Glitch by Heather Anastasiu

me!” I shrieked and wrenched away. “Do you
    have a death wish?”
    Images from our textbooks fl ashed in my mind as I strug-
    gled to hurry down the stairs. Boiling skin. Slow, painful
    deaths. It was probably already too late.
    “Zoe!” Adrien grabbed both my arms now, holding me
    back from the stairs. “Zoe, be quiet or someone will notice!”
    I kept pulling away, viciously scratching him with my
    other hand, anything to get away from that rectangular
    doorway of toxic Surface air. He growled in pain as I dug
    my nails in deep. He suddenly twisted me around, holding
    both of my arms across my chest, encasing me like a strait-
    jacket with his body behind mine. He had me trapped, but
    I continued to struggle, holding my breath for as long as I
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    could. Icy cold fear raced up and down my spine. He faced
    me toward the door and the toxic air beyond.
    “Calm down!” he said. “Crackin’ hell, I should have just
    told you before, but I knew you’d never come if I told you
    we were going to the Surface. Listen to me, it’s not toxic out
    there!”
    My body stopped struggling for a moment in shock at
    what he said. His voice was an intense whisper, blowing the
    hair by my ear.
    “Walking around without gear won’t kill you. It’s harm-
    less, in fact. The bastards lied, Zoe. They lied about the
    whole history of the Old World.”
    “But the nuclear bombs—”
    “Only a few bombs were released on D-day. Just enough
    to make it convincing. And Community Corp did it them-
    selves. They did it intentionally. Don’t you see? The Com-
    munity didn’t save you— they caged and enslaved you.”
    “You’re lying,” I snapped. “The Community protects us.
    Everyone knows that.”
    I tried to break away from him. I closed my eyes, begging
    to hear the hum in my head, to summon the ability to close
    the door with my mind. Nothing.
    “Just hear me out,” he hissed in my ear, tightening his arm
    around me. “Community Corp created D-day. And then they
    made everyone believe they were the only ones who could
    save us from total nuclear destruction. The only ones who
    could save us from ourselves. After a few generations, no
    one remembered the truth anymore— only what they’d been
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    told. It’s almost all lies. Zoe, most Community government
    buildings are above the godlam’d ground.”
    I twisted around as much as I could to look back at him.
    “You’re . . . you’re broken. Anomalous. You don’t know
    what you’re saying.” I glanced at the rectangle of light. It
    didn’t hurt my eyes so much to look at it anymore. How long
    had we been standing here exposed?
    “I’m not cracked, Zoe,” he said. “The Surface is com-
    pletely harmless.”
    He loosened his tight grip on me a little and I pulled away
    a step. He held me by the hands, turning me around to face
    him. “You guys from underground sectors always have the
    hardest time dealing with this part. People like your parents
    are mindless midtier quality- control reps but in other parts of
    the sector, there are subjects working above ground as drone
    planters and harvesters.”
    He took a breath, watching my face closely. “Think, Zoe.
    You know they’ve lied about what the Link does. You know
    the hardware does more than connect people together. It
    doesn’t protect them, it controls them. But they can’t control
    you anymore now that you’re glitching. You are dangerous,
    but not to the other subjects. You’re dangerous to the offi
    -
    cials and Uppers who run the Community. You are their
    worst fear.”
    My pulse started to race. He’d been watching me, he
    knew a lot about me. But why was he taking me to the Sur-
    face? To die? He could have just left me in that horrible
    Room A117.
    I shook my head and took one step back down the stairs.
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    Even though he was still holding my hands, he didn’t try to
    stop me.
    “Going with you was completely illogical. We need to go
    back and