Chapter 27 · Blood Debt

"Get behind me, Jessa. Now." Kane shoved me sideways as the tunnel wall burst open.

Stone and black dust blasted across my face. I hit the floor on one knee, one hand scraping over broken rock. Something hot cut my cheek. Kane's shoulder slammed into mine a second later, driving me under the edge of a collapsed support beam.

"You call that behind you?" I yelled.

"I call it alive. Keep moving."

The wall buckled again.

A shape punched through the gap. It wore a cleaner's mask, smooth and white, with a red strip painted across the mouth. Its hooked blade caught the emergency light and came straight for Kane's neck.

Kane caught the weapon with one hand.

The impact drove him back. His boots carved lines through the grit. The cleaner didn't speak. It simply leaned harder, arm shaking, blade grinding against Kane's bracer.

"That thing followed us," I said.

"Very good."

"I was being sarcastic."

"Be sarcastic somewhere else."

I grabbed a fist-sized chunk of stone and smashed it against the cleaner's knee.

The thing jerked. Kane twisted, tore the hooked blade free, and drove his elbow into its mask. The white plate cracked.