The metal platform trembled under our boots as we ran deeper into the Neon Spine's underlayers.
Pipes hissed steam.
Old neon signs flickered like dying embers.
Rain leaked through broken ceiling panels.
Rave scouted ahead.
Kai held onto her arm, trying not to slip.
Lira stayed close to me, breathing hard.
But not from the chase.
From fear.
"K-17," she whispered, "your shadow… it's not syncing with your steps anymore."
I didn't answer.
Because she was right.
When I stepped, the shadow stepped half a second later—
like something inside it had its own rhythm,
its own heartbeat,
its own hunger.
And then—
Shk—shk—shk.
Metal scraping metal.
The sound cut through the platforms like a blade dragged across a skull.
Lira froze.
Rave turned sharply.
Kai whispered, "Bro… he's here. He's right above us."
Voss Calder.
The Hunter.
The butcher with the surgical glove.
We ducked into the shadows beneath a crisscross of suspended walkways.
Steam clouds rose around us, masking our forms but not our heat signatures.
That didn't matter.
Voss didn't hunt heat.
He hunted fear.
He hunted patterns.
He hunted the anomalous heartbeat of a Sun-Class entity.
Footsteps echoed above us—
calm, deliberate, heavy.
Then his voice:
"Interesting…"
His boots stopped directly overhead.
We didn't breathe.
Not even Rave.
Not even Kai.
Voss slid his gloved fingers along the railing above us—
the razor-thin surgical tips scratching metal.
Shk—
Shk—
Shk—
Lira's hand found mine unconsciously.
Not romantic.
Instinct.
"Sun-Class anomalies," Voss said softly, as if speaking to himself,
"always struggle with rhythm first.
Most hunters don't know that."
My pulse stumbled.
The Beast inside me responded immediately—
A violent thud.
A hunger spike.
A heat surge.
Voss chuckled.
He could hear it.
"Ah. There he is."
Lira squeezed my hand, whispering urgently:
"Don't react. Don't move. Don't let him hear you break."
I tried.
But the Beast…
the Beast WANTED him.
My ribs throbbed like something was chewing its way out.
My vision flickered red.
My shadow twisted on the ground.
Rave whispered from behind us:
"He's baiting you. Stay silent."
Kai trembled.
"Bro, please… don't go beast-mode now…"
But Voss didn't need us to move.
He only needed us to exist.
"You know what separates my prey from my specimens?"
Voss asked the empty walkway.
He dragged a finger down the railing—
and sparks fell through the gaps like sparks from a forge.
"Those who run…
and those who react."
My pulse spiked again.
The Beast hammered in my chest—
a rhythm I couldn't control.
Boom.
Boom-boom.
Boom.
Voss stopped walking.
Perfectly still.
Listening.
A predator locking onto a sound no one else could hear.
He spoke softly.
"Your heartbeat is wrong, K-17."
Lira's eyes snapped to mine.
He said my name.
He KNEW.
"Don't move," she mouthed.
Too late.
The Beast pushed—
full force.
My arm jerked violently.
The metal platform under us rattled.
Lira lunged, clamping her hand over my ribs, pushing hard.
"STOP—" she hissed.
But the Beast didn't stop.
The fractured plating glowed bright gold, cracking wider.
A low growl escaped my throat.
Not my voice.
Something else.
Above us, Voss inhaled sharply—
a delighted sound.
"Found you."
The walkway above shattered as Voss DROPPED through the metal—
But not onto us.
Onto the far platform.
Close enough to kill us if he wanted.
Far enough to let us run.
He didn't attack.
He watched.
Studied.
Smiled.
Even with the dim neon, I saw the surgical blades on his glove glinting like little fangs.
"You glow beautifully," he said softly.
Lira aimed her rifle at him instantly.
"Step back," she warned.
Voss tilted his head, amused.
"Oh, you brought the traitor girl. How adorable."
Rave snarled.
Kai whimpered.
"I'm not here to capture him," Voss said. "Not today."
He pointed at my chest.
"I'm here to listen."
"To what?" Lira spat.
Voss smiled — slow, hungry, clinical.
"To the beast chewing through his spine."
My fractures PULSED violently.
The Beast lunged inside me —
not physically,
but through my nervous system.
My knees buckled.
Lira caught me.
"K-17! Stay with me!"
Rave stepped in front, blade raised.
Kai stood behind her, shaking like a leaf.
Voss spread his arms.
"Go on," he whispered.
"Run."
Lira's eyes widened.
"What kind of trap—"
"No trap," Voss said.
His voice went low, deadly.
"I want to see how far he lasts…
before he stops pretending he's still himself."
Then he stepped back into the shadows.
Gone.
Just like that.
Leaving us with the Beast pulsing inside me.
The moment he vanished—
The Beast struck.
My chest convulsed.
The fractures split wider.
A golden crack tore across my forearm.
My shadow twisted—
longer, wider, with too many limbs.
Kai screamed, "BRO—YOUR SHADOW—"
Lira grabbed my face with both hands.
"K-17! LOOK AT ME!"
I did.
Barely.
The world blurred into red and gold.
Her voice was a blade cutting through it:
"STAY. HERE. WITH ME."
I forced air into my lungs.
Forced the Beast down.
Forced myself back.
One heartbeat.
Two.
Three.
The fractures dimmed.
The shadow snapped back.
Barely.
Lira didn't let go.
Neither did I.
Rave stepped forward.
"We need to move. Now."
Kai nodded quickly.
"I—I can hear soldiers behind us—"
I pushed myself up, steadying.
"We're not dying in the Spine," I growled.
Lira smirked.
"Good. Because I'm not dragging your glowing ass out again."
We ran.
Not from fear.
From inevitability.
Because Calder had heard my heartbeat.
And the Beast inside me had heard him.