Chapter 31 · Blood-Stained Run

"Get away from him!" Zero slammed her shoulder into the upgraded version of herself before the blade could reach Kael's throat.

The impact drove both women into the steel wall. Their faces were nearly identical. Same pale skin. Same black eyes. Same narrow scar beneath the left cheekbone.

The other Zero smiled.

It was not a human smile. Her mouth opened too far, her teeth sharpening as the muscles in her jaw clicked into a new shape.

"You are late," she said.

Zero drove an elbow into her ribs. "I am exactly on time."

"You still talk like a person."

"And you still smell like a laboratory drain."

The upgraded clone twisted under her, caught Zero by the wrist, and threw her across the abandoned transit tunnel. Zero hit the ground hard enough to crack the old tile beneath her palm.

Kael stumbled back from the blade. He had one hand pressed to the cut at his throat. Blood slipped between his fingers.

"Zero!" he shouted. "Stay down!"

"Tell me something useful!" she snapped.

The clone came at her again.

Zero rolled aside. The blade punched through the floor where her head had been.