CODES

F O R T Y - T W O:

"Okay, okay," I breathed, turning back to Zara. I dropped down beside her and cupped her face, inspecting her. As my thumbs passed over her cheeks, I noticed the red rimming her eyes. I scanned her and caught the disruption with her nanos. "I know it hurts, Zara," I whispered. "But I need you to hold on, okay?"

She squeezed her eyes shut. The groan that followed made me worry. Not only for her but for Clara; what would happen if their minds were stuck in this state?

I gently laid her down and turned back for Xerses. He had pulled himself up, his fingers pressing the bottom keys of the computer.

"X, X," I called to him as I approached. But he didn't look at me. He continued to struggle, pulling himself up to look at the computer's screen.

I dipped my head. "X, forget it, just leave it," I said.

He didn't look at me. As he grimaced, he continued to hit the keys.

"X?" I quickly walked to him and touched his shoulder. He jumped as if I surprised him. The way he looked at me, rolling his head around his shoulders, that was genuine. With a pained sigh, he pressed his head against his hands.

He can't hear me.

I clenched my jaw and gently shook Xerses' shoulder.

Was it the shock to the receptors? Did it damage their eardrums?

Biting the insides of my cheeks, I looked back at Zara. When I thought of it, she hadn't answered me either.

"Okay," I looked back at Xerses and touched the computer in front of him, "can you read my lips?" I spoke slowly, just in case.

He nodded as he rolled his head around his shoulders.

"Good," I sighed and looked over at Polk. He hadn't left, though he had the chance. My attention was elsewhere.

I turned back to Xerses. "Look, I'm going to find Matthews. Something is happening." I paused, waiting for confirmation. When he nodded again, I continued, "If you can reverse what you just did... do it."

"Reversing won't work!" Polk cackled. "The damage is done!"

Unable to hear what was said, Xerses struggled to stand up. He leaned against the computer, his trembling hand pressed keys. I stepped away from him. It was Xerses and I knew, despite the state he was in, he would be able to do this.

"Alright." I turned back to Polk, quickly pulling him up by the collar of his shirt. I dragged him to the door. "You're coming with me."

*

Polk, still laughing, stumbled into the hallway as I tossed him from the opened door. He turned and pressed his back against the walls, but before he had another smart-ass answer, I grabbed him again and dragged him with me.

I tapped into my internal communications. "Matthews, are you there?"

A whisper of static. "I'm here," Matthews said after a minute. "I got nowhere else to go."

As I headed down the hall, in the direction we had first came through, I eyed the panels on the wall. The lights on each of them were off. Had the "weapon" shut them down, too?

"Are you all right?" I asked Matthews.

Another whisper, then I roar of static. I turned my head as if it would stop it. "I mean.... What?" he responded.

I saw the stairs we'd come down from, then it hit me. Matthews would be fine, he had his receptor removed years ago when he joined Peace. The waves from the weapons wouldn't have done anything to him.

I gritted my teeth as I searched the walls for the door Matthews said we missed. "Hey, is the door you want through obvious?" I asked. "Or, is it—"

Before I could finish my question, a slender opened. Matthew poked his head out; I made out the earpiece on the side of his head. I smirked for a second before quickly remembering we didn't have the time—for anything.

"Hey—oh, what's he doing here? Rog? Rog? ROG!" Matthews shouted, stumbling back as I pushed past him; I never let Polk go and continued to drag him. His cackling finally cut short once we entered the open room. I tossed him in front of me and watched him scramble to his feet.

With hard huffs, Polk turned in a circle. "You've let them out?" He laughed. "Shit, do you know what you've done?"

"I didn't do shit." Matthews came back into the space, pointing at Polk. "The fuckin' robots you built just—"

"They reacted to the button your friend pushed." Polk's fierce eyes looked back at me, then he narrowed his gaze. "You did me a favor releasing the memories of the world."

"Memories?" I stepped back. "What does that mean?"

Zara had something like this, didn't she?

Polk stepped away from me, inching toward the open door in the corner of the room. The corner of his lip twitched into a smirk. "Codes need data, I couldn't make empty shells. I couldn't fight the government with the handful of Codes who decided to join me." He extended his arms as he moved further back. "Those access files the Province tried to lock away worked in my favor."

He bolted. He turned and bolted for the door. I should've run after him but I was stuck. His army was made up of sealed memory files; his army was us.

"Rog, he gettin' away!" Matthews pushed by me but stopped once he got to the door. His hands pushed into his hair as he turned and looked at me. "Why'd ya let him go? Why?"

"I don't... know." How was I supposed to answer him? I didn't know. I could've grabbed him. I shouldn't have let him go at all.

Instead, images of my past passed through my mind, the people I hurt, the friends I left behind; were they Codes now? Is that what Polk did?

"Roger, we got to move." Matthews put his hands on my shoulders and shook me. "We need to go!"

Matthews turned, quickly running for the door.

I had to follow. I had to do something.

But what?

*

I crashed into Matthews as we reached a set of spiral stairs leading to the floors above us. I grabbed the railing as we ran. The sound of our pounding footsteps echoed in the small space. How a large number of Codes could travel up these steps was beyond me, but kept up, kept moving.

I lost count of the number of spiral spins we took up, but that thought ended when Matthews opened a metal door with a twist of a handle. Sunlight broke through the shadows.

Knowing that Polk's army came through here, that was who I expected to see; instead, we stood at the end of an empty parking lot. Polk stood in the middle of it, his hands in his hair, spinning in a circle.

"Where did they go? Why aren't they here?" he hissed until he fully turned around and saw us. He bared his teeth. "Where is my army!" he shouted.

I spread my hand out, stepping in front of Matthews; he needed to stay behind. Polk was a Code like me. And we were stronger than your average person.

I lifted my chin. "What did you program them to do?"

"Program? They don't have programming!" His hands balled into fists at his side. "They're your memories! Every Codes memories! They—"

It hit me. He made machines with all repressed thoughts, emotions, and feelings we hadn't thought of for over eighty years. And he expected his 'army' to obey him? So many of us were rebels. So many of us lost so much.

They weren't going to listen to him. They were given the freedom to run from their chains.

I lowered my hands. "Polk—"

"Hank, they're doing what you promised them." Zara's voice echoed from behind us. I quickly turned back to see Zara leaning against the doorframe. She looked exhausted, sweat on her brow. She frown as she extended a hand. "You promised them freedom and that's what they're looking for. They don't need you."