“Welcome back to the waking world, Proto!” she finally spoke. “Been a while, huh?”

  His lips quirked up. “You have no idea.”

  “Yeah. You look like Marty McFly when he first saw the future,” she observed.

  “The future meaning 2015?” he replied.

  She frowned. “You make me sad, Proto.”

  “What, you guys didn’t make hoverboards while I was away?” he asked.

  “We never even got flying cars!” she cried. “And now it’s too late!”

  “We may never live in a sci-fi. But at least it’s turned out to be a postapocalyptic fantasy,” he pointed out.

  “Hm. Well said.” Red pursed her lips in thought. “Well said! I feel better now.”

  “It could be worse!” he went on. “We could be in a modern-day urban romantasy.”

  “Egads! Yes, I should be thanking Fate. Although, if you think about it, technically, the way our story has played out . . . ” She eyed him sidelong, her lips curving up. “Hrm! Anyway, yes, we’re lucky.”

  “Luck, Fate, or F—?” Proto began, for probably the hundredth time, then caught himself before saying “Flua-Sahng.”

  WTF? This is Red, not Mercune! She’s never heard of Flua-Sahng! He cursed his bleary mind. This red hair—it’s confusing me! I’m telling the wrong jokes!

  Then again, if anyone could be forgiven for losing track of which jokes to tell which girl, it was probably the guy who’d just been frozen for two years, who’d saved the world and the future, all as mere sideplots on his way toward the main plot’s denouement—picking between an alarmingly high number of girls.

  What a man! admired Proto-Somnus Lawyer.

  Don’t you dare affirm his licentious infamy! chastised Miss Beatrice.

  What? I didn’t catch that, replied Proto. I was busy noticing how nicely that dress fits you, Bea.

  Oh, me? Well. Miss Beatrice’s laughter fluttered like a butterfly startled from its perch. Ahem. I’m glad you think so. . . . I have more like it, you know. Lots more! If you’re asking.

  “Lady Luck, Fate, or F? What the F is F supposed to mean?” asked Red, interrupting his daydream. “Also, Proto, why you are staring into space with a naughty smile on your face?”

  He shook his head. “Don’t mind me. I’m still partly frozen. F is for frozen.”

  “Ah. Well, let’s get you thawed,” she replied.

  Together, they made their way from the cryogenics facility toward the main road leading up the mountain. As they walked, Proto shook his arms and stretched frequently, limbering out the lingering stiffness. It felt nice. Thanks to whatever Dievas had done, he was in good shape.

  The road was not. It was considerably more cracked than when he’d last seen it. He remembered some stories of Roman roads surviving 1,500 years after the collapse of the Roman Empire. This road, in contrast, already had dangerous potholes after less than two years.

  At least, they would’ve been dangerous if anyone were driving. But after an hour, he still hadn’t seen or even heard anything with a motor. He supposed that gasoline wasn’t a resource you’d waste lightly, in a world where you’d eventually run out and have no more forever.

  “I remember there was a little town up here. Belladrengr, I think?” recalled Proto. “Is that where we’re headed?”

  “Nope! Someplace even better,” answered Red. “If I do say so myself.”

  “Meaning . . . ?”

  “My AirBNB!”

  Proto blinked.

  “Wait and see, Mister!” she said.

  Eventually, they passed a series of signs that were familiar to Proto: “Sonic: 0.2 mi.” “Atlean University Cryogenics Facility: 2.9 mi.” “Summit Exhibition Grounds: 4.4 mi.” And so forth.

  They continued along the same route that Proto had taken last time he was here. Odd. It felt like just a couple days ago, rather than a couple years.

  “Is that where we’re headed? The Summit Exhibition Grounds?” he asked.

  “Nope! Although we’ll pass it on the way,” she replied.

  “I didn’t realize it was ‘on the way’ toward anything,” frowned Proto. “Isn’t that sort of the definition of a summit?”

  “You’ll see!” waved Red.

  Time passed, they passed the Summit Exhibition Grounds, and eventually, Proto did see—sort of. Beyond the massive concert venue was a plateau. No road led to the top, but there was a narrow thinning of the brush that might be a trail.

  “Hope you brought your hiking boots!” Red said cheerfully.

  Proto looked down at his track shoes, then back up at her. “We’re climbing to an AirBNB?”

  “Yep! Unless you’ve got a helicopter lying around,” she said.

  “Nope, just my ROFL-copter,” he replied.

  Red looked at him excitedly. “BTW. I have something to shhoowww yoouuu!”

  “A funny new website called Bash.org?” he said.

  She wrinkled her nose at him. “No, Geezer-Geek. Even better.”

  Proto’s brow raised.

  Red held a palm up. “I know, I don’t say that lightly!”

  Proto peered at her challengingly. “I put on my robe and wizard hat.”

  “What do you take me for? A level two druid?!” she retorted instantly.

  “Wow. We are two peas in a pod,” he said.

  “Two trainers in a gym battle!” she corrected.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  They headed onto the trail and climbed the plateau. This took longer than he’d expected. The path wound around the plateau, narrowing to a ledge at times. The fall would’ve ranged from a few dozen to a few hundred feet. It was a good thing Proto felt so hale and hearty, and not like someone who’d just been frozen for years after having his body smashed.

  “You were going to wheel me up here?” he asked.

  Red shrugged. “Desperate times, desperate measures!”

  In time, they reached the top of the top. And what a view, mused Proto, staring east from atop the bluff.

  “Nice, isn’t it?” said Red. “Almost can’t tell the world was destroyed! If you don’t look south.”

  Proto, of course, looked south. Huge clouds of black smoke were rising from something unseen. “I . . . assume that’s the city?”

  “Right. Not our city, where we’re from. The city,” she replied. “On a windy day, you can see the skyscrapers. Not that they necessarily scrape the sky anymore.” She winced a smile out.

  “How far is it from here? Fifty, sixty miles?” asked Proto.

  “Maybe.” She shrugged. “May as well be a million miles, with uncrossable Boundaries between here and there.”

  Proto turned back to the east and pointed out another town. “That’s Belladrengr, right? Looks fine.”

  She nodded. “It is fine! No fiery destruction there, lucky for them. My V-friend lives there.”

  “Wait,” blinked Proto. “You mean Black?”

  “Yup! Or Karen, now,” replied Red. “She said her old name has made a comeback since the world ended. I talked to her when I visited about a week ago.”

  “Ah,” said Proto. “So, V-friends till the world ends . . . ”

  “And beyond!” Red thrust her arm high in a vigorous peace sign. “Apparently.”

  Proto flashed her a peace sign, then made as though to fistbump her interlockingly.

  “Enough of that, Vajojo!” She withdrew her hand disapprovingly. “You’re many things for me, but not my V-friend.” She giggled as he hung his head sadly.

  “Anyway, yeah, Karen happened to be out here when the sky fell,” noted Red. “Some concert or something. She was eating alone at a diner afterward. Works there now. Lucky her! The further away from the city, the better off you were.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Proto.

  “Oh, we hear stories sometimes from refugees from the suburbs,” she explained. “The few who find gaps in the Boundaries, anyway. Someone told me 999 in 1,000 don’t make it. Grim, huh? I guess gangs and looters have already taken over the city, more or less, and they’re spreading to the suburbs.”

  It wasn’t hard for Proto to act shocked and horrified—even though, in truth, he wasn’t shocked. He recalled the hundreds of variations of the future that Mercune had shown him, in which similar violence had spread through Dubai. He’d half-expected something like this.

  “I see there’s a lot for me to catch up on,” he managed.

  “Yep!” nodded Red. “Sort of changes things, having a world that’s fragmented by impassable Boundaries, with occasional gaps forming and disappearing, huh?”

  “Speaking of which, our hometown. Is it . . . ?” He trailed off.

  Red winced sadly. “Bad side of the Boundary. Probably would’ve been looted by now, if it hadn’t been wiped out in the Pandaemonium.”

  Proto stared. “Wiped out figuratively, or . . . ?”

  She grimaced. “Sounded pretty literal, from how the refugees described it.”

  “Wow.” This was hard for Proto to wrap his mind around. The place he’d lived his whole life—with Red’s Starbucks, Black’s Rock, the Arb, the butcher shop, the office where he’d done his A/B testing, the convention center downtown where the cosplay convention had been, his house, Yemos’ house, and his childhood home on Cherry Blossom Lane—was no more.

  His mind reeled back toward the million memories he had of that place. But instead, he found himself recalling something from a dream:

  “Well, I’ll tell you this,” replied Yemos. “Win or lose, there won’t be a city left here. Win or lose, this will become a ghost town—all too literally. We had dreams for this place. They won’t come to pass. Win or lose, this will be a place of fire and ash. It’s just a question of who’s burning amid the rubble and who’s limping away from it.” He smiled ruefully. “And apple trees and tire swings? They’ll be memories. If we win.”

  “I know, right?” replied Red, jarring him out of his brief reverie. “I feel like we’re the protagonists in a Left Behind book. Like, things could be a lot better! . . . But a lot worse too.”

  “For example,” she continued, “it’s a good thing you sent me that text. Which, by the way, I got the day after your accident. Was that just a coincidence? Still sort of boggles my mind, honestly.”

  Proto smiled. “Like I said, I use schedule-send.”

  “But why . . . ? You thought that text would go over better the next day . . . ?” Red pulled out her phone and started scrolling through it.

  “Wait.” Proto shook his head. “You have a working phone? In a postapocalyptic world?!”

  “Still got generators and electricity! And USB plugs! For now,” she confirmed. “No mobile internet, obvs, but I’ve got my old texts.”

  “Anyway,” she said, still scrolling, “that was quite a text to get, while sitting by you at the hospital!”

  “At the hospital? Oh.” Proto hadn’t thought about that aspect of the timing. “You came to the hospital after my accident?”

  “Of course I did! Dressed as Bunny Kallen, mind you!” Red put her hands on her hips and glowered at him.

  Proto blinked, then looked her up and down, searching for words.

  “What, you think I was gonna keep chilling at the cosplay convention after I found out?” she went on. “I’ll have you know I slept at the hospital. For two days! With bunny ears!”

  “That costume,” he finally managed. “Do you still . . . ?”

  “Really, Proto? That’s what’s on your mind at a time like this?” demanded Red.

  Then, she beamed excitedly. “Yes, I do have it, believe it or not! As they say, ‘keep your friends close and your costumes closer!’ Good things come of not emptying out your trunk for two years.”

  “So, how did you find out so soon?” Proto was struggling to wrap his mind around all this. “About my car accident, I mean.”

  “Well,” answered Red. “One difference between girls and boys, Proto, is that girls talk. And not just about video games and sports. Ausrine and I talked after our whisky tasting. And it may have been about you. And me. And you. And so when Yemos found you—you knew he found you after the accident, right? Or did you?”

  “Yeah, I knew. I remember snippets,” said Proto.

  Red nodded. “So, Yemos texted Ausrine right away and told her what was happening, how he was going to the hospital, and so forth. And Ausrine, knowing about you and me and—well.” Her lips pressed into a sad smile. “She texted me right away. She was at the convention too, but I wasn’t with her at the time, and she was stuck in a crowd. And the convention center was giant, and they weren’t sure how long you’d last. So, I left right away. Just took my car and drove out! I got to the hospital not long after you did. Ausrine ended up coming later. Got a ride with Mannus, since he was at that hockey game across the street.”

  “Ahhh,” murmured Proto. That’s how they got their ride together. That’s why the world won’t be overrun by orks in 300 years in this version of history—because Red left behind Ausrine at the convention, so Ausrine got a ride with Mannus to the hospital!

  “‘Ahhh’?” Red frowned. “You sound like you’re at the dentist, and you look like you just solved the Da Vinci Code.”

  “Anyway, yeah, we were all there together at the hospital.” She tapped her phone. “And . . . here’s your text!”

  “Hey, my friends Wentsworth and Uberta will be coming to visit soon,” she read aloud. “I think you’d like them. I met them at 410 Frore Road up near the Summit Exhibition Grounds. You should come by next time we’re there! I’ll have them reach out about it.”

  “When I looked up the address and saw it was for Atlean University Cryogenics Facility, I thought it was a typo,” she continued. “Or you’d gone loony.”

  “I hear Luna’s really sweet, you know,” noted Proto.

  “Uh, right. Weirdo,” she said. “So, frankly, I just sort of ignored your text and kept crying about losing you. For quite a while.”

  “But then, more than a year later, I had this dream of a wacky guy in a fancy suit and some girl who looked like the nerd in Scooby Doo. Named Wentsworth and Uberta,” she recounted. “What names! And they told me, on such-and-such dates, I have to ‘get to a safe place and spend the night there.’ They gave me two dates. And I was like, ‘Um. Is this ‘safe place’ by any chance Atlean University Cryogenics Facility on 410 Frore Road, up near the Summit Exhibition Grounds?’ And they looked at each other, and they got all excited, and the guy’s like, ‘That’s where he is, isn’t it? Yes, that must be it!’”

  “This was all beyond bizarre,” Red noted. “But I’m bizarre too. And, what can I say, I’m into you. So! When the first date came, I drove out here, parked outside that cryogenics facility.”

  “Then—lo and behold—I watched the sky fall on the city to the south. Rather shocking, really.”

  “I went inside the cryogenics facility, but no one was there. They’d all gone home, I guess,” she recalled. “I wandered around a while. I found out from some papers that you were there. Which I’d suspected, of course. I knew you’d been frozen. And how many cryogenics facilities could we possibly have around here?”

  “I know, right?” agreed Proto.

  “So, yeah, I found your room. But it was locked,” she said. “And I was kind of worried if I broke down the door, I’d be, like, breaching containment and warming you back up. And that’d be bad since your body was broken to bits. Or so I thought.”

  “I wasn’t sure what to do. So, in short, I went back to my AirBNB,” she concluded.

  “Wait.” Proto shook his head. “At no point in this story did you mention having an AirBNB.”