Glitch

mutely, letting him direct me. I felt discon-
    nected from the situation, disconnected from my own body
    even. A freight train of thoughts and memories and feeling
    were tumbling one over another in my mind. I couldn’t sift
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    through them quickly enough. I couldn’t make sense of any-
    thing. None of this made sense.
    “We can get on the subway and go to this place I found in
    the Central City. I can hide us, impersonate offi
    cials as we
    go so we can travel and get as far away from here as we can.
    We’ll go to the other side of the sector, or even go to other
    sectors if we have to. We can reintegrate and stay under their
    radar, switch out our wrist chips and become other people. If
    Adrien has visions of us and they come for us, we’ll run away
    again. What ever it takes, so long as you’re safe.”
    Max transformed back into the redheaded woman and
    opened the door. He stuck his head out, looking carefully
    each way before pulling me out with him.
    My mind was a storm again. It seemed there was no other
    explanation. What if Max was right, and Adrien was helping
    the offi
    cials. One thing was sure, we were all in danger now.
    I wasn’t sure we could help the others, but Max was right
    here in front of me. For once in my life, I might be able to
    help someone I cared about.
    But at the same time, my whole chest ached. Adrien.
    Max pulled me sharply sideways so that we were moving
    along the wall of the busy tunnel, whispering at me to keep
    my head down so the cameras wouldn’t catch our faces.
    When the tunnel opened up to the subway platform, he
    maneuvered us into the fl ood of people. The redheaded
    woman’s thin hand grabbed my wrist in a pinching grasp
    and pulled me to a corner along the side of the tunnel.
    “Regulators,” Max whispered in the woman’s soft voice,
    nodding to the platform.
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    G L I TC H
    A group of Regulators stood where the tunnel narrowed
    before opening onto the subway platform. There were twice
    as many of them as usual, scanning faces and checking wrist
    IDs at random. I tried to quiet the fear that had gripped my
    chest. Our only way out was through that narrow passage.
    There was no way we’d make it through without getting
    caught.
    My breath caught. “What do we do?”
    “They’re probably looking for us. Adrien must have had a
    vision. Damn. Cover me while I change.”
    He dropped down, ostensibly to retie his shoe. I leaned
    over him, terrifi ed and trying not to look anomalous while I
    blocked him from sight. When he stood up again, he looked
    exactly like Chancellor Bright. He grabbed my arm roughly
    and pulled me out onto the platform. He strode right up to
    the Regulators.
    “I’ve got the girl,” he said in the clipped tones of the
    Chancellor’s voice. “But the boy eluded me. Spread out and
    keep looking. I’ll take her directly to the holding facility.”
    The two Regulators nodded once and motioned to the
    others across the room. They left, fanning out and grabbing
    people roughly every so often, turning them around to check
    their faces, then shoving them back in line to continue their
    placid progression down the tunnel. I breathed out when I
    heard the low rumble of the train approaching. I didn’t know
    what we’d do next, or how I could work out a way to keep
    Max safe and still fi nd Adrien. But I knew we had to get off
    this platform.
    The train slowed to a stop. Max, still disguised as the
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    Chancellor, pulled me authoritatively to the front. Everyone
    parted to make way until we were at the front of the line.
    My chest was tight with tension but I felt better when I
    saw that all the Regulators were at the opposite side of the
    platform. In a few seconds, we’d be on the train and hur-
    tling away from them.
    But then the train doors slid open with a hiss, and the real
    Chancellor stepped out with Adrien, a half- dozen Regula-
    tors, and a wicked grin on her face.
    “Adrien!” I heard myself cry out in disbelief before I
    could even think. The sight of him with the Chancellor
    sliced like a jagged knife into my stomach. It took every-
    thing I had not to fall to my knees with the shock and pain
    of it.
    Max shifted again, shoving me to the side and shouting,
    “Run, Zoe!”
    The real Chancellor snapped her fi ngers. Regulators
    surged forward off the train as Max turned to run, dragging
    me along behind him. I looked over my shoulder. Adrien
    was watching everything calmly, not