They found Otis's body an hour later, deep in the basement chaos, and the news landed across the compound that evening like a physical blow, grief settling over every face I passed in a way that made the walls themselves feel heavier.
I did not know him long, I told Ronan that night, sitting beside him while Mabel changed the bandage on his shoulder wound, but he was kind to me from the very first day, even when trusting me made no sense at all.
That was Otis, Ronan said quietly, wincing as Mabel worked. Trusted people before they gave him reason to. He was like that with everyone who walked through those gates.
The compound held a vigil that night, torches lit around the yard, stories shared about a man I wished I had gotten to know better before losing him to a fight that had original
