I opened the Pod door and climbed in, the latch securing behind me. I was as ready as I would ever be.
“Alright, here goes nothing.”
Colton
pressed the Initiate Deactivation button and the process began.
I could feel Program Thirteen fighting back, screaming in pain.
Stop, please
, her voice pleaded. I knew the pain she felt, but I couldn’t help her. Not when her existence would kill me and
Colton
.
My arms were trying to force their way out of the restraints. Thirteen had made her way through enough to control the movements of my body. How close was she to escaping? Did that mean her tracker was already active? I began to panic. The process needed to go faster. I could still feel her presence, and I knew that the longer she stayed, the more danger we were in.
Why are you doing this to me?
she pleaded.
But it wasn’t just her in pain; every surge sent to her had to go through me first.
I closed my eyes, fighting my urge to scream.
She was standing before me. Her body, composed of computer parts, was falling apart. She reached out her hand, trying to get me to help her, but I couldn’t. “I’m sorry,” I whispered as she began to fall apart, piece by piece.
“You can never delete me from your core,” she whispered before her voice faded.
And I knew that we couldn’t, but if we tried to deactivate her program it would buy us time. We’d have time to escape, to get farther away from Vesta Corp. Eventually she’d find her way back through, and I knew that, but for now, she’d be a faint voice in the background. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I opened my eyes, surprised to see that the program was still running. “There are about ten minutes left, Emile. Hang in there.”
My body twitched as a response to the pain it was experiencing. The volts were unforgiving, slowly traveling through every inch of my body. But I felt alive, a feeling that made the pain worth the while.
When the Pod door unlatched, I was stunned to find that the time passed by again. The blackouts I’d been experiencing must have been lasting much longer than I remembered them being.
Colton
came over, placing his hands on my shoulders. “Is she still there?”
“She’s gone.” I looked at him. “For now, at least.”
20
FIX YOU
W
ith Thirteen’s voice gone from my mind for now, I decided to focus more on
Colton
. We’d spent so much time making sure that I was okay, thanks to all of my zone outs, but I wasn’t sure how he was coping.
“You know you don’t have to stare at me every second of the day, right?” I joked, poking
Colton
who was now sitting beside me on the couch.
“Well, your brother did say to keep an eye on you.”
“Yeah, yeah. What do you want to do today?” I knew what he’d say.
But we can’t leave the house!
Which might have been true, but I didn’t care at the moment. If Thirteen’s presence was enough to activate her tracker earlier, McVeigh would have
already sent his men here. It had
been hours
and no one had
tried to kill us. Not yet at least.
“I should be saying nothing, since we’re supposed to stay inside, but I guess a walk around the trails can’t hurt.”
Colton
ran in search of his sneakers, smiling with excitement.
I had yet to explore the trails around here, though they surrounded the house, so I was pleased with his suggestion. Sure, board games were fun, but it was nice to get out. Even if it meant Hayden would yell at me later.
“Ready?”
Colton
ran back into the living room. I jumped up from the couch and headed for the front door. “Let me go before you, just in case,” I suggested. We needed to be careful, and I’d rather it be myself that gets hurt if anyone was waiting for us outside.
He shook his head as to say no, but he eventually moved behind me.
I turned my head to the left, and no one was there. I turned to the right, only to find that it was also clear. “I think we’re good.”
He smiled before running out in front of me. I would’ve chased him, but I knew running in this body was far more complex than I was used to. Plus, the chances of me keeping up were rather slim.
And then, out of nowhere, there was an attack.
I was staring at
Colton
, who was climbing the rocks by the water, when someone came up from behind me and threw me to the ground. I could feel myself zoning out. Who was this person and what did they want?
The attacker turned my body onto its side, trying to find my hard drive slot. One of McVeigh’s men. I turned onto my back, throwing the attacker two feet away from me. I made my way back onto my feet and walked over to where my attacker lay unconscious. I leaned down to take off the mask my attacker wore, only to find that it was
Colton
’s father.
McVeigh was using his Programs to do his dirty work now? I should’ve assumed as much.
That was why he was able to throw me to the ground. His body was as strong as mine. He was like me. Before he could get back up, I turned him onto his side and yanked the hard drive out of his back. I knew I needed to hide him before
Colton
came to check on me, but where was I supposed to leave him?
Before I could figure out what to do with his body, a lady in a White Coat came running up the hill – Tina. But how did she find me?
“Thirteen,” she yelled, tears running down her face.
“Thirteen is gone. Please address me by my real name.”
“Oh, well, I’m sorry, Emile. I suppose I’m used to calling you Thirteen.” Tina smiled.
I looked at her and pointed towards
Colton
’s father. “Why is he here?”
“McVeigh’s men dropped him off here earlier this morning with specific instructions to remove your hard drive. I followed them here, hoping to stop him, but I obviously wasn’t fast enough.” She looked down at the man and shook her head. “His name was Howard. He was an old friend of mine. I used to watch his son,
Colton
, all of the time. They sent him instead of their usual men because they figured they could bring
Colton
in if he caught a glimpse of his father.”
She reached down to pull the man up. “I’ll take him back with me, just please don’t let
Colton
know about all of this.”
I nodded, appreciating her concern. “Thank you,” I whispered.
“Take care, Emile. I wish you a happy life.” I watched as Tina struggled to drag Howard’s limp body behind her. I knew I should’ve offered to help, but she was still one of McVeigh’s employees. I couldn’t be sure whose side she was actually on.
“Emile, come look. It’s beautiful over here!”
Colton
yelled from the rocks, one hand shielding the sun from his eyes and the other motioning for me to join him.
I took one last look over at Tina, who was driving off in a sky blue sedan, and ran over to
Colton
.
Placing one foot carefully in front of the other, I slowly made my way up the rocks to where he was standing. I was a mess, but I couldn’t let
Colton
know that, not now when he appeared to be happy. As I stood beside him, he reached out to take my hand in his.
The sun’s rays reflected beautifully upon the water, creating a magnificent glistening effect over the waves. The pier to the left was docking ships, while on the right, a ferry took off into the open waters. It was a beautiful sight to watch; how small everything looked in something as big as the ocean. It reminded me of people, how we were just a small part of what made up the world. Our numbers might be large, but we were not alone in this world. We were insignificant to nature.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking of how breathtaking nature can be,” I answered as honestly as I could.
“But that’s not all,” he replied, indicating he knew that something was wrong.
“Actually, that is all. I’ve been living inside a Pod for the past few months. I’ve missed this – the air, the water, the sun. I’ve missed it all.”
He smiled, gripping my hand tighter. I was sure I saw him flinch, although he tried his best to hide it. “What’s wrong,
Colton
?”
“I’m just trying to figure out life.” He released my hand and took a seat on the rock he was standing on. “Learning to start over isn’t easy. I almost feel as though I’m broken and I’m not sure how to fix that, you know?”
“I understand.” I understood more than he could know. “I think in order to fix someone who is broken they need to be given a fresh start – a clean slate. And you have that now, we both do. As for the starting over, we’ll figure that out together.”
Colton
threw his arms around me and laughed. “I never thought I’d find something in common with a Program.” I chuckled in response. I appreciated that he used the word Program, as opposed to human, because I wasn’t human. There was no reason to lie about what I was.
“Should we go back in?”
“Yeah, I’m probably going to be due for standby mode soon anyway.” I could feel the power draining slowly from my body. It’d only be a matter of time before I started to zone out again.
“Hey, did Hayden happen to say anything to you about the zoning out thing?” I didn’t see any mention of it on his instructions for
Colton
, but I figured he would’ve at least said something, knowing Hayden.
“Yes.”
Colton
placed his hands in his pockets, keeping his head down and his eyes on the ground under him. “He said that the zoning out is because you’re not used to being outside of the Pod for extended periods of time, although some of the zones were from Thirteen. Those should be gone now, though.”
I was glad to know that Thirteen’s memories would be gone, but I was a bit bothered to learn mine wouldn’t be going away anytime soon. Watching my family fall from my grasp, watching my body lay lifeless in a dark alley, the pain I went through upon arriving at Vesta Corp – those memories would continue to haunt me and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
McVeigh was winning already, and he didn’t even know it.
“Hey, quick question.” His voice was filled with curiosity. I was sure that I knew what he was going to ask, and I hoped that he wouldn’t. “Who were you talking to before? I heard you and someone else, but I didn’t recognize the voice.”
“Oh, that.” I hated lying to him, but I didn’t dare tell him the truth. He couldn’t know that his father was sent here to capture me. If he knew that he’d fall apart again. I couldn’t allow that. “It was just a lost driver. She needed directions back into the city. Her GPS couldn’t locate satellites out here or something.”
Colton
smiled, kicking the rocks as we walked back to the house.
The house was clear, which I was grateful for, it meant that Howard only followed us into the woods. He never went inside the house. Rain started to fall, sliding off my skin as soon as it landed.
“I think we need to get you inside.”
Colton
laughed, pushing me towards the house.
The water didn’t do much damage, thankfully, as the only exposed part of my Program was my hard drive slot and even that was covered thanks to my shirt. “Maybe next time we should check the weather forecast?” he joked. “After all, this is
Washington
. It is known to rain a lot here.”
I smiled as I kicked off my shoes and headed off towards my room to change out of my wet clothes. I lifted the bag of items Hayden gave to me onto the bed and went through them all. There were tons of pants and t-shirts, clothes that would cover me completely.
“Thank you, Hayden,” I whispered, trying to hold back my laughter. I was glad to know he didn’t fill the bag with dresses and shorts. With the rain, I needed to keep covered.
I grabbed a pair of jeans and a plain black t-shirt and slid into them before making my way back to the living room, where
Colton
was sitting on the couch in his wet clothes still. “Aren’t you planning on changing? You could get sick you know?”
He chuckled. “I just wanted to tell you thanks. I know I’ve already told you that a few times, but I needed to tell it to you again. You’ve helped me a lot. I forgot what it was like to be happy.”
Colton
looked up at me, smiling as he got up from the couch.
“I think I’m going to head to bed. I’m pretty exhausted. Can you promise you’ll head to the Pod soon or do I need to stay up and make sure of it myself?”
“I promise. I’ll go in a few minutes. You need your sleep. Go rest. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Colton
looked at me one last time before heading
to
his room and plopping on his bed, snores flowing from the room only seconds later. The poor boy was exhausted. He’d been keeping an eye on me – worried that I
might
zone out at any given second. I didn’t want him to have to constantly worry about me. I knew he had promised Hayden he’d keep an eye on me, but taking care of me shouldn’t be more importa
nt than taking care of himself.