Chapter 54 The Things That Try To Stay

• The first thing he noticed was the quiet.
• Not the deep roaring silence from before, not the one filled with broken data and dying alarms. This one felt softer. Alive in its own way. It hummed under the metal floor, like the system was trying to catch a breath it didn’t know how to take.
• Jared pushed himself up. His palms hurt again, the marks glowing faintly, but the pain wasn’t sharp anymore. More like a memory of pain trying to cling to him.