The Ark

27.

Heavy bass pounded through the floor as Zaphron let us into the apartment. I followed Axel through the door, worrying over how badly his donor arm was shaking under Delta's weight.

"We'll put her in our room," Axel said, swinging through the first door on the left. I hesitated, torn between following him or Zaphron—who had continued down the short hall toward the lounge and kitchen. When I caught sight of the moody blue-haired girl, who I assumed was Atlanta, at the surveillance desk—I quickly decided to go with Axel.

He lowered Delta onto a double bed in the corner of a small, very untidy room. I glanced around, feeling overwhelmed by how much stuff was strewn over the floor and tripped on a pair of discarded boots.

"Careful." Axel caught me by the shoulders before I hit the carpet. "Sorry about all the crap. Zaph is the messy one."

"I can believe that," I said, straightening up and directing my gaze to a fold-out couch against the opposite wall. Somehow, I could tell from the tangled sheets that it was Zaphron's. All kinds of discarded clothes and weapons lined the floor around it—I even spotted a hunting knife stabbed into the carpet below a bedside table.

"You and your friend can have my bed," Axel said, gesturing to the far neater bed he had placed Delta on. "Zaph and I can work something out for ourselves." He surveyed me with weary eyes before opening a cupboard and passing me a towel from inside. "There's a bathroom through there," he said indicating to an adjoining door.

I frowned, wondering if he was trying to hint that I stank—but when I looked down, I realised I was covered in flaking layers of Delta's dried blood.

"I'll ask Atlanta about you both borrowing some clothes. Or I suppose if anything of ours fits you're welcome to borrow that too." He gave a small, half-hearted smile.

"Thank you," I said, trying to instil as much appreciation as I could into two words. He had done so much for us today. "Are you alright? You don't look so good."

He waved his hand the way he had when Zaphron had offered to help carry Delta. "I'm fine. It's just been a hell of a day."

I nodded and kneaded the towel in my hands.

"I'll leave you to it, shout if you need anything." He closed the door behind him and I peered down at Delta. She was a picture of serenity as she slept—still deathly pale, but peaceful. I slid off her boots, then my own—placing them side by side at the foot of the bed and padding into the bathroom.

It was tiny. A toilet, vanity and shower were all crammed into a space barely large enough to be a cupboard. More clothes littered the tiled floor and products covered every inch of the vanity, surrounding the sink as though they were holding it hostage.

I picked up an almost-empty bottle of cologne and sniffed it. An instant and all too vivid memory of Zaphron's arm around me at the theme park popped into my mind and I put the bottle straight back down.