Chapter 36 · Neon Deadline: Glitch Hunt - Chapter 36: The Last Second Betrayal

"Don't move. Not a single muscle, Kaelen." Seth's voice was a low rasp, barely audible over the scream of the neural dampeners. He had me pinned against the cold metal of the server rack, his chest pressing into mine, one hand locked around my wrist and the other hovering inches from the interface port at the base of my skull.

"Get off me," I spat, though my lungs felt like they were filled with static. "The upload is at eighty percent. If you pull the plug now, we both fry."

"I'm not pulling the plug," he whispered, his breath hot against my ear. "I'm deciding if you're worth the risk of a mind-rip."

I could feel the vibration of the machinery through the wall, a rhythmic thrum that matched the frantic beat of my heart. The 'God-tier' plug-in was screaming in my mind, painting the next three seconds in neon red. In every single version of the immediate future, Seth's hand shifted. In one, he crushed my wrist. In another, he slammed my head into the rack. In the third, he leaned in closer, his lips almost touching my skin.

"You're shaking," he noted.