Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
Tyse joins me, leaning back on his elbows and kicking his legs out. Then he sighs. “I’ve been here seven years and I’m still kinda stunned at it myself. So I get it.”
“No offense”—I don’t look at him, just stare straight ahead—“but unless you walked through that tower door behind me and ended up in a whole other reality, I don’t think you do.”
“True. I didn’t come through a tower door. But I did come through the tunnels. And maybe it’s not another reality, but after spending three years in the Omega Outlands doing shit I can’t tell ya about, ’cause then I’d have to kill ya, it sure did feel like one to me.”
I turn my head to look at him. “You were some kind of soldier.”
He side-eyes me, grinning. “What gave it away?”
I chuckle, despite all the confusion running through my mind. “Well… everything, actually. That weapon of yours. I could barely lift it, it’s so heavy. And the jacket. With the patches.” I pause for a moment and we stare at each other. “And the tattoos. And scars. You look like you’ve been hit with those crazy darts before.”
“Told ya it wouldn’t kill me. They’re not meant to kill. Just fuck you up so royally you’re out of the game.”
“Is that why you’re here then? Those darts took you out of the game?”
“Nah. Wasn’t the darts. Was this shit, actually.” He points to his eyes. “The augments.”
“I don’t even know what that means.”
He blows out a long breath. “Tech. Biotech inside my brain. But it went bad a long time ago so… yeah. That was it for me. All the plans were ruined. All the work, worthless. And then I got on a train, went through the tunnels, and got off here. So that’s where I stayed. So I get it. It is a different world from the one I came from.”
“You didn’t assimilate well?”
“What makes you think I’m not assimilated?” He and I stare at each other for a moment. Then he chuckles. “Fine. I’m a little bit antisocial. But I didn’t always live in the tower. I went to the War College.” He nods his head towards the city in front of us. “That building right there, the one made of blue glass. The Empire Building. That’s War College.”
“If they kicked you out of the military, then why did you bother?”
“Why did I bother going to War College? It was the best offer I had at the time. But… as you might’ve guessed, it was not my thing. So I left during the middle of the second year and came here.” He tilts his head back, looking up at the tower behind us. “The God’s Tower ruin. The spark was free, no rent, and people leave me alone. That’s really all I want now. Just to be left alone. Which is why I maybe might’ve come off as a dick up there.”
I’m looking at him as he says all this, but I look away now, focusing on the blue building he pointed out. “You look a little young to be such a cynic.”
“Do I?” He huffs and sits up, drawing his legs back so he can rest his elbows on his knees. “Well, in my experience it doesn’t take much to be disillusioned with this fucking world.”
“I guess I’m in the middle of learning that lesson as we speak.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because that’s the fucking door I came through.” I point to the opening behind me, that actually doesn’t have a door. “And I just walked back out of it. So… well. My big plan was to do just that. Find the door and walk back through.”
“You thought it would… what? Take you back home, like magic?”
I shrug, a little bit defensive. “It sure acted magical when I walked through it the first time.”
He’s silent for a few moments, then turns a little to look at me. “Clara. It’s possible that it happened that way, I guess. But… it’s more probable that… I dunno, someone hurt you, maybe? And this has affected your memory in some way. Or perhaps the spark fucked you up because you were overexposed and not used to it. You were down there for a whole day, at least. There’s an electromagnetic field in the tower. And it’s more powerful than I ever thought it could be in the lower levels. A field like that affects your brain. It does, it really does. I saw it weaponized while I was in the Sweep.”
“The Sweep? Like the Great Sweep that dusted the Earth with sand?”
“No. Well, I guess they’re related. A little bit. The Great Sweep did what you say, but it’s the name of the military branch I was in. Sweep.”
“Well, sweep, in that context, sounds a lot like killing.”
“That was pretty much the idea, I think.”