Shutdown (Glitch)

than anyone know that being with the Rez is probably the least safe place to be these days. The Chancellor turns all the Rez agents she captures with her compulsion. Whoever she captured at the Foundation will have told her about the last few cells.” He shook his head and finally stopped pacing. “No, the safest place is out here, off the grid. Besides I’m good at slipping in and out of cities. I can get us the supplies we need.”
    “So, what?” I asked slowly, trying to wrap my head around all he was saying. “You mean we just live out here?”
    “Yeah. For a while anyway.”
    “But,” I sputtered. “We can’t. We have to—”
    “What?” he interrupted, his voice hard. “Go start a revolution? Fight against the Chancellor? We’re beat, Zoe. When are you gonna see that? The Rez is cracked, done for. Maybe there are a few cells left here or there, but they’ll have scattered once news of what happened at the Foundation gets out. We’ll never be able to find them.”
    “But you’re a techer,” I said. “I know you all have a secret signal you put out if something like this happens. If we could get the right equipment, then you could—”
    “And what if no one’s left out there?” His jaw was tight. “What then?”
    “The Chancellor has my brother,” I barreled on. “And there were plenty of people who couldn’t get on the escape pods out of the Foundation. Some of them have valuable Gifts. The Chancellor would have imprisoned them. If I take her out, then everyone under her compulsion will be free. I could gather all the glitchers together—”
    “Do you even hear yourself?” he scoffed, his voice raising an octave. “You’re going to go up against thousands of Regs just by yourself? And what if she has that power-blocking girl there?”
    I waved a hand dismissively. “The Chancellor would never risk keeping the girl around her. All of her control over others depends on being able to compel them, and the girl’s presence would make her impotent. Besides, if I save up my strength, I could take on the Regs—”
    “You’ve got a death wish then,” he said, throwing up his hands. “That’s what this is. You’re letting that ridiculous guilt you carry with you everywhere drive you to an early grave. When are you gonna see that guilt’s nothing more than the repression of your genuine desires? You’ve created this net of morals around you to strangle your most basic instincts. To survive .”
    “Some things are more important than survival,” I shot back. “Like making your life count. Sacrifice for a worthy cause means something. It’s the best of what makes us human. You used to understand that.”
    “Well, then I’m triply glad I’m not that shunting idiot anymore!” he yelled, his face red. His voice echoed throughout the cave. “I don’t even know why I bothered coming back for you if you’re so bound and determined to die.”
    “So why did you?” I asked, pushing closer until our chests were almost touching. “Why come back for me if you’re only supposed to think about your own survival?”
    His jaw tensed, but he didn’t say anything. He just pulled away and stomped away farther into the dark depths of the cave.
    “I thought so!” I yelled after him and kicked my blanket against the wall, not even knowing what I meant. All the peace I’d felt on waking was shattered.
    We went the entire day without speaking. He slept through the night, which I spent pacing and feeling caged. I was so frustrated at him, but the farthest we could get from each other was only the twenty feet or so that we’d explored of the cave.
    Half of me knew I was getting angry at him for things that weren’t his fault. It was how his mind worked now—logically, not emotionally. And I was finally beginning to see him as himself instead of searching for the old Adrien in his every act and expression.
    But he still baffled me. Because as different as he was now, sometimes I’d swear he still cared for me. He claimed he looked at the world with a strictly logical lens, but coming back for me … and then planning to risk his life to go back into the city to try to find me an oxygen tank—none of that was logical.
    Or maybe to him it was. If he could keep me alive, then he’d still have use for me. I could fly us out of a bad situation. Then again, he’d already proven he could steal a vehicle without problem. So why had he come back? Why? The question kept pinging in my brain