Hard Wired Trilogy DeAnna Pearce (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📖

back to the shelter of a nearby building and struggled to draw in a clean breath.

This isn’t real. The dust and smoke suffocating you isn’t real.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she drew in a breath through her nose. When she reopened her eyes, the noise and chaos continued to attack and disorient her. She clasped her hands over her ears to block out the craziness. With the world in front of her muted, it helped her pounding heart to slow. This VR put a lot focus on the sounds of war, but as she scanned the horizon, there was something missing.

While bullets and bombs sounded overhead, there wasn’t any evidence of any of their destruction. No explosions of dirt or debris in the landscape or people being struck down. Several injured people littered the dirt path along the building, but their wounds were bandaged already.

Down the block, one injured woman cried out. “Help me. Dear God, help me.”

Watching the woman, Ari lowered her hands and approached.

The woman’s image scattered ever so briefly, and then reformed. “Help me. Dear God, help me.”

This woman’s script must run in a loop, repeating for whoever walked past. Several other errors stuck out so obviously that Ari wondered why she’d never seen them before. Granted, she’d never stayed in a VR long enough to find them. Out in a nearby field, the same soldier kept running a similar path every minute or so. The explosions, still loud and annoying, sounded like a pattern that could be predicted.

This was a flawed program. Dr. Coleman wanted them to see these flaws, so they can do better. Be better. With a world so complex, every little detail mattered. For the first time since coming to this school, a kernel of hope burned in her chest. She just might have a chance here.

After scanning the horizon one more time, she pulled out of the VR, not out of fear, but because she had another class soon. The sickening noise of unplugging herself from the machine, still churned her stomach.

Grabbing a drink from her bag, she realized that her class had already started. Despite the nausea building in her stomach, she had to go back in. She completed a couple of easier VRs, not lasting over fifteen minutes. But it was enough. Exhausted, even though she didn’t move a muscle for most of it, Ari picked up her bag and headed out of the cubicle.

Walking down the hall, she read the screen in the wall flashing student reminders. Then the screen glitched. Numbers and letters sprawled all over the screen. Ari blinked again, and it was gone. She rubbed her temple, not sure what she saw in the first place. Maybe I need to get my eyes checked again. She’d had corrective surgery once already for her vision.

Turning the corner towards the exit, she paused. Reed stood in front of her talking with the lanky TA that had checked her in. Reed finished his sentence and glanced her way. “Ari.”

“Hi. What are you doing here?” She worried that he would give her another warning or lecture to avoid Garrett. He had never given her a tough time about boys she dated at their old school. Granted there weren’t many when most dates took place in the virtual realm.

“Just helping Toby with a last-minute assignment.”

Toby took the small drive on the counter and inserted it into his personal device. “I owe you one.”

“I think it’s more than one.” Reed turned to Ari. “Walk you to your next class?”

Taken back, it took Ari a moment to answer as she tried to figure his true reason for being there. He could have transferred data electronically to Toby. Couldn’t he?

“Are you going to class?” He tilted his head slightly in question.

Pull it together. Ari shook off the awkward surprise and exhaustion enough to answer. “Actually, I’m headed to my room.” She figured she should sleep for an hour or so before Coleman’s class if she was going to make any sense.

“We can ride together.”

They walked down the hall. The inches between them felt heavy, like miles filled with uncomfortable silence. In the elevator, they were alone, which was rare. He pushed her floor and then turned to her.

“I wanted to say sorry about yesterday.” He glanced down. “It’s not my business who you date.”

She had been thinking about it a lot since their run in. “If Garrett is so bad, why do you work with him?”

“He’s not bad. He’s just more ...” He appeared to struggle to find the right word. “Let’s just say he has a reputation.”

The elevator opened, and Ari wasn’t sure how to take his comment. Was Garrett a male slut or did Reed think she was naïve? She didn’t have time to worry about it and stepped out of the elevator.

With a hand, he stopped the doors from closing behind her. “So, are we okay?”

She turned back to Reed, his hazel eyes the same eyes she often lost herself in since she was twelve. He was trying to watch out for her. Even if he thought of her as a little sister, he cared. She couldn’t blame him for his behavior before. “We’re good, Reed.”

A smile lit up his face as he stepped back into the elevator. “Have a good class.”

As she headed to her room, an elated feeling grew in her chest. It felt good to settle things with Reed. Walking one staggered step at a time, her bed called to her like never before. Inside her room, she dumped her gear and kicked off her shoes, ready to sleep in her clothes. Before she could collapse on the bed, a message vibrated on her HUB.

It was from her bank. They confirmed her withdrawal of $200. She hadn’t taken any money out of her account. On a tight budget, she planned her money from her part-time jobs to last her all year. But there it was on the bank record, removed this morning at 9:52am. It was clearly an error,