of the ruined camera smoldering on the floor. The s

ne of cold assessment. She looked at him

ere weak, his heart still racing. He stared at her

she took a step closer. She didn't raise

d over his shoulders, pushing him down. It felt like a physical hand

efusing to expand. It was like being submerged a thousand feet

onto the floor with a sickening thud. This time, it

er voice cutting through the silence like a bla

ried to fight it, tried to push back against the invisible weig

ld fingers touched his ch

It wasn't physical pain; it was something deeper.

sgust on her face shifted into

s barely a flicker. It was a dying ember in a vast, dark void. And worse-much worse-she could see

e had been burned. The crushing pre

his vision blurring. He thoug

gital world, the stor

ra had made it to the live feed before the explosion.

ith glowing golden eyes, her hand on a kneeling

steryGirl began to

a frenzy of specul

a movi

g? That's authenti

face! He loo

hat weirdo finally found

e. Or PUA'd. That's an abusive re

l awakening was buried under the modern assumption of toxic r

ands. His phone was ringing off the hook. Every major news outlet, every gossip blo

, Cecil finally rel

ked in sweat. He curled into a fetal positi

rait, her footsteps silent on the wooden floor. She knelt beside

he Marshalls," she murmured to her

embling wreck of a man on the floor. The disgust was sti

tervene. She