The air around them felt stale and blew with a cold but silent chill.
"Sorry for, uhm…running past you," she glanced down at her limiter.
"I'm still getting used to my speed and well when I start going it's kind of hard to stop",
Rushina broken the silence with soft and gentle words, and yet Zoomie eyes remained hung low and did not rise to me her gaze.
She remained silent for a moment before hesitantly opening her mouth to speak, "How…how did you switch gears,"
Rushina paused for a moment and drifting down to the limiter as remember Breaker's final words to her after he had modified her limiter.
"Remember. There only two things you should keep in mind. Mind the way you run, your limiter's speed dampener are weaker now so running to fast may over load them. And don't go spreading the word about what happened here today. Because if the wrong people find out about this then…," Breaker spoke as a final spark left the tool he using to hack the limiter.
The number one that flashed on it then glitched in to an 'X' and before changing in to a two.
"You might never get to run ever again,"
Those haunting words echoed in her mind and she looked down at her limiter before raising her head to face Zoomie.
"It was," she hesitated to speak. "Speed Check"
Zoomie upon hearing her words looked at her, her eyes lighting up for a moment with shock and disbelieve.
"Really,"
"Yeah," Rushina flashed a smile that refused to reach her eyes.
"I got me speed evaluated and now I'm a certified gear two", Rushina then looked down at her limiter with a gentle smile on her face.
Zoomie looked at her, the smile on her face and felt her heart soften.
She had never seen smile that way before.
"How," she spoke softly. "How does it feel when you run,".
Rushina paused for a moment.
A silent breath left her lips before she spoke, "It's incredible Zooms. My feet feels lighter as I feel this rush in my heart and fire in my lungs. And with each step I take I just go further and further until…"
She looked up at the stars above.
"Freedom, that's what it feels like," her smile grew wider as she shut her eyes with sense bliss washed over.
Zoomie having heard her words, smiled weakly.
"It sounds amazing," said Zoomie.
"It's more than amazing," she looked down at her limiter once.
"With this, I can go anywhere. Live the life I've always dreamed of with this I can…"
"Leave," Zoomie cut her off.
Rushina paused and then to Zoomie.
Finding her, head bowed body shaking with tears at the verge of falling.
"That's what everyone does. They just keep running and running. Not caring about who they leave behind in their dust," the tears began falling, dripping slowly one by one.
"Zooms," Rushina spoke soft as walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's not like that. I'm not just going to up and leave you Zooms"
The tears kept streaming down.
"I know I haven't really shown it during these past few days but I do care a lot about," She held her tight. "Zoomie I…"
Zoomie pushed her away.
"Don't," Zoomie held her limiter close at tears kept streaming down. "We different now. You're gear two and I'm…"
Her eyes sunk deep down.
"Just gear one,"
Rushina upon hearing her words felt her heart shatter and break.
She hung head low and then looked at her limiter.
"Don't go spreading the word about what happened here today"
Breaker's words echoed in her mind.
She then raised her head and saw the tears still streaming down her eyes.
A heavy breath then left her lips.
"What if…" she hesitated to speak. "What if there was a way to be a gear two as well"
Zoomie paused upon hearing Rushina's words.
"Stop Rushina, we both know the chance of someone like me going to gear two are slim. You got lucky but I…" Zoomie was cut off by Rushina saying, "I wasn't talking about Speed Check".
Zoomie eyes shook upon hearing Rushina's words. She paused for a moment as realization began sinking in.
"Rushina don't tell me you…"
Rushina said nothing and just covered up her limiter and lowered her head.
"I met a man yesterday. He calls himself Breaker. He…" she shut her eyes and took a short breath. "He hacked my limiter and removed its restrictions from gear one to two,"
Zoomie upon hearing what Rushina just said, looked down and took several breaths in.
"I can't believe this,"
"I know it's heard to believe but he helped me get to gear two and if I asked maybe he could help you," said Rushina as she extended a hand to her.
"That way, both of us can finally escape from living life mind numbing slow paces. And nobody word call us Slugha ever again," tears slowly began dripping down Rushina's eyes. "We'd be free,"
Zoomie looked at her. Seeing the tears falling down her eyes as stretched forth her hand to take.
Freedom. The liberty that came with running with freely, feeling the rush of wind as it blew past you.
That was the dream, especially for Kinerikan stuck at gear one.
Zoomie looked down at her limiter. Watched the single digit flashing on it.
Anyone of them would give anything for the chance just to run free.
A chance Rushina was basically handing her on a silver platter.
All she had to do was accept and take her hand.
It was that simple but…
"I…can't," Zoomie spoke soft.
And with those words something around them break, something…
"What," Rushina spoke soft with widened eyes that shook with disbelief.
…that would never be fixed again.