Spencer scanned her eyes across the street, watching crowds of men and women with anger and fear boiling up their throats. But these same crowds also had a look of curiosity and happiness. And that's what made it beautiful.

Spencer took off her leather jacket and wrapped it around her waist, realizing the cooling system for the dome was off as well. The dome was always the same temperature. A little cool, never hot. It was perfect in Spencer's preference. There were no seasons; they were considered unnecessary.

Spencer watched as a woman chucked a hammer at one of the SafeWatchers on the street, it shattering the cage surrounding it. Another group started a chant, getting everyone to chime in and shout with them until it was as loud as it could get.

"Can't see us no more! Can't see us no more!" The mob repeated over and over again. Spencer began to jog toward it when she felt a hand on her shoulder and Luka was standing beside her. But he wasn't looking at her, he was staring at everything and everyone around him. His eyes were wide and full of shock.

"Woah." He whispered, his eyes going back and forth between the people and the surrounding buildings, he reached out and felt the wall next to him, dragging his fingers across the windows.

"Come on brother. It's time to be free. We're free!" She shouted over the noise, grabbing his hand and lifting it up high and twirling around. She smiled, a smile she hadn't shown in a long time.

"Let's join them." She ran off to the mob of people chanting, dragging Luka with her.

"Spencer, what happened to you and mom?" He quickly asked, but she ignored his question and began shouting as loud as she could with the mob.

Spencer and Luka broke away from the mob the moment they approached the Reform Building and started shouting for the officials to come out and stop being bloody cowards. They tried knocking down the door, but it was built like titanium.

Getting bored of the mob, they went off and did their own thing. She skipped toward the one and only coffee shop, grabbing a bag of potato chips from the shelf before starting up the ladder on the outside of the building. Luka followed her up sitting down right next to her and sharing the chips. The brightness hadn't dimmed, the system completely frozen. Spencer knew the day was almost over though, and it made Spencer realize something that she didn't even think about. Who did this and how long would it even last? She frowned, beginning to understand that the system could go right back on any moment, and Luka would have to run back to the small confined closet, or worse, get seen by an official.

Spencer laid her head on Luka's shoulder, closing her eyes. "I love you, little brother."

"I love you too."

She sat upright, "Hey, is it okay if you go back home for a bit? I have to do something." It pained her to ask this because she wanted to spend every single second with him, but she was willing to risk one hour if it were to gain them years.

"Do what?" He asked, shoving another chip into his mouth and looking down at her suspiciously. She smirked, "I'm finding the smartass who did this."

_____________

... back to early this morning

Everest's eyes fluttered open and it took him a minute to realize where he was. He sat up slowly, realizing he was on the floor. He looked to his right and found his best friend asleep on the couch. She had stolen all of the blankets off him except for one. Her head the only visible part of her body, the couch covered in blankets.

The small DVD player was turned off, and he guessed she must have turned it off after he fell asleep. They had watched the same film that they have seen about thirty times. It was definitely getting old, but not old enough to stop watching it together. Everest slowly got up from the ground, shoving his hands into his sweatpants pockets. He pulled out his New Phone. It was six-thirty a.m. He sighed, shoving it back into his pocket and glaring at the Safewatcher in the corner of the room.

He roughly messed around with his dark brown hair, making it even messier on accident. He was on his way out of the Living Quarters when he saw Winnie's New Mother passed out on the floor, a bottle of alcohol in her hand. He sighed, looking back at his best friend before heading out the door. He pulled his sweatshirt on over his head once he was outside. Not many people were outside this early in the morning and he found the silence calming. But he was still being watched. He felt the eyes that were surveillancing behind a desk, and it was disturbing.

He kept walking, watching his black dirty shoes take each step on the fresh pavement. Once he arrived at Living Quarters 32, he stepped inside and walked past the two couches that sat in front of him, that no one ever used. He walked up the metal staircase that twirled on his way up and eventually reached the fourth level and his Room was the first one on the left. He stepped inside, trying to be quiet but the floorboard made the slight creaking noise, and he darted into his small room as fast as he could.

He shuffled around and found the large book that was entangled within his bed sheets and his old, old laptop that was illegal to own. He shoved both of the items into his gray backpack and he turned around to see his New Brother standing before him. He slowly backed away, and all his New Brother did was smirk.

"Where you going so early, little brother?"

"Nowhere. And you're not my brother, Caleb." He said his name with hatred, and Caleb continued to smirk. Everest eyed Caleb's hands, who had curved themselves into fists.

"What is your problem with me, man?" Everest said, fear rising in his voice. He could see Caleb's chin tighten as he asked this and he knew what was coming at him. Before he could even blink, Caleb's fist had made contact with his cheekbone, pain taking an immediate strike. Everest staggered backward, but quickly steadied himself.

"Caleb, please-"

He hits him again, right in the mouth. Everest tasted blood, and he spat on the ground. He was so angry at his New Brother, he couldn't even look him in the eye. He just wanted to know. Know why Caleb does this to him. "Is that all you got?" Everest sneered. Caleb had a moment of shock that he had said that, but it quickly went away.

He swung again, but Everest ducked out of the way, grabbing his backpack and sprinting out of the room and out of the building. Once he was outside, he swung the backpack over his shoulder and walked toward the only place he felt comfortable in.

He found his way to the sketchy part of town, looking around suspiciously to make sure no one was around, even though there was never anyone.

He found this old shack a week ago, and it had no Safewatchers in it. It was at the very edge of the dome, where no one ever went. There were too many scary rumors about the edges of the dome, that no one believed it was safe. But Everest knew better.

"Winnie's going to kill me." He whispered to himself as he plugged in his computer and started hacking into the government's system. "There are thirteen different stages," Winnie had told him, "thirteen impossible stages. You'll be lucky if you even get through the second one."

But last week, he had planned everything out. He was just waiting for the right time. And today was that time. Quickly, he pulled out his large glasses and placed them around his ears, the computer screen becoming clearer. He started Stage 1, using a Reformer's username and password and typing it in.

One day, just for fun, he and Winnie had found out all the names of the Reformers, their age, and their background. During that time, he had written down one of the login passwords for one of them.

The screen read, "Welcome, Daniel Jonethan."

Everest's eyes scanned the computer, having to force his eyes away from all the information he could retain about the Reform and what they do to destroy lives. He quickly scrolled through all of the options of things to click on until he reached the bottom one, "The SafeWatchers"

He read through how they were made, and then all the different ones you could click on and watch, and he felt sick to his stomach. The Reformers could watch anything they wanted to, just for entertainment. At the bottom, there was a bold-lettered box, "How to make a SafeWatcher."

Everest bit his lip and clicked on it. He didn't care about how-to. But he found just what he needed. The little blip in the system. The one thing that could turn them all off if it didn't work correctly.

... four hours later

Leaning back in frustration, the hacker let some glittering beads of sweat trickle down his forehead. He stared at the contrasting white pixels against black as if all the URLs and fragments of code clogged the gears of his mind. Although the overheated laptop scorched his laps and the jungle of algorithms played a laser show on his glasses, Everest held his breath to concentrate as if his life depended on it.

His eyes combed the monitor in search of a bug, moving from side to side rapidly like the eyes of a dreaming person but wide open. Nothing could be heard in the stuffy room but the violent beating of fingers against a keyboard and the increasingly unbearable spin of the CPU cooler fan. In the air, the scent of hot electronics was replaced by sweat. The tension and suspense solidified. Suddenly, a hysterical laughter broke out in triumph.

With a hesitant click, he transferred the contents of all of the passcodes and decoding frequencies onto his laptop. And with one simple word the entire firewall was down and suddenly the entirety of the governmental system was down. A smile plants itself upon Everest's face as he comes to the realization of what he'd done.

____________________

Bang, Bang, Bang.

Kai's eyes fluttered open to the loud knocks on his door. He groaned, stretching beneath the covers. He sat up slowly, his head dizzy, along with his eyesight. A wave of his long brown hair fell over his eyes as he closed them shut. He turned to see a blonde woman quickly dressing at his bedside. He closed his eyes, trying to remember a name. Lacy? Lily? No, Luna? "I apologize, Luna, it's probably my... um brother." Kai rubbed his forehead angrily before running a hand through his thick hair to get it out of his eyes.

Bang, bang, bang.

"Give me a bloody minute, will you?" Kai shouted, his voice coarse and parched. He reached for the bottle of alcohol on his nightstand, but she took it out of his hand and swallowed a big swig, finishing it. Her blonde hair fell down her shoulders and almost to the waist of her tight dress.

She slammed the empty bottle back onto the stand. "My name's Lexi." She whispered into his face, alcohol-scented breath filling his nose.

"See you later, Mr. Anniston." She flipped her hair to one side, clicking the button on the side of the door as the door flung open.

"I hope not," Kai muttered, watching as his younger brother and Lexi almost collide. Cole rolled his eyes before entering his older brother's room, clicking the door shut.

"You do realize that she's six years younger than you, right?" Cole sighed, taking the empty bottle of alcohol and tossing it.

"Age... means nothing, brother." Kai rolled out of bed, yanking on black sweatpants that hung low around his waist.

"Did you even look at her face? She had acne covering her whole forehead." Cole said, tucking his hands into the back pockets of his gray jeans.

"You're joking." Kai halted to a stop.

"Yes." Cole began to laugh, the sound contagious. Kai smirked, shaking his head at his brother. He began to rub the bit of dark facial hair crowding his chin, playing with how it felt.

"Did you have fun last night?" Kai asked, walking over to him.

Cole laughed, "Oh yeah, totally. I got drunker than you, I think. And then, I went and hooked up with this one blue-eyed chick who was totally into me."

"Stop the jokes, man. It's been two weeks. You got to start moving on." Kai playfully slapped his brother on the arm, turning to open the curtains. The whole wall consisted of a giant window, where you could look out and see almost everything inside the dome.

Cole raised an eyebrow, "Huh. Advice taken."

"Whatever. You continue your pity parties. I can't handle the negativity anymore, brother. Wanna go do something?"

"I would love to, but Dad said-"

"Since when do we listen to dad?"

"Kai, I-" Cole was interrupted by a blaring voice, in which he recognized as his father.

"THIS IS LEVEL 10 EMERGENCY. NOT A DRILL. LEAVE YOUR ROOMS NOW AND CONTINUE DOWN TO THE MEETING HALL."

Kai and Cole exchanged one look of confusion before clicking the button to open the door. The door didn't budge. Cole clicked it again, and again, and it still didn't move.

Kai shoved his brother to the side, punching the thing, chipping off paint that surrounded it. "Kai. Stop. Well, this is just great. Now, all we need is poisonous gas to come through the air vents."

Kai glared at him.

"That was an awful joke, I know." Cole pulled out his New Phone, a photo of ex-girlfriend and him popping up. He stops and stares at it, as always, scanning their outfits, remembering what happened that day.

"Cole!" Cole turned around, finding Marlowe walking straight toward him with a beautiful smile planted on her face. He took her in: her black leggings, her white tank top, and jean jacket, the black beanie that matched the color of her hair that was waving out onto her shoulders and chest. Her dark smooth skin made her look as if she came out of a modeling magazine. Her smile widened, her eyes brightening at the sight of him. He reached his hand out to her and she took it gently. Cole kissed her on the cheek, telling her she looked gorgeous. She laughed, a sound that caused him to go crazy. He began to make jokes at other people just to hear her laugh, and then they began to play Truth or Dare, their favorite game.

The game ended with Cole jumping onto restaurant tables and singing, "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands-"

Afterwards, he apologized to the workers, letting them know what great food they make and what amazing service they provide.

"That place's food actually sucks, you know that, right?" Marlowe said once they were outside.

"Of course I knew that. But I could never tell them that." He kissed her on the top of the head as she let out a sigh.

"You're cute when you're hopping around on tables and singing old American kid songs." She looked up at him and wrinkled her nose.

"You're cute when you're telling your story about getting another year of obedience school because you stole your instructor's watch."

"I hate you."

Cole laughed, "It must've been a cool watch."

"Shut up."

"Was it shiny? Or was it just so attractive that you had to have it?" Cole laughed and Marlowe shoved herself away from him, trying not to smile.

"Sorry, Marli, I had to." He laughed again, causing her to join with him. She pulled out her phone, "Smile." She said.

Suddenly, Cole's voice got deeper, "I'm always smiling when I'm with you."

"That was the cheesiest thing I've ever heard you say. And you know it's bad when I say that because if I had a penny for every time you said a cheesy one-liner, I would be living in Living Quarters 1." Marlowe kept a straight face, waiting for his reaction.

"Wow." He shook his head, acting like it was offensive.

"The truth hurts." She shrugged, and he laughed. She snapped the picture of them while he's in mid-mid-laughter, immediately sending it to him.

They passed another restaurant, a beautiful garden lying in front of it. Cole bent down and picked a flower, handing it to Marlowe, "For you."

She giggled, rolling her eyes and taking a smell of it.

"HEY!" Cole turned around to see an old woman shaking her fist in the air at him, "What do you think you're doing there, boy? Did you plant those flowers, take CARE of those flowers? I don't think so! How dare you!"

Cole gasped. "Oh my god, I am so sorry, ma'am. I never meant to cause harm to your plants. They were just so beautiful I couldn't resist picking one for my lovely lady. I apologize."

The old woman looked astonished by how sincere and genuine his response is that she just shrugged and went back inside. Marlowe began bursting out into laughter immediately.

"What? I feel so bad!" Cole ran a hand through his perfect brown hair.

"God, Cole, you're the nicest person I know." Marlowe twirled the flower around her fingers carefully.

He blinked, refocusing on his New Phone. He suddenly forgot what he was going to do, so he tucked it back into his pocket. Kai collapsed back onto his bed, not a care in the world.

"Level 10 emergency and we're stuck in here." Cole said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if Dad did this on purpose." Kai responded.

"I APOLOGIZE, THE DOORS AND SYSTEMS FOR EVERYTHING IN THE BUILDING SEEM TO BE MALFUNCTIONING. REMAIN CALM, BUT SOMEONE HACKED THE SYSTEM. THE SAFEWATCHERS ARE DOWN, I REPEAT, THE SAFEWATCHERS ARE DOWN."

Kai looked at his brother, raising an eyebrow.

"Finally." He sighed, eyes wide in shock.

"Woah." Cole said at the same time.

______________________________

... back to regular time

Her light brown eyes jumped around the street, and she began to bite on her thumbnail nervously. Shoving through the crowds, thoughts raging, she pleaded to the nonexistent sky for help. She wasn't used to hope, but that's all she was holding onto now.

Spencer realized the person who had shut the system down had to be somewhere where there was no security, so that eliminates almost everything. She strolled into the darker part of town, and there were more people there than usual. A few teenagers that were up to no good smirked at her as she passed them, and there was an old man who looked lost. She stared at the cracked road beneath her boots and scanned all the cracks on the small homes surrounding her. They were old, beat up wooden homes.

She took a minute to think before walking up to one and attempting to open the door. It wouldn't budge. She shoved her entire body onto it, letting it swing open with a bang as she fell to the dark, dusty floor. She jumped back up, brushing off her jeans and looking inside the silent darkness. Immediately, she spotted a SafeWatcher, which was now hanging in the corner uselessly.

She sighed, leaving the creepy old home and heading across the old road to the one across the way. It looked more like a shack than home, as if it were to collapse any moment. It was very close to the edge of the dome, where no one ever went. Again, Spencer used all her strength to shove open the door. Taking her first light step inside the old shack, she heard a shuffling of papers and a quick slam of a book. Goosebumps rose on her arms, her hairs prickling upright. She took a deep breath before continuing her way in.

She heard a crack of the floorboard and then quick and heavy steps followed that. She ran into the next room, finding a tall silhouette that was heading in the opposite direction as her. She grabbed the backpack that laid on the man's shoulders and shoved him face-first into the wall. Dust fell from the ceiling as she yanked him around to face herself.

Her eyes widened in shock as scanned his face. He looked around her age; thick dark brown hair, dark brown eyes outlined with large black glasses and pale but perfect skin. Sweat trickled down his forehead, his tongue quickly licking his bloody lip. There was a big, round purple bruise on his cheekbone and Spencer knew that he didn't just get that from her pushing him into the wall.

"Who are you?" She questioned, but realized she should raise her voice. When his eyes glared away from hers, she forced her hands harder into his shoulder blades. He moaned in the back of his throat, swallowing hard.

"Who are you?" She yelled again. He rolled his eyes, making Spencer angrier. But before she could yell again, he began to speak.

"What does it matter?" He muttered, his voice surprisingly deep. She heard the anger in his voice, and she let off some pressure she was putting on him.

"What's in the bag?" She asked, eyes resting on the gray straps around his shoulders. When he didn't respond, she began to slide the straps off his shoulders forcefully.

"Books." He said.

"Anything else?" She questioned. He bit his lip, debating on what to say. "That's what I thought." She whispered under her breath.

"Are you the one who shut everything down?" She asked, unzipping his backpack watching the man's every breath.

"Who are you?" He asked calmly.

"Answer me!"

"Who are you?" He remained quiet and calm, slowly adjusting his glasses.

She hesitated before sighing. "Someone who misses freedom. Someone who is ready for-"

"A revolution?" Spencer looked up at him in surprise, and his face was just as shocked.

She shrugged nonchalantly, "I guess you could call it that."

His face looked confused, debating on something. He let out a huge gust of breath, "Yeah, I'm the one who 'shut everything down' as you call it."

Spencer looked into the backpack, finding an old computer, something she hadn't seen in years. "How did you-"

"That's enough questions." He said sternly, his voice raising. They both jumped at the sound of footsteps, Spencer raising to her feet.

A teenage girl entered, her eyes glued to her phone. She looked up, her round blue eyes peering through big, round orange glasses. She had super wavy hair that was light brown on the top, but it was an ombre into blonde. Her eyes found the man's and they narrowed in on him.

"Everest Phillips!" She charged across the room and slapped him right across the face, but it didn't look like it hurt much. "I am so mad at you right now!" She shouted, but immediately wrapped her arms around his torso and laid her head on his chest. He hugged her back, "I did it, Winnie."

She backed away, "I'm trying to stay mad but I'm also really proud of you."

"How'd you find me?" Everest asked her, raising an eyebrow. Spencer swallowed, watching them carefully. She interpreted that they were a couple, the way they were looking at each other gave it away. She scanned both of them and what they were wearing too. Everest had a navy blue sweatshirt, black sweatpant joggers, and his feet were covered with worn tennis shoes. Winnie, on the other hand, looked the opposite. She was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt with blue and red small horizontal stripes. The tight-fitted shirt was tucked into a short jean skirt that had pockets. She also had freshly clean red sneakers.

Winnie looked offended. "Oh my god, I'm only the world's best hacker. I know all the places where a SafeWatcher isn't, and all the places you would ever feel comfortable going to. I think I have the capability to finding you when I know those two things."

Everest sighed in defeat, tapping his foot and glancing at Spencer before continuing. "It's temporary. It won't be long until they are able to crack the code I protected it with. My guess is that they'll have the SafeWatchers up and running by tomorrow morning. I thought I would do it to give the people a slice of freedom, for at least 20 hours." Everest pushed his glasses back up his nose, crossing his arms over his chest.

Spencer thought this through, realizing it wouldn't last. She stood up straighter, shoving her hands into her torn jean pockets. The movement was heard by the girl with the glasses and wavy hair.

"Who are you?" Winnie shuffled her feet around, focusing her gaze on Spencer. Spencer glanced at Everest, who's staring at the ground, shrugging.

"My name's Spencer. I came to find the person who shut the SafeWatchers down. Because I want him to do it again."

Everest raised his head barely, his eyes looking at her through his dark long eyelashes. She met his stare, "Can you do it again?"

Winnie and Everest made eye contact and held it for about five seconds. Spencer's eyes moved back and forth between the two of them, and finally, they both turned their heads and looked at Spencer.

"Yeah, we could probably do it!" Winnie exclaimed in unison with Everest's "I don't think so... uhh sure I guess?" He added on quickly, trying to agree with her.

Spencer bit down on her bottom lip, then slid her tongue along the edges of her lips. "You both seem like a pair of smartasses who want to start a revolution, or whatever. I think it's safe to say we all have our reasons for wanting to get rid of The Reform. Whatever you two got planned, I'm in. And I think you will want me in on your little gang because eventually these people will find you and when they do, I'm afraid you can't hack yourself out of a bullet."

Everest and Winnie stood there, wide-eyed and dumbfounded.

"Meet here tomorrow at 5 am. It's early enough for the cameras to still be off, and we won't have to sneak around that way. You guys in?" She smirked at the fact that she just shoved her way into their friendship or whatever it is, and then suddenly took charge of the whole thing.

Winnie finally broke her stare at Spencer and put on a smile, "Um.. Yeah, that sounds good. Right, Everest?" She reached for his hand and tugged on it.

He began to shuffle his feet awkwardly, still staring wide-eyed at Spencer. "See you then I guess."


On the way back to her Living Quarters, Spencer took advantage of the 'slice of freedom' as Everest had called it and grabbed a bottle of alcohol and a few waters. She wondered what Everest and Winnie had thought of her, she saw the hesitation in Everest's eyes. She couldn't blame him though, he knew nothing about her. And yet, she wanted to keep it that way. She smirked as she walked past the many mini celebrations that were happening in the streets, some more like a party than others.

She reached her Living Quarters, running up the steps and into their Room. Luka was at the door immediately, smiling ear to ear. She raised her eyebrows at him, tossing a water toward his chest. He caught it barely, and took a swig. He eyed the bottle of alcohol in her hands and frowned. She rolled her eyes, "Calm down. Just be happy it's not in mom's hands."

As if on cue, their mother entered the room, her hair pulled up into a messy bun. It had been a long time since her hair had been up, Spencer thought she had forgotten how to do it. She smiled at the two of them, and Spencer looked away, yanking her leather jacket off her hips and sliding past her mom to reach her own room. She threw the jacket in the corner of the room, yanking her hair into a high ponytail, her green tank top riding up to the middle of her torso. She popped open the bottle, taking a swig. The lukewarm alcohol slid down her throat and she swallowed, sighing.

"Spencer." Luka was now standing in the doorway, biting the inside of his lip. Spencer smiled dramatically, taking another drink before setting it down. "Don't look at me like that, little brother."

"Like what?"

"Like I'm doing something wrong. I do what I can to survive, Luka. This world is messed up, there is no more right and wrong. It's all blurred together now."

Luka slightly tilted his head, "Dad wouldn't have believed that."

Spencer's eyes widened in shock, and her jaw dropped but she quickly shut it and swallowed her own saliva.

"Dad isn't here anymore. And you can't say anything, you probably don't even remember him. Not even what he looks like."

"Dark brown hair that waved when it was wet. Big brown eyes, identical to yours. Facial hair that would never get too long. Tall, but not super skinny. He looked tough on the outside, but was a softy. Unless... Unless his daughter wasn't treated right. He wouldn't stand for it. He wanted everyone to live as an equal, he hated judgment. His main goal in life... to make you happy." Luka stared at her, his eyes melting into hers.

Tears fell down her cheeks, her lips pushed together into a straight line. She looked away, folding her hands together. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Luka approached her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and hugging her tight. She slowly returned the gesture, crying into his chest.