I pushed the thought aside, this is not the time to panic about that.

"We can't just walk through," I stated the obvious.

"Listen, I will cover them and then we run," Zane directed, holding the fourth card between his fingers. I nodded at him, preparing to sprint through.

The cards floating around Zane, shot forward, one after the other, cutting through the night air. The cards curved, swinging at the cameras and like a lid closing, they attached themselves to the camera lens, blocking the footage.

Without a second thought, I jumped on my feet, the adrenaline pumping through my veins as I ran to the door. I yanked open the door noiselessly and stepped in. I pressed my back against the wall beside the door and the next second Zane came in. He pulled the door handle and four cards floated through the gap before the door was sealed shut. I took in a deep breath and counted to five mentally.

The room was the same as last time, dark walls and shelves attached to them filled with boxes. One shelf was toppled over, objects invisible in the dark were strewn across the middle of the floor casting darker shadows.

I brought my hand up and tapped my watch thrice. White light shone through the wristband on my arm, illuminating the strap in a sparkling white band. The room was brightened by the torch, the contents faintly visible. I moved my hand across from me, checking the room.

"There is an office across from this room, but someone might be loitering there," Zane said, turning to face me.

"And where do we have to go?"

"Left, down this halfway, and then a right, the first room on the left." He said in a monotone and I latched onto the information.

"What about the third room in this row?" I asked him

"That is where the interrogation happens, where the new people are taken to threaten," Zane muttered sarcastically, spitting out the words.

"Are you guys in?" Jerrek's voice came through my earphone.

"Yes," I whispered back to him.

"Let me just check how many are there," Zane said moving to the door.

"Wait, you seal the cameras and I'll go. I am short and small, I think I can do this better." I called out, moving before him to grab the door.

Zane didn't protest, he gave me a short nod and stepped aside to let me peek through the door. From what I remember the office is not directly in front of this door, I will have to take a step to be able to see anything. I opened the door by an inch, Zane breathing deeply behind me. The bright lights from the corridor flashed into the room through the door, within an instant the cards flew past my head and glued themselves to the camera pointing at the door.

I took in a relaxed breath and put a foot out of the door, Zane's hand wrapped around my arm in a warning. I swallowed and bent down, Zane's hand slipping away. In a squat I crawled out of the door and crouched down further on the gleaming white floor, leaning on the wall behind me. The office had half windows with blue frames. I raised my head a little, there are five people in the front office, three of them were around their desks, their legs propped up and takeaways placed on their laps, they are having lunch. But the other two officers were standing near a machine, copy machine?

I ducked back down and scurried back to the door on bent knees. I gripped the door and fell inside, Zane sealed the door shut and I stood up, dusting myself.

"Five, we will have to run," I said, my voice subconsciously underlying a command.

"It is 12:35, we are late, that is why they are here," Zane cursed placing his hands on his waist.

"I will block the cameras and you keep an eye out." He said after a minute of silence and I simply nodded.

Zane opened the door by a slip and four cards floated out of the gap, he widened the gap letting me step out.

I stepped out of the door and jumped to the right, glueing my back to the wall and placing my palms on it. Zane followed suit, moving away from the direct view of the officers in the front office.

Zane jerked his head to the left and I took that as a sign to start moving, I stepped away from the wall and started walking on my heels, a ghost on my feet and silent in my breath. I guided us forward, keeping my eyes and ears in all directions as Zane focused on keeping us invisible, the cards attacking the many cameras lined on the walls.

Zane needs to stay focused on the cameras hidden at every peak and corner, that leaves me to navigate through this officers station.

We passed the interrogation room and washroom on the way. I skipped across the hall, flattening against the wall as I tried to hear any sounds of movement. None, the hallway was ghostly quiet, I peeked from behind the wall, four cards swishing past me to block the cameras.

It was deserted, as expected, the office was on the left side of the halfway. But it had partial windows around it and I could easily see everything in the room and what was behind the room in the next hallway. Computers were placed one after the other on separate desks and the office was empty.

I retreated back, Zane had his eyes dancing everywhere, almost like he had too many things to focus on. I nudge his shoulder with mine, drawing his attention to me. I nodded at him, it is clear.

I took in a deep breath and dashed for the door, keeping airy on my feet.

There are walls front and back but there are half window partition left and right. The door on the left is where we came from and the door on the right opens to a hallway with a staircase leading in front of the door.

I speed walked to a random desk, pressing on the power button to turn on the computer, I pulled out the drives from my pocket, bunching them in my left hand and plugging one in the computer.

"Jerek, I plugged in the drive," I said on the earpiece as the computer glowed to life the next second. At least they have decent computers.

"On it," came Jerek's reply, different things popped up on the screen before the computer login automatically, or should I say by Jerek's grace?

"It is unlocked," he said and I replied with an okay, jumping to the next computer. The thing is that all the computers looked the same, every desk was the same monotone with a computer and stationery. I looked around and approached a desk, taking a seat on the edge of the revolving chair as I powered up the computer.

"Okay, I got some files from this computer, but there is not much on this system so try another one," Jerek said, and I followed his words.

I plucked in another drive in this computer and gave Jerek a confirmation. While he did his work I darted my eyes around, scanning the area. If anyone were to pass either of the hallway we will be seen.

I think that is bothering Zane more than anything, he is standing in the middle of the room, hands outstretched and legs apart in a ready stance, in preparation if someone were to jump on us. He kept pacing the room, strangely keeping his distance from the right door leading to the stairs down.

The computer logged in and I diverted my attention to the screen. There were some documents that were already open on the computer, like someone closed the system in a hurry. I scanned through the open tabs, the first one was electricity bills, the other was about pensions. I minimized the tabs in irritation, skipping through them.

I stopped at a page, it had Oreanas photo on the left, her name under it.

Oreana Terrance

Age- 22

Father- N/A

Mother- N/A

Siblings- Perso Terrance

Status- Dead

I read and my eyes widened with every word, Oreana is an orphan, and she has a sister? Why does her status say dead?

I scrolled down and another document was attached with her form, I clicked it open.

Oreana Terrance

Age- 22

Height- 5'9

Cause of death- car accident

As my confusion rose, my anger flared, I scrolled down to read the full report. A fatal car accident on 5th February resulted in the death of Oreana Terrance but coincidently Perso survived with minor injuries. The victim's head was bashed in and her lungs were ruptured from the impact resulting in an on the spot death.

My hand shook on the keyboard, my ears ringing at the lie written on the document.

I hit the info icon, searching for the source of the document. I quickly clicked it and it opened an alphabetically arranged folder. I read through the familiar names, they were arranged on a name basis leading to Kera's file. I clicked it open and read through it.

Kera Miller

Age- 42

Husband- Misar Miller

Children- Zane Miller and Mick Miller

I frowned at the incorrect entry, Zane's last name is Romers so why does it say Miller and James is his father. Why are these entries faulty?

The questioned vanished from my mind when my eyes zeroed on the statement below that.

Status- dead

Cause of death- announced fire in their house.

I sucked in a shuddering breath and browsed through the names to search for Zane's entry.

Zane Miller

Age- 17

Father- Misar Miller

Mother- Kera Miller (dead)

Status- dead

Cause of death- announced fire in their house.

There was no denying the fact that this was Zane's file, the boy in the picture had a younger face but the features were same, Black hairs, blue eyes and sharp nose.

I searched for Mick's file, scrolling through the names of the people inhabiting this town. I didn't find his name but I came across many familiar names. I scanned through their status.

Dead

Dead

Dead

Dead

Dead

Dead

Dead

Dead

It was same, no matter who I searched the status was the same. I felt numb going through their death reports, each breath getting harder.

"I got it, Ariel I think this should be enough proof. I found the rations file, the electricity meter and the voting list too," Jerek's voice filtered into my ear, lined with an underlying sense of accomplishment. I shook from my numb state, taking a deep breath that got clogged in my throat.

"Okay," I said and absentmindedly closed the file. A different file opened up behind it. It was supposed to be before the citizen record. The blue-lined Phoneix was stamped distinctly on the paper. It is an official government document.

I browsed through the words, failing to focus on anything concrete but I settled for picking up words in my quick scan.

Citizen record of Urydale..........population of 1,000 people.....7 deaths this year.......signed and approved by the governor of Urydale...........

This doesn't look fake, something is wrong here, why are they submitting false records to the government?

The signature in red ink that followed under the document caught my eyes, I mover the cursor to scroll down, the name appearing on the screen.

Laughter boomed from the once empty walls of the hallway. I jerked into motion, standing up abruptly. The chair lost its balance and tumbled to the side, I caught it before it touched the floor, almost tripping on my own feet.

My panicked eyes found Zane, I quickly ran to him, my heart screaming loudly in my ears, muting whatever Jerek was trying to say.

I stepped in the direction of the stairs leading down but Zane grabbed my hand, pulling me back with a jerk.

"Zane we need to go down," I said to him, my voice between a yell and a whisper.

He shook his head, "no, not there," he whispered with ferocity and I was about to argue before the sound of footsteps faintly reached my ear. I stopped dead in my tracks, eyes darting around to find somewhere to hide.

My eyes focused on the desks arranged side by side at the end of the room, I grabbed Zane's hand and dragged him after me. He seems to have gotten my idea because he stepped forward, removing the chair for me to get under the compact desk. I folded my limbs, crawling under the chair. He placed the chair back, and I wanted to scream at him to leave it to me and hide quickly.

The steps got closer and I saw them, two officers in Azure uniforms stepping inside the room, their boots stomping on the floor. I moved my eyes to Zane, barely able to see him as he tried to fold his legs while pulling the chair in.

I quickly materialized a small marble out of my colour and placed it on my palm, I flicked the marble with my finger and willed it to fly through the air to hit its target. It hit the door next to the officers with a clank and I quickly made it disappear within a blink.

It was effective in diverting their attention, they looked around at the sound, searching out of the office and in the corridors. It gave Zane enough time to settle under the desk and I sighed in a snippet of relief.

"What was that?" One of them asked and walked in the office. His sentence was ignored by both of them as they shrugged it aside.

"Who was using my computer?" One of them suddenly yelled and I froze at my place, holding my breath as I watched him walk to the chair I was previously sitting in. He pushed the chair aside roughly, scanning through his computer with sharp eyes.

"You probably forgot to close it, bro," the other officer called after him, walking forward to pat his back.

"The tabs are minimized, someone was snooping into my things," he yelled suddenly, banging his fist on the table. The sudden noise made me jump at my place, I scrunched my eyes and folded into myself, pulling my legs closer.

"I am going to kill Markel, Markel, come here you son of a bitch," he continued to yell louder, stomping out of the room with murder in his eyes. His mad screams echoed in the hallway after him and the second man rushed out too.

They were out of sight but their voices were not far away and I was sure they will be back in under five minutes. Zane kicked the chair away and jumped to his feet, he pulled away my chair and I crawled out from under the desk. I ran to the computers and pulled out the drives, fisting them tightly as I turned to Zane.

"Zane," I called out in a strained whisper, asking him to understand that we need to go down the stairs, now.

This was a looking chapter! Anyways I took some time to write it since I was too jumbled up with what to do here. Anyways I think we have 10-12 chapters more before it is completed.