INTERLUDE: What Happened Last Winter
OR: How Nell Avoided Freezing to Death
OR: How Derek Got Nell to Trust Him
OR: That Thing The Fixer and The Afterdark Did That They Always Talk About
The streets during coldest winter that the city has ever had.
Nell Conrad is very close to dying of hypothermia. She knows because she no longer feels the cold in the air. Her body is so numb, she realizes, that she feels warm. Hot, even.
She has already been to 831\1's subway station, but it was just as cold as anywhere else, so she kept moving. Nell's aversion to public places has kept her away from many other warm spots. On a sidewalk, she pauses in front of a television store and watches the news. A man with brown hair and blue eyes says people have been dying in the cold, mostly elderly or young homeless people. Animals have been dying as well, and people are advised to bundle up. The meteorologist who comes on next is baffled by the cold temperature, he says it doesn't make any sense. It isn't even snowing.
So Nell gives up and walks to the meat-packing district. Her joints ache and it hurts when she breathes. She gets to Derek's warehouse home and hammers on the door with a stiff arm. It opens, and The Afterdark scowls at her. When he recognizes her, he literally pulls her inside and slams the door.
It's inside or outside, he tells her. I'm not leaving the door open a second longer than I absolutely have to. What do you want, Fixer?
I think I'm dying, she says. What follows is a series of hacking coughs to make the Grim Reaper flinch.
OR: How Nell Avoided Freezing to Death
OR: How Derek Got Nell to Trust Him
OR: That Thing The Fixer and The Afterdark Did That They Always Talk About
The streets during coldest winter that the city has ever had.
Nell Conrad is very close to dying of hypothermia. She knows because she no longer feels the cold in the air. Her body is so numb, she realizes, that she feels warm. Hot, even.
She has already been to 831\1's subway station, but it was just as cold as anywhere else, so she kept moving. Nell's aversion to public places has kept her away from many other warm spots. On a sidewalk, she pauses in front of a television store and watches the news. A man with brown hair and blue eyes says people have been dying in the cold, mostly elderly or young homeless people. Animals have been dying as well, and people are advised to bundle up. The meteorologist who comes on next is baffled by the cold temperature, he says it doesn't make any sense. It isn't even snowing.
So Nell gives up and walks to the meat-packing district. Her joints ache and it hurts when she breathes. She gets to Derek's warehouse home and hammers on the door with a stiff arm. It opens, and The Afterdark scowls at her. When he recognizes her, he literally pulls her inside and slams the door.
It's inside or outside, he tells her. I'm not leaving the door open a second longer than I absolutely have to. What do you want, Fixer?
I think I'm dying, she says. What follows is a series of hacking coughs to make the Grim Reaper flinch.
