Chapter 20 · Hunter Evolved

"Get away from the console, Kyle. Now." Elara seized the back of my jacket and yanked me away just as the lab wall split open.

A steel panel slammed down where my head had been. Sparks sprayed across the floor. One clipped my cheek, hot enough to make me swear.

"You could've led with that," I snapped.

"I did. You ignored me."

"I was busy killing the machine."

"You were feeding it your blood. There is a difference."

Behind us, the central rig screamed. Not an alarm. A real, grinding shriek that shook through my teeth. Cables whipped out of the ceiling and cracked against the glass containment tanks.

The last tank burst.

Chrome fluid flooded the floor around our boots.

Elara shoved me behind her and raised the compact pulse pistol in her right hand. Her left hand was pressed against her ribs, where the rot had been spreading beneath her skin for days. The thin silver lines there had turned darker now. Almost black.

"You said this place was dead," I said.

"It was dead."

"Then why is it trying to eat us?"

"Because you woke it up."

The lab lights flickered.