Chapter 30
Alex charged up the concrete steps to their apartment, not fast enough to be called running. Not just yet. He’d started this little game with himself a few weeks after he and Etan had visited the fields where he’d been attacked, every time he managed to get to the ground floor unattended. Determined to rebuild his strength on his own terms.
He hadn’t even pretended to argue about needing the old hand-crank elevator at first. His family would have had to move down to the first floor otherwise, especially once the pneumonia set in. Alex had despaired for a long time of even having the energy to turn the damn crank, much less climb the stairs under his own steam.
The first several attempts had him running out of breath at a slow walk, stopping several times on the way up, graspi
