Nathan held his arm out straight and pulled back on his fingertips as he strode down the hall toward the computer lab. He was getting his wrists limber. It was match day, and he was feeling great. For once, there hadn’t been a peep from Emma about strategy. And he knew why. Because all the strategy they’d discussed before the previous matches had nothing to do with winning. They’d won because when the fighting got close and tight, Nathan took things into his own hands. He hadn’t been a jerk about it. He’d just done what was necessary to win.

And he planned to do the exact same thing today.

Emma was in shock. Through her headphones came the steady clop of troops marching to the beat of crashing drums and cymbals, and the shouts of someone giving an impassioned speech in German. On her monitor, The Good War had been replaced by a cascading flood of Iron Crosses, green frogs, swastikas, the number 14, burning crosses, nooses, and a dozen other symbols Emma didn’t know the names for. It felt as if a demon had taken possession of the round.

Earlier, the match had begun normally. The Allied squad quickly won the first round. Nathan had played strategically, but Emma couldn’t help wondering if that would change. Then, early in the second round, the Allied players again jumped out to a lead. It almost felt like the Axis didn’t know what hit them. Then everything went haywire. The crazy marching audio. The flood of weird symbols on their monitors.

“Malware,” said Zach, who was sitting next to Emma.

Wha…? “From where? By who?” she asked.

Zach nodded at the Axis side of the table. A few of the Axis players stared at their monitors with confused expressions. But Crosby was grinning.

Suddenly, Nathan jumped to his feet, knocking over his chair. Before anyone could react, he sprang around the table, grabbed Crosby by the shirt, yanked him up, and started to scream at him.

Caleb was stunned. Why had Nathan grabbed Crosby and begun shouting at him? What was going on with their computers? Gavin was sitting next to Crosby, so Caleb expected that he’d do something to protect his friend. But Gavin just sat there and watched. It seemed obvious to Caleb that if someone didn’t do something fast, Crosby was going to get the stuffing kicked out of him.

Ms. B yelled, “Stop!” at the boys, but Nathan and Crosby continued to scuffle. It felt as if everyone was waiting for Gavin to act. Finally, Zach jumped up, wrapped his arms around Nathan from behind, and started to pull him away. Now Caleb felt another shock. This could have been the first time he’d ever seen Zach touch another kid at school.

A second later, Caleb was on his feet, helping Zach keep Nathan and Crosby apart.