Chapter 106: The celebration of life

Eve awoke to the low hum of air conditioning. The sound, once always a background noise, now jarred her ears. Since the apocalypse, she only heard it in one place—Radiant Base's hospital. Then other senses kicked in.

The smell of antiseptics, the weight of some clothing on her skin, the awful taste in her mouth. Somewhat distantly, Eve could feel a tinge of a foreign emotion. Happiness, not her own.

With some effort, Eve opened her crusted eyelids. She was lying in bed, one with sheets that weren't itchy and a pillow that wasn't rock hard. The bright sunlight from the window forced her to squint, but she still could see the beige walls of her tiny room and a figure sitting in a chair next to the bed. A man?

Celina's beaming face hovered over her, and Eve mentally fixed her earlier mistake. Not a man, a woman.