Firewall

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Mark?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure this is allowed?"

"Of course it is, anyone in stage three or higher can stay up as late as they want"

"But..."

"Come on, I want to show you something"

Jack muttered something under his breath as he hesitantly followed Mark through the darkness, looking around wildly as he didn't want to trip over something "th-this is kinda spooky" he whispered "h-how much farther do we have to go?"

"It's just here" Mark suddenly stopped walking right as he neared a building that looked like it was close to falling apart; several bricks stuck out from their original places, the cement dry and heavily cracked. Jack flinched as Mark suddenly grabbed hold of one of these bricks and pulled himself off the ground, his feet going to stand on another brick "watch me" he instructed as he began climbing. Jack gaped at him as he went so high he was able to climb onto the roof "its okay, the roof is still sturdy" he called down "now it's your turn!"

"What!? I can't do that!" Jack cried, backing away "I-I'll fall!"

"Not if you're careful. Come on, I'll help you" Mark extended his much longer arm down the side of the building "see? I can grab you in case you fall"

Jack gawked at his amazing reach "w-wait... If you can do that, then just pull me up!"

"You have to learn to do things the hard way" Mark looked down at him "climbing is a great skill to have. Now come on" he gave a reassuring smile "I believe in you!"

Jack whimpered before grabbing a brick, shaking as he stepped up onto another "yeah, just like that" Mark encouraged him "now you see that other one by your foot? Go to that one... There you go! Now keep on coming up!"

"Oohhhhhh Mark I hate this!" Jack hissed through clenched teeth, shaking as he glanced down "hey, eyes on me" Mark drew Jack's attention back up to him "just keep climbing, don't look anywhere but the bricks and me."

"H-How high am I?" Jack huffed after a while, his smaller hands beginning to shake "that doesn't matter, you're almost there" Mark smiled "come on, just a few more steps!"

Jack grunted as he managed to grab hold of the roof's edge, kicking at the wall as he began to pull himself up "great job!" Mark made room for Jack to swing up a leg and roll onto the roof, his narrower chest heaving "m-my hands hurt" he wheezed, sitting up to look at his fragile palms "they'll get tougher" Mark stood up "now come on, we've got just enough time."

"F-For what?" Jack felt his heart lurch, afraid that he would have to climb some more "we're going to the Firewall" Mark said, helping him up.

"The... Firewall?" Jack stared at Mark "what!? But... But... I'm not ready to go there yet! Felix is gonna get SO mad at you!"

"No he won't, because I have permission" Mark reassured "Felix wants you to see this just as much as I do."

"Uh... Okayyyy?" Jack frowned in the general direction from where he had climbed up "what's so important for me to risk death for?"

"Oh come on, that was not dangerous at all" Mark went to Jack's side and pointed up at the huge wall that surrounded the entire community "but when you get up there, you'll want to do that same thing over and over again." He smiled almost to himself.