Chapter 80: Chapter 80: Contrition

The walls were gray. The floors were gray. The bedframe was gray. The sheets, the blanket, the bedside table. The wardrobe door, and behind it, all her gear, and most of the utilitarian clothing hung inside. It was fifty shades of gray in this barracks - in this entire facility - in the most mind-numbingly literal sense possible. Alessa rolled over and sighed, her mood as gray as the rest of it.

She'd had the dream last night again, of course.

Stretching her arms, she sat up and glanced around the room, shaking off the disturbing visions that ravaged her unconscious mind. She needed Isaac, needed the warmth of his crystalline eyes and his firm embrace to bring her back from her nightmare, set her feet on solid ground.