Chapter 32 – 2402
Liam Shaw's chest was damp. Warm and damp. Bleeding. Huh. Would have thought that stopped once I was dead. Reluctantly he opened his eyes.
Before him, outside the window, it was snowing. Fat soft clumps, which meant that it wasn't bitterly cold out. It might be spring, or fall. But the fall was thick. Snow already piled up almost to the bottom of the window.
He knew exactly where he was.
The room smelled like stuffed cabbage.
To his left, at a distance, people were chatting. Not many of them. Not loud.
He looked down. A toddler was sprawled face-down on his chest, snoring wetly and drooling on his shirt. Harald? No, Harald was bigger than this when we met. Someone's child, grandchild. It didn't matter. He was heavy and warm with sleep.
Fall asleep in the big room and they will toss a crabby teething toddler on you.
He turned his head. In the recliner beside him, Jeremy Radford was also snoring, less wetly.
I was dead. How am I here?
I was happy here. Do I care how I'm here now?
He stared at the snow. He felt the sweaty warmth of the toddler. He closed his eyes.
