Glitch

and leaned
    in, putting a hand on my arm. She paused, as if stopping
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    Heather Anastasiu
    herself, and pulled away, quickly rearranging her features
    into either a smile or a grimace. I could not tell which.
    She held my gaze for another too- long moment before
    nodding to the door. “You may leave.”
    I turned on my heel and tried to walk as calmly as I could
    manage out the door and down to the elevator, pausing to
    slow my heart rate and quiet my monitor. Glitching like that
    in front of the Chancellor herself. This was becoming far too
    dangerous.
    What was wrong with me? What I’d told the Chancellor
    had been the truth— I didn’t remember anything before I
    was discovered walking down a Surface road. But now that
    I was no longer Linked, reliving the memories of walking
    down the dusty road in the bright orange suit fi lled me with
    terror. I’d been on the Surface! I shuddered, remembering
    the huge open sky over my head. How did I get there? A
    chill raced down my spine. And why was I still alive?
    Every step I took felt like walking farther and farther into
    enemy territory. But there was no option for retreat. No safe
    place, no refuge for me. I was knee- deep and surrounded on
    all sides.
    My lungs tightened in my chest at the thought. Panic
    bubbled up even as I tried to swallow it back down. But still,
    my breathing became shallower. I looked around. Even in
    this empty hallway, my skin crawled with the sense that I
    was being watched.
    I glanced up almost involuntarily at the ceiling and saw
    the small black circles embedded every ten paces. Something
    about them tugged at the edges of my mind and made me
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    G L I TC H
    feel uneasy. I didn’t know why. But what if . . . What if it
    was a memory from my time away? But that was impossible.
    None of it had been stored on my internal memory chip be-
    cause of the disruptor.
    Panic spiked at the reminder, sending shooting sparks up
    and down my arms. Before I could control it, several loud
    pops sounded and thin tendrils of smoke escaped out of the
    black circle directly above me. I looked up in surprise, then
    spun around sharply as I heard the sound behind me. One
    by one, each of the black circles behind me down the hall-
    way let out a pop, hiss, and cloud of smoke.
    I swiveled back around and headed away as quickly as I
    could. I needed to get out of here, now.
    Stupid, stupid, I chided myself. All I wanted was to avoid
    drawing any attention to myself and after three weeks with-
    out a single glitch, I was suddenly out of control and creat-
    ing all kinds of anomalies.
    I tried to quickly and calmly remove myself from the
    hallway before I was spotted. I couldn’t be connected with
    what just happened. Just as I was about to round the corner,
    I heard loud footsteps behind me. It took every ounce of
    self- discipline I had not to look backward.
    It was probably just another Academy student. Nothing
    to worry about.
    Except that the footsteps sounded heavy. Really heavy.
    Metal- reinforced- feet kind of heavy.
    It must be a Regulator. At this point he must be walking
    right through the smoke spilling from the black circles on
    the ceiling. He had to have noticed, and as I was the only
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    Heather Anastasiu
    person around, he would know I must’ve had something to
    do with it.
    I quickened my footsteps down a narrow gray hallway,
    hoping to make it to the next cross tunnel at the end before
    he rounded the corner.
    “Halt, subject.”
    I should have paused and stayed calm. I should have an-
    swered his questions and pretended to be a bystander who’d
    just happened to be walking down the hallway when the
    ceiling equipment shorted out. I should have, but I didn’t.
    I ran.
    I sprinted down the adjoining hallway, hoping the sur-
    prise from my illogical behavior might make the Regulator
    pause to reassess protocol procedures. Foolish, since in the
    end it would only mean that they’d have more evidence of
    anomalies against me.
    But I’d already bolted and there was no going back now.
    I forced myself not to look over my shoulder, even though I
    heard his heavy footsteps start again behind me. If he was
    able to do a scan and get facial recognition, I’d be cracked
    for sure. I had to get out of his range. I ran faster, pouring my
    panic into my feet. Behind me I could hear the loud clang of
    the Regulator’s boots as his pace sped up to match mine. I
    turned in to another snaking hallway, knowing it was only
    a matter of time