60. Cal

Elvie and Reu got the message. After that shitty back and forth in their creepy meeting room, everything started to settle into the same half-real way of living. The only real difference was Vera.

Instead of pointlessly trying to seduce me, she had woken from her coma a tearful, guilt-filled mess. Ragged scars across her chest from Arlen’s self-defence and a mind broken by the loss of her brother.

Hope volunteered to care for her. Arlen had tried, but his commitment to the injured Sol meant looking after two patients was too great a strain.

Nobody said it, but I think all expectations were pinned on a return of the good, healing light produced by Elvie. If Sol could survive the Freeze. Drag his battered body out into the courtyard and pretend he wasn’t shot to pieces.

For Vera, though, there was no such option. The light would probably remove the scars left by Arlen, but it was her mind that needed healing.

Hope was more than willing to listen to her, feed, and bathe her. However