Page 28 of The Fall

Lusa pulled the remainder of her hair free from the bun and shook it loose. The countless times Kerr had rewatched the footage of those raven strands flowing as she severed Cinder’s fingers. Fear? Admiration? Kerr couldn’t name the emotion, but it wasn’t hatred. She pulled at her own hair absently.

Lusa took the elastic from her mouth and pulled her hair into a tight ponytail. “Your hair’s black now.”

“What?” Kerr realised her fingers were tangled. She righted herself after a brief panic.

“You were a reddish blonde when we first met. When you shot Pinga,” Lusa said.

Kerr flexed the fingers on her artificial hand. She suddenly worried Lusa would think she’d dyed it to match hers. “I’ve got a baby face, yeah? It makes me look a bit older.”

“It doesn’t,” Lusa said matter-of-factly. “It makes your skin look even paler.”

Kerr held out the back of her hand, staring. “What’s wrong with my skin?”

Lusa ignored that question too and tossed her a helmet. Kerr surprised herself by catching it.

“I wasn’t expecting passengers, so I only brought one.”

“How do I…”

Lusa rolled her eyes and helped her fasten it. Those same fingers that had murdered Piston, warm and soft against her neck, offensively intimate. Kerr tried to summon back the anger she felt when she’d first learned of what happened, but failed.

“Are you okay?” Lusa cocked an eyebrow.

“What?” Kerr had trouble getting the word out.

“You’re breathing heavy. Are you okay? We can walk if you’re really that afraid of motorcycles. I was hoping we could get this over with quickly.”

“No, I…” Kerr couldn’t come up with a rational explanation. Being treated with basic human kindness by the woman who took her forearm was short-circuiting her brain. There weren’t words for what she was feeling and it annoyed her.

“It’s alright, I’ll walk you through it.” Lusa flipped down the passenger pegs and straddled the bike. “Step on those and throw your leg over.”

“Behind you?” Kerr’s voice cracked.

“Unless you want to drive.” Lusa steadied the bike while Kerr clambered onto the back with all the grace of an inebriated panda. Of course, Lusa was acting nice. Kerr couldn’t look less threatening if she tried.

“Now what?” Her voice sounded funny in the helmet, each breath rasping loudly in her ears.

“Now you hang on to me.”

“To you?” Kerr disliked how the helmet amplified the obvious stress in her voice.

“Do you see anything else to hang on to?” Lusa sounded impatient.

Kerr complied, slipping her arms as platonically as possible around Lusa’s waist. It barely moved. Either she had subdermal armour implants or she did sit-ups like she had OCD.

Lusa didn’t seem concerned that her sister’s kidnapper now resembled an adorable rucksack. “Tighter. Or you’ll fall off on the corners.”

Kerr swallowed the voices telling her not to. How quickly reality had destroyed any semblance of dignity.

Lusa fired up the bike. The low rumble of the rotary engine against the bare bones chassis made Kerr feel things she shouldn’t, especially with her arms where they were. Lusa checked the throttle and the motor roared back playfully, like it knew her conflicted feelings. It mocked her.

“It’s just a physical response,” she whispered to herself. “It doesn’t mean anything.” If Lusa heard, she graciously kept it to herself.

Despite her best efforts, Kerr squealed embarrassingly when the bike leapt forward. Gripping Lusa’s waist for dear life, propriety disappeared. There existed only terror and exhilaration, her brain too full to reprimand herself for being swept up in each flex of Lusa’s torso as she dodged burning piles of rubble and twisted metal hurtling toward them at unfathomable speeds.

And then, just as abruptly, it stopped. Lusa parked across the street from NovAITech’s Model 2 Facility. The engine gave a final growl of protest before she killed the ignition. “You can let go now.”

Mortified that she’d had to mention it, Kerr relaxed her grip. “Where did you learn to drive like that?” her words stuttering through heavy breaths.