A single, buzzing notification splits the silence—not a text, not a ringtone, but a sustained, alien hum that comes from your phone.

Then your laptop screen, dark and closed on the desk, flickers to life through the lid.

Then the TV in the corner—unplugged since Tuesday—crackles with static.

All three screens glow the same pale, urgent white.

One by one, they display the same message in stark, blocky text:

Somewhere outside, a dog howls—then cuts off with a wet, abrupt silence.