When I opened my eyes, the sky was too intense.
Not figuratively—the sunlight drilled through the makeshift canopy above in shafts of burning silver, every movement of the wind was a shattering thunderclap in my brain. My limbs felt like stone, heavy and unhelpful, my breathing shallow as if every inhalation had to be paid for.
Alexis's face materialized in front of me, her eyes red-rimmed with worry, her fingers cold against the back of my neck.
"Welcome home," she whispered, though her smile was taut and strained.
I tried to sit up, and all my muscles protested. My ribs ached as if they'd been kicked in by a mule, and the throbbing dull pain behind my eyes thumped in time with every beat of my heart. I felt like a wet sponge that'd been wrung out and trampled on for the fun of it.
As I heaved myself to standing with a grunt, the familiar sparkle of my System interface burst into existence.
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[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
