Chapter 10 · Neural Burn

"Don't touch me!" I drove my elbow backward and caught Kane under the ribs.

He grunted, but his arm stayed locked around my waist. His other hand clamped over the metal port at the base of my neck, fingers pressing hard enough to make sparks crawl across my vision.

"You're trying to tear the core out through your spine," he said. "Stop fighting me."

"Then stop holding me down!"

"Gladly. The second you stop trying to kill yourself."

My heel slammed into his shin. He shifted before I could hit him again, dragging me away from the cracked control console. The floor jumped under us. Red warning lights flashed across the bunker walls, turning Kane's face into sharp pieces of shadow and skin.

The combat core inside me screamed.

Not metaphorically. Not in some cute, poetic way. A high, thin tone stabbed through my skull, then split into three separate alarms. My vision filled with broken blue numbers.

CORE TEMP: 109.7 C. NEURAL LOAD: 184%. MOTOR CONTROL: COMPROMISED.

"Kane," I gasped.

"I see it."

"Get it out."

His jaw tightened. "No."

"That wasn't a request."

"If I pull it now, your nervous system goes with it.