Specimen

“Okay?” Riley asks softly.

“I’m good.” I roll my shoulders and stretch my neck. “It just hits a little hard.”

“I know,” she says. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t do that.”

“What?”

“I don’t want you to get into the habit of apologizing to me for what’s been done. There’s nothing either of us can do to change it now.”

“I’ll try,” she says with a sad smile. She places everything back inside her medical bag. “I am developing a bit of a guilt complex though, and every injection is going to remain a reminder of that.”

“I’ll always need them, won’t I?”

“Yes. The implants won’t function correctly without them, and there is no way to remove the implants without leaving you a vegetable.”

I’d already figured as much.

“I don’t necessarily regret what’s been done,” I tell her. “The way it was accomplished, yeah, but not the end result. If I weren’t like I am now, I wouldn’t have been able to fly a helicopter to get us away. I wouldn’t have a chance at finding Spat and the others. I can’t regret any of it, not if it means I can keep you safe now.”

“Maybe this will help.” Riley pulls a small data stick out of her medical bag.

“What is that?”

“The diagnostic information from the techs at Mills,” she says. “I thought Spat might be able to make better sense of it.”

“Maybe.” I wonder if he will be willing to do so. Of the people I remember from my time with the Carson Alliance, he remains the least known to me. The only times he was in my presence, I was rather out of it.

“Come here.” Riley sits on the makeshift bed and pats the spot beside her.

I join her on the surprisingly comfortable bed she’s made, wondering if this used to be a textile plant of some kind. She’s managed to find a lot of cloth to make a soft mattress below us and a couple of other blankets to keep us warm.

She reaches up and turns my face toward hers, kissing me softly. I let myself melt into the feeling. We’re safe here, at least for a little while.

Riley breaks away and looks into my eyes, her expression relaxed and comforting. I can see the love in her eyes, and I’m surprised I never noticed it before.

“I’m sorry I doubted you,” I say.

“I don’t blame you,” she replies. “If I were in your position, I think I might have just stayed where I was, prisoner or not.”

“I

couldn’t,” I say with a shake of my head. “I need you.”

“Is it all right that I’m glad about that?”

“It is.”

“It shouldn’t have to be that way.”

“Stop.” I kiss her again. “No guilt. It doesn’t serve any purpose now.”

She nods and grips my arm, kissing me again. I turn and lower her to the blankets, pressing my mouth hard against hers. She tilts her head back to receive me, moaning into my mouth, then quickly turns away.

“Are we safe here?”

“Reasonably,” I reply. “No one has been here for a long time. The only people who can track my implant are in Mills Conglomerate territory, and it will take them some time to get a team together to come after me here.”