The Meeting

Vic sat up at the sound of the approaching motor. The car was slowing, and after making eye contact with the driver (when was the last time anyone had gotten run over?) he got up, willing his legs to lift him one more time, wiping his cheeks and collecting himself as best he could.

Ash straightened up in her seat as they neared the guy in the road. “Hey, I know him, kind of. He works at the Sev. Stop the car, I wanna check on him.”

Wake pulled over. Ash hopped out and waved. “Hey. I saw you earlier, when the Breach hit the Sev. You okay? Your building okay?”

Vic looked at Ash for a moment, then recognized her from the walk home. It felt like it had been a week since then. “Yeah, I’m okay. The Sev is pretty messed up, but one thing I know for sure is it’s not ‘my building’ anymore. I’m Vic.”

Vic stuck out his hand and Ash shook it. “This is Wake. We were getting ready to move one of the Travelers when it happened.”

Wake waved a silent “hello” as he walked over from the car. Vic raised his hand to wave back, but instead suddenly popped his hand forward in a “stop!” motion. He yelped and covered his mouth with his other hand.

Wake followed Vic’s gaze to the car, as not-Bob passed through the side door and into the street, float-rolling toward the group.

“That’s one of them. It came over when—”

“Hello, Vic,” not-Bob interrupted (was his voice higher than it had been before? Wake though yes). “It’s good to see you. I’m sorry if I scared you. Thank you, for checking on me. That was really thoughtful.”

Vic’s eyes widened, and he slapped his other hand over his mouth.

“What’s going on?” Ash looked between not-Bob and Vic, trying to read the expression from either the guy who was covering half his face, or the void of mass that had no face.

“Wake, you were asking what to call me earlier. I remember now.

My name’s Meg.”