Chapter 377:Leaving.

Chapter 377: 377:Leaving.

Several hours later, Silver stood near the transport pad with a small replacement bag, fresh bandages beneath clean clothes and enough food inside him that his body finally seemed willing to stop threatening mutiny.

His car remained at the observation post. That was fine since he could retrieve it later. Right now, the helicopter in front of him mattered more.

Personnel loaded sealed containers into the rear compartment.

He watched.

The field medic who had driven his car appeared beside him.

"So it’s true."

He glanced at her.

"What?"

"You’re leaving for academy admission."

"Yes."

She shook her head.

"I thought Silas was joking."

"People seem unusually entertained by this."

"Because normal survivors ask for a hospital."

"I already visited your medical wing."

"For an hour."

"It was a very productive hour thank you."

She sighed.

"At least promise you’re going to sleep tonight."

Silver smiled.

"If I get admitted."

"You can sleep whether you’re admitted or not."

"That’s considerably less motivating, you should be thinking about your patient well-being when you talk."

The helicopter crew signaled before she could respond.

Silver picked up the bag.

The medic called after him.

"Silver."

"Hmm?"

He turned.

Her expression had become serious.

"You did well."

He paused, not expecting that.

She continued.

"I know everyone keeps calling you lucky, and you were. But luck doesn’t keep someone alive that long by itself. Whatever you did down there, you kept moving long enough for us to find your beacon on the surface. Don’t forget that just because people are surprised by your rank."

Silver looked at her for a moment, then smiled.

"Thank you, I needed that."

He boarded and the doors closed. Minutes later, the helicopter rose. He looked through the window as the observation post became smaller beneath them.

Beyond it, far in the distance, Death Row Valley stretched beneath the morning sky. He could barely see the mountains from here, but that was enough.

He leaned his head against the seat.

"I’m not going back there anytime soon."

He remembered the blue mineral vein and closed his eyes.

"Probably."

The flight took hours, but compared with the journey underground it felt effortless.

He slept for part of it, ate again, watched the landscape change beneath them, and eventually the enormous structures surrounding Alpha Three appeared in the distance.

Even from the air, the sanctuary was absurdly large.

Silver stared.

"So that’s Alpha Three."

One of the Association personnel nearby glanced toward him.

"First time?"

"Yes."

"You picked a busy day."

He looked toward the northern side.

"Apparently."

The helicopter landed at an Association checkpoint inside Alpha Three with several hours remaining before the seven o’clock deadline.

He thanked the crew and stepped down. The moment his feet touched the ground, the reality finally settled in.

He’d made it, although not to the academy. Silver checked the time, then looked toward the roads beyond the landing point.

"Now I just need transportation."

Finding a rental taxi wasn’t difficult and explaining the destination wasn’t difficult either. The difficult part was traffic.

He sat in the back seat watching the minutes pass while Alpha Three unfolded around him in enormous roads, towers, elevated transportation lines and crowds moving toward the northern districts.

The driver glanced at him through the mirror.

"Academy admission?"

He looked down at the bag.

"Is it that obvious?"

"You look about the right age, you’re heading north on admissions day, and half my passengers today have been academy candidates."

The driver looked at Silver’s bandaged arm.

"Most of them looked less injured."

He smiled.

"I had a difficult trip."

The driver laughed.

"You still have time. Admissions don’t close until seven."

"I know."

Silver looked outside.

Ravenna was somewhere ahead.

He didn’t have a phone to warn her. To make things worse he didn’t know whether she’d already completed admission. He didn’t even know exactly where inside the enormous academy grounds he’d find her.

But for once, Silver wasn’t worried.

He’d spent nearly six days finding his way out of a mountain. Finding Ravenna inside an academy couldn’t possibly be harder.

He leaned back against the seat as the taxi continued toward the northern district.

Several hours still remained before the deadline, and at the moment, there was nothing between him and Ravenna except traffic.

---

(Present)

Only a few minutes had passed since Ravenna had launched herself into Silver’s arms, yet somehow he already felt as though the worst part of Death Row Valley had finally become distant but not forgotten.

His body certainly hadn’t forgotten.

Every step toward the special-admission area reminded him that his ribs were still healing, his legs had spent almost six days being pushed beyond their limits and four hours of sleep followed by several shorter rests aboard a helicopter did not qualify as proper recovery.

Still, none of those things mattered nearly as much as the warm hand wrapped tightly around his.

Ravenna hadn’t released him, not once. Even when Mallory had returned the admission folder to her, she had simply transferred it to her free hand rather than letting him go.

He glanced down at their intertwined fingers, then toward Ravenna.

She caught him looking.

"What?"

"I missed you."

She chuckled softly to herself before her eyes narrowed.

"That wasn’t an ’I miss you’ look."

Silver smiled. "I’m just checking whether you intend to keep holding my hand until we reach the registration desk."

Ravenna’s fingers tightened.

"Yes."

His raised an eyebrow.

"That was quick."

"You disappeared on me. You don’t get to complain about me holding your hand for ten minutes."

"I’m not complaining, I’m enjoying the attention, we should do this often from niw on."

"Stop it," she said chuckling to herself.

He looked ahead again.

Several seconds passed before she looked at him from the side.

"You really aren’t complaining?"

He squeezed her hand.

"No, I love it."

That seemed to satisfy her.

They continued forward.

Mallory walked on Ravenna’s other side, occasionally looking toward Silver as though she still expected him to vanish if she stopped paying attention.

He couldn’t blame her when Ravenna was doing exactly the same thing, only less subtly. Every few steps, her eyes moved toward him, then back toward the admissions area.

Silver finally looked at her.

"Ravenna."

"What?"

"I’m still here, okay... I’m not going anywhere."

She became quiet as though not expecting those words.