BETTER SIGNAL

JESS

The night was still, the sky stretched wide above me, thick with stars. It should have been peaceful, but my heart was

hammering so hard I could barely hear anything else.

My hands clenched around my phone as I paced on top of this goddamn hill, willing for better reception.

Static crackled in my ear, followed by Luke's voice-choppy but urgent.

"Something happened... Germany... this morning-well, their morning, our evening, or whatever..." He was talking fast, words breaking apart, stitched together by interference.

I stopped moving. "Luke, what? I can barely hear you."

A rush of static, then-

"Her heart stopped, Jess."

The words punched through me, ripping the air from my lungs.

It felt like something had slammed into my chest. I staggered, my knees giving out, and I dropped onto the cold, damp grass.

No.

No, no, no.

My mind reeled, scrambling, trying to make sense of what that

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BETTER SIGNAL

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meant.

Her heart stopped.

That meant...

That meant-

They'd told him this would happen eventually. And if

fist against my mouth, barely suppressing the sob clawing

She was gone.

Laura was gone.

the silence again, breaking apart, fragmented

to attempt-resuscitation-Josh

hitching. "What?" I

my ears as I climbed

on, come on, come

clear as day, Luke's voice finally

"She woke up, Jess."

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BETTER SIGNAL

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Everything stopped.

blurred, the night sky stretching, spinning, folding into

No. That wasn't possible.

kept talking, his words almost breathless, like even he

"Babe, she woke up."

breath coming in short,

and he never signed," Luke said, voice rough. "They had no choice but to resuscitate her. The professor said a

Laura wasn't gone.

She was alive.

didn't think. I

pulling me faster than I could control. Rocks and dirt slipped under my boots, and

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