System Reboot (Sequel to System Failure)

Chapter 15

He smiled at me and opened his mouth to say something, but just before he did, his eyes glanced to something over my shoulder and his eyes widened, his mouth closing instantly. Without a word, he grabbed my hand and quickly pulled me into the library, ducking around the reception desk that was near the front glass doors and pulling me along until we were amongst the bookshelves that filled the first floor of the building and well out of sight of the front windows.

"Adam, what's wrong?" I asked as he finally slowed his rapid walk (I spoke quietly, we were in a library after all).

He didn't answer at first. His eyes were locked in the direction of the doors, and he was breathing unevenly, like he was nervous. Or scared. He hadn't let go of my hand so I rubbed the back of it with my other hand, waiting patiently for him to calm down as I glanced around. No one seemed to be around to notice us, though I wasn't sure whether ordinary people would know the significance of someone having a coded eye-

"Hey guys!"

Adam instantly dropped my hand and spun around to the voice, his hand about to draw his sword, assuming that he had one, which he didn't. I turned a half second later to see a slightly bewildered Ty standing at the end of the row with a book in hand, a half-smile on his face as he beheld our slightly panicked expressions.

Adam let out a breath and relaxed. "Geez Ty, don't scare me like that."

"Sorry, my bad," Ty said, chuckling awkwardly as he joined us. "I usually don't see people I know in the library." He frowned a little at Adam. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Adam did indeed seem pale as he glanced the way of the doors again, hesitating before answering. "I saw a virus across the street. Just waiting there. Watching."

"Are you sure?" I asked, a familiar sense of worry starting to grow in my gut.

Adam nodded. "I recognised him. I saw him in cyberspace once."

"Did he see you guys?" Ty asked, glancing to me as if I had also seen the virus, which I hadn't.

"Yeah, he did," Adam said quietly. "We made eye contact. He recognised me."

Ty and I glanced at each other as Adam kept watching the glass doors. "And... is that bad?" I asked slowly.

Adam let out a slow breath. "Maybe. Maybe not. But if he reports to Herobrine, then the viruses will probably attack sooner. Herobrine won't want to risk the Glitches knowing about the plan."

"So we might be more screwed than before?" Ty asked.

Adam's eyebrows scrunched together a little in concern, or maybe concentration, or possibly slight anger. "Probably. I mean... the main reason why we- the viruses are waiting to attack is because w-they want the Glitches to be weaker. But if they need to... they could attack tomorrow. And they'd win."

Ty's POV

I knew something was up with Adam. Obviously there was the whole virus thing going on with the whole 'we-they' thing, but Adam didn't act like this, all wary and closed up and untalkative. I hadn't hung out with him a lot since he had come back, which I did feel bad for, but I had known him long enough to know that there was something he was hiding. And what kind of friend would I be if I didn't try to help?

"Hey Alesa, can you give us a moment?" I asked quietly.

Adam glanced at me in confusion with a hint of wariness. Alesa flicked her eyes between the two of us but thankfully didn't ask questions, just nodded. "I'll have a bit of a peak out the window, just to make sure that that virus didn't follow us," she said before heading off.

"Just be careful," Adam called out quietly after her. She turned around enough to give him a smile.

I waited until she was around the corner before turning my attention to my friend. "Are you okay Adam?" I asked quietly.

He nodded, but averted his eyes. "Yeah. I'm fine."

I raised my eyebrow, waiting a heartbeat. "Uh huh." He gave me a small sheepish grin. I nudged his arm a bit. "Come on, tell me what's up."

"It's... It's nothing," he said, rubbing the back of his head a bit, but still watching the ground. "Just... adjusting. I've still got a few... a few virus thoughts flying around. It's... a little overwhelming at times."

I nodded a little. "You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" I asked. "We're still best friends. And anyway, nothing you can tell me can be worse than what I've told you."

A grin akin to something wicked came over Adam's face as he met my eyes. "Like that time in second grade-"

"We don't talk about that, we agreed to it."

He chuckled a little, but nodded. "Yeah, I know. I trust you."

I gave him a clap on the shoulder. If he didn't want to talk about it, then I wasn't going to push him, especially not now. For the most part, I was just happy that he remembered me and was still chill with being friends. We walked down the row of books to where Alesa was waiting and I waved as they left the library together.

When they were out of sight, my shoulders slouched with a sigh. I glanced down at the book I was still holding from my search through the library's book collection: AI's; how to code, instruct, and reboot.

I gave a heavy sigh and ran a hand through my hair. "I'll try memory loss," I muttered to myself, turning back to the wealth of books. There had to be something in there that would help Adam remember his life.

Awww Ty's trying to help his friend.

Announcement time!

My next book shall be coming out on the 8th December. You don't need to know much about that now other than that it's the third book in a series AND you do not need to read the first and second books to understand this one. I'm writing it so that it can be read as a stand-alone book.

But if you are looking for something to read and you're interested, then To Be A General and To Stay A General are the books you're looking for.

More on that later, this was just an advanced warning.

Bye!