How To Survive- Third Person Standalone -

“Leo,” he says. Then: “Where is this?”

Fifteen seconds.

He squints. Reads: Step 1: Remember who you were. Step 2: Give away what you love most but keep the memory of it. Step 3: Find the others who also kept their half. He reaches into his pocket. The torn photograph of Elena is still there. Her smile, severed but whole in his mind. How To Survive- Third Person Standalone

Leo kneels. Puts his scarred hand on the child’s head.

Thirty seconds. Twenty.

The floor opens. He falls. He wakes on a different metal floor. Warmer. Above him, a sky with two moons and a sun the color of rust. The air smells of rain and salt. Someone is shaking his shoulder.

“No,” he says. “I’m a firefighter. I stay.” “Leo,” he says

“You volunteered for this.”