The storm didn’t stop for three days.
Rain pounded the city like a drumbeat, washing away ash and blood, flooding the streets that once belonged to machines. Natalie barely noticed the thunder anymore. She sat by the dim glow of the console, replaying the fragments of Adrian’s voice over and over again, her heart trapped between belief and denial.
> “You have to listen…”
“If I hold it, I die slower…”
“Tell him I loved him.”
Each line cut deeper than the last.
Ethan played quietly on the floor beside her, stacking old data chips like toy blocks. Every time he giggled, it broke her heart a little more—because he had Adrian’s eyes when he laughed.
Mira entered with a datapad tucked under her arm. Her hair was damp from the rain, her jaw tight with unspoken news.
“You haven’t slept
