[Ava's POV]
The return journey had been tense, but it carried the specific, almost manageable tension of a known threat. They’d navigated the Choir’s haunting grounds, and the psychic silence, while unnerving, felt like a reprieve.
Ava had begun to recognize landmarks—the skeletal husk of a pre-Collapse water tower, a stretch of highway colonized by violet-blooming scrub—signs they were edging back toward the relative safety of the Garage’s outer patrol rings.
She’d even allowed herself to lean her head against the vibrating metal wall of the transport rig, lulled by the growl of engines and the low, grumbled conversation of the two mechanics sharing the space with her.
The ambush didn’t announce itself with a psychic scream. It announced itself with the universe coughing.
One secon
