The Luminous Dead

by Caitlin Starling

Nobody had your back, and humans were nasty, sad creatures.

knew that look on a deep, intimate level. That was the look of somebody resigned to being the monster they knew they were.

Monstrous. Human. Understandable.

If the computer knew another person couldn’t be down there, would it hide movements? Signs?

A tug, a longing that didn’t feel like hers, pulling at her spine. It was like a whisper against her ear, a distant cry that begged her to come back, come home.

Longing for Em. Beautiful, selfish, cruel Em—who she needed desperately, who she relied on. It was everything she’d never wanted. She’d been weak. She’d traded her independence, the only thing that had kept her safe for so many years, for the company of a monster.

“But a human monster. People are selfish. You are. I am. Humans are selfish. It’s what we do.

I just took advantage of how this world drives people to do horrible things just to survive. I just—played the game, from the winner’s chair.