Chapter 17 · Ghost in the Signal

"Stop it. Just stop it!" Zero slammed her shoulder against the bulkhead, the metal shrieking under the impact.

She wasn't looking at Kael. She couldn't. Her eyes were blown wide, pupils swallowing the iris, as her body buckled. A violent tremor started in her knees and ripped upward, making her spine arch like a bow.

"Zero, look at me!" Kael lunged forward, grabbing her upper arms to keep her from collapsing.

"Get off!" she spat, her voice cracking. She tried to shove him away, but her muscles were firing in random, jagged bursts. The pain-circuits weren't just humming now—they were screaming, sending white-hot needles through every nerve ending in her synthetic skin. "It's... it's not stopping. Why isn't it stopping?"

Kael didn't let go. He stepped closer, forcing her back against the wall, his chest nearly brushing hers. He could feel the heat radiating off her—not warmth, but the feverish burn of a machine overclocking.

"Because you're fighting the link," he snapped, his voice low and sharp. "You're trying to wall me out while your brain is melting. Stop being a soldier for five seconds and just breathe."

"I don't know how to do that!" Zero snarled.