It was all wrong. All of it. Everything they thought was right in their life wasn’t.

Jessie tan from door to door, telling the truth to their neighbors, hoping they’d get some help fixing the damaged world they lived in into one of hope that someone would believe them.

The city everyone lived in wasn’t real, but completely fabricated. Of course, Jessie knew this, they’d worked as part of the experiment to see how people would react in different situations. There was a lot the world didn’t know about, and a select few had always known these things, but these secrets were becoming harder and harder to keep. So the government constructed an experiment across a town to test different possibilities. They would see how the town would react if there was an alien invasion, a nuclear war, religious prophecies coming true, and anything else that could potentially cause mass panic.

Jessie saw this as a good thing. If an outcome turned out dangerous, they would simply erase the city’s memory and start from scratch so nobody remembered the terror that endured. Scientists had figured out memory erasing technology on a small scale, but it wouldn’t work for the whole earth. This way only a select few people would give answers to what the best reaction would be in case any of these situations were to occur.

But now, Jessie learned the truth about the experiment. There was so much pain that went into it. These people had no free will, and any time they tried to live their lives, it would all be completely ruined by another simulation of events. They were convinced it was true. Even though they forgot about it in the end, Jessie discovered that they were still affected by each past experiment. There were still some remains of each memory trapped inside them somewhere, and while they may not consciously remember the events, it affected their fears, nightmares, and impulses. Ultimately, everyone was living in fear without realizing it. The lead scientists also agreed to never release the city from the experiment, confining innocent people to one town forever. After all, the simulation was only the town and nothing more. Anyone who had dreams of traveling would have those dreams crushed.

Once Jessie discovered this awful truth, they informed everyone they knew of it. They didn’t care if it would get them killed for betraying the experiment, they had to save all these people’s lives.

Back in the headquarters of the experiment, Jessie’s boss and a few subordinates were discussing Jessie’s actions.

“What are we going to do?” One woman, a bounty hunter, asked the boss. She walked toward her to come face to face.

“Hunt down the traitor, and bring them back to me alive,” she said. She turned back around and left the bounty hunter to do her work.

Back in the city, Jessie had told nearly everyone of the experiment. The people they’d told were gathered around them, listening to their plan. Their goal was for everyone to escape alive, but they knew that may not happen.

The bounty hunter arrived and aimed a gun to Jessie’s head.

“Come with me or I shoot!” She shouted.

“Get out of here, I’ll stay,” Jessie told the crowd. Everyone scattered and the bounty hunter walked closer. She handcuffed him, and while everyone else had managed to escape, Jessie remained.