Click. 0001.jpg opened. It was a selfie of himself, taken on his phone, showing an expression of sheer terror he hadn’t made yet.
The screen flickered, casting eerie blue light across the cramped room. A folder appeared, empty at first, then filling with thousands of files named 0000.jpg , 0001.jpg , and so on. He opened 0000.jpg . It was a photograph of his own room, taken from the perspective of his webcam, but different. His desk was completely clear.
The final file, 0009.jpg , displayed his desk completely empty, the computer missing. The command prompt stopped, leaving one final line of text on his screen: Extraction Complete.
The room was silent. The monitor went black, reflecting only the empty chair. How Elias might ?