"There you are," Caden commented as Nym stepped back inside, feeling calmer now. 

She glanced up at him some and nodded a bit, then moved over and stepped to his side, indicating she wanted a hug, not caring if he was her supervisor. He was still the most empathetic person here. 

Leaving his work for a brief moment, he pulled her into a warm hug. Then he pulled back and looked down at her. "You alright? You look almost as bad as you did yesterday after the accident."

Nym swallowed hard and mustered a thin smile. "Yeah. I just don't feel too good. Maybe it's just residual memories of yesterday," she lied. 

"I understand. That's not something anyone should have to see, let alone have to deal with on a daily basis at work."

"Thank you," she said, pulling back more and hugging herself, now wanting to disengage from the conversation. "I gotta get back to work," she finally said. "Thank you for the hug, though."

He nodded with a gentle smile. "Anytime."

Nym slipped off and let him return to work. She glanced at the clock that sat over the door and took note of the time: 6:45. Another half-hour before she could leave.

Nym sighed as she grabbed a cart and wheeled it over to the bin, beginning the mechanical cycle of loading the cart again. Based on the careless haphazard stacking, it appeared Bea had finished unloading her cart from earlier before leaving. 

Nym used to envy Bea and some of the other underage part-time workers for leaving early since they were all a year younger, but today she wasn't sure she wanted to go home. Part of her longed to get out of the depressing atmosphere of the factory, but the suffocating cloud of guilt and death that waited for her in the apartment outweighed it. 

Having filled the cart, she turned to pull it over to the pallets with the others. Maybe I should walk over to Kirsi's house. I haven't seen her since Monday, and I know she'll let me stay the night, Nym mused silently.

She parked the cart again and began unloading again, hardly paying attention to her own mechanical movements. After working this job for the past two years, she no longer had to consciously think about what she was doing except noting where she was supposed to take things.

Kirsi should be out of work and school by 7:15, she continued, glancing again at the clock. Her house is a ways out, though, maybe I should get my bike?

Nym knew she alone didn't have the air to fill the bike tires, yet as morbid as the thought was, she knew Cormac would have leftover air tanks in his room and she'd only need a little bit. Plus, Kirsi's house was nearly a twenty-minute walk from the factory. Unlike most other families here, Kirsi didn't live in the Shelter. Her family owned a very small metal foundry that cast the steel for the oxygen tanks in the Minor area. It wasn't a lucrative enough business to get them inside the domed city. However, it paid well enough when her great-grandparents started it that they'd bought one of the standalone houses with airtight seals and paid it off in a couple of years. Nym knew that would be impossible now, even with the business. Thankfully, it had remained a family heirloom. 

Nym personally wished her great-grandparents had been smart like that, but they'd been content to work in factories and specialize in farming.

Cormac wanted to be a farmer...he would've done so well at the farming community in Austin. He could've learned so much...

Hesitating, Nym fought back tears for a moment, biting her lip to keep from making a noise. She sucked in a sharp breath, the fresh bottled air stinging her throat momentarily but it did the trick to calm her down.

Nym pressed all thoughts of Cormac, or home, or family out of her mind after that. She focused intently on her work until the buzzer rang and everyone began packing up for home.

By the time she'd gotten back to the Shelter, Nym had decided that morbid as it was, she'd retrieve her bike and fill the tires with the extra air from Cormac's oxygen tanks. She managed to get into his room without breaking down and lugged down his oxygen tank along with the emergency backup, just in case. She stored both in the living room but dragged his primary tank out into the Shelter courtyard where her bike sat.

It wasn't a motorbike like a lot of kids had, but rather one of the dinky old pedal bikes. Nym much preferred it to the loud motorbikes. The air already had enough pollution in it, why add more?

Filling the tires until they were rigid again, Nym made sure to only use a bit of the oxygen. When she finished, she returned the tank to the living room and then retrieved a bag with a change of clothes from her room. Having double-checked that she had all she needed, Nym moved back down the stairs and picked up her bike from the courtyard, walking it out of the courtyard to the sidewalk. Then she swung onto the bike and started down the street away from the Shelter.

Pedaling hard, she made it up the slight incline that came before Market street and glanced both ways as she crossed the road. Few people drove anymore since gas prices were irrationally high but some of the better-off families owned a car or two, and the big factories always had semi-truck drivers who would run deliveries for a more than modest fee, and safety crews like hospitals and fire departments owned emergency vehicles.

Nym saw no one, though, and crossed the street, catching sight of what looked like an ambulance and several Androids on the street up ahead. She quickly checked the street and crossed to the empty side of the street, but couldn't help a glance at the commotion as she passed.

She caught sight of a man standing in the doorway of what looked like a small grocery store, watching as the paramedics carried out an older looking man on a stretcher. There was no mask on the man's face, and Nym quickly averted her gaze.

She didn't want to think about what could have happened. Instead, she stood up on the pedals slightly and pumped her legs harder, ignoring the burn creeping into her thighs. She just wanted to get away as fast as possible. 

After a solid ten minute ride, Nym pulled up in front of Kirsi's house, which looked clean and welcoming, unlike most old urban housing in the area which was either abandoned, converted, or caved in. Even among the patches of brown grass, the house looked like a beacon of light in the darkness.

For Nym, it was the lighthouse she'd been finding refuge in for more years than she could remember.

Hopping off her bike as it rolled to a stop, she guided it into the little carport beside the house and dropped it there, then turned and jogged up the front steps, knocking. Swaying from side to side slightly, she waited until she heard the familiar click of the door unlocking.

The door cracked open and then the bright hazel eyes of a girl Nym's age appeared. Kirsi grinned and quickly gestured for Nym to get inside, closing the door behind her. 

"Hey! I haven't seen you in a week!" she said, hugging Nym as clean air rushed into the airlock around them. 

Nym hugged her back, letting out a soft sigh of relief. There was something about receiving hugs from her friends that simply allowed her to let go. She felt like she could stand there as long as she wanted, but she pulled back after a moment so she could shuck off her oxygen tank and set it beside the door before they entered the house. She forgot how nice it was to move without the weight of the tank on her back sometimes.

"Missed you too," she sighed.

"How are you?" Kirsi questioned, already starting towards the stairs.

Nym followed her. "Tired, very tired," she said. It was a half-lie, but in some sense, it was truer than anything else.

"I can see it," Kirsi agreed. "Wanna dump your stuff in my room and I'll tell mom and dad you're staying the night?"

Nym nodded and started up the stairs behind Kirsi. They split at the top floor, Kirsi going to find her parents as Nym carried her things into Kirsi's room. She dumped her bag on the other girl's bed and then sat down beside it, looking around.

She sometimes envied how nice Kirsi's room was with its clean white walls covered in photos and decor. The room was at least double the size of Nym's leaving space for a desk and chair. It was all older decor, but it was beautiful.

Today she was just glad to have the comfort of a familiar place.

"Mom and dad said you're good to stay the night," Kirsi called as he walked back in and slid Nym's things to the floor, plopping herself down on the bed. She laid back, coils of her black hair sprawling behind her.

"So, how's vocational school?"

"Not bad. I only have three classes this year, as opposed to last year. I'm still taking basics, though," Nym answered.

"Are you taking farming or will that be your brother?"

"Cormac was gonna take farming." Nym sighed softly. "I'm in school for journaling, the long lost art," she said, waving her hands dramatically.

Kirsi giggled softly and rolled onto her stomach. "Eh, ignore the flak journaling gets. It's not a favored art but it's an important one. If we don't have people recording what happens, how are we gonna remember? Plus, find the right thing to write about and you could help lots of people or become famous. You might even end up in one of the domed cities."

"Yeah, I know." Nym laid down beside Kirsi and let her arms hang off the edge of the bed. She toyed with the fringe on the edge of the carpet. "What would I do without my best friend, though? Someone has to keep me in line." She glanced back, smirking.

"Oh yeah, keep you in line. What am I gonna stop you from? Excessive worrying?"

Nym pouted and looked back at the floor. "You make me sound like an old lady."

"You are an old lady!" Kirsi giggled. "Anyway, what have you journaled so far? Or are you required to write for your basic classes?"

"I don't have too...but our teachers highly encouraged us to keep a journal through the year. I kinda stopped two weeks ago. I forgot about it in the middle of all my homework and regular work. I haven't told any of my teachers..."

"Yeah, it happens. I mean, life gets crazy. You should pick it up again, though," Kirsi encouraged.

Nym nodded and mustered a weak smile. Kirsi was right, though, writing everything down might help. Everything made sense once it was on paper. 

"Did you hear about Mr. and Mrs. Pryor?" Nym asked after a moment, looking up at Kirsi.

Kiri's hazel eyes drifted up from the floor and she nodded, frowning. "Yeah, I heard Mrs. Pryor died a few days ago. They said it was really sudden like maybe she got sick or something. There wasn't a lot about it in the news."

"The news doesn't cover stuff that happens out here, Kirsi. They only focus on the events of the domed cities." 

"True. Still, I asked mom and dad about it and they didn't know much either. I asked dad if he was working at the hospital the night it happened but he wasn't there and the whole floor was really hush hush the next day," Kirsi paused and lowered her voice, turning to face Nym. "I heard a rumor, though, that her sleeping mask failed during the night and she suffocated in her sleep."

Nym tried to keep oo much of a frown from spreading across her face as she listened. That sounded like what the doctor said earlier about Cormac, except he'd said that Cormac hadn't suffocated. 

"I mean, it's possible," Nym said softly, forcing any emotion out of her voice. "Who knows, I heard she was old."

"Not that old," Kirsi said. "You remember her, don't you? She taught at the school. She was like fifty."

Nym shrugged. "People don't last as long as they used to," she mumbled, looking away from Kirsi as she twisted her fingers in the fringe of the carpet. A string came loose and she tugged it out, twining it absently around her finger.

"You okay?" Kirsi asked after a moment.

"Tired," Nym lied hollowly.

She felt arms wrap around her, though, and she just closed her eyes, leaning her head forward as she let Kirsi hug her. Sighing a little bit, she let go of the string and cracked her eyes, watching it float to the floor. 

"Cormac is dead," she muttered, her lips moving without her consent. She'd been lying all day, someone had to know the truth.

"What?" Kirsi's voice echoed in Nym's head as the other girl pulled back suddenly. 

Nym lifted herself onto her elbows, looking up at her friend. "Cormac is dead," she repeated, finding the words harder to choke out the second time. "I...I don't know what happened. He was fine when we went to bed...but," she broke off, not sure if she could relate the events without breaking down. "The doctor said it was like what happened to Mrs. Pryor," she managed to finish.

"But...how? You had your equipment inspected just last month, didn't you?"

Nym nodded. "Two weeks ago exactly. They said it was all in working order. They said that about the factory too, but last week two of our emergency tanks lost integrity and burst. I saw the shells. Someone died yesterday because we didn't have them...everything is falling apart."

"I'm so sorry, Nym, I didn't know..." Kirsi said and crawled forward to hug her friend again.

Nym let herself slump into the other girl's arms. "No one else knows either...just the doctor," she whispered. "I'm supposed to tell mom and dad so we can plan a funeral...but I just can't."

Kirsi hugged her tight and Nym sat there, eventually wrapping her arms around Kirsi in return as she buried her face in the other girl's shoulder. She didn't cry, didn't have the ability too. She just let the numbness in her mind wash over her body and sat there. 

"Thank you," she finally mumbled.

Kirsi pulled back and nodded quietly. "Always."

Taking in a deep breath, Nym got to her feet and wandered around the room a bit, suddenly strangely aware of how heavy her oxygen tank normally felt, and how light she seemed without it. She walked to the window, looking outside.

"You wanna do something to get your mind off this?" Kirsi asked, getting up as well. "I've got board games."

Nym nodded and turned away. "Could we go outside for a bit? A walk maybe?"

Kirsi nodded happily. "Sure, let me just throw on some shoes." 

Nym waited for Kirsi to get her shoes on, then both girls jogged down the stairs and to the airlock to retrieve their tanks. Nym helped Kirsi strap her's on and vice versa, then the air rushed out around them and they stepped into the open air. Looking around the quiet street, Nym gestured to the right and both girls headed off that direction.

"So, do you have your journal with you, or is it at home?" Kirsi asked as they turned at the end of the block and started down towards where Kirsi's family foundry was.

"It's in my duffel bag upstairs, where I left it last time," Nym said. "I really haven't touched it since midterms."

"That's alright. Maybe you could write about today? Or we could read some later? I wanna know what you wrote about the first half of school."

Nym shot her a playful look. "You really don't."

Grinning mischievously, Kirsi shrugged. "Maybe I do. Why what's in there?"

"A lot of really boring observations," Nym admitted.

"That's okay, I'm sure it's more interesting than you give it credit." Kirsi kicked a rock down the alleyway as they reached the foundry. 

Nym watched the rock ricochet down the alley before skittering to a stop. She stopped as well, peering into the shadows. "Hey, Kirsi, do you see that down there?" she asked, stepping off the sidewalk and into the small alleyway. 

"What? I don't see anything besides trash," Kirsi commented but followed her friend.

Nym walked a few more steps and stopped beside the rock, kneeling down beside something that looked sleek and humanoid crumpled beside the garbage can among the trash bags. She peered a little closer, trying to make out what it was.

"A-A-Assis-sistance-e r-requir-ired..." 

Nym jerked back, toppling into Kirsi as the broken voice cut the air and the metal mound moved, a head appearing from the collapsed limbs. Both girls watched the head as it lifted weakly, revealing the broken faceplate of an android before collapsing back into the heap. 

A low electronic moan followed. Then the alleyway fell silent.