Exit Music  

“How did it come to this?”

The tall man with salt and pepper hair stood facing the view outside, his silhouette was cast onto the wall behind him by the setting sun. His voice echoed a little more than usual. Most of anything of value had been scrapped or sold over the course of the last few months and the large space suffered for it, acoustically. He bought this condo years ago for its convenient accessibility and security features more so than its luxury. It all mattered for naught. 

“Jefferson!” A voice called out. A stout woman rushed in from another room carrying an overstuffed bag. “We have to go now, before they cut the power.”

The man surveyed the street below, still not quite fathoming the state of things. Abandoned vehicles littered the street, some crashed, others simply left or vandalized—the autonomous infrastructure failed completely only a week ago. There were people down there. Some were just in awe and shock as he was, only that they were surrounded by brazened looters and opportunists of all sorts.  

The mild white noise of the penthouse that was subtly insulating him from the discordant unrest outside suddenly vanished. 

“Shit! Now, we have to take the stairs!”

The man wanted to take one last look at the sunset but he remained focused on the people moving around below him a moment more before turning away.  

“It’s only a few flights to the roof, darling.”