The elevator screamed.
Not mechanically. The shaft itself groaned — metal warping under the heat from the fake reactor alarm Glitch had triggered three minutes ago. Red emergency lighting bathed the cabin in bloody pulses. We were going up. Away from the Core Chamber. Away from Malachi's crumpled puppet body. Away from fifty thousand sleeping strangers I'd just bet my life to save.
I leaned against the wall. My ears were still leaking — thin trails of blood running down my jaw. The kill-signal I'd swallowed was still settling inside me — fifty thousand death commands burned down into raw energy that sat in my chest like a hot coal.
[ENERGY: 100%]
[LEVEL: 16]
[STATUS: TISSUE DAMAGE — RIGHT ARM — SEVERE]
My right arm dangled at my side, pulsing with pain. The skin between my wrist and elbow was cracked and burned black. Leaking something that wasn't quite blood, and I couldn't feel my fingers anymore.
