Chapter 33 · Cannon Locked

"Move your ass, Kade! Now!" Rook’s voice ripped through the static in my head, her hand slamming into my shoulder to shove me forward.

I didn't move. I couldn't. My left eye was pulsing, a rhythmic, searing heat that felt like someone was pouring molten lead directly into my brain. The GENE-EATER wasn't just humming; it was screaming. And it wasn't screaming at me—it was screaming at the horizon.

"I can't... I can't see straight," I spat, my boots skidding on the grit of the plaza.

"What do you mean you can't see? Look up!"

I looked. High above the jagged skyline of Neon Grave, the clouds had been peeled back by something violent. A pillar of pale, sickly violet light was descending, widening like a hungry mouth. It wasn't a bomb. It was a city-killer cannon, a corporate orbital strike designed to scrub a zip code clean of every living cell.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," I whispered.

"Not kidding!" Rook grabbed the collar of my jacket, her knuckles digging into my skin. She yanked me toward the ruins of a collapsed transit station. "Run, you idiot! If that beam touches the ground, we're not just dead—