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and I’m done hurting others with my technology, but I’ll never be done defending myself.
    Kari glanced down at the printer to see what had just finished printing, hoping that whatever it was would be worth the valuable time it took to look at it. A paper-thin black graphium message lay on the printer’s surface.
    “Head East. —The Unseen”
    Kari grabbed Lars from where he was whining around her feet and ran for the back door. She activated the rest of the drones she had in her house and ordered them to secure a path at the rear of her entrance by any means possible. She reached the back door and threw it open, allowing a small cloud of drones to fly out in front of her, their stingers crackling with electric power.
    Some glass shattered somewhere in the house behind her, but Kari stepped out of her home and into the dark night. Drones darted around, attacking soldiers in front of her and to her sides, their stingers lighting up the backyard like a miniature fireworks display.
    The delivery drones that had flown Aubrey from the coast to David’s house lowered from the sky and wrapped their arms around her body just as Kari noticed a steep drop in the number drones she had under her command. Time to get out of here!
    Kari ordered the delivery drones to fly her west at full speed. I don’t know who the Unseen thinks she is, but no one hacks my printers and tells me what to do . A bright burst of blue light drew Kari’s attention just as the delivery drones lifted her a few feet off of the ground.Half of the drones that had been under Kari’s command a moment ago were gone. Whatever that was, it just wiped out those drones with a single flash of light!
    The delivery drones tugged her higher into the sky, and Kari looked down to see a pair of soldiers looking up at her from a few feet below. They jumped to grab onto her feet, but were only able to brush the bottom of her toes with their armored fingertips. Come on! Faster!
    A low, reverberating popping noise shook Kari’s body as blue light passed over her.The hair on her arms and head tingled, and the delivery drones died in midair. Kari squeezed Lars tight in her arms as she realized she was going to crash to the ground before she even started sinking.
    The fall to the ground was over almost before it started. Kari landed in the metal-covered arms of one of her attackers. Despite only falling a few feet, Kari’s neck snapped back, and her body stung where the impact had occurred.The arms of the delivery drones scraped her skin, as they were still wrapped tightly around her.
    Kari tried to reach out for any of her drones that were still functioning to come and save her, but her mind chip was offline . So she tried to smile instead, hoping the soldier would take pity on her. The soldier dropped Kari to the ground and pulled the arms of the delivery drones apart to free her. Before he could snap an electric restraining band around her, one of Kari’s drones flew in and shocked him in the side of the neck.
    The soldier crumpled to the ground, and Kari scrambled to her feet, still clutching to Lars. Her body stung, and she could feel herself bleeding in a few places, but she didn’t have time to worry about that now.
    Another soldier pointed a strange megaphone-looking device in her direction, and a wave of blue light washed over her again. The noise it made was distinctive, and the drone that had just saved Kari fell to the ground lifelessly. No mind chip, no more drones, and no escape plan. Great.
    The soldier jumped for her, reaching out with armored hands from behind the helmet that masked the soldier’s face completely. The soldier was an inch too slow; Kari had already started sprinting due east.

Chapter Six
    Kari let Lars down to the ground as she ran away from her house. She was already having a hard time breathing, but she kept pushing herself forward, desperate to make it to freedom. I’ve been a prisoner of the state before, and it’s not an experience