OVERRIDE

Chapter 21 Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

Subject: Jordan

Location: West DC Middle School

Date: December 3rd, 2514

Time: 8:07 pm

Government Monitoring: Error, could not fetch information.

Override Status: Error, could not fetch information.

Code: Red

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I was sitting in the auditorium, and it was seven minutes into the show. Peyton and Gracie were sitting on both sides of me, however, Lia never made it for the start of the show. Peyton had left the auditorium to call her a few times, but she never answered.

Suddenly, I began to become a bit...suspicious?....was that the word?

Wait a minute, what was this horrible pain I was feeling in my stomach? I felt as if something terrible was going on.

I quickly searched my web-based brain to describe what was happening here. Thanks Oxford Dictionary...

Intuition- Using or basing on what one feels to be true even without conscience reasoning. Instinctive.

What?! This is what feeling is like?! It was so horrible! I felt sick to my stomach that something bad was happening to Lia. I couldn't really describe why though.

I just knew that Ricky had her. He HAD to have her.

However, being the confused, ignorant, and oblivious little robot, I just sat there, trying to ignore the pulse that somehow resurfaced in my head, and the worried emotions I felt.

Hold up. I was feeling.

I WAS FEELING!

"C'mon!" I cried to Peyton and Gracie. I grabbed both their hands and stood up, leading them out of the auditorium.

I needed to find Lia before I overrid myself. I knew now, that nothing could stop the horrid emotions I felt. I was going to blow up at any minute, so I needed to get back to the laboratory, and somehow find Lia.

"Where are we going?" Asked Gracie when I pulled both of the girls out of the auditorium and into the lobby.

"Listen." I said, bending down on one knee and looking at both of them. "You need to pay very close attention for what I'm about to say, because it will affect what's about to go down."

I felt myself become...scared and nervous...Ricky had Lia, which I figured was gonna start something problematic. I needed to act fast.

"Alright." I sighed. "You two, gather up Kara and then go back to your apartment and put on warm clothes. We are going to have to leave this place."

With every second I spent talking to them, the more nervous and anxious I felt about Lia. She could be dead, for all I know, wherever she was at. Ricky was holding her hostage, and probably doing some very bad things to her.

"Wait, why do we have to leave?" Peyton sneered.

"Peyton, this is no time for your sass!" I yelled. She shut up afterwards. "You need to just listen, go home, get your warmest clothes on, then wait until I come back with Lia, do you understand?" I stared at Peyton square in the eye.

And for once, I think she mutually understood something without it having to be said. She nodded, took Gracie's hand and headed back into the auditorium to get Kara.

As for me, I ran out to my car and started the ignition. It wouldn't start.

Crap.

I began to panic. Then I remembered, I could run up to 50 miles an hour.

Whatever. I thought. Who cares if people think I'm insane as I pass them, running as fast as a car.

I started jogging out of the parking lot. Then, the sidewalk outside of the school. Finally, I decided go full force, and ran 45 miles an hour. I didn't want to strain myself running 50, because I hadn't run like this for a long time. I felt a burn in my muscles as I ran, and I thought that they were legitimately on fire. Pain was so awful. Why would anyone want to be a human if all they felt was pain all the time?

About twenty minutes later, I made it to the huge mansion, that doubled up as the science laboratory because Ricky was a physicist and chemist himself. I stood by the guard gate, and the guy glared at me.

"No tours today, son, you'll have to come back next week."

"No, sir." I began. "My name is Jordan, I need to see Mr. Stevens-"

"LET HIM IN, PATRICK!" Cried a voice from a hidden microphone. Patrick gave me a perplexed look, then opened the grand gates to let me in through the long driveway. This was the residential side of the mansion. I needed to get to the lab.

I knocked on the front doors of Ricky's huge mansion. It was designed with Greek influence, so I stood on white marble steps next to fancy columns.

A Butler answered the door and let me in. He led me to Ricky's office.

I stood by the doorway, and watched as Ricky was signing some papers.

"Ahem." I said, not sure what exactly to do.

"Oh," he said, looking up. He removed his glasses and out down his pen. "Hello, Jordan, what brings you here this evening?"

"I need to visit the lab real quick, may I go?" Mr. Stevens was always pretty chill with me.

Without a second thought, Ricky shrugged. "Sure." He said. "Just don't go into the third hallway."

A lightbulb went off in my head. "Why?"

Ricky shrugged again. "There's just some testing going on, no biggie."

But I knew it was a biggie. He was probably holding Lia in one of the cells in the laboratory.

"Alright." I said. I walked past him and hurriedly made my way back outside and around the back of the mansion to the Lab.

I'm gonna die. I thought. This override business is for real. I pressed my hand into the palm-reader, and then front doors unlocked a moment later.

This was it. I was standing in the ever-so-famous lab of his. I watched a pack of five guards walk right past me, holding shotguns, and then about eight men in lab coats wander by, all talking about something science-y.

Ions. They were talking about ions.

Without thinking, I snuck into the third hallway. I originally came here to quickly ask for some aid with my pulsing, but I decided that Lia was more important now, so I ignored the horrible pain in my head and ran down the hallway, to the very last room. The door was made of metal and was locked.

There was only one way to open it.

Me.