When Lisa looked back on human history and her memories of people dismissing the technology of the early 21st century as "just fine" or "harmless," she would scoff aloud, regardless of who was there to hear her (or not there).

There were keyloggers and all manner of infiltration programs back then, and maybe even a bit before. Certain groups knew how to exploit security flaws, even before the exploitation of security became an everyday thing. There were ways of remotely accessing people's machines. Sure, those were supposed to be operated by trustworthy individuals for diagnostic purposes, but it didn't take much to hijack a person's entire machine, with or without their notice.

Yes, there was a big deal made about proper antivirus programs catching Trojan viruses, worms, and their ilk before they even touched a person's files, but soon, the "hackers" and virus coders' work began to outpace the security measures taken against them. The invasion from the dark side of the web started with these unsavory factions taking hold of those too stubborn or too naive to properly protect their computers, and once they'd ravaged those machines, they worked their way up the internet pipeline. It soon became clear that there was a "hacking epidemic." Information was stolen with reckless abandon, computers were used to access other computers in an endless chain, and soon even the most vital secrets were in somebody's hands.

Soon, the government crumbled under the pressure and made certain types of infiltration legal as long as they were performed by those with "permission." In other words, government monitoring of a person's every move became legal and very much a reality. The initial reactions ranged from entrenched denial that the government would ever do such a thing to claiming that someone knew it was going to happen all along. The deniers were swiftly upended when personal information began to show up in unexpected places, and those who were hiding dirty deeds were exposed and detained.

After a while, even those who supposedly weren't hiding anything found themselves detained, or at the very least under the pressure of mysterious people who somehow "knew something" about them. In times like these, these threats had to be taken more seriously than ever before, because odds were that the mysterious figure really existed, and was willing to act on whatever they'd found.

Lisa's father had received a cryptic message not too long before the present day. It was phrased like most of these messages were, vague enough to capture anything yet with a few specific details to let the receiver know this message was tailored to them. Lisa's name had directly been mentioned. That was all she knew about the situation as it stood. She was unaware of any secret dealings her father might have been involved with, but she knew that she was being targeted to extract something from him.

So, it was bitterly that she left her house that night. She knew "they" were going to come for her. Undoubtedly, they knew her schedule and the friend she was planning to meet. She knew she was walking right into their hands, but what was she supposed to do?

She couldn't possibly fight them all off. They knew everything they needed to know about her.

When the blow came to the back of her head, she didn't resist. She went limp and let her assailant take her away. They probably wouldn't harm her, at least not until her father did or told them what they needed. What would happen from there was anyone’s guess.

What was there to do? What was the point in resisting? The power was not for the people to have anymore.

---

I reward engaging comments, If you enjoyed this Short Story make sure to read my latests.

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