Chapter 34 · Eat The Gun

"Get the hell away from me, Kade!" Rook’s voice was a jagged rasp, barely audible over the screaming whine of the rail-cannon.

She was slumped against a scorched bulkhead, her face a mask of grey ash and dried blood. The cuff between their wrists clattered as she tried to shove him back, but her arm gave out. She didn't just look hurt—she looked hollowed out, like the city had already decided she was scrap.

Kade didn't move. He couldn't. The glitch-chip in his skull was pulsing a violent, neon violet, hammering against his optic nerve. *Feed,* it whispered. *Consume. Evolve.*

"I can't just leave you here to bleed out," Kade spat, his voice sounding wrong even to him—metallic, layered, like two people speaking at once.

"Look at the damn gun, you idiot!" Rook screamed, pointing a shaking finger toward the center of the plaza.

The cannon was a monstrosity of chrome and hate, a city-killer mounted on a tripod of blackened steel. It was humming, a low-frequency vibration that rattled Kade's teeth in their sockets. The air around the muzzle was shimmering, warping the light into a nauseating swirl. It wasn't just firing projectiles; it was ripping the atmosphere apart.