lyssa [https://imgur.com/VUePKrs.png]

“I think that girl was a bit off,” Abel finally broke the silence.

Side by side, out of breath, they walked the streets of Agona. Behind them, the trains had nearly vanished from sight, but Lyssa still found herself glancing over her shoulder every minute or so, as though she expected the young girl to be following them.

“That’s putting it lightly. She kept talking to herself, did you notice that? I know that she’s just a kid, but she also didn’t seem the least bit scared. She must have heard that sound, and heard that voice explaining the situation. She should be terrified.”

“Maybe she thinks this is all a joke?” Abel suggested.

“I hope it is.”

“Or maybe she thinks she’s immune. Did you Check her?”

Lyssa raised an eyebrow. “No.”

“I Checked myself, and Bernard, on the train. We were both zeros. But that girl...that girl was...actually zero. Everything was the word ‘Zero.’”

“What does that mean?”

They began to pick up their pace to a jog once again. Her feet were already growing sore from thumping on the pavement. She would need to scold Annie about forgetting her purse again.

“Her name, and the words Kara and Bara weren’t even there. Every word on the panel was Zero. Maybe she’s too young and she’s being spared from all of this.”

Lyssa spoke: “CheckSelf.”

A glowing panel appeared before her eyes.

Lyssa Arnoe. Kara 0. Bara 1. Little Secret.

She stared at it for a few seconds.

She felt her face growing hot. “Eh?”

Abel Checked her. “I thought you said that you were a zero. Earlier you said all of us were zeroes in Bara.”

“We were!” she said, feeling suddenly flustered. “I Checked everyone in our group. I was the only one with a Command. I had one level in Kara. Now it’s Bara.”

Abel said nothing, even when she looked over at him. She realized her jog had inadvertently started creeping towards a run and slowed herself. “Do you not believe me?”

“That girl said you’d try to trick me,” he said with a small smile.

“I’m not trying to tricking you.” She shook her head, convincing herself her heart was only beating hard because of their running. “I don’t know what happened. I promise it was Kara, like, ten minutes ago, Abel.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Little Secret, huh?” he said. “What does it do?”

“Little Secret.”

Lyssa felt a tickle on her hand, as though it had passed through a cobweb. When she lifted it in front of her, a glowing white knife had materialized. She screeched, tossing it aside. It vanished as soon as it left her hand.

They both stopped their jog, staring at one another.

“Did that just happen?” he asked her.

Her mouth worked for an answer. “Little Secret,” she uttered once more.

Their eyes watched as the knife materialized, piece by piece, atom by atom, over the course of a single heartbeat, to fit perfectly in her palm. Its blade was bright, glowing, then faded away until it was like any other knife.

Abel walked over and ran his thumb across the blade. “This,” he said after a few seconds, “this is a dagger. This is definitely a dagger.” She loosened her grip and he made to grab it, to inspect it, but as soon as it lost contact with her skin, it vanished once more. Abel stared at his empty hands. “And it is definitely gone now.”

Their run started once more, pace quickened. In the distance, the huddled forms of the rest of their group appeared.

“That’s not possible, right?” she asked him, breaking the short silence that had formed as they made their last spurt.

“It’s possible,” Abel said. “It happened. In any case, there are holographic generators everywhere. Just as many as there are eyes and ears. That’s how people could use their panels. But...you can’t touch panels.”

“So it’s not possible,” she concluded.

He didn’t respond.

They came upon their previous group. Sarah was bent over Annie, Bernard giving them a hard look. Sarah’s shoulders were shaking.

“Sarah?” Lyssa asked quietly, lowering herself down to her other friend. She noted Bernard pulling Abel away a few paces away. She turned her face to Annie.

“Annie?” Lyssa’s voice cracked as she spoke the name. She was white. Totally white. Her lips and nose were blue, her countenance one of fear. She reached a hand down to touch her cheek. There was no response. She hadn’t blinked.

She glanced at Sarah who was sobbing beside her. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, head tucked away. Only whines escaped.

She turned back to Annie, crawling on her knees, putting her hands on her chest, pressing down, heaving on her ribcage. “Abel,” she said in a sob, “Abel bring the inhaler over here!” She looked up and saw both of the men, Bernard and Abel, had their backs turned and were staring down the street. “You assholes, listen to me! She’s dead, Abel! Give me the damn inhaler!”

“Stop,” Sarah said, lifting her head. Her face was a mess, her long hair sticking to the tears on her cheeks. “Lyssa, we tried CPR already.”

“It’s over?” she started, her jaw shaking with anger. She heaved on the girl’s ribcage again.

“She said she wanted to...she was so scared.” Sarah wiped at her face, trying to clean tears away, though fresh ones came down to replace them. “She...She didn’t want to...Lyssa, she-” and then Sarah broke into a howl, dropping her head down into her knees again.

Lyssa stared down in disbelief. Annie was dead? If this city prison was some sort of joke, it had already gone too far. Someone had already died because of it. Even if this whole thing was some joke that they would escape within an hour, it wasn’t a joke to any of them. Sarah had died in terror. Agona had claimed her for itself. The idyllic city had blood on its hands.

She stared down at the pale face of her friend, laying on the road of an unknown street. Lyssa felt paralyzed, staring into her face. She waited for the girl to blink. She waited for Annie to take in a sudden breath of air, to regain the color fading from her skin.

“She said she was sorry,” Sarah began again, words barely audible. “For making us take care of her. For forcing us to help her with everything. For making us wear these uniforms. For...” her friend continued, but the words were too muddled by sobs to be understood.

Lyssa finally felt tears streaming down her cheeks. She gave a slight shake of her head.

Sarah regained herself enough to continue. “She said she didn’t want to go on. She said she was tired of being a burden to everyone. That she was tired of being in pain. She was terrified...of this whole ordeal. She just didn’t want to be here anymore.”