Part One "The Point": Section Six "Fade to White"

START AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST SECTION

Armand opened his eyes and the girl was right there with him, the pixie-eyed coed with short red hair and nerdy glasses. Everyone else was hiding but this girl was right out in the open with him.

Armand whispered, “Figures I only find you at the end.”

His words were garbled, and she couldn’t understand what he was saying. Her face was so serious. She hushed him. Armand caught her glancing down at the chest wound and the one through the lower intestines. She looked back up and smiled at him as tears filled her eyes.

[Tirion: too hot to land bro – cant let soul out of his cage on this one]

[Armand: ok]

[Tirion: blowing the bridge]

Armand spat to clear his mouth so that he could say something to the girl. “Aspirin.”

At first she didn’t understand but he repeated it and he saw her get it. She started digging in her purse. When the mezzanine exploded behind her, she pushed against him and screamed, then looked around, but she didn’t forget what she was doing and went back into her purse even with all the smoke and fallout. She came up with acetaminophen and a mostly empty bottle of water and tried to get him to take it.

Armand shook his head. "Aspirin," he repeated.

“I don’t have any.”

[Tirion: you want a viking funeral? we've got XRTs loaded]

Armand looked up at the girl kneeling over him, then glanced at her text books–real paper books soaking in his blood. Alien Social Dynamics; The Hope for Common Ground. To Have and Have Not. The Amber Road: Principles of Trade in Ancient Europe. He sighed.

[Armand: nah]

[Tirion: sure?]

[Armand: keep the ship]

[Tirion: its raining]

[Armand: told you]

[Tirion: this is screwed up]

[Armand: see you on the other side]

The girl’s mouth was open and she had that desperate look of not knowing what to do. “You want to lay down?” Her voice was husky with stress. The building started shaking, and Armand could hear the Recluse firing off into the atmosphere, heading for deep space, heading for the point.

Armand said “With you?” and winked.

It didn’t work. In fact, it upset her. There were lines pulling across her forehead. He thought about putting his pistol under his chin, but somehow he couldn’t do it with her right there watching. Anyway, he didn’t think he was going to make it. He couldn’t feel a thing, and he was tired. The adrenaline wasn’t doing anything any more, and his eyes were closing on him.

He realized that she was telling him to talk about his family. She was all shook up.

“I miss my brother.” He was whispering now.

“Is he near?”

“Far. Far.”

He imagined his brother's family getting ready for Christmas, sitting around the cabin in Twin Pines in front of the fire. Ann was laughing. Their big black dog with the red scarf. Standing out on the balcony with his brother and not needing to say anything. Quiet, looking out, the snow thick on the ground. Rabbit prints leading off into the woods.

The snow falling.

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