Fragments

rickets chirped lazily. A breeze rustled through scrap piles and overgrown vines.

backs against the container wall,

d spoken i

e anymore. It was heavy with someth

oke it

, voice barely above a whisper

at her, quie

used. "Instead, he died in a crossfire no one ever investiga

hat kind of silence - the ki

dirt. "I joined to make sure no other family e

"But they made you p

ny it. Just n

asked. "What were yo

back against the wall

f. Games. Pranks." A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "My dad caught me

soft. "Wha

world safer - smarter. Then I found a backdoor in our own system. A hidden data line rerouting

pau

d me three

urled tighte

y," she w

, for the first time, she saw somet

urt. A

person to say that

e again - but it f

things. Who had been bet

ow, they had f

er head on h

dn't

t bre

leaned his hea

es. No co

pre

o broken hearts, finding t

eth

st from

ight across the junkyard's rusted sprawl. Birds chirped

g the sleep from her eyes. He was already up, scan

" she sai

ffering the faintest smile

he could

k echoed thr

head sn

arper this time. A

an old comm unit

stinctively. A vo

our extraction has arrived. Secure

ood ra

at her. "Wha

dn't a

ice co

do not comply within the next five min

called them. Hadn't activated

arkened. "The

didn't- I swear,

"Then why are they

but then a new voice

at stopped

. It'

yes w

.Ki

told you that because they needed you angry. They needed

face

stone, the comm s

continued. "But I had to. Because I know who you'r

isn't who you

le

g filled

er, his voice steady,

n the comm

ought she knew wa

she had mour

s falling for.

icked from th

time, she didn't