Overtaken

Looks Like They Actually Do Need Us For Once

A/N: Why hello there, reader. I have been extra nice and spent hours poring over this chapter to perfect it for you when I could be watching Supernatural. Note: dragonsinthewind is a cowriter of this who just got Wattpad so go follow her.

Anyway, I hope you're all having a good Christmas break so far. Just remember that impending doom is approaching in the form of school. XD So here we go!!!

Word Count: 1600 approx.

The knocking struck again, sending a fresh wave of fear through me- this time more intense. My mother, as if jolted from a deep sleep, rose from her seat and slowly made her way to the door. I tried to get up to follow her, but my limbs seemed frozen in the awkward knot the previous conversation had left them in. What a cruel person I was to just sit there. Heart thumping, I just watched, wondering when I became so obnoxiously self-centered.

Toby says I react to fear strangely- apparently it doesn't show on the outside.

As my insides overrode with unease, the next few seconds felt like eons to me. It felt like a thousand hands were rummaging through my stomach at their ease. The tension was unbearable. Each step towards the door confirmed our fast-approaching doom. There was no way we are just going to get out of this. In the final tense moment where my mother's hand was on the door, the familiar sensation of falling greeted me again. Another loop. What fun.

Moments later, I found myself standing back in the Hub's study hall among about 70 people. But now it had been wiped of all furnishings except for the screens on the walls and the long bar-shaped lights on the ceiling. Fear raced through my heart. Why would Google send us back through the loop? I looked over to where the hackers had broken the system before. It looked almost completely the same except for a blurry line down the side where it had clearly been patched up. To think Google could fix years of work in the space of seconds. Brutally revoking us of our brief moment of superiority. In the fuzzy blue glow of the lights, I caught glimpse of Toby and my mother as they materialized beside me. Well. Look on the bright side. At least I wasn't alone in whatever this was.

"They've really got to stop doing that," said Toby, disgruntled. "It's doing my head in." I nodded and muttered

"Well, that's their job, I suppose. To make life hell for us." Toby let out a small laugh. It echoed through the hall, unceremoniously breaking the strained silence and reminding us of the tension. The constant tension. Trying to distract myself, I scanned the room quickly. In the opposite corner of the room was a group of Google representatives huddled around a large map on a highly polished screen. My memory went racing back to the last time something like this had happened- when I was 6.

The drafty room was lit faintly with the glow of screens. At least 15 representatives stood at the front of the room with long metal tasers and screens in their gloved hands, conversing in quick tongues. I was scared. No, I was terrified. Beside me was my brother Toby. I clung to his arm in fear, hoping for some reassurance. None came. My mother bent down and whispered to us

"Alex. Toby. Some scary people are going to come. They're going to ask you some questions about what happened. Pretend you know nothing about the hackers. Pretend you weren't there. Can you do that for me? Is that okay?" I nodded uncertainly, confused.

"But mommy, why? You were helping us." I said quietly. "We should tell them you were helping us and that they are the bad ones." Tears clouding her flinty green eyes, she replied softly

"I know, but they don't believe that. Do it for me? Please, Alex? And you, Toby?" Her voice broke and tears slipped down her cheeks. "Can you pretend for me? Pretend for Mommy?" I nodded again. Toby and I ran in to hug her, desperate for protection. But I didn't get it. Why would people hurt Mommy for doing the right thing? And it was at that moment, I understood it all in the simplest of forms; these people were bad and they were not trying to help us. They were trying to hurt us.