CODES

T W EN T Y - T H R E E

That night, I stroked the gun I'd taken from the Dome. Polk, not Prime, had ordered their removal. He wanted them destroyed. But I managed to take one with me.

And as I walked up the stairs to my apartment, I watched the light gleam along its side. I didn't take my eyes off of it, mesmerized. I turned it, flipped it. I didn't even pay attention as I keyed in the numbers to unlock the door. But when it opened and someone moved inside, I finally looked up. Fast.

"Clara?" I whispered as I stood in the doorway.

Clara looked at me as she held a bookbag in one hand. In the other were clothes. Without missing a beat, she pressed the tee into the opening, then turned for the bathroom. "I'm just restocking," she said.

"Restocking?" Closing the door, I placed the handgun under a cushion on the couch and followed after her. "Doll, you don't need to restock, just come back home."

Clara bent into the bottom cabinet and pulled out an unopened bottle of soap. It went into her bag, followed by a lotion. "I can't come home," she said.

"Why?" I looked down into her eyes as she stood up. I wanted to reach out and hold her, but I knew she wouldn't let me. So, why would I bother? "This is where you live. Where we live."

"Codes are getting new homes now."

Wow. That was it, wasn't it? Was she going to put me on the street next? Force me to live in the Domes with the others? "Clara... I don't know what you're trying to say."

"I'm saying—" She closed the cabinet with her foot and weaved out of the bathroom, brushing up against my arm. There had been another bag packed and closed, sitting on the bed. She grabbed it and moved the strap over her shoulder. "—that lying to me got you nowhere, and if I have to stay at my best friend's house to hang out with his girlfriend, the only person who never kept me out of things, I will. Because you and X—"

When she rolled her eyes, I couldn't take it. I reached out. I grabbed her arm and let my hand slide down until I reached her fingers. To my surprise, she didn't pull away. But she didn't hold me back, either. "Doll," I whispered, "we did what we thought we needed to do to protect you and Erica."

Clara blinked up at me. "None of that stopped Polk from coming back, right?" She shook her head. "But that doesn't matter, anyway. He's changed. He's good. Everything he's doing—"

"Clara," I squeezed her fingers, "he's the one who ruined everything. His creations, his actions, started the VF takeover Did you forget that?"

"No." She pursed her lips and looked at me as if I said something unbelievable. "Did you forget what really happened? It was Zara. Everything was her."

She was right. It was his wife. But that was beside the point. If he hadn't created VFs, if he hadn't forced her into a machine then none of this would've happened. The digital war wouldn't have become a thing. "Clara, you're forgetting that he's an awful person who's done horrible things?"

She finally pulled away from me. When she stepped back, she'd stepped on the fallen remote to the television. I'd been using it, instead of my digital systems, to feel human; without Clara... I felt incomplete.

The television on the wall came to life. The news played the day's updates. The broadcaster looked apologetic at the screen. "After unexpected events, the unveiling of the Domes, the Province's new project for our Code citizens, has been placed on hold. While Codes all over New Chicago are demanding updates and information, the Rebel protestors are calling this a win."

"Roger, don't act like you're perfect," Clara hissed. "Didn't you do horrible things? Weren't you a bad person? You told me that before, remember that? You said it all the time that you were a bad bad man."