SILAS

[AFTER]

The air: cool. The ground: hard and lumpy. My feet: cold. Downright cold. And...damp.

It was all a dream, I'm half-tempted to think. That, and I must have stayed overnight somewhere new, which might explain this feeling of strangeness, of waking up in a place I don't know.

Half-tempted.

If you can even call what I'm doing right now 'being awake'. It's more like a doze, half-in and half-out, knowing I'm going to wake up soon and not wanting to. Even though I can't quite remember why I don't want to. I'm not conscious enough yet to recall. Which is just another reason to stay put, and let myself fall back to-

It hits me all at once. The liquid. The bubbles. The pierced glass. The explosions. The sweat on my face and the wind in my hair. The bullets and blades.

The damage done. Wounds beyond healing.

It's a shot of adrenaline to the system.

I sit upright.

Shadows. And light.

Shadows so dark I can't distinguish the opening of the cave in the gloom.

The light, like a campfire, orangish and flickering, casts tangerine colors that ebb and flow on the walls of the cave nearby. In addition to this, there's a staticky, crackling sound. Low at first, so low it barely registers, but steadily getting louder. And the source is directly next to me.

I shift, scooting away to get a better look.

It's Sal. Or what's left of her.

There's a bright orange glow emanating from inside the metal vessel of her body, seeping through the joints and seams, illuminating her limbs, her pallid features. Sparks fly, strange little particles shooting up and dissipating from between the gaps. It's like there's something shearing her apart, welding through her from the inside.

I reach toward her. It just seems like I should, like if I move fast enough, I might be able to do something, like pulling a flaming pan off the burner before the fire can spread.

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I grab her by the shoulders. Something between a searing heat and great electric shock channels into my fingers, making my arms and shoulders twitch and putting a chemical taste on my tongue. I manage to wrench my hands away, the surface of my fingers and hands still stinging.

The process, whatever it is, starts to escalate. The orange, disintegrating particles travel outward from the torso, into the organic parts of the body. The legs. The arms. The abdomen. The neck. Helpless, I watch as her body immolates, consumed by the glittering blaze. It moves up the neck and over the jaw, the force of it causing her hair to flutter up and out of her face. Her eyes are closed, and for a short moment, it seems like she's just sleeping, a rotary fan turning to blow air across her face. But by the time the thought has taken shape in my brain, her face is gone, and only a few strands of her hair are left, hovering in the air, until the glowing particles take those as well. And then the light goes out, submerging the cave in darkness.

What's left is a collection of metal parts, piled in a little haphazard pyramid. If they made a sound when they clattered to the ground, I hadn't noticed. Right now, all I can hear is the wind wailing through the canyon just outside the cave. That, and my own shocked, ragged breathing, echoing back to me in the dark confines.

C'mon. Get a grip.

I'm trying to. It's just that every time I turn around, there's some new anomaly staring me in the face. The frequency of these occurrences doesn't seem to be letting up.

But I'm not going to lose it, just yet. Not after...everything.

There's something there, in the clutter of metal plates and parts. It glows a faint, radium green. And I'm suddenly struck with an intense inclination to push aside the wreckage and grab the shining object. I have no idea why, but it just seems like the right thing to do.

I kneel down in front of the collection of parts. I reach a few fingers into the gap from which the light emanates. My fingers close around something. Thin, and strangely warm to the touch.

I pull. The object catches at first, but then some metal pieces fall out of the way, and it comes free.

It appears to be some kind of computer chip. Like something you would install in a PC. Green lines pulse on the surface of the slim card, like an electronic highway. It buzzes in my fingers and palm, making my contact points tingle.

I should hold on to this. This is...important.

The thought comes from no specific origin point that I can discern. It's a feeling more than anything else. But a strong feeling.

I decide to trust it.

I pocket the chip.

Once again, darkness seizes the space as the green light from the card goes away, like St. Elmo's Fire being extinguished.

I know I should move, but there's something holding me here.

Is it right to just leave what's left of Sal here in a pile, like a garbage heap?

But what should I do with what's left of her? And does it matter, anyway?

You need to keep moving. She wanted you to keep moving. With how long you've been here, it might be too late already.

It's true. Even if I'm having trouble convincing myself of it, it has to be.

Still, I hesitate.

"I'm sorry," I say aloud. "And that promise I made...that wasn't just lip-service. I intend to keep it."

I wait, as if expecting some answer to return to me from the void. But of course there is none.

I tear myself away.

The party's been disbanded. I'm going solo.