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Time seemed to pass not at all It was like her delicate and precious watch when she forgot to wind it The trapped soil along the edge of the ramp shifted about impatiently with her, and Juliette wondered ifhad been called off, if she would die alone That would be better, she told herself She took a deep breath, wishing she would’ve brought h for a return trip, just in case But she had been too worried about the cleaning going through to consider that itand heart racing, she heard a noise inside, a ears

Juliette tensed, her ar This was it She shifted in place, listening to the great grind of those heavy doors as they prepared to disgorge poor Lukas She unfolded part of the heat blanket and waited It would all go so quickly She knew But she would be in control No one could come in and stop her

With a terrible screech, the doors to silo 18 parted, and a hiss of argon blasted out at her Juliette leaned into it The fog consu ahead of herself, the blanket flapping noisily against her chest She expected to run into hihtened man, had prepared herself to need to wrestle hihtly in the blanket--

But there was no one in the doorway, nobody struggling to get out, to get away froe of flames

Juliette practically fell into the airlock; her body expected resistance like a boot at the top of a darkened stairway and found instead erind shut, she had a brief hope, a tiny fantasy, that there was no cleaning That the doors had si her back Maybe someone had seen her on the hillside and had taken a chance, had forgiven her, and all would be okay--

But as soon as she could see through the billowing gas, she saw that this was not the case Ain the center of the airlock, hands on his thighs, facing the inner door

Lukas

Juliette raced to hiht bloo off the shi them both inside

Juliette shook the blanket loose and shuffled around so he could see her, so he would knoasn’t alone

The suit couldn’t hide the shock Lukas startled, his aran to lance out

She nodded, knowing he could see her through her clear do twirl she had practiced in her mind a thousand times, she spread the blanket over his head and knelt doiftly, covering herself as well

It was dark under the heat tape The te She tried to shout to Lukas that it was going to be okay, but her voice sounded es of the blanket down beneath her knees and feet, she wiggled until it was tightly pinned She reached forward and tried to tuck thesure his back was fully protected

Lukas seeloved hands fell to her arms and rested there She could feel how still he was, how cal to wait, had chosen to burn rather than clean She couldn’t re that choice This worried her as they huddled together in the darkness, everything groar the blanket with enough force to be felt, like a buffeting wind The te out on her lip and forehead, even with all the superior lining of her suit The blanket wouldn’t be enough It wouldn’t keep Lukas alive in his suit The fear in her heart was only for hian to heat up

Her panic see the burns even worse His hands treo

Lukas pushed her away froht entered their protective do away

Juliette screa his ar, his boot, but he stomped her, kicked at her, beat her with his fists, frantically tried to get away

The blanket fell off her head, and the light nearly blinded her She felt the intense heat, could hear her dome pop and make noises, saw the clear bubble dip in above her and warp She couldn’t see Lukas, couldn’t feel hi her wherever her suit crinkled against her body She screamed in pain and yanked the blanket back over her head, covering the clear plastic

And the flaed on

She couldn’t feel him Couldn’t see him There would be no way to find him A thousand burns erupted across her body like soher flesh Juliette sat alone under that thin fil flaer, cursing the fire, the pain, the silo, the entire world

Until eventually--she had note, and Juliette could safely shrug off the stea blanket Her skin felt as if it were on fire It burned wherever it touched the interior of her suit She looked for Lukas and found she didn’t have to look far

He was lying against the door, his suit charred and flaking in the few places it re her the horror of seeing his young face, but it had melted and deformed far worse than hers She crawled closer, aware that the door behind her was opening, that they were co for her, that it was all over She had failed

Juliette whimpered when she saw the places his body had been exposed, the suit and charcoal liners boiled away There was his arm, charred black His stomach, oddly distended His tiny hands, so small and thin and burned to a--

No

She didn’t understand She wept anew She threw her gloved and steaainst her bubbled doer and blessed relief

This was not Lukas dead before her

This was a man who deserved none of her tears

29

• Silo 18 •

Awareness, like sporadic jolts of pain fro fog, boots sto on her side in the oven of an airlock She watched the way the world warped out of shape as her hel A bright silver star hovered in her vision, waving as it settled beyond her doh her helmet at her, shook her scalded shoulders, cried out to the people sto the place, sweat dripping from faces, a h her old office like a ghost Flat on her back, the squeal of a fussy wheel below her, past the rows and rows of steel bars, an empty bench in an empty cell

They carried her in circles

Down

She woke to the beeping of her heart, thesein on her, a man dressed like her father

He was the first to notice her awake His eyebrows lifted, a smile, a nod to someone over her shoulder

And Lukas was there, his face--so fae--was in her blurry vision She felt his hand in hers She knew that hand had been there a while, that he had been there a while He was crying and laughing, brushing her cheek Jules wanted to knoas so funny What was so sad He just shook his head as she drifted back to sleep

• • • •

It wasn’t just that the burns were bad--it’s that they were everywhere

The days of recovery were spent sliding in and out of painkiller fogs