Chapter 3: Insufficient Information

My forehead was resting against a hard and round object. Control surged through my veins as my conscious assumed the reigns of my body. ‘Huh.’ I mentally remarked. Consequently, my knee was pressured by a hard, flat surface. It took me a couple of seconds to recover from the brain fog to put two and two together.

I realized I was bent over myself, and my forehead has come to rest against the round of my knees. The position I found myself in was less than favorable. I dreaded the stiffness set into my back. I don’t know how long I have been in that position.

Slowly raising myself, I winced as each link of my spine righted itself back. The arduous process continued for a solid minute. I finally relaxed when my back settled into the comfortable cushion of the chair. Arching my spine over the nook of the chair forced a soft moan from my throat

I opened my eyelids with an audible sigh. Blurry pastel green walls appeared across my vision. A bright LED display flickering in front of me pricked my tender eyes.

I blinked slowly. Focusing on the scene before me, I steadily made out the TV set. I slowly realized that I was still in the living room.

My hands drooped by my sides limply. With a sharp inhale, I brought them up and rested them over my lap. The fatigued muscle groaned at the sudden movement.

I released a puff of breath, willing my body to stand up.

With wobbly legs, I stood up. My hands automatically wandered to my pants pockets before fishing out my smartphone. The grey pants I wore ruffled as I pinched the cell out.

The stock OS lock screen flashed to life. My eyes widened involuntarily at the time displayed on the glowing screen.

3:04 A.M. Considering I don’t remember when I slept, I seem to be bordering on delinquency.

Glancing over to the TV, I noticed the OTT platform’s pause screen. I bent around the chair and grabbed the remote control sitting atop the wooden table.

I switched off the TV with a resounding click. What a good series. I thought randomly. Time well spent.

Taking an unenthusiastic step forward. I unlocked my smartphone and opened my main source of entertainment. Y

Scrolling through random posts from celebrities and jokes from 10GAG lifted my drowsiness slightly.

In the middle of the stairs, I came across a thread marked with “Not suitable for viewers below the age of 18.”

The tag peaked my morbid interest. Pausing against the railings, I tapped the “Continue” option. ‘Of course, my account slated my age as above 18.’

The caption of the post read, “Hey! Check this out! Things are getting wacky out here. Don’t even know if this is real.”

I furrowed my eyebrows at the greedy words. Yet another influencer trying to garner attention? Nevertheless, the video started playing.

The phone’s speakers blared to life with the sound of panicked shouts and police siren. I fumbled the phone in a hurry to lower the sound level. My index finally found the button and the voice lowered from blaring to audible.

I focused back on the content. The video pointed towards a street that was lined by skyscrapers on both sides. A vague recognition fogged my brain as I glanced through the familiar buildings. ‘The NYULH’ my mind supplied helpfully. It was the street leading to the centre.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Police sirens blared off screen and I could see people gushing on the open asphalt. Hordes of humans rushed across the scene screaming loudly. With the video constantly shaking, I concur that the cameraperson was also moving. I could see numerous shops whisk past as the person took off in a sprint.

Siren lights flared to life casting flashes of blue and red across the streetf. “Please return from the scene. Everything is under control.” A voice advised over a loudspeaker.

The camera panned towards a barricade of cop cars lining the street. People rushed over the cars in an effort to get away. Protestors? I tried to guess. But none were arrested by the police. The crowd sneaked through the barricade without much hassle.

The camera person neared the makeshift barricade, and I noticed the police stood decked up in bulletproof vests. The officers’ hands were on their holsters and their palms gripping their firearm’s handle.

The cameraman grunted vaulting over the white hood of the cop car. “How is this happening?” He silently muttered to himself. With the host of the video not talking to the camera, I guess the man wasn’t trying to vlog or make content but simply, inform.

The tremoring camera stabled after a few moments. The pace of the camera man slowed to a trudge. People rushed past the guy with astonishing agility. I quickly noticed the crazed look on each one’s face as they skirted past him.

“Oh my god.” A whispering prayer reverberated from my speakers.

The screen slowly turned to show the police pointing their guns at people. I stared in wide surprise at the scene. Loud yells filled the video, and I froze with shock.

The cameraman zoomed into a singular policeman yelling at a medical student staggering in front of him. His firearm shook as the barrel pointed down at the young girl hurtling towards him.

‘What is she doing.’ I couldn’t make out her face, but I could see a noticeable limp in her gait.

With a start, the girl jumped at the policeman. The two crashed under the vehicle and consequently, yellow flashes sparked across the glass buildings. Muzzled shots rang through the screen, and I could feel the ice spreading through my veins.

With an impetus created, multiple shots followed. The cameraman jumped at the loud bursts of sound. He turned away from the scene and sprinted at top speed. My screen turned black alerting me that the video had ended.

I jumped back to the thread and scrolled through the comments.

“Come on! This is so staged!” A user wrote about a couple of hours prior. I noted that the thread itself had originated around a similar time.

Reaching more recent reviews, I noticed a concerning trend in the comments.

“It’s true! I had a man bang his head through my shop’s window and run at me like crazy.” Another use wrote.

“I saw the crazed look in one of the student’s eyes. She seemed anything but living!”

“#NYULH. It’s crazy what’s going on right now. The police are shooting at civilians. #CanWePanicAlready

Many similar comments lined up the thread’s reply section supporting the narrative of the video. I clicked back from the thread and went to the search tab. The trending page came into view.

#NYULH was currently trending at the 3rd rank. I quickly tapped on the tag and turned to recent posts.

“Don’t believe the panic filled posts here. Everything’s under the control of the police. Go back to sleep.” The caption read. I sighed. I was being illogical. Maybe.

I scrolled down and came upon multiple videos. Each video started with a thumbnail containing a similar scene from the video.

Opening one up, the camera hurriedly panned from rushing citizens to the police propping their guns against a horde of young medical students. I could hear warnings from the police gathered at the scene.

“Get down on the ground!” “Surrender or we will open fire.” The chants rung across the narrow street.

The same woman I had seen in the previous video appeared, and made my blood run cold. This cameraperson was at the sidelines. It was an entirely different angle to the same scene.

The blonde girl jumped at the policeman and the same yellow flashes lit the surrounding building’s glass. My palm gripped tighter across the phone’s sides.

With the loud shots, the cameraperson yelled in panic, “Oh my god!” before the video abruptly cut out.

I stood frozen on the staircase, my thoughts running at lightening speed in an effort to figure out what I had just witnessed.

‘What the hell is going on!?’

Quickly, I browsed through the recent posts. Nearly everyone shared a similar video or the same ones as before. I refreshed the recent section and found a plethora of new tweets.

“Share this! The world needs to know what’s going down today!” One read.

“This is crazy. Medical students from the NYULH are attacking the police. Don’t know what’s happening.” Many other threads offered similar information, but none could explain in detail.

There just wasn’t enough information to come to a conclusion. My mind raced to find a solution. There was only one way to acquire relatively reliable information in case of such panic. Traditional TV networks.

I turned on my heels and darted for the living room.