Activate by Crystal Perkins

physically.”
    She nods. “Yes, you could. We can make it back, but I think it’s better if we stay down here.”
    “I agree. I don’t think anyone will find us since we left the grate as we found it.”
    We curl up on the floor, and I fall asleep. I dream for the first time since I was activated. I remember the past, but I haven’t dreamt about it until now.
    In the dream, my parents are pushing me on a swing at the park when a woman comes up to them. “She is supposed to be at conditioning,” she tells them.
    I keep swinging, pumping my legs hard, until I hear my father cry out. I look back and see my father on the ground. He’s bleeding, and as I watch, my mother joins him on the ground. It’s her mouth that’s bleeding, while his nose spews blood everywhere.
    I want to cry out and fight the woman, but I somehow know, even though I’m just a little girl, that it will only make things worse. I remain quiet as my swing is brought to a stop, and arms pull me out of it before I can fall. I go limp in the woman’s arms, pretending to give in, but knowing I’m not ever going to forget that she hurt my parents. I’ll never forget, and I’ll never forgive. One day, I’m going to make her hurt, too. I don’t know how, but I’m going to make it happen.
    I wake up in a cold sweat, feeling the conviction now just as strongly as the little girl in the dream. Now I have a means to do what I wanted to then. I will bring justice for my parents and what they were forced to do, even if it kills me.

Coalton
    I t’s under the Atomium , because of course it is. Our alien “parents” probably chose it because it’s basically a giant model of an elementary iron crystal. I’m not exaggerating about the giant part, either. When we were pulled to it, I read up and found out that it’s 165 billion times the size of the real thing. It’s definitely more cool and interesting than the flower carpet, but it’s also even more tourist filled.
    That’s a good thing because we can study everything we need to without standing out, but it’s also pretty bad. This isn’t a place that’s open just during the day, or just at night; it’s packed all day with people going through the five public spheres, and at night it’s lit up so beautifully that everyone and their brother has to take a hundred selfies to send out to the social masses.
    “We’re just going to have to go for it,” Levi says after we spend two days and nights looking for a way to go in unseen. It’s not practical for us to keep waiting. “We don’t have Alejandra or Sabrina here, but we can be charming, right? I mean, you’re like the super stud.”
    “Please don’t ever call me a “stud” again, but yeah, I can get us where we need to go. It may not be clean, or pretty, though.”
    “That’s fine. Once we’re in, there will have to be another way out—or we’ll make ourselves one.”
    “Sounds like fun.”
    “If our lives weren’t in danger, it just might be.”
    “I’m going to hold you to that.”
    “Deal.”
    We bump fists, instead of shaking hands, and then dart through the tourists to the sphere that’s closest to the ground. The plan is just to get us in. Levi puts his back to the door to keep watch as I start to work on it. Things are going really well until he leans forward and starts kissing my neck.
    I almost fumble my lock picks, and I want to back up, but he wraps his arms around me, and pulls me
    closer. “There are some police officers behind you. Just keep working and I’ll keep acting,” he whispers in my ear.
    I sigh in relief, because I may not know much about myself, but I do know I’m not attracted to guys. I hear the lock click. We only have 30 seconds to get inside and disarm the security system. “Levi.”
    “Wait for it…now!” he says, spinning and darting through the door as he pulls me in behind him. He’s got the alarm taken care of before I even catch my breath.
    “I hope we never have to do that