Shutdown (Glitch)

plane’s fall in my mind. I couldn’t think about the mind-twist of it though. I poured more energy into curbing our speed, slower and slower, until when we finally got to the ground, we landed gently on a grassy field.
    Cole’s metal-encrusted hand immediately reached toward me, but several of the others were clogging the entrance to the cockpit between us. He tossed them aside like they were no more than paper dolls.
    I’d been chased by Regulators before. I knew they never stopped. I pressed my telek against the windshield and blew it outward. I tumbled through the hole I’d opened up and landed painfully on my side. I looked down. My tunic was covered in blood from the knife wound. I tried to get to my feet, but stumbled and fell back down again. I may have cast my mind out beyond the spinning plane while it was falling, but my body had felt every turbulent moment. I was so disoriented I could barely tell which way was up and which was down. I tried to get to my feet and again crashed into the ground.
    I let out a pitiful gasp as I looked at the downed transport. Cole was crawling through the hole I’d made in the window. He’d be on me in seconds.
    No.
    It couldn’t end like this. Adrien’s vision. I was supposed to at least have a chance to kill the Chancellor.
    I abandoned trying to stand on my own and closed my eyes, pouring my energy into the only one of my senses that seemed to be working at the moment—my telek. I lifted my body up off the ground and into the air right as Cole got to the spot where I’d just been. He reached his arms up after me, almost catching the edge of my tunic. I flew higher right in time.
    The others had opened the door of the transport and spilled out. City was one of them, grabbing her head and walking a few clumsy steps before collapsing to the ground again. A sweep of relief rushed through me. She looked like she’d be okay.
    “Zoe, wait,” Adrien called. “Stop! I’m sorry, I must have been under her control, but it’s gone now. Come back, Zoe!”
    I wanted to believe he was telling the truth. But I knew it was much more likely that these were just the Chancellor’s words coming out his mouth. Trying to lure me back so they could attack me again. I pushed myself farther into the sky before City figured out how to use her electricity again.
    My mind felt thick with cotton. I’d flown away from the wreck as fast as I could, but now I wondered which direction I was heading. I thought about dropping back to the ground, but instead I pushed on. I lifted my left arm in front of my face and clicked through to the compass function on my arm panel, like I’d watched Adrien do so many times when we’d escaped the Foundation.
    Okay, I was headed north. I tried to remember exactly where the Chancellor’s facility had been located. It had been to the east, I knew that much. But I’d never be able to find it without the map. I slowed my momentum and finally stopped, not sure what to do.
    I was weak and hurt, and if I tried to go kill the Chancellor now, there was a high chance I’d fail to even locate her. But if I didn’t, there was no way I’d be able to find a safe place to sleep, and that was only if I didn’t pass out from blood loss.
    I had to try. The others were lost to her compulsion. I couldn’t let it all be for nothing.
    I wasn’t sure if it was an actual decision so much as grim determination. I turned around and went back the way I’d come.
    I didn’t go close enough for anyone from the downed transport to see me. Just close enough so that I could feel the outline of the plane. I could sense the shapes of my friends, walking aimlessly in the field, looking upwards in the direction I’d flown away. The techer had pulled Ginni out of the transport and was checking her vitals. I prayed she was okay. She must have gotten tossed around like crazy during the tailspin.
    I stayed behind the trees where they couldn’t see me and cast my telek outward. I was able to focus enough to push through the broken window and down to the small drive plugged into the dash console. I was surprised it hadn’t been knocked off in the fall. I tugged it out, then paused for a moment and reached through all the tossed contents in the back of the transport. I grabbed the healing gel and a roll of bandage wrap, then pulled all three items out through the window. I kept the objects hovering close to the ground before launching them up into the sky when they reached the tree