Ones and Zeroes

Chapter 32: Empty

I clicked away at the keyboard in front of me, my fingers gliding over the plastic keys with ease. I trembled in the larger office chair.

I typed in the endless code, full of symbols and numbers. I finally finished hacking into the computer and various, small manila folders filled the screen. I clicked around until I opened a folder to a large list of codes and headshots.

"Okay I got the list up. We gotta find Techno's room number then get the code to get in." I told Dream who stared at the bright screen.

My fingers began typing away at the keyboard again while I used the mouse to scroll down the list. My eyes scanned the list of random codes and names. My eyes stopped on a particular name.

Dave.

I looked at the black and white headshot of the normally pink haired boy. I clicked on the small tab and was led to another page. At the bottom of the page in bold, there sat one room number and one entrance code.

I hastily leant my body over Dream's to grasp for a notepad and pen on the same desk. My left hand gripped the pen tightly and scribbled down the two codes.

"You're left handed?" Dream giggled beside me.

"Yep. Why? Anything wrong with that?" I responded, still writing on the lined papers in front of me.

"No, no just... cute." Dream replied. I could feel a warm blush spread across my cheeks at his comment. "Not too many people I know are left handed."

My face was unbelievably hot and the butterflies in my stomach started to come to life. But I was quick to shove those feelings down. We had a job to do, and very little time. "Yea I guess."

There was a long silence before I got up from my seat and handed Dream the paper. Sapnap, Karl, and Quackity watched the awkward interaction from afar.

~

"Watch out!"

Dream pushed me against a wall as bullets flew through the air where I once stood. He removed his hand from my chest right after to hold his rifle and shoot down the guards at the other end of the hallway.

"Fuck, where's Karl?!" Quackity asked urgently. The small blonde was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't know. I thought you were with him." Sapnap responded.

"I thought you were!" Quackity said back. "Shit ok, we gotta find him. He couldn't have gone too far."

"We're running out of time here." Dream reminded us.

"I know, I know but we can't leave Karl. Someone's gotta go after him." Sapnap told Dream.

There were a couple seconds of silence and thought before Quackity spoke up. "I'll go. You guys go find Techno, I'll find Karl."

"Alex we can't let you go on your own." Dream told Quackity.

"And I can't let us go in pairs, we're too weak to fight off enemies. I can sneak and I'll be fine." Quackity argued. "There's no other way. We need Techno and Karl. I'm not backing down."

More tense silence followed before Dream let out a heavy sigh. "Fine. Just make sure you stay safe okay. Join us at the meet up spot when you find him, okay."

"Ok...thanks Dream." Quackity patted Dream on the shoulder then turned to walk away. Before he could walk any further, he looked back quickly and smiled at us. "See ya later guys."

Quackity had now disappeared around a corner. This left me, Dream, and Sapnap to find Techno.

"Alright stick together and stay close, we can't lose anymore people...or time." Dream reminded us.