Shutdown (Glitch)

ripped into a hundred pieces, like they’d exploded from the inside out. I looked over to my brother.
    And then screamed in horror. Because in the rush of power, I’d accidently killed Markan too. I dropped to my knees beside him. No!
    I woke up to someone shaking me violently.
    I sat up, barely hearing Xona’s frantic voice over my own screams. She grabbed both of my shoulders in her firm grip and forced me to look at her.
    “Wake the hell up !”
    I blinked, trying to pull away from her, confused. “But Daavd! Markan!”
    “Calm down, you’re shunting shaking the whole compound!”
    Her words finally sank in and I stopped struggling in her arms. Of course. It was just a dream. I hadn’t killed my brother. At least not as directly as I had in the dream. In reality, I’d called out to the Regulators to report my eldest brother Daavd and they’d killed him. I was only four, I feverishly reminded myself. I’d been a drone, I hadn’t known what I was doing.
    But Markan. The Chancellor had him now. Because I hadn’t gone back to save him.
    A loud crash sounded close by. Ginni and the other refugees sleeping on the floor screamed. Xona and I tumbled out of our bunks. That’s when I realized part of the ceiling had collapsed, a large boulder of concrete and rock breaking through the steel struts. Dust filled the room and everyone jumped out of the way with confused shouts.
    I looked around and the reality of the situation settled in. Oh God, what had I done? I heard shouts from the hallway beyond our room and knew it wasn’t only our dorm that was damaged.
    “Is everyone okay?” I shouted.
    Ginni coughed and held her arm over her face. The refugee women all looked disoriented and terrified, clutching each other. They probably thought we were being attacked. Xona cursed in the corner, punching the door open button. The door screeched in its tracks—the frame had been damaged in the quake, but it finally slid halfway open. Xona wedged herself through the small space and forced it open the rest of the way. My arm panel lit up in response when I touched it. I spoke into my wrist. “Jilia, is everyone okay?” I suddenly had a horrible thought. What if I’d ruptured Adrien’s tank?
    “Is Adrien okay?”
    I ran out the door behind Xona. Part of the hallway had caved in too, but Xona was able to jump over the rubble to check the dorm next to ours.
    “Are they okay?” I shouted to Xona. “Molla and the baby?”
    A spark exploded from the ceiling and the lights went out. Several women yelped from behind me, but the backup generator made the emergency lights along the wall slowly sputter to life.
    “Xona, are they okay?” My voice was panicked, verging on hysterical.
    “Everyone’s fine,” Xona called back.
    I sank against the wall in relief.
    Jilia’s voice sounded over the open channel in my arm com. “Everyone, try to make your way to the training room. From the readouts, it looks like it’s the east wing that’s most damaged. Zoe, Adrien’s fine, the Med Center was barely touched.”
    I swallowed. Of course it was worst where I was sleeping. I’d been the epicenter of the quake.
    “I’m still waiting for everyone to com me back,” Jilia continued, “but so far there’s only a few injuries. Tyryn’s making a survey of the military level. So far, no casualties.”
    My hand trembled as I switched the com off.
    I could have killed someone tonight. One of my friends. One of the refugees. Just because of my power. Because of what I was. The only reason the Chancellor had been watching Markan was because of me, and now I’d wrecked one of the last sanctuaries the Rez had left. I destroyed everything I touched. A sharp pang of self-loathing choked me. With great effort, I swallowed all my emotions back down. This wasn’t the time to let fear and doubt choke me. I had to be orderly. Cold.
    Ginni and I got to the training center where everyone was gathered in a huddle on the right side of the room. The baby wailed. Molla walked around, bouncing him up and down to quiet him. She shot me a glare when I entered, but then went back to bouncing.
    I looked around. Even here, a large portion of the left wall was crumbling, huge chunks of stone and concrete strewn across the floor.
    How would we ever fix all this?
    Everyone was talking at once. City came forward as I entered. I could see the anger fuming off her. “How could you forget to Link yourself? Your stupid mistake could have gotten us