9.

ONLINE. TIME ELAPSED: UNREGISTERED.

_FORIEGN FEED DETECTED. PREPARING TO TERMINATE. SYS. CODE: 1974

hckff_seq?AMNESIACOMMAND1974-!.STAGE00iniciate

_REGISTRATION OF ADMIN. REQUIRED. IMPUT NOW Y/N?

yhckfformatHUX1984_syst.[OVERRIDE]commandsequence:SAVAGE[?]

_SYSTEM OVERRIDE. STAGE 00 INITIATED CONTROL SUBJECTS A21, O21 RELEASED. RADICAL SUBJECTS B22, A61 RELEASED. STATE REASON FOR SEQUENCE CHANGE Y/N?

yhack/uYOU_SHOULDN'T_HAVE_MESSED_WITH_MY_BOY,_BELLY:(//

There was a soft creaking noise, and her door opened in the dark.

Olivia darted to the side of the bathroom doorway, out of view. Her legs gave an angry throb of protest and she ignored them, her pulse pounding in her ears and her breath nearly still in her lungs.

They were coming, but she hadn't heard the chimes. But now was the time she could get out. She'd kill them, it didn't matter how many there were, she'd kill them all.

So what, if she were wearing only a towel?

Olivia waited, her sights keen and her legs trembling with ignored pain. The open door remained a black, featureless rectangle on the light-colored wall. Her heartbeats availed her, as she concentrated on keeping her pulse even to accurately keep time. 1834 heartbeats later, she dared to venture from behind the doorway and into the room, only to find herself seemingly alone.

She yanked on her clothes, her shirt becoming wet and translucent at her shoulders from her dripping hair. She twisted the damp towel in to a hard knot, something she had learned in the academy that inmates did, using them as clubbing devices. But they only worked once, before the water escaped, causing them to loose the solidity of the waters inertia. Well, she was an inmate now, wasn't she?

Dripping wad of cloth clenched in her fist, Olivia approached the door, and fearlessly crossed the threshold.

xXx

"Walter!" there was prodding at his shoulder, and his eyes sprang open as he scrambled away from the touch, frightened, "Whoa, calm down, it's just me. It's me, Astrid, remember?" The cute girl held her palms up, showing that she held nothing, and would not harm him.

Panting slightly with his back to the wall, Walter focused his blurry eyes on her, "…Astrid?"

"Yeah. Me Astrid, you Walter," she joked.

He did not understand the humor, and only stared.

"Never mind. Listen to me- does your door open and shut all the time?" Astrid asked.

"…No. Only when…" he shook his head, feeling slightly faint, "…only when they come to get me…"

"Then why is the door open?"

Walter looked up at her, alarmed. His eyes strayed over her shoulder, to something he had only seen once before, when she had arrived; an open door. "What did you do?!" he cried, jumping to his feet. He swayed for a few moments, light headed.

"I didn't do anything!" Astrid replied defensively, "I just woke up and it was like that, okay?!"

Walter brushed past her, approaching the open ingress. Astrid murmured warning, and he waved her off, his jaw setting in determination. First rat poison, now they were letting them run the maze? Or was this perhaps error? No, no, it couldn't be, they didn't make mistakes…

"You're babbling again," Astrid reminded him.

"Sorry," Walter replied distantly. Carefully, he reached out, his hand passing the threshold. He immediately retracted it with a shiver, "You have to go, miss Astrocyte. You have to go now."

"What? Why?" Astrid asked, "Walter, who did this? Why is it open?"

"I don't know. I DON'T KNOW. Stop asking me questions, I don't know anything, damn it!" he leaned back against the wall, racking his fingers back, thru his hair, "I don't know."

"Fine. We'll just have to find out. Let's go, Walter."

"No."

Astrid frowned with confusion, "Walter… you're not… scared, are you…?"

"No! Stop asking me everything, I DON'T KNOW!" Walter rubbed his face roughly, drawing a long, rattling breath as panic welled in his chest

"Walter-"

"Go, go, god damn it! It won't stay open forever!"

"You're coming with me," Astrid protested, "Now, I don't care about your weird little issues, we're getting the hell out of here."

"I can't," Walter answered. He wasn't going to cry, he wasn't going to tremble. He did anyways.

"You've got a son, Walter," Astrid said.

Walter paused from drawing blood with his teeth to his knuckles to look up at her, swallowing back the lump in his throat.

"Peter is out there. You think that no one out there cares, that's why you've been here so long, I know it. But he's your son- he cares about you. I care about you. Please, Walter… let's get out of here," she held out her hand to him, smiling softly, "Let's go."

Walter reached out to take her hand, amazed at how warm it was, as she rubbed her thumb over his knuckles comfortingly. His jaw tightened, and he nodded firmly.

xXx

The feeling that something was amiss was so nagging that it woke him from his deep, feverish dreams. Peter opened his eyes and sat up, the motion tugging at the painful cuts that spanned his shoulders. He winced, and moved more slowly.

He looked around to find the room, as ever, unchanging, all bathed in a dull, dim, blue glow, rubbing his senses dull. He focused harder, blinking and glaring with concentration.

The door was open. Peter shot to his feet, and staggered back a few steps in pain, hissing through his teeth. Now was his chance, and he would take it. Peter flexed his shoulders, tearing the wounds on them open fully and darting through the doorway and into the dark.

xXx

0FFL!N3. T!M3 3LPS3D: *+:-#:~^

Initiate lockdown. Admin. Code: LOCKBOX.

_DM!N. 0D3 CC3PT3D. 3RR0R: L0KD0WN F!L3S 0RRUPT.

Run code: Sweep674

_V!RUS SW33P !N!!TED.B3G!NN!NG SYST3M SN. T!ME R3QU!R3D: 19:84:00. R3QU!R3D: SYST3M R3B00T. RUN SW33P Y/N?

Y. Priority ALPHA.

God damn you. You've killed us all, Bish.