Chapter 7 · Glitchy Echo

"Get up. Now," Vera snapped, her boot pressing firmly into the small of my back.

I groaned, my face mashed against the cold, grit-covered floor. The metal of the cell tasted like old blood and ozone. Every muscle in my body screamed. The last thing I remembered was the sudden, jarring silence when Mord’s voice had cut through the comms, ordering her to hold off. Then the room had shifted—literally warped—and I'd been slammed into the wall by a surge of static that felt like being hit by a freight train.

"I can't... move," I wheezed.

"Wrong answer," she whispered. She yanked me up by the collar of my shredded jumpsuit, slamming me against the reinforced plating of the wall. Her face was inches from mine. I could smell the sharp, metallic scent of her gear and something like vanilla—a jarring contrast to the violence in her eyes. "You're not dead. That's a miracle. Or a glitch. Which one is it, Kael?"

I tried to focus, but my head was a storm. Images flashed behind my eyes—not my memories, but someone else's. A woman screaming. A door slamming shut. A hand reaching for a lever.