I remember her.
Not everything.
Just pieces.
Tiny shattered fragments cutting through me one after another.
A little girl slipping half her dinner tray onto mine when she thought the guards weren’t looking.
Dark curls.
Bright eyes.
Holding my hand under blankets while alarms screamed somewhere far away.
“If we pretend we’re somewhere else, it doesn’t hurt as much.”
Oh God.
Oh my God.
A sob tears out of me before I can stop it.
Avery coughs blood onto the concrete.
Sentinel operatives reposition immediately, weapons still raised, but nobody fires now.
Not yet.
Even they’re watching.
Observing.
Like this is another experiment.
Wu stands perfectly still in the center of it all.
Cold.
Untouched.
“You shot her,” I whisper.
Wu’s expression never changes.
“She became compromised.”
Compromised.
My entire body shakes violently.
“She’s my friend!”
“She was unstable.”
The rage that explodes through me is so sudden it nearly blinds me.
“No!”
