High Pressure System: Part One Read Online Free Page B

have taken me much longer to go all the way back up to my apartment. I thought this would have been better to help your timing stats that you are so obsessed over.” I didn’t waver when he seemed to fire up at me even more.
    He closed the door behind him and it hushed the music in the hall. My chest tightened as I realized I was alone with him and the situation was less than ideal. I had no idea what Brandon was like as a real person when he wasn’t bossing a group of people around. I was still in close proximity to him and his fury. I flinched when Brandon stepped even closer to me and held my breath so I wouldn’t breathe in his face. Did I have onions for lunch? I couldn’t remember.
    His face unexpectedly softened.
    “I need you to follow my rules because if something happened to you or anyone else, I would never forgive myself. Pulling something like this could compromise everyone’s safety.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground. “I’m not the kind of person that likes to be in a position of power, but I have to be. You could make this so much easier if you follow the rules. I don’t even know if these drills will keep us safe, but please don’t be the one responsible to encourage the others to rebel. There is so much contention already. It won’t take much for it to unravel.”
    I bit my upper lip and stared at my feet. I felt like a fool. Brandon was so sincere that all I could do was nod and whisper, “I’m sorry. Should I go to my apartment now?”
    “Sure. I will walk you back since your apartment is on my way to the control room.”
    The walk back was silent and completely awkward. I spoke to the dogs and Rocky, but even then I felt like a dork so I only said something if I had to.
    Brandon briefly touched my arm to get my attention as I pressed my thumb against the recognition pad. I looked up at him, hoping he couldn’t tell his touch just electro-shocked my heart, as my door unlatched and opened.
    “If there is a next time, I will hunt you down again, and I won’t be as nice as I was this time. You understand?” The open, sincere Brandon was no more.
    I nodded even though I wanted to rage at him for being such a jerk right then. And I had all those warm fuzzy thoughts about him. At least I knew he had it in him to be nice. Sadly, he wasn’t warming up to me at all though. I didn’t want to get his attention by aggravating him even more so I resigned myself to follow the rules.
    When the drills happened after my little run-in with Brandon, I begrudgingly followed the dogs and Rocky as they raced to our apartment when they heard the music. I loved to watch them sabotage each other as they raced for the door, and it broke up the tediousness of each drill.
    When we weren’t in lock-down, I hovered where Brandon frequented on the food production floor. He was finally making appearances outside of his control room as the weeks wore on. Mostly he had his eyes glued to his checklists and was all business all the time. I really wanted to make amends so I tried to be friendly with him when he was in the dining hall.
    I approached the table slowly. I always felt out of sorts and fidgety since I left the dogs behind in my apartment. They were always my buffer, but this time it was all me as I slid into the chair across from him. He never looked up. I picked at my nail as the words all jumbled up in my mouth. Brandon might have looked like he was close to my age, but he was sure good at intimidating me with his ‘in charge of the world’ attitude. Usually, I would have dismissed him long ago, but working on getting him to like me even a little bit was the only goal I had in life at the moment.
    “Is there anything I can help you with?” I squeezed my eyes shut. He probably would have asked me some time ago if there was. But ‘How’s it goin?’ had an obvious answer. Being cooped up with everyone for so long and hearing all the anti-Brandon rants, I already had a