Override (Glitch)

I’d already closed my eyes, feeling out into the hallway beyond.
    The hallway itself was clear, but I could sense something strange about the ceiling, like the edges didn’t quite match. I pushed farther in and felt several gun barrels embedded behind the ceiling tiles. My heartbeat ratcheted up a notch, and I crumpled the guns in on themselves until they were mangled bundles of useless steel.
    The elevator door pinged again and then opened. But what I saw didn’t match what I’d sensed with my telek at all, and my mind reeled in confusion. Instead of a hallway, I stepped out into a large room that was blindingly white.
    Children dressed in white tunics sat at desks, their small heads all turning in unison as I walked into the room. The room was unlike any I’d ever seen, but it was clearly a school. They were so young. Five or six years old.
    “You have to get out,” I said, my voice a frantic whisper. “It’s not safe!”
    The buzzing exploded in my ears. I closed my eyes and the room fell away. I felt the contours of what seemed like an empty hallway again. Where were the children? None of this made any sense. And then I noticed a lone figure standing just a few paces away from me. He raised a gun. I screeched and crumpled it like I had the weapons in the ceiling.
    But when I blinked my eyes open again, I was back in the white room. I twirled around in confusion. My telek faded to a low buzz in my ears and then was gone completely. The children needed me. Suddenly nothing else mattered. I had to get them out of here.
    One little girl came toward me, her blond hair in ringlets that framed her face.
    Her tiny lip trembled. “Are you here to hurt us?”
    “No,” I crouched down so I was her height. “You don’t have to be afraid of me. I’m here to help.”
    But all of a sudden, I couldn’t remember why I was here at all. How was I going to help? Something was wrong, there was something I was supposed to be doing—
    The girl pulled away from me.
    “He’s waiting for you,” she said. She pointed to a boy sitting up front with his back to me. He was bigger than the other children, and the only one who hadn’t turned around when I walked in.
    I hurried to the front of the room. I didn’t have much time. Then I frowned, not knowing why the thought had arisen. Other thoughts seemed to be wriggling at the back of my mind too, but when I tried to focus on them, they evaporated.
    Of course I had all the time in the world. I carefully rounded the desk and saw the boy’s face.
    I knew him.
    “Markan!” I leaned over and hugged him hard. My little brother. I looked around at all the other children. They watched me silently. The more I looked at them, the more something seemed wrong with their eyes.
    What had felt like a peaceful sanctuary only moments before now felt sinister. There was something wrong with these children. With this whole situation.
    “Come on, Markan,” I said, a chill running up my spine. “We should go.”
    He didn’t say anything, but he let me pull him to his feet. I grabbed his hand and was about to tug him forward when he cried out and sank to his knees. Blood bloomed on the front of his tunic.
    “Markan!” I screamed. I looked around. I didn’t see any Regs. How had he gotten hurt?
    I reached to pull his tunic off over his head so I could see the wound and try to stop the bleeding, but he grabbed me with a surprisingly strong grip.
    “Why didn’t you save me?” Blood bubbled out of his mouth as his face paled. “Why didn’t you save me?”
    The children around us picked up the chant, a choir of accusing voices. “Why didn’t you save me?”
    I reached out to pull Markan into my arms, but as I touched him, he disintegrated into thin air.
    “Markan!” I screamed, pawing the empty air in a panic. No! I’d had him, he’d been in my arms!
    The children continued chanting, but all of them were bleeding now, from their noses, heads, chests. I screamed.
    Another figure appeared in the spot where Markan had disappeared. Milton. Half his head was crushed in and blood poured down his face and neck. He reached out his arms to me. “Why didn’t you save me?”
    “No!” I screamed, backing away. “You’re not real.” I spun around, clutching my head. “None of you are real!”
    I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t see them. I had to use my telek, I had to—
    “Why didn’t you save me?” Another voice added to the chorus behind me. A voice I knew well.
    “Adrien!”