The concussive wave from the detonated Kaiju slammed into the ravine walls. Dirt and shattered rock rained down over the gray ice, carrying ozone, wet stone, and the corrosive stink of blue blood.
Kikaru saw Caleb's body hit the mud.
Her fingers uncurled. The heavy white plasma rifle slipped from her grip and clattered against jagged stone, abandoned in the falling ash.
She scrambled across the broken ice, leaving the extraction lane unguarded. Her carbon-fiber brace scraped violently over debris, and she forced her right boot to carry almost all her weight just to stay upright.
Thirty feet of ruined ground opened between them. She crossed it in a limping sprint and slid into the sludge beside him.
"Caleb."
He lay flat on his back in wet dirt. The armor was shattered. The jagged half of the white bone spike protruded from his chest plate, buried deep enough that every instinct in her training screamed not to move him.
