanted it though, no more hiding, no more fear. She’d be tortured and executed and most likely go straight to hell, which was her biggest worry. She would’ve bailed long ago if it weren’t for fear of Satan and the eternal hell fire. She had been secretly hoping for a chance at redemption, she finally realized. A chance at the forgiveness her Grandmother had extended to her. But that was hopeless. Now she received that text from her boss. ‘The new guy Bobby says he went to high-school with you” Bobby had just come in last week, and she thought he looked familiar. He had also paused in a weird way when they were introduced. She should have seen this coming. She needed to come up with something to deflect this. Something fast.

Her device dinged.

She reached out a trembling hand, resolved to do something. Hopefully, it wasn’t from him.

She unlocked it.

There, neatly below, his last text was an image of a high-school year book. The pic focused on an awkward young man with her smile, eyes, face. His name was Sabastian. It was captioned “IS THAT YOU?”

Her breath caught. She tried to think of an answer fast. Her brother. Wow, I didn’t know I looked like a boy! How dare you! That’s so weird! What could she say. This Bobby guy, he knows. I have almost nothing from before the wars, and this guy is just here carrying around a yearbook. How was that even possible. The writing message dots appeared.

“ARE YOU A GODDAMNED TR**NY” Too late. They would be coming now.

She got up, leaving her phone on the table so that they couldn’t track her any further. Panicking now, her heart pounding, she needed to run even though it was hopeless. She glanced at Hank, who was buried in his device, and ran to the door. She rushed out of the café directly into a group of black clad men who had red crosses painted on their chests and cruel smiles across their lips. A detachment of Paladins. They were so quick. Her boss must have used the “Rat App” and the Word must have tracked her device, and the Paladins are never far. She tried to bolt past them, but their gripping fists were too quick and she was caught. She gasped at the pain in her arms as they wrenched behind her. They threw on a black hood, and violently forced her into a black panel van. Gone.