The Luminous Dead

by Caitlin Starling

“Losing people is hard,” she said. There was an odd roughness to her voice that made Gyre shift in her suit, that went beyond how Em talked about the other dead cavers. “Sometimes you just need to see them again, to be sure it’s really over.”

“You’re a monster,” Gyre agreed. Em’s flinch brought her no joy, no vindication. “But a human monster. People are selfish. You are. I am. Humans are selfish. It’s what we do. You loaded the gun, but Jennie Mercer, Michael Doren, me—we all pulled the trigger. We all decided the risk was worth it. You never forced us.”

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.