Revolt by Tracy Lawson

Author:Tracy Lawson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bublish, Inc.
Published: 2017-06-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

1:45 PM

Quadrant DC-005

Careen, clad in one of Tommy’s T-shirts, emerged from the bathroom and studied herself in the full-length mirror next to the bathroom door. He tilted his head to best appreciate the rear view.

She frowned. “I’ll never be me again.”

“You’re the most beautiful—”

“Stop it.”

“I’m serious! Who cares about a few scars? I’ve got plenty of ’em too. You’re beautiful and brave and strong and smart, and if you wear nothing but my T-shirts all the time, I swear I’ll never, ever complain.”

She stripped it off and stood in her bra and panties.

“Or that. That’s good too.”

She ignored him and touched her reflection with her fingertips. “The scars don’t bother me.” She drew a sobbing breath and gnawed at the plastic band on her wrist, but it wasn’t long before she stopped in frustration. Her teeth had left no marks. “It’s this stupid Link. I can’t ever get away from it!” She clawed at it with her other hand.

“Try not to obsess.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“You think I don’t obsess over it too? You think I don’t wonder what will happen?”

“Maybe someone will blow up the OCSD.”

“Maybe someone will blow up this safe house and you’ll have wasted your last few days on earth worrying.” He caught her by the wrist and kissed the knuckles on her clenched fist. “Come on, get dressed.”

Tommy led the way downstairs to the gym, which boasted an eighth-mile track, weights, and a variety of machines and equipment.

Stacks of shoeboxes rose on shelves against the wall. “Find a pair in your size. Atari keeps it stocked. Just like us, most people who show up here don’t bring luggage or extra clothes.”

He pulled a pair of boxing gloves and some sparring pads out of a bin near a wall of mirrors. “It felt really good when I socked Atari yesterday. So I was thinking it might help you to hit something too.”

A small smile played over her lips as he helped her into the gloves. He slipped the thick pads on his own hands. “Jab, jab, cross. Okay?”

She channeled a lot of what was eating her into the first punch. He’d been expecting it, but still it drove him back a step. She moved into the empty space between them and kept up a steady rhythm until beads of sweat formed on her forehead and upper lip. The tendrils of hair that came loose from her ponytail clung to her neck.

As she threw punch after punch, her expression of determined concentration melted and she began to laugh, at first just a ha sound when her punches connected with the pads, but the laughter kept coming until it took over. She put her hands on her knees and gasped for breath.

“You all right?”

“Yeah. That was great. I think I broke my pinky.”

Tommy dropped the pads and helped her ease the glove off. The light on her Link was flashing in time with her fast-pumping heart, and her knuckles were red and raw. He supported her hand in his as he examined her finger.

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