Override (Glitch)

inside the small alcove. I heard the sound of papers being ripped off the walls.
    I tried to listen, to see if there was any buzzing in my ears, any whisper of power left that I could try to harness. But all I could hear were Milton’s weak excuses. He backed away from the other man, moving closer to us. “I didn’t know that was there,” he said. “I swear I’ve never seen that room before!”
    I squeezed my eyes shut and tried again to draw on my power. None of this was going according to plan. No one was ever supposed to find the hidden room. I had to disable the Inspector if any of us were going to make it out of here alive.
    I closed my eyes and tried to call on my telek. Moments earlier, my power had nearly consumed me. Now, no matter how much I strained, it wouldn’t come. The beast was gone.
    I shook my head frantically at Adrien. He seemed to understand and tugged me forward while the Inspector was busy looking through the things in my alcove. But we weren’t fast enough. As soon as we rounded the corner of the table, the Inspector’s voice rang out. “You there! Stop!”
    Adrien bolted for the door, dragging me along with him. My feet were heavy from the weighty suit, but I managed to stay upright. Milton ran after us.
    The Inspector’s voice rang out behind as he spoke into his arm com, “Possible fugitive sighting in sublevel lab 810. Subjects are heading west!”
    I cursed. Reinforcements would be coming.
    “They’ll be covering the west stairs,” Adrien said.
    I nodded and when we came to a fork in the hallway, pulled him left instead of right toward the stairs. “Let’s try for the freight elevator in the central lab.”
    I tried to shut out all other thoughts and focus on moving one foot in front of the other. Adrien pulled Milton in front of me as we ran down the narrow hallway. “Get your elevator access card ready!”
    The floors and walls were made of a dulled gray metal and our pounding footsteps broadcast our every move. Ahead, I saw where the hallway opened into the central lab.
    Almost there.
    We raced toward the opening, close enough now that I could see the elevator across the expanse of the lab.
    But right as we closed the distance and were almost into the room, a shadow darkened the opening, and then another and another. Three Regulators stood in front of us, the metal plating on their faces glinting from the light in the hallway. They were the Community’s soulless soldiers, almost as much machine as they were man. Adrien stopped cold, but Milton wasn’t as quick. He tripped over Adrien, taking both of them down. My breath stopped in my chest and the moment seemed to slow. I looked from Adrien to the Regulators right as they raised their forearms, each with a triple-barreled laser weapon attached.
    We were all going to die.
    A jolt rocked involuntarily through my body. I must be hit. They must have fired in the instant I’d taken to blink. But I was shocked when I realized it was the Regulators who were blown backward, not me. They landed heavily on their backs halfway across the lab, bloodied chunks of alloy flying from their chests and arms as they went. I felt my eyes widen as I looked down at my outstretched arms in shock. My power. It had worked.
    Adrien was on his feet. He pulled Milton up again just as one of the Regulators stirred.
    “Go back!” Adrien shouted. He pulled a gun from his hip and let out several bright red blasts.
    Milton and I raced back down the hallway. I looked over my shoulder. All three of the Regs were getting up now. Two of them were bloodied and one looked like he was missing an arm. But still, I knew I hadn’t done enough damage. I’d only slowed them down for a moment. Regulators never stopped, no matter what.
    Adrien kept firing behind us, but I didn’t pause to look again. I was too slow already. The hallway was long and straight. The Regs would have a clear shot at us as soon as they were on their feet. We’d never make it if we kept going forward. My mind raced as we passed several numbered doors down the hallway. I thought about the schematics of the lab I’d memorized. These were research rooms. If we went into one of them, we’d only get ourselves trapped. Unless …
    Two more doors down, I paused and slammed my gloved hand on the door release pad. Milton kept going.
    “In here,” I shouted. Adrien ran a few steps past me and grabbed Milton, yanking him through the doorway right as a quick stream of red burned into