Chapter 12 · Neon Bloodbath

"Kaelen, move!" The bio-hound hit me before Jax finished the word, two hundred pounds of wet muscle and chrome teeth slamming me straight into the rusted dumpster.

"I see it!" I snarled back and drove my elbow into its throat. My left leg didn't fire. Just dead weight. "My leg's not responding!"

"Yeah, no shit, your whole system is rebooting!" Jax's voice cracked in my earpiece, all static and panic. "Your neural link is spiking at ninety percent! You shouldn't even be standing!"

The hound's jaws snapped an inch from my face. Hot, rotten breath. Saliva stringing. I could see the Olympus tag burned into its scalp, barcode still fresh.

I slammed my forehead into its skull. Hard. It yelped and I rolled, dragging my dead leg with me.

"Kaelen, listen to me, you need to stay still for ten seconds!" Jax shouted.

"Stay still? There's three of them!" I spat blood onto the concrete. The alley was too narrow, neon from the sign above bleeding red across the puddles. Two more hounds circled, low, growling. "You want me to play dead while they eat me?"

"I want you not to stroke out!