Ripping out the Chrome
689 Words
Chapter 10
"He's flatlining!" I screamed, lunging for him.
I slammed my palms onto his chest, but there was no give. It was like doing CPR on a bank vault. The titanium plating under his skin was locked down tight.
"Move!" Silas shoved me aside.
The wiry woman ran up with a blowtorch. She didn't hesitate. She ignited the flame and pressed it directly against the seam where Kaelen's flesh met the metal chest plate. The smell of burning skin and scorched wire flooded the damp room.
I gagged, pressing my hand over my mouth.
"Get the pry-bar in the gap," Silas grunted, sweat beading on his forehead as he worked the heavy iron rod under the red-hot titanium plate. "On three. One. Two. Pull!"
The sickening sound of metal tearing out of human bone echoed off the subway tiles. Blood sprayed across Silas’s coat.
Kaelen didn't even flinch. He was completely unresponsive.
The chest plate came loose with a wet crunch, exposing a mess of synthetic wiring, artificial valves, and ruined, blackened muscle. It was horrifying. He was more machine than man inside.
"The synthetic core is tangled in his aorta," Silas panted, tossing the bloody pry-bar onto the floor. He wiped his hands on his pants. "I can't pull it. My hands shake too much. If I nick the artery, he bleeds out in ten seconds."
He turned to me.
"You do it."
I backed away, shaking my head violently. "No. No, I don't know anatomy. I'll kill him."
"He's already dead, girl!" Silas grabbed my shoulders, shaking me hard. "His wolf is tethered to yours. Your blood is pure. Your touch is the only thing his biology won't reject. Get in there and pull the damn core."
I looked at the gaping wound in Kaelen's chest. The flatline tone was a drill in my ears.
I didn't think anymore. I just acted.
I stepped up to the slab and shoved my bare hands directly into his open chest cavity.
The heat of his blood was shocking. It coated my fingers, slick and hot. I bypassed the cold, dead wires and found the synthetic core. It was a heavy, metallic cylinder, thrumming with a faint, dying electrical charge. It was wrapped tightly in necrotized muscle tissue.
"Squeeze his heart with your left hand," Silas ordered over my shoulder. "Pump it for him. Pull the core with your right."
I clamped my fingers around Kaelen's real, organic heart. It felt tiny and weak compared to the machinery choking it. I squeezed. Once. Twice.
A jolt of energy shot up my arm. The latent magic in my veins, the stuff that had turned me into a monster in the penthouse, flared to life. My hands began to glow beneath the mess of blood.
I gripped the synthetic core and pulled.
It fought me. The metal hooks dug deep into his ribs. I planted my knee against the concrete slab for leverage, gritted my teeth, and yanked with everything I had.
With a wet, tearing sound, the core ripped free.
I stumbled backward, the heavy metal cylinder clattering to the floor in a spray of black oil.
For a terrifying second, there was absolute silence.
Then, Kaelen’s back arched entirely off the table.
A guttural, agonizing scream tore from his throat. It wasn't the auto-tuned voice of an Alpha-Prime. It was the raw, broken shriek of a man feeling every single nerve ending in his body fire at once.
His eyes snapped open. Both of them. The cybernetic optic had been pushed out, replaced by a milky, newly formed organic eye fighting to heal.
He didn't know where he was. He didn't know who was around him. He only knew pain.
Kaelen lashed out. His heavy hand shot off the table, his fingers locking around my throat like a vice.
He slammed me against the damp brick wall. My feet left the ground. I clawed at his arm, choking, trying to say his name, but my airway was completely crushed.
His golden eyes locked onto mine, feral, unblinking, and totally devoid of recognition.
He was going to snap my neck.
- Writer
