The Altered.

Chapter LXXIII.

When Miles plugged the charging cable back into the laptop, nothing happened.

His mind was racing. Had he done something wrong? Had the software downloaded improperly? Would it not be powerful enough, like Lia had suggested? Maybe this was just a completely stupid idea, and an antivirus wasn't going to be enough to combat a worldwide infection.

But the Vega Sector tower was where they'd needed to be. Miles was sure of it. Marissa had started the virus and if she hadn't been killed - if Miles hadn't found her dead in the ghost town - she would have been able to prevent this entire apocalypse from even happening. But she had died, so it was up to Miles and his friends. And he was sure he'd rifled through enough of Marissa's abandoned research to be certain that they were taking this the right way.

Nobody spoke for the entirety of the following minute, almost like they were holding a vigil for everything they'd lost and for everything they were yet to lose. They were definitely doomed, and it was probably Miles' fault.

His shoulders slumped. Weariness and a hollow aching in his chest suddenly gripped him. So many people had died - so many more than Miles even knew of - leading up to this moment, and here Miles stood, in the room full of the most powerful technology in the world. And nothing was happening.

He wanted to kick something. He also wanted to cry.

Then, a deafening crack. It sounded like a bolt of lightning had hit the tower, and it would have knocked Miles off his feet if he didn't fall back into Percy. The enormous noise was succeeded by a stream of soft, distant beeps, and then a low whirring that was almost a growling. The static on the screen of all the computers in the room slowly started to fizz and die out, crackling obnoxiously to add to the chorus of painful computer noises all sounding concurrently.

The screens started to flash. Not with light or colour, just flashing on and off; showing documents, home screens, open browsers. Probably displaying whatever had been on the screen before the virus had hit it. Flashing, flashing, flashing, until, finally, with another horrible, broken clap of noise, all the computer screens died completely.

The lights overhead in the room flickered on and off, weakly buzzing. Miles could feel himself starting to quiver - whatever was happening felt dangerous.

Sparks started to fly. Quite literally. The ceiling lights blew; some of the bulbs shattered and sent glass raining down. The security cameras in the corners started to swivel, little red lights blinking on each of them.

"What's going on?" Lia demanded, sounding as scared as Miles felt.

Miles couldn't respond; he was trying to figure that out as well.

"We need to get out of here!"

Miles whirled to see Percy backing away towards the exit. He was right. It was dangerous in the room, and the sooner they got out, the better. Without a second thought, Miles followed Percy, and it didn't seem anybody else had any objections, either. The teens scrambled over one another, clambering for the door in a desperate attempt to make it out.

Miles burst through the exit, catching the sight of the ID pad out of the corner of his eye. Unidentified infectious malware, it warned, flashing read. Miles almost rolled his eyes at the device - it was already obvious that there was something attacking the system.

Luca came through the door just in time. It slammed closed after him, the frosted glass that it was made of glowing red around the rims.

The entire tower was in chaos.

"Guys!" Percy was standing with his face pressed hard against the glass walls of the hallway, staring down to where the outdoor courtyard was, four levels below them. "You have to see this."

Miles raced to Percy's side without hesitation, reaching to touch the glass with his hands. The glass was so transparent that it almost felt like it wasn't there - with part of himself touching it, he could be reassured that there was a barrier between him and the ground.

For a moment, Miles was back on the library rooftop. He was on the edge, with the wind in his hair and not a care in the world. If he fell, he fell; he wasn't going to stop it. But then he wasn't on the edge any longer; he was in Aaron's arms. Aaron's hair was tickling his cheeks and over the noise in his head, Miles could make out Aaron's frantic words.

Vertigo hit, and Miles was suddenly brought back to the present.

He was in the tower, with Percy and the rest of the group gathering around him, their eyes fixed on the courtyard far below them. Glued to the scene that was playing out.

Around them, alarms had started to blare in the tower. Lights were still flickering and security computers were still beeping. But in the courtyard, the countless Altered were starting to stop moving. One by one, they shuddered and dropped like flies. Some managed to fall into fountains or bushes; others just collapsed on the pavement. At first, fear coursed through Miles, but then he realised what was happening.

It was almost like... they were shutting down. Just as a computer did when it needed to update or reboot.

"Are they dying?" Luca squealed.

"No, no," Miles whispered, slowly sinking to his knees as dizziness gripped him. He looked away from the window to distract his brain from the will to fall. "They're only sleeping."

Luca looked confused for a few seconds before all of a sudden, everything stopped.

Everything. All at once.

The Altered were all on the ground. The lights stopped flickering and went dark completely. Silence replaced the constant whirring and beeping of computers. ID pads on every door went completely blank. Computers let out a final sad buzz and stopped working entirely.

Everything was shutting down.

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+1006 Words.

Penultimate chapter... oh my.