L.O.V.E.

Chapter 29 - Roone

LESS THAN 48 HOURS AGO         

'Roone! Roone, wake up, goddammit!' Matt is screaming like a little girl from the other part of the room.

'Shut up, I'm already up! What are you whining about?' I ask, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. God, I miss having my own place.

Awake and half naked, I stretch behind Matt's chair, letting my eyes inspect the static noise on the monitor. He has the headphones on and types something like a demon. His fingers are moving so fast, it's just a matter of time until he sets the keyboard on fire. He twitches as I free his ears, too pissed he missed my question.

'What's wrong?' I ask again.

'Gosh, put something on. People are talking, you know?' Matt smirks and dodges the first smack coming for his head. He's not that lucky with the second one.

He and his stupid jokes. So, what if I'm shirtless? It's too damn hot in this dump he calls home. I grab my t-shirt from the floor and throw it over my shoulder. He can't complain I'm not covered anymore. Then, I roll the other chair next to his desk and take a seat near him. This time, the screen shows rows and rows of green scripts. I've never been a computer genius, but I know coordinates when I see them. Matt is trying to locate something. He jerks his head at me and rolls his eyes, but keeps his mouth shut. He knows he is going to get another smack in his head, if he whines again.

'Roone, don't be mad, okay?' He mouths, faking his calm and gently putting his headphones on the table. Oh boy, I don't like the sound of that. 'Look, I had to go to the toilet, 'kay? They were gone by the time I got back.' Matt finishes his plea and presses his hands together to his mouth. Only God can save him now.

I close my eyes in an attempt to hold my temper, yet I can't help myself and hit him in the head. He deserves it. It's been days since we hacked the main surveillance in the city and have taken turns to watch over Nerissa and Nathan. It's all on him that he lost them.

'Show me where you saw them last.' I command, and with a short press of his finger, the monitor splits in half, showing their last location – Nerissa in her lab and Blondie at his Navion practice. My body is still drawn to her, even though our fight seems like eons ago. I shake my head and try to forget about her. She and I can't happen. 'Alright, now speed it up a little.'

My eyes are glued to the left part of the screen, following her choreographed moves. She's like a busy bee, jumping from one table to another and tracing complicated patterns. Then, out of the blue, I see her opening the glass door and bolt out into the hallway. The camera catches her again, showing her for a fraction of a second on the fire escape ladder. She then disappears again, the image glitching a few times and bringing snippets of her a second later. Nerissa is now running alone on the city streets like she's seen a ghost. I puff annoyed when the screen turns to a monochromatic noise, a dead end, which makes my heart shrink in pain.

'They, more or less, disappeared at the same time.' Matts voice brings me back.

I'm still in denial. This is bad. So, bad. The Supreme Government has eyes and ears everywhere. It's impossible for them to lose sight of any of their subjects, not even for a split of a second. I start fretting. This is Iron Guard's doing. They cut the power to every camera in the city.

'Play that again.' I say and force my eyes to catch any irregularities.

Everything looks the same. Nerissa is busy with her science, jumping from one microscope to another, her robe leaving a white trace on the screen. Then, before she bolts out the lab, I tell Matt to roll back the recording to the scene with her laying puzzled on the swivelled chair. She looks frightened, like something from those blood samples has tuned her life upside down. Then, the loud noise outside her lab frightens her, driving Nerissa to venture into the unknown. Now that the motion is set to normal, my eyes are able to catch a shadowy figure, entering the lab before it turns to pitch black. Matt presses a few more buttons, and what we thought to be a glitch in the camera before, it was rather a blackout orchestrated by whoever lurked in the corridors. We rolled it backwards so many times, until one thing became clear.