“What?” Kara stared at the needle in her hand.
“Do you trust me?”
“Brentt, I–”
“Do you trust me?” she yelled.
“Y-yeah. Yeah, I do.”
“Good,” Salvi stabbed the needle into her butt. Kara winced and looked at her like she was crazy. “Get dressed in that nurse’s uniform,” Salvi said, moving back to the door. “I’m getting Bronte and we’re getting the hell out of here.”
16: RISE ABOVE
Salvi slid quickly along the wall to the window of Bronte’s room. Her heart was racing now, as the Fyte flushed through her system; the heat within soaring and the sweat beginning to build on her forehead. She felt the adrenaline rushing into her bloodstream, felt her confidence rising, felt strong.
Felt invincible.
Felt like utterly destroying this place and everyone in it.
She peered through the window and breathed a sigh of relief to see Bronte still inside. He lay there asleep as his male nurse worked the console beside him, back turned to the corridor. She pulled away from the window, took a deep breath, then swiped Erica’s bloodied chip over the door console. The door opened and she ran at the nurse with speed as he turned around.
“What are y–”
She threw a hard fist in the man’s face and he groaned in pain, stumbling back. She immediately pushed him back against the bench, as she pressed the shard of data pane against his throat.
“There’s cameras everywhere!” he said, voice all nasally and bleeding. “You can’t get out.”
“Watch me!” Salvi hissed, taking the shard and stabbing it into his shoulder. He screamed in pain as Kara appeared at the door, eyes wide with Fyte, aiming her taser at them.
“Shoot him!” Salvi barked to Kara, throwing him to the floor, and shoving the shard back in her pocket. Kara fired at the man, locking his body up, while Salvi moved to Bronte.
“Bronte!” she yelled, unbinding him. “Bronte! Wake up!”
She looked back at Kara, who now stood inside the room, watching the corridor and darting her Fyte-filled eyes to the unconscious man on the floor.
“Bronte!” Salvi said again, slapping his face hard. “Wake up!”
He opened his eyes groggily. She kept slapping him. She didn’t have time to be nice, and it was hard to control herself with the Fyte coursing through her veins.
Bronte eventually raised his hands to protect his face, startled, rolling away and falling off the bed. He hit the floor with a thud, which seemed to raise his alertness, realized he was naked, then looked up at her.
“Salvi?” his brow furrowed as he covered himself; the wig she wore confusing him, as he glanced between her and Kara.
“Get up!” she hissed. “We’re leaving. I know your head hurts, but we need to move!” she said. “Hurry!” She slid over to the unconscious nurse and began removing his clothes and throwing them at Bronte, who didn’t hesitate to put them on. They mostly fit, but he couldn’t button the shirt over, and he had to leave the man’s shoes behind and go barefoot.
Salvi slid back to Bronte again and pulled the third syringe from her pocket.
“What the fuck?” he said, eyeing it.
“We have to Fyte our way out,” she said, heart racing, breath panting, eyes wired and probably looking a little crazy right now. She stabbed it into his thigh, and he grunted, then she grabbed his shirt in her fist and pulled him closer.
“We have to Fyte our way out, Bronte! Fyte! Got it?”
Bronte nodded, and she pulled him upright and they moved to the door again. She noticed Bronte was a little unsteady on his feet, dizzy, and he shook his head as though trying to clear it. She hoped the Fyte would soon clear the grogginess from his surgery.
“Which way?” Kara said, as they reached her.
Bronte ran his hand down over his face but paused when his fingers caught on one of his neural devices. “What the…?”
Salvi pulled his hand away. “Forget it now. We deal with that later. We have to get out of here.”
He stared at her still confused and she pulled her wig off painfully to show him her devices. He stared at them, horrified, and felt his own again.
“Fuck…” he breathed.
She nodded, her face twisting with emotion as her eyes stung once more. “I know… Now come on before they use them against us!”
They peered out into the empty corridor, then Salvi led them back the way she had come. As she did, the double doors ahead opened.
Travis stood there with the two guards.
“I think you’ve gone far enough!” he said, as the guards raised their taser weapons.
Kara swiftly moved beside Salvi and raised her taser back at them.
“Drop it!” the guard yelled.
“Aren’t those tasers dangerous with our neural devices?” Salvi said, clenching her jaw.
“Wanna find out?” Travis smiled smugly.
“Do you?” Kara said, turning her eyes to the guards and their neural devices.
“Drop it now!” the guard yelled.
“It’s three tasers against one,” the other guard yelled.
“I’m waiting,” Travis said calmly.
Salvi, chest heaving, contemplated their options but knew they had only one. She placed her hand over Kara’s and lowered her weapon. Kara looked at her, confused; sweating, panting, pupils dilated.
“What are you doing?” she hissed angrily.
Salvi raised her arms in surrender. “Do what they say.”
“Salvi!” Bronte warned.
“They have weapons,” she said quietly, coldly. The look in their eyes told her they got her meaning. The guards had weapons, and they needed weapons.
Kara placed her taser on the ground and they raised their hands in the air.
Travis began to move toward them with a guard either side. “You think we were just going to let you walk out?” he said. “No-one has ever escaped from MasterSlave, and they never will, because…” He tapped his temples, referring to their neural implants. “We control you now.”
“Turn around!” one of the guards yelled at Bronte as he approached. Bronte did so, locking eyes with Salvi once more. She saw his eyes were alert now but also dark, his chest rising
