Chapter 14.2

I stood in that corridor for a long time, watching static filled camera feeds in silence. My fingers responded without my say so, sending away any attempts to reboot the cameras. If they maintained silence, how would I know if anything went wrong until it was too late? Nick said head away from camp, for the front lines and that meant going north where the fighting was the heaviest. For the shortest trip anyway I would have to go north. East and west had less fighting but the lines were further away and the Axis powered were still advancing instead of retreating.

Go north, I decided. If this all goes to hell and they're arrested or killed, go north. Get to the alliance, then...then...I didn't know what to do after that. Maybe, maybe the alliance would take me; I didn't have much to offer.

Questions continued to bubble to my lips, occasionally spilling over only to be met by silence. Time seemed to slow down with every passing glance at the clock on my helm display. My wrists began to ache from the constant typing, without premade hacks to send directly into the system, my fingers flew at breakneck speed across the holokeys, typing out line after line of code to keep up with the attacks coming at me with increased anger. I could feel the fatigue slipping into my mind as I continued to process everything at top speed, recognizing and responding to varied attacks in seconds.

I could feel sweat beading on my forehead and running down my neck. My breathing grew ragged as time progressed and the minutes turned into hours. I don't know how long I stood at that console, fending off lines of malicious text or when my communicator turned back on but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

Every fiber of my being thrummed like it was part of the system. Each tap had to mean something or it was wasted energy and that could get them killed. Running out of places to dump them in I set up a fake system on the side and started dropping them into that as I strengthened the walls around it. I stole encryption from every database I could find, threading it together to build walls and towers, turrets and infantry, snipers and pit falls. New encryption using pieces of old encryption.

I looked at the feeds once more, greeted only by snow. Whatever happened on the other end of those cameras, I couldn't see. I couldn't hear. If something went wrong, I wouldn't know. How did I know when to give up? When to stop? Time blurred together, the screen smearing into an orange and white blur. I guess some part of me recognized the codes without physically seeing them.

My body began to throb from exertion, sweat pouring down my sides. I pushed myself as hard as I could, pushing off the pain until I couldn't feel it anymore. Nothing could stop me, everything they threw at me got pushed away; woven into the new world I created for them to play in. If I had to guess, I would say I had three hackers trying to find me right now. I fought tirelessly, falling back on even the most basic training I could muster.

"You can stop!" Vicki's voice entered my head. "Tawny! You can stop now!"

My hands froze on the keyboard, the code stopped in the middle. My arms began to shake and I drew in unsteady breaths. When did my communicator turn back on? Everything slammed into me at once, the pain, the fatigue, everything. I dropped to my knees, hands on the ground as I gasped.

A hand touched my shoulder and I lifted my head to see Vicki knelt there. "You shouldn't push yourself that hard," she said. "Come on, we have to get out of here."

I slipped my arm over her shoulder and she helped me stand. I leaned heavily on her, gasping for breath as I trudged along next to her. A hovercar waited for us on the street above. She sat me down in the back seat, across from a man changing out of a prisoner's uniform. A long scar ran down through his eye and through his lips, splitting off in several directions and bridging his nose at one point.

"So, you're the hacker to whom I owe my life," he said. His thick voice filled the car, intriguing me.

"I am," I said. I pulled my helmet off, allowing the cool air to chill my skin.

"Thank you very much, I am in your debt," he said.

"Thank you," I said. "I'm so tired, I'm just gonna take a short nap." I slumped against Vicki, my head finding her shoulder and I gave into the darkness closing over me. I woke up the next morning in my own bed wearing a pair of sweatpants and a loose fitting shirt.

I walked out into the main area of the apartment to see Nick and Vicki sitting in the living room watching the news. My arms and leg still felt heavy as I stood there watching the news. Everything looked the same, nothing about any prison break out.

"Oh, good morning," Vicki said. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore mostly," I admitted. "What time is it?"

"Seven in the morning, don't worry, you aren't late for your shift yet," she said. "You did good last night."

"Thank you," I said. "Do we have anything to eat?"

Vicki smiled and walked over to the kitchen. "What do you want?"

And just like that, a week passed without incident.