SOMEWHERE IN OREGON

Black skies, howling winds and torrents of rain had not let up the entire journey back, but as mile after mile continued to roll by outside the window, Zoe looked back to her father upfront in the driver's seat – the steel barrier between them long since having lost its desired effect. "I told you we should have made a left back there."

Meeting her eye in the rear-view mirror, Jack said, "Don't make me use the pepper spray."

"Are all cops this angry?"

"This isn't angry," Jack said, looking back to the road. "I was angry at the truck stop when you told the waitress that I touched you funny. We're way past that." Picking up the roadmap again he shook his head, cursing under his breath. "Would it kill 'em to post a road sign once in a while?"

"And would you please remind me again why we're not on a plane right now?" Zoe asked, leaning closer. "Oh, that's right. The big, bad marshal's afraid to fly."

"You don't want to push me right now."

"Look, I'm just saying that if we had made a left back there –"

"Don't say anything," Jack cut in.

With a sigh, Zoe rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said, slumping back in her seat. But then, she looked back. "Seriously. It's funny and all –"

"Seriously," he cut in again. "I'll pay you."

Zoe continued. "You track me across three states. You find me in a city of like, half a million people, and then you get us lost on the way back. I mean, talk about irony, dad."

"We're not lost. We're just taking the scenic route."

"Yeah, well, the scene sucks."

"Yeah, well, you better get used to –"

And then, out of nowhere, a dog suddenly appeared in the road. Jack swerved, perilously close in his desperate haste to avoid it. The dog did not so much as twitch and simply turned and trotted off up the road, leaving Jack and Zoe in a ditch, looking on after it as the darkness of the night swallowed it up.

Groaning, Jack rubbed the back of his neck. "You okay back there?"

"Peachy," came Zoe's retort. "You call this protective custody?"

"And you're okay." And with that, he took off his seatbelt and pushed open the car door.

Rather alarmed, Zoe pressed up against the steel barrier. "Wait, where are you going?"

"To check the damage."

"And you're just going to leave me in here? What if you don't make it back?" Zoe said, positively alarmed as such a prospect. "I'll be stuck in here just like those guys on that plane who had to eat each other."

Jack paused as he made to step out. Then he nodded. "You're right." Then, reaching across to the passenger seat, he took out some ketchup packets. "Here," he said, feeding them through the bars to her. "Here's some ketchup. Start at your feet, work your way up."

Aghast, Zoe drew back, looking up from the packets on her lap. "You –"

Stepping out again and shutting the door to silence her retort, Jack was uncomfortably wet as the rain lashed down upon him. It had soaked him through, with his clothes clinging to his skin within moments from the downpour. The rain was beginning to sting his eyes, but he had little time to voice a complaint and he slipped in the mud, tumbling down into the ditch far below.

And against the noise of the storm about him, he heard, "Karma's a bitch, huh?"

Half crawling, half dragging himself back up to car, Jack expelled a weary breath as he leaned up against it. He knew two things for a fact as he slumped further against the car. One was a suspected concussion, and two was that they wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Pulling himself to his feet was anything but easy, and it was a struggle to find a firm footing on the damp and muddy ground, but he eventually managed to ease his way around to Zoe's door. Pulling it open, he said, "Let's go."

"Go?" Zoe exclaimed. "Out there?"

Jack cocked his head to one side. "Okay," he said. "Enjoy those ketchup packets." He then shut the door.

Even with her father's jacket pulled up over her head and wrapped around her, it made little to no difference as they walked on up the road together. The wind howled and the rain was merciless, chilling them to their bones.

"The car was warmer, you know," Zoe said, shouting to be heard over the storm.

"And you're more than welcome to go back to it," Jack replied, his teeth chattering against the cold. "That is, of course, if you're willing to risk your life on the off chance that it slips and falls even further into that ditch."

"Well, it seemed pretty stable to me." Zoe shiverred. "God, I can't feel my fingers."

With but his shirt and trousers for warmth, Jack felt even less.

"And you really think we're just going to stumble across civilisation, because the last two hundred miles have been so much fun."

Feeling just as miserable as she did, Jack nodded. "Yeah, well, that dog had to have come from somewhere."

"And what if it's rabid or feral? It could be leading us into a trap for all we know," Zoe continued. "We could be surrounded by an entire pack of them by now."

Jack sighed, feeling the onset of a headache beginning to tap lightly against his temple. "At least we'll have company."

THE PERKINS' RESIDENCE

As he woke up and opened his eyes, Walter immediately knew something was wrong. Susan was not in the bed beside him – but that was not it. Unlike him, she was an early bird and was most likely off on her morning jog.

His alarm clock, on the other hand, was the problem.

Watching it flickering on and off and on and off again, over and over, Walter closed his eyes and rolled onto his back. With a sigh, he said, "Computer."

Silence.

Clearing his throat, he called again. "Computer."

Silence.

THE PERKINS' RESIDENCE – BASEMENT

"Computer!" Walter called as he hurried down the stairs.

Silence.

"Computer!"

His tone was heavy with worry as he rushed over to his desk and began manually powering up his computer and equipment. But as he waited, looking down at the Replicator Block – safe and secure within the confines of the forcefield – a faint odour of smoke met his nose. His brow furrowed as it grew stronger, and it was not long before he found out why.

On one of the monitors before him, a security notification appeared:

USER INTERFACE APPLICATION CORRUPTED.

SYSTEM OFFLINE.

"Corrupted?"

But before he could do anything more, other security notifications began to appear; each one far more severe than the last. He was barely able to finish reading the last one before the monitors turned off, and he covered his mouth with his hands.

DEVICE ACTIVE.

ALL SECURITY MEASURES INEFFECTIVE.

FIREWALLS BREACHED.