Chapter 3

The next few hours in the tunnel were a blur of training and intense conversation. Leo showed me how to clear my mind by focusing on my breathing, a technique he called "The Anchor." By focusing on the present moment, I could stop the visions from crashing into my brain all at once.

"It’s like a radio," Leo explained, gesturing to a wall of old computer monitors. "If you try to listen to every station at the same time, it’s just noise. You have to learn how to tune into one frequency at a time."

I practiced for hours. At first, I only saw flashes of static, but soon, I started to see small things. I saw the maintenance worker in the cafeteria above drop a tray of cups three minutes before it actually happened. I saw Elara spill her water before her hand even moved toward the glass.

"You're getting faster," Elara said, entering the room with a tray of synthetic nutrient bars. "But that was easy stuff. The government has eyes everywhere, Maya. They know you’re gone. They’ve locked down the transit station and are currently scanning the perimeter for any heat signatures."

My stomach tightened. "What does that mean for us?"

"It means we move tonight," Leo said, his voice firm. "We’ve been preparing a digital attack on the broadcast system for months. We need to upload the evidence of what they’re doing to the students, the brainwashing, the fake tests. If we can get that out during the Selection Day ceremony, the whole city will see the truth."

I stood up, my legs feeling a little shaky. "Why me? Why do you need me?"

"Because the broadcast system has a firewall that uses predictive algorithms," Leo replied, walking over to a keyboard. "They anticipate every hacking attempt. But they can’t anticipate you. You can see the firewall’s defenses before they even activate. You’re the key to getting past their security."

I looked at the screens, seeing the flickering lines of data. It looked like a storm of numbers. I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, searching for the patterns. Suddenly, the numbers shifted. I could see the digital path, a gap in the firewall that opened and closed every few seconds.

"There," I whispered, pointing at the monitor. "At 12:04 AM. There’s a delay in the server response. It’s like a blink. If you hit it then, you’re in."

Leo’s eyes widened. "That’s exactly right."

We spent the rest of the night working together. The atmosphere in the bunker changed. It was no longer just a hideout; it was a command center. I felt a strange sense of purpose. For seventeen years, I had been taught that my feelings were just "glitches" in my personality, something to be corrected or ignored. Here, they were my greatest strength.

Around midnight, a siren blared, not the loud, city-wide wail of the Peacekeepers, but a low, rhythmic pulse from our own internal alarm.

"They found the tunnel entrance," Elara said, her voice calm but urgent. "They’re using thermal imaging. We have ten minutes before they reach the security door."

"We aren't finished with the upload!" Leo shouted, his fingers flying across the keys.

"I can hold them off," I said, stepping forward. I could feel the vision coming, a glimpse of the hallway outside the vault. I saw the agents coming, I saw the exact angle of their flashlights, and I saw the moment they would trigger the security bypass. "I know exactly where they’re going to step. If we reroute the steam pipes in the maintenance crawlspace, it’ll force them to take a longer route."

Leo didn't argue. He trusted me. "Do it!"

I sprinted toward the maintenance panel, my hands flying over the controls. I didn't need to read the labels; I could *see* the result of every lever I pulled. The pipes hissed and groaned, releasing a thick, blinding curtain of steam into the main tunnel just as the agents rounded the corner.

Back in the vault, Leo finished the final line of code. "It’s done! The data is queued. As soon as the main broadcast starts, it’s going to hit every screen in Oakhaven."

"We have to go, now!" Elara signaled.

We grabbed our gear and scrambled toward the emergency exit, a hidden ladder leading to the city's outskirts. As we climbed, I looked back at the monitors one last time. I saw the security footage of the agents standing confused in the steam, and for a split second, I felt a surge of triumph.

We hit the surface just as the city lights began to dim, a signal that the morning ceremony was starting. The sky was turning a pale, sickly grey. Somewhere out there, my parents were waking up, probably terrified, wondering where their daughter had gone.

"Maya," Leo said, stopping me as we reached the edge of the forest. "Are you ready? Once we do this, there is no going back. They will come for us with everything they have."

I looked at the high towers of Oakhaven, the symbols of the life I had been forced to live. I thought about the train, the dream, and the girl who had been afraid to touch a lever. That girl was gone.

"I’m ready," I said.

We watched as the city-wide screens began to flicker to life. The countdown to Selection Day had begun, but for the first time, I knew exactly what was going to happen next. And it wasn't what they expected.