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Author's Note: I know I'm kind of pumping these out but my creative juices are really flowing and as long as I'm on a roll I might as well go with it. So here's chapter sixteen, probably the longest one in the story (so far). My original plan was to pair it with seventeen but when it got too long I decided to post it alone. There's a lot of things that happen here and its what I'd call a bridge chapter.

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Chapter Sixteen:

I found myself floating in this freaky dark place. It seemed kind of familiar but I couldn’t remember from where. I didn’t like it though. It was dark and cold and there was nothing there but blackness. I was floating too which was weird because people don’t float. Do they? Of course not, at least real people don’t. I wonder if there’s someone out there with the ability to fly. Wouldn’t that be cool? I’d definitely fly somewhere cool.

I waved my hands in front of my face. Maybe I wasn’t really floating. Maybe there were strings on my hands and I was being held up. I looked at my fingers, looking for strings but smiling when I saw the pink nail polish. I think I like pink now. I didn’t like it before but I didn’t like a lot of things before. My head wasn’t so fuzzy now.

“You’re a ditz you know that”

The voice cut through the blackness. It scared me because it was so angry sounding. I looked around, scared that the angry person might come and get me. When I didn’t find anyone I sighed in relief.

“I’m over here moron”

I snapped around but there was no one. But as soon as I turned around I saw: a large gilded mirror. It was floating about ten feet in front of me. It was absolutely gorgeous. The gilded frame was decorated with roses and little cherubs. I smiled and floated toward it. When I got within a foot from it I saw my reflection floating there. I looked really damn good. My blonde hair was nicely combed, my face was mad up like it should and I had the pink lipstick I wanted before. I was wearing a pink baby tee with a heart on it and the cutest skirt. It was denim and clung to my curves the right way. I wasn’t wearing any shoes but that didn’t matter because I could see my cute pink toenails.

“Arrr, I look like a Barbie doll”

The nasty voice was back but it wasn’t coming from somewhere in the black. I turned and saw my reflection and she was frowning. She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at me. I gasped and she changed. The reflection of me morphed into someone else. The girl in the mirror now had long black and purple hair, dark eyeliner and black clothes. She looked like one of those Goth freaks. She continued to glare at me.

“What did you do to me?”

“I didn’t do anything to you; you’re the one who did something to me”

“I don’t understand”

“Of course you don’t” my Reflection scuffed. “You’re a brainwashed idiot. You’re not real, The Syndicate made you”

“I’m real”

I think I am no I know am I. She’s the fake one; she was way too scary and angry to be real.

“Does the word BMC mean anything to you?”

BMC, it sounded familiar. There was something in the back of my mind about it, something important. An image was there, of me and some cute dark haired guy talking about it. I’m not sure what we were talking about but it wasn’t a good thing. The BMC was bad. So what did it have to do with me?

“It makes you compliant and obedient. Green had one put in your head, bimbo. You told him to go fuck himself after he offered you a job. You have to remember that”

“Why would I be mean to Mr. Green, he’s done nothing wrong to me?”

“You need to wake and smell the roses. There’s a BMC in your head and its controlling you. You have to trust me. When the nurse comes, let her do what she has to do”

Can I trust her? She says she’s me but she could be a trick. Maybe she was another one of that loser Matilda’s tricks. Like that freaky whisper. But then again, I remember the BMC thing. It made no sense.

The blackness started to buzz….

….the buzzing woke me up.

I snapped my eyes open and yawned.

I sighed. It was a shame that I couldn’t feel the sun on my face in the morning. I used to love waking up to the sun, feeling it on my face, making me feel good and safe. I missed that. Not that I still didn’t feel good and fuzzy.

I sat up in bed and stretched, the blanket slowly sliding off my body. I loved the feel of the sheer silk on me. It was a great feeling. I wanted to feel it all the time but Dr. Violet said it was too dangerous for me. Which made me sad? It also made me sad that I couldn’t wear any of the cute outfits like the other girls. Beatrice and the others got to wear such cute things. Me, I had to wear jeans and turtlenecks. Not that I had anything against my turtlenecks but I wanted to wear tops and skirts just like theirs.

I went through my morning routine. First I went to the mirror and started brushing my hair. Well I took the wig off and started brushing it. I hated the fact that my head had been shaved. Looking at my bald head in the mirror made me think of Charlie Brown. I frowned. After brushing the wig one hundred times I put it back on my head. Then I grabbed my bathrobe. It was pink and fuzzy and made with a special hood so I could wear it to the showers.

I left the room, trying to avoid being seen as I slunk down the hall to the bathroom. Before I went inside. I shut off the lights. I’d been doing that a lot lately. If there was someone inside they complained a bit but after they got over the initial shock of being in the dark they were all right with it. I was quick in the bathroom and washed my hands. Then went to the shower. I’m not going to bore you with my shower but on the way out I passed that girl Chloe. When she looked at me she did this strange double take.

“Not you too” she said, slamming angrily into my shoulder as she stormed into the shower room.

What the hell was her problem?

These losers were really starting to piss me off. First it was that Matilda girl and her whispering. Then someone, also probably Matilda, was messing with my dreams last night. What was up with that? I was having a hard time remembering what happened in it but I think it was trying to say I was someone else. How could that be? I’ve been this person, Becky Howe, since the moment of the Change. I think they’ll jealous. I made friends with Beatrice and the rest of the Deviants quickly enough. They were good people, they helped me to adjust. Now I was a normal, well rounded young woman.

I heard the buzzing again. It was really starting to annoy me.

I changed quickly in my room. My bra and panties were pink and silky. Did I mention I loved silk? After that I pulled on another turtleneck, purple today. It matched my eyes but I’m not sure why I wore it. Pink was usually my color. I shrugged and pulled on the tightest pair of jeans I could find. When I got them on I realized I should have worn a thong but it was too late to change. When I went to get my new shoes, I found a surprise. Sitting next to the box from the mall was a pair of knee high black boots. They had a thick heel and buckles. They were the ugliest things I’d ever seen and yet they looked strangely familiar. I reached for them to put them on as if it was the norm then stopped. Why the hell did I want those? So I quickly opened the box and put on my new shoes. They were pink flats and they fit like a glove.

After getting dressed I started with the makeup. I did my lips in pink and put on some blush. I wanted to put on some foundation but for some reason it felt wrong. But I needed it. My face was so pale and chalk white. I loved like the Corpse Bride or something. I wasn’t able to convince myself to put it on. When it came to eyeliner, I applied it without a problem until I saw what I was doing. I was putting on black liner. I paused, trying to figure out why. Did I usually wear black liner? I couldn’t remember but it did look kind of good on me.

Before I left I had to do the usual. I put on my long pink coat, with the too big hood and slipped on a pair of designer pink gloves. I groaned, hating every bit of it. I put on my shades and looked in the mirror. I looked like a Hollywood starlet trying to hide from the paparazzi. Even though it was dreadful, I found myself smiling. I look kinda good. I grabbed a little pink clutch purse by the door and started out. Did I usually carry a purse?

I shrugged and left.

Miss Yellow’s class was weird. As soon as I walked into the room, everyone looked at me. I smiled as I went to the front of the room and took my seat. Beatrice tapped me on the shoulder; I turned and smiled at her.

“I like your top” she said sweetly.

“Thanks” I said cheerfully ‘I like yours too”

I did too. She was wearing a pink halter top that revealed just enough skin and her trademark short jean skirt. I was a little envious.

Class was easy enough; I usually excelled at things like math and science. Miss Yellow seemed pleased about something. She kept looking my way and smiling. Grownups are so damn weird. I tried to smile back which only made her smile more. I heard the buzzing again and now it was really starting to piss me off.

“You ok” whispered a concerned Max Redcliffe as he leaned over and looked strangely at me.

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know but I swore you were different a few days ago”

‘I had black hair. They had to shave my head because of the accident”

He nodded. “Maybe that’s it”

But it wasn’t it. I was feeling different too. Every time I thought about it, I heard that fricking buzzing sound. Max didn’t think that was it either. The whole class he kept staring at me every chance he got. It was starting to freak me out but it was kind of nice too. I just hoped Declan wasn’t the jealous type? Why did I think that? What did Declan have to do with anything? I’d only met him just that once and he was nice enough but that was all. Dr. Violet said he even sent me flowers, a bouquet of purple roses which was real nice of him.

After Miss Yellow’s class ended, Beatrice wanted me to walk with her and her friends. Didn’t I always? I fell into the group though, chatting it up with Holly. The two of us had a lot in common though she did seem a little intense. She kept going on and on about that Chloe girl. Apparently Chloe kept staring at her every chance she got and kept slipping notes under her door. Holly said it was freaking her out and she told Mr. Blue about it. He told her he’d make it stop but so far Chloe kept doing it. I told her about my run in with Chloe this morning and we both agreed she was a serious mental case. We had a good laugh about it.

In Mr. Red’s classroom the boredom began. I could never grasp the concept of things like history and English. So I zoned out and listened to him drone on and on. When we got to art I was annoyed. I hate art, especially painting because I always got it all over my clothes. When I got to my easel, next to that weird kid Barry, I looked at the painting on it. It was some kind of field and the weirdest thing was; I couldn’t remember painting it. I stared at it for the longest time, confused.

I turned to the weirdo. “Did you switch my painting because if you did, it’s not funny?”

He looked at me with a strange longing. Then in a cold voice said. “I think you’re coming down with something, maybe you should go see Dr. White”

I’m not sick. I groaned at him and went to get a new canvas. The Red refused to give me one. He told me there was nothing wrong with my painting and to live with it. I tried flirting but he was impassable. So I huffed back to my spot and refused to work. I was going to get the bastard who was messing with me.

The buzzing came again but I ignored it. It’s not there; it’s all in your head.

Lunch was interesting. Beatrice invited me to sit with them. I felt right at home. We talked about fashion and boys mainly. Beatrice seemed to have a thing for, get this…Donovan. But she swore us all to secrecy. I looked over at wolf boy, sitting with Max, both of them laughing at their own private joke. He wore a dog collar, how could see find that attractive. Me, I think I kind of had a thing for Max. I’m not sure why but I felt like I could tell him things. Besides I think he saved my life too. It was at the mall and he fought off those thugs with me.

“I thought you liked Barry” I said, not sure where it came from.

Beatrice and others burst into laughter. I pouted, I hated it when there was a private joke I wasn’t in on.

“That’s going to be hard” said Rachel.

“Can you imagine what the kids would look like?” said Sara, laughing real hard.

I wanted to punch her.

Beatrice finally revealed the reason why they were laughing. “Our mothers are sisters, Becks. I thought everyone knew that. I can’t be in love with Barry because he’s my first cousin”

The others started to laugh again, including her. Me I felt like an idiot. But a part of me was relieved too. Why was I relieved? I looked over at the loser table. Barry was sitting there with those losers Matilda and Chloe. Wasn’t there a third one? Oh yeah Clara, we were friends weren’t we? After all she was with me when those goons tried to kill us at the mall the other day.

“What happened to Clara guys?”

The laughing stopped and everyone went quiet.

“Didn’t you hear?” asked Natasha in a whisper.

I shook my head.

“Those thugs were really messing with you guys and she couldn’t take it. She had some kind of meltdown or something”

“No way that’s not what happened” said Sara.

“Yeah” said Rachel “I heard she went all freaky. I heard one of the guards talking about it. She grabbed one of the guys and did something to him. The shock of it messed her up and now she’s recovering downstairs”

An image of Clara with black eyes flashed into my head. It was scary, not just for me either. I was scared though because there was something wrong with her. But why would that bother me. The buzzing came again, real severe this time. It was super intense, like it was coming from everyone. I grabbed the sides of head, trying to make it go away. But it came on so strong I gasped, knocking over my glass of milk.

“You ok, Becks?”

I started rubbing my temples. “I think I have a headache or something. Maybe I should go see Dr. White”

“That might be a good idea”

Beatrice stood up, helping me up as well. “C’mon I’ll walk with you”

___________________________________________________________________

The buzzing was less intense as we walked down the hall but it was still there.

Beatrice held my hand, leading me like a small child. I let her. She was a good person even if she was a bitch at times. A bitch, where did that come from? My head was a bit fuzzy and things weren’t very straight. Beatrice kept reassuring me that Dr. White would know what was wrong. I smiled and nodded. Trish could figure this out. Trish, why did I call her that? It was a little unorthodox to think of administrators by their first names, wasn’t it?

We got to Dr. White’s office and Beatrice opened the door.

Dr. White was at her desk, talking on the phone. She didn’t hear us come in and was a bit distracted. My eavesdropping was becoming a problem, especially when there were things I wasn’t supposed to hear. Even though Dr. White was talking in a hushed tone I heard everything. Who she was talking to I don’t know but she was talking about the “chip” and how it’s “used”. What the heck was the chip? An image flashed into my brain: it was a computer chip, rotating on a computer screen. A name flashed there too: BMC. The buzzing came back and it made me feel fuzzy.

“Excuse us, Dr. White”

Beatrice was being real polite. When was she ever polite? There I go again, making Beatrice out to be some kind of monster. What the hell is the matter with me?

“I have to go. I have some patients, I’ll report later” She turned away from the wall where she was talking and saw us.

There was a moment of surprise on her face. Then she smiled. She hung up the phone, stood up and beckoned us over to the exam table. We followed her over and hopped up. She smiled at me and asked me what was wrong.

Beatrice answered for me. “We were eating lunch and she got this massive headache. She knocked over her glass of milk”
Dr. White nodded. “Are you feeling better, Becca?”

I shook my head. “There’s this buzzing sound, it won’t go away. I’m also having these strange thoughts, I don’t’ know where they’re coming from”

Dr. White smiled and nodded. “I see. Well let me run a few tests and see what’s wrong”

“Should I go?”

“No” I said quickly “I’ll only be a few minutes then we can go to AC together”

“You can sit over there, Beatrice”

She smiled and walked over to the large cushioned chair in the corner. There was a little coffee table there with some magazines. Beatrice quickly got absorbed in a copy of Vogue.

Dr. White took my hand and started her exam. She did the usual stuff first. I sat patiently, the buzzing now low and less painful. I was starting to feel better too. I was about to tell her that when she said there was one last thing she needed to do. She took a cell phone from her pocket. It was different than most. It looked like someone took it apart and put it back together. There was this funky antenna thingy and a blinking red light on the screen. She raised the phone, flipped it open and started punching in a number. I thought she was going to make a call when she moved to around the back of me and placed the cell phone on my neck.

What the hell was she…?

There was a pinching feeling. A great amount of pain exploded in the back of my head. I felt like screaming but I didn’t. Instead my eyes watered and the world rushed around. Not the fake, fuzzy happy world of a few seconds ago but the right world. My world. It all came back like the flip of a switch. It was real disorienting at first and very confusing. Everything was still a little fuzzy around the edges and I still wasn’t sure what was right. But the more I concentrated, the more I saw that my life a few minutes ago was definitely a façade.

“Becca, are you ok?”

Dr. White, no Trish, asked silently in my ear.

I looked at her, tears in my eyes. I leaned forward and wrapped her into a hug. It felt good and I felt safe. “They made me like pink” I whispered in her ear.

Trish let out a slight laugh.

“Becky are you ok?”

Oh God, Beatrice. I tightened my grip on Trish and took a deep breath. I can do this, it’s easy. I’ve been this vapid bimbo for almost the whole day. Well I wasn’t pretending but I think I could pull it off. It helped a lot that my real life was still a little fuzzy too. For instance I knew I hated Beatrice but I also liked her two. It was weird, like two distinct personalities in my head. But the happy, dippy thoughts were the weaker ones.

“I’m ok now Bee” I said as vapidly as I could. “Dr. White gave me some medicine”

She smiled. ‘Good because we have to get to AC and you know how they are if we’re late”

AC? She must mean Advanced Class. They put me in the Advanced Class, how messed up was that. I got off the table and started for the door but stopped. There was a mirror on Trish’s wall and when I saw myself I almost threw up. I’m blonde, they made me blonde. How could they? I turned back to Trish and silently pointed at my head. She smiled and mouthed “wig”. I sighed, relieved and then I remembered. I’m wearing a wig because those bastards shaved my head. I felt like punching the mirror, I mean it wouldn’t hurt. I’d probably need to stay with Trish and get my hand fixed but it would make me feel better.

“Are you coming? Becks?”

I sighed. Was I coming? I was but not Becks. There would never be Becks again. I looked at Beatrice, smiling as she held the door open for me. I wondered what kind of girl she was before all this. Barry said she was a good and honest person. Now what was she? To me, the real me, she was a nasty hateful bitch. Now even that was gone. Whoever stood before me was even less than a shell than the one before. I can’t do this to her or any of the others.

“Becks isn’t going” I sternly, grabbing her wrist and pulling her back into the room. “Neither are you”

Her eyes opened wide but before she could react I socked her in the gut. It took all the wind out of her and rendered her unconscious at the same time. Man what a lightweight. I carried her back into the room, dragging her over to the exam table. Trish stared at me liked I’d grown a second head or something. But she helped me lift Beatrice onto the table.

“What the hell are you doing?"

“Ending this” I said, pointing to Beatrice. “They can’t control her or any of us anymore”

Trish looked a bit shocked but I saw her slight smile. “If we do this there’s no turning back. They’re going to come down on us hard”

“That’s their problem. They should have known better than to fuck with a school full of super freaks”

She smiled even bigger. “Go to the others. I’ll see to it that she’s scanned”

“I’ll be back for you”

______________________________________________________________

I walked down the hall as if everything was normal and played the airhead. I waved and said hi to everyone I passed. They smiled and greeted me back. But only part of me was playing. Because Becky was still in there. Like I said before, she was underneath the surface but I could feel her too. It had to have something to do with the BMC. I wish I had stuck around and asked Trish more questions but I’d have time to do that later. Right now I needed to get back to my right room and get the others. But first I needed to get something.

In my old room I threw open the door quickly and went over to my boots. How the hell could I have ever dissed you? I kicked out of my flats and slipped into my old friends. I smiled as I stood, thankful to that extra two inches. I felt short without them. I took one last look at the room and grimaced. I can’t believe they made me like pink. I left the room in a hurry, running down the hall, pass Mattie’s room. I searched it with my ears but found it empty. Must be in her skill class still.

When I got to my “old” room, I saw the door open already.

Crap, just what I needed. I approached with a bounce in my step and stopped just outside the door. Inside I could hear someone moving around. At first I thought it was one of the guards but I recognized the click of the high heels. I could smell the foul perfume too: it was Dr. V. What the hell was she doing in there? I peered around the corner, seeing her back to me. She was rifling through my drawers, mumbling about something.

She had one of those fancy iphone pressed to her ear. “I don’t see it in here” she said as she started throwing my panties about. Oh no, Becky bled through.

What was she looking for? I didn’t have anything of use to her.

I listened harder and managed to hear the voice on the other end: it was Green.

“It has to be there. There was a breach in our security a few days ago, someone copied and downloaded some files onto a flash drive. We’ve already checked the other rooms; she’s the only one who could have done it”

“I’m telling you sir” said Dr. V “it's not here. It’s possible she has it on her”

“We checked when we chipped her. We even did a full cavity search, there was nothing on her”

I wanted to throw up even more. They searched me, all of me. I felt my skin crawl. I’m so going to kick that bastard’s ass.

“Well it’s not here sir” she said, sighing as she slammed my drawer shut.

“Keep an eye open for it, it’s there somewhere”

I tuned away from the door before she caught me and I listened as she continued to ransack my room. I know it was my “fancy prison cell” but it was still my room. I groaned and took a deep breath. This has gone on far enough. I stepped into the door, giggling like a fool.

“Dr. Violet what’cha doing?”

She froze, nearly dropping her cell phone. She took a few seconds to compose herself as she turned around. She smiled as sweetly as possible and as fake too. I smiled back at her, trying to look as vapid as possible.

“Shouldn’t you be in Advanced Class right now, Becky, dear?”

“Shouldn’t you be in your office, doctor?”

Her eyes narrowed into daggers.

I stepped into the room, smiling as I grabbed the door and closed it behind me. She watched it close and smirked. I locked it, sealing the two of us inside.

“What are you doing, Becky?”

“The same thing as you, doctor” I said as I dropped my hood and took off my shades. “Looking for answers”

She raised her voice. “Return to your room this instant!”

“We’re in my room”

She moved pretty quick for an older woman. She swung a slap at my face but I dodged it pretty easy. When she realized it, she stumbled back and fumbled to get her phone open. I was on her quick. I grabbed her wrist and gave it a good twist, hearing bone crack. She screamed out in pain, dropping to her knees, me I still had her wrist. I pulled the cell phone from her hand and threw it across the room.

“How did you beat it?”

“You mean the BMC?” She nodded. “I didn’t but Barry did”

The realization dawned on her. ‘You little bastards won’t succeed. Mr. Green and Mr. Zero are already on to you. They know you broke into the mainframe and downloaded its contents. There’s no way you can use it against us”

So that’s what this was really about. They thought we stole some data. Why would we? There was nothing we wanted out of this place; in fact we wanted to get out of this place. But apparently they thought there was something we wanted. I wondered if I could get some answers out of her.

“If I tell you where the data can you help me get out of here?”

“You want to escape?”

I nodded and she scuffed.

“You can’t escape this place and there’s no way I’m going to help you, especially after Dr. Brown”

That was Trish’s predecessor right?

“If you don’t help me I’m selling the flash drive to the local news”

She gave me this look, trying to see if I was bluffing or not. In truth, I didn’t sound like a bad idea. Then they could get the authorities and maybe they’d shut this hell hole down. Didn’t Zero say he was the authorities? Ah, my head still hurts and I’m feeling stupid again. Maybe there was more to Becky left than I thought. I rubbed my temples and Dr. V. took that time to make a break for it. I had to give it to her, she had guts.

She ran for the door, holding her broken wrist close to her body.

I was fast too. I flew forward and drove my foot into the back of her knee as hard as I could. She screamed louder and collapsed to the floor again. But unlike the first, this time she didn’t get up. Oh crap. I bent over her and checked her pulse. She was still alive, unfortunately. Whatever I did must have put her in shock. I thought about leaving her but I got a better idea. I pulled off my belt I was wearing and tied her hands behind her back. Then I tied her feet together with a pair of white tights that Mattie made me by at the mall. With her secure, I slipped out of the god awful pink coat and gloves. I found my black coat and something else, V.’s phone.

It was password protected but I’m sure it was nothing Barry couldn’t handle.

I had to get out of here. I thought about packing a few things but there was nothing to pack it in. So with a bit of reluctance, I bid a fond farewell to my room and took off down the hall.

___________________________________________________________________

When I went to Mattie’s room the door was unlocked. I poked my head inside and saw the place ransacked. So I wasn’t the only one they were searching. Whatever was on that flash drive must have been really important. I made sure that Mattie wasn’t in the room then headed for the stairs. At the end of each hallway are stairs that led from both dormitory floors. When they designed the place they probably figured we’d interact with one another.

I went down the stairs to the boys’ floor. As soon as I got to the bottom step, V’s phone rang.

Crap, should I or shouldn’t I? I finally decided to answer it.

I immediately recognized the voice of Dr. S” “Miranda we have a serious problem. Tell me you’re still monitoring Subject 0F09?”

“Sure I am” I tried to mimic her voice as best as possible.

“There’s something wrong. Her chip is no longer functioning. It must be faulty; we need you to bring her back downstairs at once”

Oh crap, party’s over. I bit my lip and clicked off the phone. Who knew they were monitoring these things. Now I knew I didn’t have much time. I ran down the hall, making my way to Barry’s room. I stopped in front of the door, wondering how pissed he was at me. After all I went all Brainwashed Becky on him. I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. First no one came then I heard someone fumble with the door handle. When the door opened, Barry was standing there and he was glaring at me. Yep he’s pissed, not that I could help what “she” did.

“What the hell do you want?”

I didn’t answer. Instead I jumped at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and practically shoving my tongue down his throat. We stumbled backwards into the room, landing on the bed. He was confused at first but he quickly got into it. Our hands roved up and down one another’s bodies. It was like heaven. Never again did I want to leave him. Ok I know this sounds corny and it’s a little soon but I think I loved him. See I said it was crazy but when you’re brainwashed you have a lot of time to think about these things. I’m in love with him; I want to spend the rest of my life with him.

We only pulled away when we heard someone clear their throat.

I looked up and for the first time noticed that we weren’t alone on the bed. Not only that but apparently we fell on top of Chloe, who wasn’t looking too pleased. I smiled sheepishly, wiped the horrid pink lipstick from my lips and his and slowly got to my feet.

Mattie was there too, holding a crowbar ready to strike.

‘Hi guys” I said, doing an idiotic finger wave.

“You slammed the door in my face” said Donovan as he slinked out from behind the door.

I stepped forward to see if he was all right when Mattie jumped between us and pointed the crowbar into my chest. Ok I deserved that but once again, not me.

“They chipped me” I said, holding my hands up in surrender. “But it’s dead now. Trish neutralized it”

Mattie’s eyes narrowed.

Barry came to my side though, wrapping his arm around my waist. “She’s Becca, I can vouch for that”

“Prove it” said Chloe, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Instead I tossed Dr. V’s iphone at her. She caught it in one hand, practically snatching it out of the air. Once a basketball star, always a basketball star. She flipped the iphone over in her hand, unimpressed. Barry looked at it, took it from her hands and flipped it over a few times. He started monkeying with it and I let him. I didn’t need it anymore.

“I took that off V, I caught her tearing my room apart”

“She did the same to ours too” said Donovan, rubbing his nose, which was a bit red.

I nodded. “I overheard her talking on that” I said, pointing at Barry. “They’re looking for a flash drive they think we have. Someone apparently downloaded all the mainframe files onto it”

“You’re kidding” said Barry, snapping around in his chair. “Do you realize how long that would take?’

We all shook our heads.

“About two months, give or take” he said, impressed.

‘Well they’re pissed” I said “and what’s more, they know my chip is deactivated. V was supposed to grab me and take me downstairs”

Finally my friends seemed to trust me. Mattie handed the crowbar to Donovan and ran into my arms. She started to cry as she hugged me. I hugged her too, as tight as I could. She whispered into the room, telling me she thought she lost me. I whispered back, telling her we were friends for life. We hugged for a few more seconds until Donovan reluctantly interrupted us.

“Are we leaving yet?” he asked, nervously.

I shook my head. “Not without the others”

There were some groans but Barry agreed with me. I quickly filled them in on the last day or so, telling them about my “pink haze”. I apologized for being a bitch to all of them but I really couldn’t do anything to stop it. I then told them about Trish zapping and how I knocked Beatrice out and left her with Trish to get the treatment too. They were glad to hear that the bitch finally got what was coming to her. Mattie smiled a bit and I think I knew. She was going to get her friend back. Thinking of Beatrice, reminded me about her and Barry and he got punched for it.

“You never asked” he said in his defense, rubbing his arm.

Then I looked at the others. “When did they recruit you two?”

“After they took you and Clara” said Mattie, happy to be the storyteller. “You disappeared after the mall, for about two days. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what happened to you. But it was another three days before you resurfaced again. That was this morning. When we saw you we all nearly flipped. It was Chloe first; I thought she was going to hyperventilate. So Barry and I told her. WE told Donny after lunch and then agreed to meet up here after TST”

“In-between Priss’ and Greg’s class I went to see Trish. Barry had already been talking to her about the BMC, it turns out she was the one who sent him the info on the stuff in the first place. Anyway, he finished his portable Frager and passed it to her after lunch. We weren’t sure when we’d get a chance to use it but were hoping you would be first”

‘I went to lunch with a headache” Which reminded me. I turned to Barry and asked him the question that had been bugging me for hours now. “Do the BMCs emit a low frequency buzzing sound?”

“It's possible. You said they were monitoring them right?” I nodded. “It’s possible that not only were they monitoring but they also may have been feeding them commands too. I said they worked on chemicals right but it’s possible the chemicals were only there to make the target more susceptible to the chip’s brainwashing capabilities. It’s a shame that I don’t have one to dissect”

I put my hands on my head. “You’re not getting mine buddy. One head shaving and evasive brain surgery is enough for me”

“They shaved your head?” asked Chloe, I nodded and she frowned. “That’s horrible”

“I was wondering why you were blonde” said Donovan sheepishly.

I’m finished” announced Barry proudly as he stood up; holding V’s phone like it was a golden idol.

“What did you do?”

He started into a spiel about techno babble computer stuff. Donovan was the only one who seemed to follow what he was saying. Boys and their toys. But Donny was nice enough to translate. Apparently Barry used V’s iphone and rerouted all the calls she made with it. Doing so allowed him to tap into every phone that she called and use them like a two way radio. Except the person on the other end didn’t know they were being spied on. The best part though was he could use everyone’s cell phones and track their exact locations in the whole facility.

“So we know where all the bad guys are?” I asked, trying for some clarity.

He nodded. I leaned forward and kissed him.

“Now can we get out of here please?” asked Donovan, looking wearily at the door.

I nodded. “We can go as soon as we get Clara, Holly, max and the idiots”

As soon as the words left my mouth, the sound bellowed into the room. It was so loud that I grabbed my ears and nearly fell to the floor. Barry caught me. Mattie dropped too; cupping her ears and fell into Chloe’s arms. Through the noise I heard Donovan asking what the hell the noise was.

“IT’S THE EMERGENCY ALARM” shouted Barry “ITS ONLY ACTIVATED IN THE CASE OF A NATURAL DISASTER, PRISON BREAK OR FIRE”

Fire? I sniffed the air and could smell smoke. It was several floors away but it was there, faint but growing. There was only one person I knew who liked to play with fire: Beatrice. The first thought that came to mind was Trish. She better be ok or that hot head bitch is going down.

Photo Credit: MeetMeByTheLake2Nite

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