CODES

T H I R T Y - E I G H T

My blood ran cold. I inched back. Had Zara fully taken possession of Clara's body just as Polk had hinted? No. This couldn't be happening. Clara wasn't even a Code, she had partial nanos in her system, nothing else. So how? Why?

She leaned back, pursed her lips, and hummed. "Don't you look confused," she said. "I think it's obvious, isn't it?"

Why hadn't Xerses and Matthews come around the corner? I needed them. I couldn't fight Clara. It was against every fiber of my being to hurt her.

She quietly chuckled inside her throat. "You poor dear," Clara's voice slowly shifted, deepening, and Zara's tone became clearer, "you look completely lost."

I took a step back. I looked behind her again. The lights in the hall flickered, almost matching the panel glows on the wall. I thought I saw shadows in the distance.

"My love Hank is doing all he can to give my life to me. He's in the process of recreating me, but I'll be in Clara for the meantime. Between you and me," she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, "I don't want to leave."

"You need to leave," I chewed on the insides of my cheeks, "give Clara back her body."

"Oh, Doll—" She came closer. Her hand slid over my shoulder as she dipped her head and cooed. "What if she doesn't want to come back?"

I clenched my jaw, pushing her hand away. She couldn't call me that. That was Clara's name. And why wouldn't she want to come back?

"Shut up," I whispered, taking another step back.

"You've spent this entire year lying to her, hiding your pasts. She knows, Roger, and she's hurt." She pouted. "I think her life would be better without you."

Baring my teeth, I growled. "You think or she thinks?"

"We've been talking." She pursed her lips. "And she isn't happy."

Zara was playing with me. I couldn't listen to her. She tried this before, and had every Code under her thumb; I was the one who got away.

"Roger!" Xerses called out for me, his voice sounding farther than I hoped. How far had I walked from the stairs? Had he and Matthews gone too far in the opposite direction? "Roger, where are you?"

"I'm here!" I shouted. "I'm in the hall with—"

Clara's hand shot out, fingers wrapping around my neck. I felt the pressure against my Adam's apple and choked. She squeezed.

"Doll," I let out a struggling whisper.

Clara shook her head. Her lips pulled up into a sinister grin. As I looked into her brown eyes, I reminded myself that she wasn't my Clara. She was Zara. And If I didn't fight back, she could hurt me, or herself, somehow.

Her grip tightened and I squeezed my eyes shut. "Clara," I choked, "if... you... can hear me... please..."

Zara pushed harder until I lifted my chin. I looked at her with hooded eyes.

"Fight... back."

There was no response. Her hand quickly shot up over my head. I reacted. I grabbed her wrist, twisting it back so that she'd stop.

She grimaced and squeezed my neck harder. I kicked at her leg to make her fall.

"Shit! Roger!" Xerses' voice rang as rushing, running footsteps hurried down the hall. I turned my head to the side, spotting his shadow. Matthews wasn't far behind him.

"This was always the plan," Zara laughed, moving her face close to mine. "We were all supposed to live this way, take possession of the right body and soul."

I tried to move away but the wall hindered me. "No one wanted this," I hissed.

"Do you know that?" Her breath bounced off my lips. "You left so early because of this woman, you forget the plan, you forget what you promised."

I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't forget; I remembered it all. But this wasn't the plan. We wanted to have our lives back and would fight to get it. The plan wasn't to live in the minds of other people.

When Zara appeared in the Void and told us we had to do it, everyone cried. Everyone pleaded for a different way.

Zara was the problem. And would always be.

Or am I the problem because I left them, running to Clara?

Tears burned in my eyes as I looked back at Zara. "I promised to help them live... and I've done that."

"Is that why Codes are in prisons? Because of the memories saved in the walls behind you?"

"Get off of him!" Xerses snatched Zara by her sleeve, yanking her off of me. She fell back and without her hand around my neck, I could breathe again. I slid against the wall, my hooded eyes fixated on her as she tried to push herself back up again. Xerses held her down. And Matthews came to my side.

Matthews dropped down to his knee beside me, his fingers gently prodding at my neck. I glanced at him as I wheezed. Zara had done damage, hadn't she? Clara had the nanos of a Code; she definitely felt as strong as one.

"Are ya okay?" He grabbed my chin and turned my head so I looked directly at him. He focused on my face, and my eyes, then his gaze passed over my neck. "Shit, can ya breathe?"

Closing my eyes, I listened to the thrashing across from me, Xerses' grunts as he tried to hold her in one place, and I slowly drew in a deep breath. I could breathe. The damage hadn't been done to my lungs.

"Your Province is filled with liars, with manipulators, and you," Zara shouted, "all of you, are helping! You're putting innocent people in 'domes,' taking away their rights, because of what? Of their past? A past that wasn't in their favor to begin with!"

She had a point. I couldn't argue with anything she had just said because I agreed. Our memories were hidden from us because we were dangerous, or so I believed. I went through mine, I'd seen and remembered what I'd done, but I was no longer that person. The Codes forced into confinement weren't either. They were innocent as they've always been.

"Until you let them go, Hank won't stop!" Zara pushed herself up, knocking Xerses down to the ground. He hissed but managed to grab her leg to knock her down. Even on the floor, she continued, eyes focused on me, "He won't stop and he's made the army to do it."

This was the second time I heard about an army. An army of what? I could imagine some Codes that had sided with him, but was it enough to overthrow the power Polk wanted to challenge? It couldn't be. Most of the Codes were forced into the Domes in the city and neighboring states.

I need to know.

Rubbing my hand over my neck, I scooted away from the wall, legs sprawled in front of me, so I could get closer to her. I placed one hand on the floor as I tilted my head. "What the hell are you talking about?" I said, my voice hoarse and raspy. "What army? If there was an army, we would've seen them by now."

Brown waves fell over her multicolored eyes. Her lips pulled back into a grin. She didn't fight Xerses as he grabbed her by the arm to make her sit up. When his arms wrapped around her shoulder, she laughed through gritted teeth. "You'll see them soon," she hissed.

"Where?" Matthews stood, fists at his side. "Where the fuck are they?"

She laughed again. Saliva slipped onto her lip. Her gaze passed up over his legs to his face. A low chuckle echoed in her throat. "Where the machines make them."

My brows shot up. My jaw dropped. "Machines?" I looked over at Xerses. "Polk's building an army?"