"...Why can't i be more useful..?"
She stayed behind her, kinda just waiting
She grinned, straining against the weight of the car a bit
"Of course!!"
green text scrawled across her retina display-a comm notification
Comm received from Linh Adri. Come home. Peony has the plague. She's been taken to Quarantine-You have some explaining to do.
Cinder's heart stopped.
And now we do a lil' timeskip.
Cinder and Iko arrived home as quickly as they could, all thoughts of the car forgotten, abandoning it in the junkyard. She arrived at the apartment and supressed a gasp. Adri was leaning against the wall, face devoid of makeup. She looked like a skeleton, all jutting bones and hollows. Her eyes were puffy and red rimmed. She held a rag over her mouth and nose, glaring at Cinder. Pearl had a rag too, curled up in a ball on the couch. Three medroids stared at Cinder with their hollow eyes, red crosses painted across their chests. One of the medroids came forward, a third arm with a needle emerging from their chest. Cinder flinched slightly but didn't pull away as the medroid pricked her elbow, drawing blood. The medroids fan whirred for a moment as it tested the blood that would determine whether or not Cinder was going to the quarantines right alongside her sister. Whether or not this was all her fault...
???: "No traces of the Letumosis Virus detected. Patient is cleared."
A mixture of relief and sorrow filled her chest. She wasn't sick-she wasn't going with Peony.