Waiting for Wendy

The colony's protector tests Sterling. Wendy watches but doesn't step in. Sterling doesn't run.

Wendy takes Sterling to the old harbour wall. They share a meal, almost by accident. Neither mentions it. Both remember it forever.

Sterling meets the colony's elder, learns a little of Wendy's history, and is told not to forget what he has at home.

Wendy is close. Sterling calls to her. She looks. She considers. She walks away. It is, Sterling tells Archer, the best day of his life.

The garden doors are left open. Sterling's heart nearly stops. He edges out, crosses the garden, and for the first time sits on top of the old stone wall – looking directly into Wendy's world.

A breakthrough: Sterling discovers the Juliet balcony gives a perfect view of the wasteland. But getting there requires a sprint through the upstairs corridor, leaping past a laundry pile, and not waking anyone up.

Sterling perfects his window vigil – which sill, which angle, which time of day. Archer thinks he's lost his mind. Sterling thinks Archer has never been in love.

Sterling introduces his new life in Spain – the smells, the heat, the strange language of the birds. Then, one afternoon, he sees her for the first time. A black shape on the wasteland wall with a single impossible fang.