Epic: Book 03 - Hero Read Online Free Page B

we used to have here?”
    Clarke shot him a cold look. “Have you gone stupid? Is there another Svetlana you know?”
    Scott’s heart rate increased. “I don’t understand—”
    “ Svetlana is returning to the Fourteenth,” Clarke said, cutting him off. “She is returning to active duty as chief medic, based on her past experience. Tomorrow, at 0700, you will pick her up and reintroduce her to Room 14. Being as the rest of us will be at morning session, I entrust her to you. Do you fail to understand these simple instructions?”
    Of course he failed to understand. How could Svetlana be returning? Why was she returning? She’d left the unit; she’d left Novosibirsk . And now, she was suddenly back? Scott opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
    “ As you wish, then,” Clarke said, grabbing his comm. “Axen will pick her up instead.”
    “ No!” Scott’s urgency shocked even himself. “I apologize. I’ll pick her up.”
    Clarke set down the comm. “Very well. That’s 0700 tomorrow. Please don’t forget. You’re dismissed.”
    This time, there was no further questioning. Scott turned and left the room.

    The trek to his quarters felt surreal. With only one thought on his mind, he barely noticed the hallways around him. Clarke’s words resounded in his head.
    Svetlana is returning to the Fourteenth.
    He remembered the last time he’d seen her. He remembered the look on her face. She’d been standing in the civilian airbus, ready to depart from The Machine, ready to leave the men and women of the Fourteenth.
    He stopped as he came to a door. His mind returned to the present, and he looked at its front panel. It wasn’t his door, however. It was a door he’d never seen before. Yet he was in the right hall, in the officers’ wing. When he stared at the walls of the corridor, the realization struck him. He’d walked too far. He’d walked right past his own room some time ago and never even noticed.
    He quietly backtracked to his quarters. It was in the same place he’d left it. He ventured inside, deciding to leave the lights off. He didn’t want brightness, he wanted it dim. He shut the door.
    Nicole’s picture was still facing the wall. Reaching for it, he turned it around. Her face shone beneath the glow of his lamp. That brown-haired, blue-eyed girl. The love of his life. Beneath her face, beneath her snowy white smile, were the same words he read every night.

    I love you!
    ~Nicole

    He felt the pain in his heart hold him tighter. It hadn’t hurt like this in some time. He took the picture and lay it face-up on his lap.
    Why was he unsettled about Svetlana’s return? How could any other woman matter? Svetlana was a friend; she was a teammate. She wasn’t Nicole.
    He could picture Nicole in his mind. He could smell her skin, taste her lips. He imagined her touch and it tingled over his arms. His eyes closed, but not from fatigue. They closed so her ghost could return.

    Scott grinned and glanced at his outfit. Its color was darkened with sweat. She probably wouldn’t even touch it. “Do I get a kiss goodbye?”
    Her lips curved. “Sure.” She leaned into him, propped her hands against his arms, and pressed her lips against his. Scott smiled as the gentleness lingered. He was surprised she touched him at all. When she pulled away, her eyes sparkled. “Do you love me?”
    “ I’ll always love you.”
    She smiled. For a moment, she said nothing; she simply stared in his eyes. When she finally spoke again, her voice was sweeter than ever. “I’ll always love you, too.”
    “ I’ll see you in a bit.”
    “ I’ll be there.”

    Then she was gone.

    When Scott opened his eyes, he was crying. He felt droplets of tears falling on his hands.
    “ Why did you go?” His words were barely audible, but spoken as if she were right there. He abandoned the frame and covered his face. It was the first time he’d broken in weeks.
    Tomorrow Svetlana would return. And it meant nothing. It meant she