Battlecraft VR by Linden Storm

Author:Linden Storm [Storm, Linden]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780578449043
Published: 2019-03-10T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

They’re Going to Have to

Make Some Adjustments

After the phone call with the group, Marina feels a little better. Cleansed. Paul engulfs her in a long, swaying hug.

She looks around Paul’s room. It’s not large; neither is it nice. He keeps it neat, though, in the fashion of a good soldier. Even his whiskey and cannabis supplies are lined up on a peeling, beat-up chest of drawers. The bed is made and it’s unwrinkled, although the bedspread is stained and frayed.

His VR rig is placed in the only open space in the room, a battered skeleton next to the bed. His haptic suit is folded in half and draped carefully over the arms. His headset is hung on the spine.

“The place is lousy,” Paul says. “Everything’s broken. Like the bathroom door. You have to prop it closed with that chunk of asphalt.”

Marina nods, peering around the corner. Sure enough, there’s a small black chunk of asphalt on the bathroom floor.

It’s shabby indeed, she thinks, but she feels happier than she can ever remember. She has money in her bag, she is with her friend, and she is safe. Best of all, her team is about to be reunited.

It’s all sinking in. Leaving Jimmy has been like escaping from an unlocked dungeon. All she did was open the door and run. She knows there will be a price, but for now she will savor the moment.

She wishes, though, that she’d kept her friends informed. Now she sees she has hurt people who sincerely care about her.

It’s clear to her, finally, that this relationship with Paul is not transactional.

He would do anything for her, as would William and Nick.

Belle does not feel the same about her, but that’s understandably complicated.

“Again, I’m sorry,” she says to Paul. “I could have gotten in touch before now, and I should have.”

“Yes, you should have.”

“I let my complicated emotions reign, and that was a terrible mistake. Jimmy and his friends were frightening. I wasn’t sure what technology they had at their disposal, or how much manpower. I was ashamed at the mess I’d gotten myself into, and I told myself I was training the team to work better together. But some of it, really, was simply that I wanted to do what I wanted to do for once. To be responsible only for myself. To enjoy it. I’m not proud of myself for that.”

“Did you enjoy it?”

“Yes, I meant for it to last for at most a day, but then I let it go on too long. Finally, I realized how selfishly I was behaving. Because you really do care what happens to me.”

“You didn’t know I cared about you?” Paul says.

“Not really.”

“That’s partly my fault,” Paul says. “I haven’t been forthcoming.”

She laughs. “That is an understatement.”

He grins. “I got out of the habit of talking, because every time I opened my mouth the wrong words came out. And I haven’t exactly been at my best. I have headaches.”

“I know. But can you talk to me now?”

“I don’t know.

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