Chapter 30 · Neon Deadline: Glitch Hunt - Chapter 30: Echoes of the Dead

"Get the hell away from me, Seth!" I screamed, my back hitting the damp brick of the alleyway.

He didn't listen. He never did. Seth stepped into my space, his heavy combat boots crunching on broken glass. He didn't look at me—he was staring at the thing standing five feet away.

It looked like Jax. It had Jax’s crooked grin, his favorite faded leather jacket, and that same annoying habit of tilting its head when it was about to say something stupid. But Jax had been dead for three years. I’d seen the cremation report. I’d felt the ash in the urn.

"It’s not him," I hissed, my voice shaking. "Seth, look at the eyes. There’s no iris. It’s just... static."

Seth’s hand tightened on his pulse-pistol. I could see the muscle in his jaw twitching. He was fighting the urge to scream, or maybe the urge to shoot. He stepped closer, his shoulder brushing mine, the heat from his body the only thing keeping me from spiraling into a full-blown panic attack.

"Jax?" Seth’s voice was a low growl, stripped of its usual corporate ice.