BITE THE BULLET

  "Oh no!" Becca gasped. Will and Remy stared open-mouthed at the confgration, ash-faced and covered in soot.

  The depot was a bzing ruin, its charred walls and beams teetering on the brink of colpse. With a deafening crack, a critical support gave way, sending half the structure crashing down and leaving a precarious sliver of the second floor engulfed in fmes.

  "Towerite!"

  Will spun around, his heart hammering. The burned gangster was staggering to his feet, bathed from head to toe in ash. Rage contorted his features as he tried to blink past the soot covering his face.

  Will’s gaze flicked between the gangsters and the burning depot, unsure what to do.

  "Towerite," the man spat again, stepping closer, his hand diving into his coat. The other members of his cohort were on their feet, all staring at the three with rage.

  "Quiet," Will said coldly, his focus still locked on the depot.

  Such btant disrespect seemed too much for the gangster. With an incoherent yell, his hand flew toward his coat.

  Will moved without thinking, his instincts honed by long hours of military drills.

  Gunfire shattered the stillness of the secluded alley as Will poured round after round. Beside him, Remy and Becca fired, their pistols fshing.

  The gangsters crumpled to the floor as a dull ringing filled Will's ears. It was over before it even began. The thugs didn’t even manage to get their field out. Blood pooled on the snow, and one of the men twitched in his death throes.

  Remy stepped forward, grim-faced, his boots crunching in the slush. He raised his gun to finish off the lone thug, but the man let out a choked gasp before falling completely still. Remy didn’t even blink as he fired another round into the man’s head for good measure—insurance.

  A choked gasp came from beside Will. Becca's gun fell to the snow with a soft thud. She stood trembling, her hands clutched over her mouth, her eyes wide and unfocused, locked onto the carnage they had just wrought.

  "Becca!" Will tried calling to her, but she couldn’t hear him, lost in the shock.

  Will clutched her shoulders. "Becca, get it together! We need to get out of here before—"

  He froze mid-sentence. A slow, cold dread spread through his veins as the yellow signature within him stirred, drawn toward the burning depot.

  It searched, homing in on something within the confgration, trying desperately to reach out.

  Will's gaze snapped to the second story of the smoldering ruin. There, up high, something stirred. Wreathed in fme, a hulking figure slowly emerged from the inferno.

  A rge cyborg stepped out of the fire, fmes licking its frame. Its hooded cloak had long been burned away, leaving behind steely, silver pting. Embzoned on its chest was a dragon curled up around a fallen angel.

  Will’s stomach dropped.

  It was the same cyborg that had led the hunt for the Doctor.

  The cyborg’s silver eyes fixed on Will, reflecting the fire like molten metal. Horror gripped Will as he felt the yellow signature within him reach out to the towering figure.

  The cyborg tapped his earpiece and spoke. A crash followed as more figures emerged from the fmes. Glowing red irises pierced the shadows, chrome bodies reflecting the fire's glow.

  “Shit,” Remy cursed.

  “Move! Move! Move!” Will barked, grabbing Becca’s arm and yanking her toward the alley.

  The yellow signature roared inside him, its hunger shing against his efforts to suppress it. It tried to reestablish a connection with its kin, but Will shoved it down, focusing on running as they sprinted through the narrow passage.

  A loud crash came from behind them, followed by the sound of metallic footsteps. Will took the first turn out of the alley and into another side street. The trio ducked under crumbling beams, hurdled over piles of debris, and slipped through tight gaps between half-demolished walls. The sound of thudding metallic footsteps followed unabated.

  Will risked a gnce over his shoulder. Three of them. Their metallic bodies glinted in the pale light, each step sharp, their pace relentless. With every second, the cyborgs gained on them, barely pausing as they crashed through the cluttered side street.

  Desperate, Will smmed into a pile of roofing supplies, and they came tumbling down, blocking the road. The cyborgs faltered, their pursuit momentarily slowed, but their hesitation didn't st long.

  A sharp gunshot cracked through the air, the sound splitting the cold stillness. A shard of stone exploded past Will's face, grazing his cheek. He ducked instinctively, heart pounding as he cursed under his breath.

  His field fred around him as another bullet smmed into him.

  "Shit!" Remy cursed.

  Will spun mid-stride and fired, his bullets sparking uselessly off the cyborgs’ armored frames. Frustration bubbled up as the relentless machines continued to gain. Will took a breath, aimed higher, and fired again. The metal men flinched as the bullet raced past their heads. Raising their hands to shield their faces, they continued their charge.

  "Aim for their heads!" Will shouted.

  Remy grunted in response, his gun bzing as he unleashed a fierce volley. The barrage forced the cyborgs to hug the side walls, buying the trio a few precious seconds.

  “Move!” Will barked, seizing the moment.

  They sprinted through the byrinth of alleys, weaving and dodging obstacles. Will's eyes darted back and forth, trying to find a way out. For a split second, he gnced at Becca and froze. Her hands were empty, trembling at her sides. The memory of her dropping her gun back at the depot fshed in his mind. Her face was pale, her eyes hollow, and every movement screamed of someone barely holding it together.

  "Becca!" Will called, his voice sharp. She didn’t respond, her steps faltering as her foot caught on a loose sb of stone.

  Will grabbed her arm, steadying her. "Focus! Look at me!" he snapped.

  Becca blinked, her gaze locking on his. The fog in her eyes cleared slightly, and she nodded, pulling herself together just enough to keep running.

  “We are in deep!” Remy shouted, throwing a gnce over his shoulder. "These cnkers don’t stop."

  “How close are we to the stairs?” Will panted, his breath forming clouds in the frigid air.

  “About a hundred feet round the corner,” Remy grunted.

  “Perfect. Keep moving!”

  They burst out of the alley onto a bustling main street, shoving their way through startled pedestrians. The stairs to the upper levels of Derbent were just ahead. Relief flickered in Will’s chest—until a sharp glint in the sunlight caught his eye.

  “Down!” he yelled, diving to the ground.

  A gunshot split the air, the bullet whizzing past their heads. Will looked up to see two hooded figures at the top of the stairs, their weapons trained on the trio below.

  “Damn it! They had backup?” Remy spat, yanking Will to his feet. "Keep moving!"

  They took off again, running full tilt, their boots crunching against the snow-covered pavement. Pushing past pedestrians, they raced toward the next stairway.

  The yellow signature inside Will stirred, its presence growing stronger. He gritted his teeth, focusing on suppressing the connection, but the psion field pulsed insistently, reaching toward the figures pursuing them.

  Will’s vision blurred for a moment, his awareness expanding. The pounding of metal footsteps and the barked commands of the cyborgs grew louder. He felt the outlines of the cyborgs in the distance, their movements a ghostly impression in his mind. As the connection strained to settle, Will snapped the reaching tendrils, cutting the link.

  Just as the connection was severed, he got a fsh of impressions of the cyborgs following them. The group tailing them was making quick progress, and right above them, another group was keeping perfect pace, preparing to intercept.

  “They’re still on us!” Will gasped, pointing toward the commotion on the upper levels. There was a lot of screaming and yelling, and someone was nearly thrown off the side ledge.

  “Dammit!” Remy growled, his face twisted with frustration. “They don’t want us going up the levels. They’re going to box us in and run us dry.”

  Will’s mind raced. The stairs ahead were a trap. The cyborgs were already moving to cut off every route to the upper levels. He scanned the surroundings, his gaze settling on a rusted stairwell leading downward—a path into the lower depths of the city.

  “We go down,” Will said.

  Remy turned to him, incredulous. “What?”

  “If we can’t go up, we go deeper. Into the pit,” Will said, his voice firm.

  Remy cursed, but a moment ter, he nodded. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  Will didn’t wait. He grabbed Becca’s hand and pulled her along, leading the group toward the crumbling stairwell. Together, they raced down. Down into the bowels of Derbent.

  JasonCliff