They've lied about everything.-about the fence, and the existence of Invalids, about a million other things besides. They told us the raids were carried out for our own protection. They told us the regulators were only interested in keeping the peace. They told us love was a disease. They told us it would kill us in the end. For the very first time I realize, that this, too, maight also be a lie.

So are you going to be my knight in shining armor or what?' Kent does a little bow. 'You know I can't resist a damsel in distress.

We're killers, all of us: We kill our lives, our past selves, the things that mattered. We bury them under slogans and excuses.

We can never understand. We can only try, fumbling our way through the tunneled places, reaching for light.

Because?' I prompt 'Because I'm sorry, but I can't help it, and I really need to kiss you right now.

Funny how time heals. Like that bullet in my ribs. It's there, I know it's there, but I can barely feel it at all anymore.

It won't matter if nobody ever thinks I'm pretty (although sometimes I wish, just for a second, that somebody would)