Glitched

Chapter 21

((Laila's POV))

I stood there in the darkness, frozen.  I was having a difficult time fully processing his words as he kept walking.  

Yeah, I highly doubt that.  

What did he mean?  Did he think that the Viruses were always going to be Viruses forever?  That there was nothing that could fix them.  He stopped walking and spun around to face me.

"Hello?  Are you okay?  What, are we not walking together anymore?" He asked, waving at me.

How could he act like that, be completely Alright after what he just said?  How could he be Okay with what he thought?  I walked up to him, hoping I was keeping the right pace that I was supposed to.  When I caught up, he spun back around and we walked side by side once again.

"Took you long enough," he said in an almost whispering tone.

"What do you mean by: 'I highly doubt that'?" I asked him.

He bit his lip and shrugged.  He seemed to shrug a lot.

"I just...  I don't..." he took in a breath, stopping his sentence.

"You don't what?" I asked, Confused.  I didn't understand what he was trying to say.  Why did he stop speaking?  Why couldn't he have just finished his sentence?

"When we got here, Reggie basically told us Viruses that there's no curing us Viruses.  That we're chipless, that's the way it is and always will be." 

I gasped.  He told the Viruses that?  Why?  He didn't have proof of that, did he?  He couldn't be completely positive of that, could he?  And there was always a chance, if they kept up with the testing, that one day they'd fid a cure.  Right?

Maybe he told them that so they wouldn't go back to the Lab.  Maybe he told the Viruses that so they'd stay in the New World and not in some cold dark Lab.  Once again, I felt that same emotion of intense Annoyance and Frustration that I felt when I learned that the robot guard was disabled.  It made me stomp my foot down, hard, and clutch my hands.  It made me heat up.

"That's not entirely true!  He doesn't know that for sure!  He shouldn't have said that!  They're working on it, 381, and they will find a cure, they will!  Eventually!  Eventually!  Viruses are not going to be chipless forever!  Forever is forever, and forever never ends.  Sometime, maybe soon, maybe not for a long time, but they will find a cure!  It just takes time!  Everything takes time!  Nothing is impossible when it comes to forever!  Unless it's completely unthinkable, but finding a cure for the Viruses is not unthinkable!  It's thinkable!  It's thinkable!" I said, my voice getting louder and louder.  I realized I had even stopped walking.

381 laughed and put his hands up.  "Woah, easy there.  Calm down, I can practically see how red your face is.  Take deep breaths.  In, and out.  In, and out."

I inhaled and exhaled three times and then gently touched my face.  It was warm.  

"There you go.  Not so Angry anymore, huh?" he asked.

I tilted my head. Confused at this.  Angry...  what is Angry?  Is it an emotion?  

"What is Angry?" I asked him, my voice quiet.

381 scrunched up his eyebrows, and took a step forward.  He slightly mimicked my head tilt, and crossed his arms.

"Wait...  you don't know what anger is?  You've never been angry before?" he asked, speaking as if this was common knowledge that only I didn't know.