Missus raced over to the pod, a frantic look on her face. "Close it, close it now!"

A desperate look clouded Jame's face as he ran through protocols and began shutting off the simulation. The pods started beeping wildly from the forced disconnect.

Missus shoved the pod open and revealed Azalea, arms wrapped around herself and face contorted into a wordless cry.

Missus stoked a strand of hair away from her face. "Wake up," she crooned, barely audible over the cacophony of systems being shut off. "It's time to wake up, little one."

She ignored the sounds of screaming from elsewhere in the room.

"Wake up."

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Panic kicked Corben in the gut and he pushed himself off the edge in an attempt to catch Azalea, her face scrunched up as she screamed. He caught her wrist for the smallest of seconds before she disappeared.

It didn't have time to register in his mind before he hit the ledge, feeling a sharp crunch in his side, followed by splitting, burning pain. He choked on an outburst and wheezed in a breath, but doing so hurt more than it should have.

"Corben!"

He could see, just faintly, Kai peering over the edge, her hair curtaining around her face as she looked down at him. She was so much further up than him, which meant he must have fallen quite a ways before landing. This was not painless. This was not the seamless transition to darkness that he had expected.

This was fire and smoke and the feel of baseball bats hitting his chest, the crack of fists and blood. Knives shoved into his lungs, for no other purpose than to play a game.

He gagged down another breath, but his chest felt so tight, so heavy, so wrong, that the air only served to pain him more.

"Corben no! Why did you jump? You selfless, stupid rebel!"

Black spots started overtaking his vision, but his eyes remained trained on Kai until it all fell away.

At least he would be with Maylea again.

The world jolted sharply, Corben gasped, sucking down air as if he had been drowning underwater. He tried to push himself up and his head cracked against something, a ringing headache traveling all across his skull. He opened his eyes to see light filtering through a long crack above him, sound finally catching up to his ears.

Alarms and beeps and electronic sounding words crashed around him, causing the throbbed in his head to deepen. There was a loud click, followed by a hiss, and the top of his pod swung open, revealing blinding lights.

"Corben, Corben I need you to listen to me. Can you lift up your right hand?"

The fog in his mind trembled and he moved to raise his arm, but his head hurt too much to follow through.

He could hear someone screaming, dulled by the confines of their own pod. A voice repeated error every heartbeat, loud enough to stand out from all of the other warnings scrambling through the air.

"Corben, blink if you can hear me."

His eyes adjusted to the light, and he realized Mr. James was above him, shining a flashlight in his eye.

Corben closed his eyes tight, trying to escape the disorienting brightness. "Hurts." The word was thick on his tongue, and everything ached too much to have been sitting in this pod the entire simulation.

"Hurts? Hurts where? Corben, buddy, I need you to talk to me, ok?" Mr. James opened one of Corben's eyes and shone the light back in. "Tell me where it hurts."

His words were muddled at first as his body slowly regained function. "Stop... stop the screaming."

Mr. James clicked off the light. "Missus is dealing with that. Now Corben, tell me where it hurts."

He closed his eyes and twisted his face into a grimace. "My head. I hit... I hit it when I woke up." He groaned and started to sit up.

Mr. James shoved him back down. "Don't. Let me check you first, and then stay. I have to check on everyone one else too."

"Maylea..."

He barely registered Mr. James fingers searching through his hair until they found the cut, swollen and oozing. Corben inhaled sharply, everything swimming in his vision, so he surrendered to the feeling of nothingness.

He could still hear them screaming.

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Screams ripped Veronica's throat raw as she struggled to get out, the space too small, too dark, too reminiscent of that place she had never wanted to think of again.

"Let me out!" She sobbed, fingernails clawing above her, the scraping sound joining another scream, fear crowding out every thought in her mind, nothing but the screaming in her head matching the strangled cries that echoed around her.

"Deary!"

The pod lid crashed open, and Veronica's fingers scraped against soft skin, her body revolting, as she burst into the light, the sound of popping and ripping following her as she collapsed out of the pod and onto the floor, her entire body shaking as sweatdrenched through her clothing. She forced herself to keep her eyes open, to stare out at the bustling of shoes and legs and head splitting alarms drowning out any spoke words.

Someone was screaming. Was that her? Was she still screaming even though she was free, she was safe, she wasn't trapped.

There were fingers on her skin, rolling her over, touching her face, peeling wires off of her, telling her to speak, to say something. Veronica squinted at the person. Should she know them? Should she know this place? Wasn't she just in a forest of some sort?

"Veronica! Veronica, take a breath. We're safe now, you don't have to worry, it's ok."

The blurry face slowly began to shift into focus, first the eyes, concerned and green and just as dark as she felt inside. "I don't..."

There was another face now, an Der man, shining a light in her eyes and speaking too quietly to hear.

This wasn't home. This wasn't the Cortex. That boy was right when he said she was safe.

She would never go back.

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The teens were all huddled in various ways in the sitting area of the dining room, an untouched plate of cookies on a sidetable.

Juno had been drifting off when he felt the chair beneath himself shift and found Maylea perched on the arm of it. So of course, he had shifted over so they could share the seat, though it was a bit snugger than he had anticipated.

Kai had claimed the other seat, with Charlie, Avery, and Blair on the couch, Avery wrapped tightly in a blanket, Charlie and Blair slumped against each other.

Carmen had stolen a decorative pillow and the other blanket and was sleeping on the floor.

Veronica, Corben and Azalea were not with them. The the three of them had been swept away from the group before Mr. James had escorted the remaining eight to the dining room. No one had said a word since arriving.

There was a click, a hiss, and everyone's heads swiveled to the entrance to the room, Mr. James standing in the open doorway, looking just as tired as Juno felt.

"Children."

His steps were slower than normal, stretching out the moment as he made his way to the fireplace. "I would like to apologize for everything that happened today. It appeared there was a system malfunction and it could not bear the weight of ten users at once." His hands were gripped too tight. "Secondly, I am deeply grieved that you had to go through what you did. Although I had warned you of possible death, we had programmed this run to dilute pain and negate death."

A breath. Maylea started to shake beside Juno, and he snaked his hand into hers, flinching when she grabbed it tight.

"As you can see, it did not work."

Kai raised her hand, and Mr. James nodded at her. She bit her lip. "Are Azalea and Veronica ok? Will they... will they be coming back?"

"What about Corben?"

Maylea's voice was small, and, Juno realized, clouded with tears.

Mr. James stiffened. "All of your peers will be fine."

Juno narrowed his eyes. "Will be fine? Are they not fine right now?"

Mr. James shot him a disapproving look. "No, Juno, they are night fine at the moment. Corben sustained an injury to the head upon waking up, we are currently checking that he has not had a concussion or is in any danger.

"As for Veronica and Azalea, they both appear to the be in shock, albeit displaying symptoms differently. Veronica has been sedated, and if the Missus has deemed it fine, Azalea will be returning to all of you in the morning."

His eyes settled on each and every one of then in turn, settling on Juno last. "I would suggest you go to your rooms and get cleaned up. You will find the Missus has further stocked your rooms."

Charlie was the first up, looking down as he walked past everyone else. Blair followed after him, and slowly, the group dissolved as they all dissapeared. Then, it was just Mr. James, Maylea, and Juno.

He took a breath, pulling the two of them to their feet. "Please let us know when you have more information about Corben."

Mr. James nodded. "Of course. Goodnight, Juno."

The door closed behind them with a sad sort of finality.

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Short(er) chapter today because I've been stuck on what should happen next.

So!! The simulation is over, and d a n g some drama happened! What do you think the aftermath of all this will end up being?

Also, if you're reading, please give either a vote or a comment to let me know that you're here. Until next time!