Isolation & Fear (Damned of the 2/19th Book Seven)

smallquietstill... Awake

TIME/DthereisnoescapeATE STAMP ERROR
LOCATION GPyou will all die hereS ERROR
LOG FILES CORinthedarkandcoldRUPTED

Screaming from outside the window trailed away into sobs and then was whipped away by the howling wind slamming against the slopes of Alfenwehr's peak.

The brush made a whispering sound as I ran it through Debra's hair. In the months since the drunk officer in a stolen car had broken her back she had let it grow, and now it was down to the middle of her back. I held a handful, pushing the brush against her scalp, rubbing gently for a moment, then a long slow pull through her midnight black hair before opening my hand and letting her hair fall against her back.

She made a purring noise, flexing her shoulderblades by pulling her shoulders forward. She was wearing only her dogtags, leaning against the desk, sitting in the chair. I was sitting in another chair behind her, like her, only wearing my dogtags.

"This is nice," she said softly, shivering as I gathered her hair up and started weaving it into a complex braid that my sisters had taught me. It was worn by unmarried girls, and for some reason seeing it laying on Debra's pale skin made my mouth go dry.

Heavy automatic weapons fire came from somewhere in the barracks and a voice began screaming in agony. It trailed off by the time I had braided her hair halfway. It didn't bother me, didn't even reach me. It was outside of our warm brightly lit oasis where we had each other.

The lizard stared at his control boards, the front maintenance panels opened up to give him access to the internal systems.

They were all dark. All of them. His boards were dead, the screens unlit, no power to any of the systems. Behind him the massive old reel to reel systems were chattering, flicking through punch cards, reading magnetic tape strips an inch thick, lights blinking.

The little lizard glared at the massive ancient computers, then back down at where he'd pulled up the brushed steel floor panels. The wiring was dead. No power.

"Shower me?" She asked, leaning back and draping her arm around my neck. I nodded, silent.

The radiator made a clanking, gurgling noise as she brushed her fingers against my cheek.

"My good boy," she said softly.

We got up and went into the bathroom, her holding my fingers to tug me along.

I was docile. Drowsy feeling. In the middle of a still pond of cool dark water.

Small.

Quiet.

Still.

The lizard hammered on some of the equipment, then grumbled to himself.

I growled low in my throat as Debra meddled with the shower knobs. She looked back at me and raised an eyebrow, glancing at my face and then my crotch. She frowned.

The lizard pulled a tool kit out and looked down inside one floor panel where old wiring had been altered by smashing at it.

"Tony?" She asked softly, reaching up and putting her hand on my cheek. "Is my boy OK?"

Rubbing my cheek against her hand I nodded, smiling slightly, feeling the corner of my mouth jerk up as the damage nerve spasmed.

"Don't do that," she said, only half kidding. "It ruins the mood."

The lizard started tracing the wiring.

...i love you, my aodan...

Aine's voice when we were nine.