Day 15 dawned gray and biting. The adrenaline from the previous night’s confrontation with Eliza had evaporated, leaving behind a sediment of bone-deep exhaustion. Briar moved through the house like a piece of clockwork, her joints stiff, her mind stuck in a loop of that mechanical military relay. Logistics confirmed. Deployment continues. It was the language of the Machine, not the man.
The morning at the bakery was a blur of flour and forced smiles. She avoided the windows, terrified she would see her mother’s car idling at the curb. Every time the bell chimed, she braced for a secondary assault, but Eliza stayed away- a silence that felt more like a looming storm than a peace treaty.
Briar arrived back at the ridge in the late afternoon, the shadows of the pines stretching across t
