Make Your Move

Chapter 4- Filling in the Blanks

I wasn’t going to be sitting on the sidelines, no matter what Fran’s fictional worries were about.

“Enough!” My voice came out loud and strong and everyone stopped talking as I walked towards the center of the room. I could almost hear Fran face palming.

It was a few steps in that I remembered I was in my pajamas but figured there was no going back now. I stopped once I reached the edge of my side that had Kyle looking worried that I was here and Matt looking relieved.

“What’s going on?” I ask my friend but he never got the chance to really say anything.

“You’re,” My head swivels over to hear the woman looking at me stunned like she saw a ghost.

Then it hit me. These people still thought I was dead.

I hadn’t exactly made an announcement that I was back in the breathing world and I had forgotten that basically everyone outside of this base still thought I was six feet under. No wonder Fran kept trying to hold me back, now probably wasn’t the best time for me to make an appearance to people we didn’t know we could trust.

“You’re Aurora Carter,” She finally managed to spit out.

“Yes,” I said simply trying to look a little bored, it was better to look a little cocky and confident, especially if I had a reputation of beating death to look up to.

“You’re supposed to be dead,”

I look down at what I was wearing, rumpled sweat pants and a t-shirt with hair that was carelessly tossed up in a ponytail but slowly falling out of it. But my feet still poked out of the bottom of the sweats, my arms were still their pasty color and I could feel my heart beat in my chest.

“Sorry to disappoint,” I shrugged and took a few steps closer to them. “So why don’t you tell me what you’re doing here.”

Seeing as she was the leader I expected her to go into full detail about what they’ve been through, what they needed, why there were here, maybe why they were wearing army clothing. Instead she just stared at me.

“We need something of yours,” One of her male companions said and even though I was shocked that they came specifically for something of mine, I only arched an eyebrow.

“And what would that be?”

“EHID.”

“No,” The guy had barely gotten a word out before I said my refusal.

I was content to have EHID locked up forever in its little box and collect dust for the rest of its days. The only reason I hadn’t destroyed it was because of pride, it was the first thing that I created that could potentially change the way the game is played. But it was like cheating and while it worked in my favor now it could turn on me within seconds.

“Why not?” He pressed.

“Destroyed it,” I casually remark with another shrug and I could see a flicker of irritation flash across his face before he composed himself.

“Can you make us a new one?”

“No,” It’s like that word didn’t mean anything to them.

“Why not?” I had a feeling their theme was going to be stubbornness and repetitiveness and flexed my fingers again and noticed some of their eyes were drawn to the scar on my hand. “You know how useful it can be.”

“I also know how dangerous it can be,” I said back just as quickly, not wanting to give him any room to expand on. “If people knew there was a device that could find out all their information like that,” I snapped my fingers. “Then there would be chaos to get it, to be the one who knows all and privacy wouldn’t be sacred anymore.”