TIME : T-38:50 → T-37:35
Core red lights died.
Silence.
Only the heart thump… thump…, like a dying pulse.
Cryo-Rhea yanked me toward the B3 exit—
Iron door ajar, rust bleeding down its frame.
"Go!" She roared, boots crunching glass—grit-grit.
Reanimated weren't all down.
Cook crawled in the copper rain, pupils fizzing back to life—brass-yellow, needle-thin.
He rose, bone blade reversed, gliding silent, blur-fast.
Fuck!
I stepped back, clamp raised.
"Rhea! Left!"
She didn't turn, Orchid hurled—
Not thrown, slid. Black box skimming the floor, jamming perfectly into his undercarriage vent!
Zzt—PAP!
Blue sparks erupted.
Cook staggered, blade wobbling.
Chance!
I lunged, swinging the clamp for his pineal copper ring!
CRUNCH—!!!
Ring popped free!
Blue gel blooped, he convulsed, pupils fading to cloudy human eyes.
Last whisper: "…Xiao Ya…"
Hand fell.
Rhea shouldered the door open—
B3 exit tunnel, emergency reds sluicing the floor like a blood tide.
Harvester Nodes honeycombed the floor, LEDs dead.
"Safe?" I panted, titanium groaning in my arm, blood and sweat stinging old wounds.
"No." She didn't turn. "AURA doesn't stop."
At the tunnel's end—a figure.
Marcus Boone stood there, scar split on his left cheek, blood and oil streaking down.
Right hand gripping a hydraulic clamp, jaws dripping blue gel.
Holster on his hip—9mm Glock, black as sin.
Fuck! He's alive?!
He grinned, gaps in his teeth: "Kai Lin… Subject #0017…"
Eye patch gone—brass vertical pupil needle-thin.
"Rhea." I hissed. "Are you human?"
Cryo-Rhea silent.
Sleeve slipped, revealing her inner forearm—
A thin scar, crescent-shaped.
Three years ago. Facility collapse. She'd taken it for my tampered data drive. Real.
But as her wrist turned—
Skin bulged slightly at the elbow bend.
Like a steel bead buried under flesh.
Fuck!
Marcus raised the Glock—
BANG!
Bullet grazed my ear, clanged the door, *shell tinking my hand—hot!*
I dropped, rolling, snatching shattered copper leaf—
Liora's gift, veins blooping red tears.
Hurled it!
Ding!
Smashed his wrist!
Glock flew, clattering to the floor.
Marcus staggered, clamp whipping up for my neck!
I dodged—
Jaws grazed my throat, scraping skin, stinging.
Left hand snatched his wrist—
Cold, slick, joints silent.
"Fuck your ancestors!" I roared, right leg driving for his chest!
He didn't retreat.
Clamp angled, slashing my neck!
I arched back—too slow.
Jaws bit three inches deep!
No blood spray.
Only pale blue gel oozing—cold, almond-scented—Cu-Cluster suspension fluid.
Fuck! Cervical dislocation!
Vision darkening, titanium screaming in my arm.
Marcus grinned, wax face splitting—copper wires flashing in gums: "…pain feedback… 99.0%… acceptable…"
Rhea exploded upward!
Orchid jammed into his pineal seam—
ZZT-PAK!
Blue sparks erupted, he froze.
Now.
I yanked my left hand free, fingers diving for his copper ring!
Thumb jammed the seam—
Click!
Ring loosened half a millimeter.
He froze.
Pupils flickering.
"Cook!" I roared, voice tearing. "Red-bean buns—less sugar!"
Marcus froze.
Leaf hit the floor, veins blooping red tears—
Drip… drip…
On his tac-suit, faint crimson halo, 38 seconds.
Human tear fluid.
His throat pulsed: "…Xiao… Ya…"
Clamp loosened half an inch.
Rhea yanked me back: "Go! While he's glitching!"
I lunged for the tunnel end—
Door beyond, the atrium.
Moonlight through the broken dome, illuminating the floor:
Black Harvester Nodes honeycombed, LEDs pulsing in sync, 0.8 seconds.
Fuck! AURA rebooted!
Marcus roared behind me: "…Subject Kai Lin… fear peak: 99.0%…"
"…Board bonus… doubling…"
Rhea pressed an EMP grenade into my palm—black iron, copper coils rough.
"Cover me." She whispered, retreating toward the Nodes.
I gripped the EMP, copper leaf still in my other fist—
Edge slicing my palm, blood mixing that red tear—
Warm, thick, 38-second spread.
T-37:35.
Minute Nineteen: complete.
EMP still in hand.
But in my palm—
Real blood burned.
Thanks for the EMP blast in the atrium. When blue arcs lit Kai's face—did you squint against the glare? ⚡
"T-37:35. The EMP weighed heavy. But the blood in my palm? Still real.
Thank you for the minute. — K."