Sally Phelan smiled excitedly as she left the mall, barely noticing the heavy weight of the multiple shopping bags she was carrying. All around her, people were chatting merrily, checking their watches or simply strolling down the streets.
A chilly gust of wind made her shiver and she pulled her sweater tighter around herself to keep as much heat as she possibly could.
In her bags were some not-so-important items she acquired in her last-minute shopping. She was getting married the next day, after all, to the love of her life, to the guy who was once her childhood friend. Sally's heart filled with a warm sense of happiness just by thinking about him.
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and deviated from her current trajectory to pass by a bakery. A small scone wouldn't hurt her now, would it?
She didn't notice how her ear pods began emitting a faint, static-like sound, being too occupied with rehearsing her order in her head.
Sally Phelan wouldn't remember stopping abruptly in the middle of the street, along with the other pedestrians. She wouldn't remember walking towards the Cybus Industries' base of operations, closely monitored by an army of metal men. And she would certainly not remember the needles piercing her skin and the scalpel cutting her forehead open to allow her brain to be enclosed in a cold, steel helmet, emotions supressed.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the world came back to her. She tried to blink, only to find out that she couldn't. She didn't even seem to feel her eyelids – or any parts of her face for that matter. She couldn't even move her eyes.
The ceiling she was helplessly staring at was bluish-silver and covered with pipes. She was inside an industrial building then. But… why? What was she doing there? And why was she feeling so cold?
Voices drifted to her through the constant buzzing in her head, coming from nearby. Through her peripheral vision, she could see the blurry silhouettes of two people hovering… above her?
"…responds like a living thing", one of the voices, a male, said. "Well, it is a living thing. Oh… but look! Emotional inhibitor! Stops them from feeling anything."
"But… why?" a female voice inquired.
"It's still got a human brain. Imagine its reaction if it could see itself, realize itself inside…"
Sally didn't hear the rest of the man's sentence as a strong wave of tiredness washed over her. Her brain felt fuzzy and heavy. Off. And unusually cold. Why did she feel so cold? Where was that coming from?
"Why am I cold?"
The two people whom she heard talking fell silent. That didn't sound like her own voice... Who said that?
"Oh my God, it's alive!" the woman whispered, frightened. "It can feel!" she added, her tone switching to incredulous.
"We broke the inhibitor", the male realized. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…"
He leaned forward and Sally could see his face. His features looked slightly distorted around the edges and tinted in blue like she would be watching through a camera lens.
"Why so cold?" she repeated as the chilling sensation persisted.
"Do you remember your name?" the man asked.
"Sally. Sally Phelan."
Watching him made her notice how similar he looked to Gareth, her fiancé… Gareth! Where was he? Was he alright?
"Where's Gareth?" she inquired, beginning to feel uncomfortably numb.
She was having trouble speaking now. She didn't even know how she could speak from the start since she couldn't feel neither her lips nor her tongue.
"Who's Gareth?" the woman asked, her voice sounding more distant than it did before.
What was happening? Why did everything feel so heavy, so… wrong?
"He can't see me", Sally informed. "It's unlucky the night before."
"You're getting married?"
Images began to flash before Sally's eyes, accompanied by a sharp pain in her head. The coldness was suffocating by now
"I'm cold", she repeated in her monotonous voice. "I'm so cold."
She didn't notice the man had exited her field of vision until he leaned forward again, this time clutching a small cylindrical object in his hand.
"It's alright", he whispered. "You sleep now, Sally. Just go to sleep."
A whirring sound was heard and Sally suddenly felt at peace, warm even as her vision turned black and as her consciousness faded away for the last time in her short life.