Chapter 33 · Skyfall Protocol

"Get your head down or lose it!" Vesper screamed, her voice raw as she slammed Lucian back into the reinforced plating of the clinic wall.

A blinding white beam of light tore through the ceiling, vaporizing a dozen concrete slabs and sending a shockwave that rattled Lucian’s teeth. Dust and pulverized plaster rained down on them, coating his pale skin in a grey shroud. He didn't move. He couldn't. He sat there in that damn chair, his legs useless, watching the midday sky turn into a slaughterhouse.

"Are you deaf?" Vesper hissed. She was hovering over him, her breath hot against his cheek, one hand gripping the collar of his shirt and the other clutching her rifle. "The orbital cannon is locked on. We have maybe ninety seconds before this whole block becomes a crater!"

Lucian looked up at her. His eyes weren't focused on the hole in the ceiling, but on the pulse jumping in her neck. He felt a sudden, violent surge of heat in his chest, a pressure that tasted like copper and old graves. He coughed, and a thick glob of black blood splattered across his chin.

"Ninety seconds," Lucian whispered, his voice a dry rasp.