Chapter 12 · Welcome Home, Carrier Zero

"Move!" Ash grabbed my arm as the ceiling dropped behind us.

Concrete slammed into the warehouse floor. Dust punched the air out of my lungs. I hit the ground hard, rolled, and came up with my gun-arm raised.

"Ivy! The door!"

"I see it!"

The warehouse was already folding in on itself. Cracks raced up the walls. Dust poured from the ceiling in thin, filthy streams. The main support beam near the back wall bowed with a long, ugly groan.

We had minutes. Maybe less.

And the rune in my arm kept pulling me forward.

Not toward the exit.

Toward the blue light glowing in the wreckage.

"Don't even think about it," Ash shouted.

I was already running.

The floor looked like a bomb had gone off. Scorch marks covered the concrete where Zero's body had burned away. Twisted metal and broken glass littered the space around the shattered tanks.

At the center of it all sat a small blue device.

A little bigger than a lighter.

Zero's core.

"Ivy!"

"Cover me!"

"From what? The building?"

"Just do it!"

I dropped to one knee and snatched up the core.

It was warm against my palm.