Whispering:
“Don’t cry. I’ll stay awake with you.”
Hannah’s face breaks apart.
“Avery…”
The dying woman looks up weakly.
Tears slide down her face instantly.
“There you are,” she whispers.
Oh God.
They knew each other.
Not knew.
Loved.
Like sisters.
Wu watches the reunion without emotion.
Then says the coldest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.
“Subject Seven was always emotionally disruptive.”
31
Hannah
“Avery…”
Her name breaks apart inside me.
Like glass.
Like something buried deep in my chest finally shattered open.
The tunnel disappears for a second.
Not really.
But my mind fractures around the edges.
Smoke.
Gunfire.
Blood.
Clay beside me.
None of it feels fully real anymore.
Because suddenly—
