Cody wakes on a beach with no idea how she got there. Where the hell am I? What happened?

She struggles to remember everything that took place. Everything that led up to now. The wind is whipping her hair around, indicating the threat of storm looming when she catches sight of something that steals her breath. That brings back a memory and a loss that tears her in half.

Not the massive ship which was supposed to be terraformed into a new island, leaning to the side, blasted into nothing.

Not the beach she currently stands on which the government had said all this time wouldn’t exist once these storms came down.

Not even that the ship which had housed the government cabinet that was now completely in pieces.

Not that there are millions of dead people lining the beach.

No.

What steals her breath and makes her veins turn to ice, is the sight that befalls her when she faces reality. A sight . . . and a realization dawns on her. That all this time. Through all the fighting.

The person she killed . . . is standing in front of her. Living and breathing.