Page 49 of Craze

Her eyes close.

“Be careful,” I say to her lips. “Don’t get lost in there.”

She blinks. “I lived in his programs for years. But it will be interesting to see what’s hiding behind his higher security clearance.”

Macabre clears his throat. “While she does that, everyone else needs to buckle up. We’re almost through.”

I clip on my chest harness beneath the camping pack and pick up Ranger’s body.

Navi joins me as our group moves up the tunnel. “Think his network is running? I’m not seeing him in the Local list.”

“I don't know.” I clip Ranger to my chest and hike after Tangle and Aeri. Shavih and Jeela talk behind us, while Eliana hustles up to speak with Macabre and learn how to use what she carries.

“Here.” Navi clips Rochir’s wristband to Ranger’s forearm. “There’s a reboot program Rochir used to use on me to try and start over. All it did was restart my splay. But it might work. I just had to set it up for our network. I hope there’s enough battery left to complete the process .”

I run a finger over her cheek in admiration. “Thanks for doing what you can, whether or not it works. It means a lot that you’re trying to help my Brother.”

Macabre eases into the opening, handguns drawn. He peers out for a moment then looks back to us. “There’s an outbuilding a two-day hike from here. No fires. No talking. We stick together and hustle. We’ll group up at night to stay warm.

“Craze, close it.”

I wave the others ahead of me, draw a gun, and fire at the cave walls. It’s not preferred to leave equipment behind, but it would only draw attention to us here. With other soldiers crawling the surface, heat sensors won’t differentiate us.

“Titans, switch off.” Macabre points to Navi. “You too.”

“Yes, sir.” Navi blinks, and the light in her eyes fades.

“You have that wrong, Navi,” I say quietly. “Titans serve humans.”

“Humble. That’s why I think you’ll do great when you’re free.” She ducks her head as she follows Eliana through the narrow opening. “And I think we are equal.”

“I could not have reprogrammed the wristband. I can access it and control what’s there,” I admit. “But you have creativity and engineering capabilities beyond what we’re designed for.”

“You can endure what we can’t,” she counters as we get our first glimpse of the brisk mountains. “We all have ourskills.”

Navi sticks her tongue out between her teeth and winks at me.

Macabre glares back at us.

“Oops, we’ve pissed of Mama Bear,” I whisper. “We better be good girls and boys.”

“Naughty ones, later?” Navi grins.

I bury my lips against her ear. “Definitely.Gorgeous.”

She blushes, and it makes me wonder what the rest of her would look like out here under the sun, raw from the synthskin-to-flesh attention I want to give her.

I draw her close and keep her between me and the mountain. Navi gives her friends a hand signal I don’t understand, but they seem to understand. She takes a pack of camping gear from Shavih, throws it over her back, and marches on.

I hope we survive this because I’ve found a new purpose. I don’t know if Navi will agree to the proposition churning in my mind, but I hope she does.

Chapter 16: Craze

Our group doesn’t speak for two days. We use hand signals to communicate, though it takes some time to find ones Titans and humans can agree on, and stay close at night. Navi sleeps inside the curl of my body. My brothers protect the other humans. Shavih and Jeela keep Eliana between them while Axe, RamBash, and Macabre take the outside of their cluster. And it seems Tangle’s Tingle was more than a theory. Aeri has slept in his arms both nights.

We survive on welvir jerky, dried berries, and the canteens of water we fill in the mountain creeks. The wind is cold, but Navi keeps me warm with the occasional smile and a tap to check on Ranger. But there’s not much progress yet.

I break protocol one time and ask as quietly as I can how long it takes for the reboot to happen.

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