Page 60 of The Fall

But a hard floor was not the same as packed earth with a sleeping bag. Lusa nearly cried in frustration at what she was certain was a bruise forming at the back of her head. Grabbing her rucksack, Lusa tried to use it as a makeshift pillow.

The crick in her neck grew worse.

From her position on the floor, Kerr’s mattress looked incredibly inviting. And Kerr was so small that she barely took up any of it. It would be weird to share the bed with Kerr, though, wouldn’t it?

Ignoring the mutual attraction, they both agreed they were enemies and that nothing else was going to happen, so sharing the bed shouldn’t be an issue. This wasn’t a closet. There weren’t Styx outside. There was no immediate danger to turn a controlled burn into a raging inferno.

And Kerr had a concussion. She wouldn’t be capable of ruining their precarious partnership with innuendo or doing something unpredictable that made Lusa’s heart flutter. And it's not like she would be sleeping naked. They were both fully clothed.

Looking around for anywhere else, Lusa already knew she would find no other option. Reluctantly, she climbed over Kerr, slipping between her and the wall. In her state, she would wake up before Kerr anyway and she would be none the wiser. Exhaustion setting in, Lusa had barely completed the thought before she fell asleep.

The Instruments of Darkness Show Us Truths

Kerr’s hormone regulator released a steady stream of cortisol, rousing her awake. Wincing at the brightness of the light filtering through her curtains, Kerr’s Opti adjusted to her pupil dilation. A stream of characters passed over her eyes.

System diagnostic:

Hormones: pg/mL

Estr 49

Test 48.810

Prog 53.21100

DHEA 1.02110000

Cort 181000

Seri 11.210000

Oxy 5.51

Blood pressure: 132/77

Organic Damage repair completed:

Reticular Activating System…Complete

Frontal Lobe…………………Complete

Motor Cortex…………...…….Complete

Memory cortex………………...ongoing

Elapsed time since initial damage: 10h37min

Replay missing time? Y/N

Focussing past the information projected across her cornea, Kerr found flawless sienna skin without a crease of worry, lips full and slightly parted. Lusa. The whisper of her breath in sleep. She looked practically harmless.

But this was her bed. Kerr’s heart skipped. If that had happened, she needed to know how immediately.

Kerr returned to her Opti and selected Y. She flinched at the projection of a steel door slamming into her face. Then, the squelching of bodies, screams of alarm and the sounds of Lusa’s exertion through it all. The flush of heat to her core that, while not unpleasant, needed to be tucked away until she could figure out what had happened. If only the door hadn’t blocked her view.

Falling forward, she made out Servo and Cog from the sliver of space under the door. Then, Cinder. The conversation she had overheard came back to her. Cinder was planning on selling out the Chargers to the Styx. They would get a pool of experts in repairing and repurposing old tech in exchange for a latest gen DocPod. Anyone who objected would be trafficked. And Cinder had already paid the Styx to remove her and Chalice.

Kerr bit back a yelp when Cog disarmed Lusa. She had to remind herself that everything was alright. Lusa was here, safe. Then she heard the shot. Cog’s head exploded. Lusa kicked off of Cog’s falling corpse and tore open Servo’s throat. How had he missed? And at such close range?