You smash your phone and live offline (Patreon)

You don’t hesitate. The moment the video loops again you snatch the phone off the desk and hurl it against the wall as hard as you can. Plastic and glass explode. The screen goes dark in a shower of sparks. For a few seconds the silence in the apartment feels absolute.

You rip the router out of the wall next, unplug the laptop, even yank the smart speaker’s cord. No more screens. No more notifications. No more glowing rectangles that can reach you. You stand in the middle of the dark living room breathing hard, heart slamming against your ribs.

It isn’t enough. The image of the empty garage is still burned behind your eyes. Sarah’s name keeps circling in your head. You pace from the couch to the window and back, fists clenched.

“Think,” you say out loud, voice cracking. “Think, think… what do I need to do next?”

The apartment stays silent. The only answer is the distant hum of the city outside and the cold certainty that smashing the phone might not have stopped whatever has already started.

What do you do?

Try and skip town

Grab some clothes and leave your apartment

Call the police form a pay phone

Snoop around the parking garage