The Phantom Ache
685 Words
Chapter 13
POV: KAELEN
Panic.
I had read about it in medical journals. I had calculated its effect on market trends. I had never actually felt it.
My lungs squeezed tight. Adrenaline flooded my system, but there were no synthetic dampeners to regulate my heart rate. No HUD calculating the Hunter-Hound’s trajectory or estimating its recharge time. I was completely blind to the data.
All I had was Elara’s hand gripping my bicep, her nails digging into my skin.
"Run," I managed to say.
Silas didn't need to be told twice. He let out a piercing whistle. The Rust Pack scattered like roaches, diving into the narrow drainage pipes lining the walls. Silas grabbed a heavy iron grate, hauling it open. "Down here! Move!"
The Hunter-Hound fired.
A bolt of blue plasma incinerated the concrete slab we were hiding behind. The heat flash blistered my unarmored back. I gritted my teeth against the searing pain. Real pain. It felt like fire injected straight into my veins.
I grabbed Elara’s hand, pulling her toward the open grate. My legs felt like lead. Without my servo-motors, my own body weight was exhausting. I stumbled, my bare feet slipping on the slick, algae-covered tiles.
Elara caught me. She didn't complain. She just threw her arm around my waist, supporting my weight.
We threw ourselves down the dark drainage chute just as a second plasma bolt melted the iron grate above us.
We slid in the pitch black. The smell of sulfur and ancient sewage was overpowering. We hit the bottom, splashing into a shallow pool of freezing water.
I dragged myself up against a slick stone wall, gasping for air. Every muscle in my body was screaming. I pressed a hand to my chest. The scar where she had ripped out the power core was tender, but the skin was whole.
I was alive. Because of her.
"Are you hit?" Elara whispered in the dark.
"No." I couldn't see her, but I could hear her breathing. Fast and shallow.
Suddenly, a heavy mechanical thud echoed from the tunnel above us. The Hound was trying to force its massive metal frame down the narrow chute.
"It's too big to fit," Silas said, his voice dropping to a gravelly murmur a few feet away. "But it has thermal optics. If we stay here, it’ll shoot blindly until it cooks us. Keep moving."
Silas ignited a small chemical flare. The harsh red light revealed a tight, natural cavern cutting deep into the bedrock. This wasn't city infrastructure anymore. This was the earth beneath the steel.
We squeezed through the narrow fissure. I had to turn sideways, my broad shoulders scraping against the jagged rocks. Elara was right in front of me.
Because the space was so tight, I was pressed flush against her back. The silk sheet she was wearing had soaked through. My bare chest brushed against her spine with every step.
My heart did something stupid. It skipped.
Even freezing, terrified, and running for my life, the absolute sensory overload of being this close to her was paralyzing. The scent of pine and rain completely masked the sewage. I could feel the heat radiating from her skin. I could hear the tiny, panicked hitches in her breath.
My organic wolf, buried under decades of programming, began to claw at the inside of my ribs. It wanted to claim her. To wrap her up and tear apart anything that looked at her.
"Kaelen," she breathed, stopping suddenly.
I bumped into her. "What is it?"
"The floor," she whispered, her voice trembling. "It’s gone."
I peered over her shoulder. Silas had stopped at the edge of a massive drop-off. The chemical flare illuminated nothing but a yawning abyss.
Before Silas could warn us, a high-pitched whine echoed from the tunnel behind us. The Hound had figured out a workaround. A small, spherical object bounced into the narrow crevice, landing directly at my feet.
A thermal grenade.
"Jump!" I roared.
I didn't think. I wrapped my arms tightly a
round Elara and threw us both off the edge into the absolute dark.
- Writer
