Page 7 of Neon Flux

“Target is still unidentified. Continuing sweep.”

A pause.

“Negative. Recall to base. Priority Alpha directive received.”

He backed up and away. I heard the thunder of their footsteps, slowly receding, until only the soft hum of the servers remained.

Had they left? Was this over? Why?

I took a deep breath, then another. Nothing, silence.

One step, then another, I made my way toward the exit. The door was in sight when it slid open. I ducked behind atower, begging my traitorous lungs to be quiet, as someone came inside.

“Damn, the beta squadron really fucked this place up, huh?” an irreverent voice said.

An affirming grunt responded to my new adversary. So, there were two of them.

“They can’t do anything without us. God, I better get overtime for cleaning up this mess. How many are left in here?”

“Intel estimates two remain,” a deeper voice responded. “Heat vision’s no good in here. We need a physical sweep.”

Two? So two had gotten out. Or were dead.

“Just two? This was not worth me dragging my ass down here. You go left, I go right?”

Another affirming grunt. I pressed against the server as one of them came around the other side. His steps were unhurried, and I slowly circled the tower, avoiding him. He continued on, and the door was in sight. I willed my feet to move, but nothing happened.

Go, you idiot. Run.

But I couldn’t. There was still someone in here.

I should just leave them. It was their own fault, playing at rebels and—

A shot rang out, and I ran straight back into the maze of servers.

I skidded around a corner, and my heart stopped. A darkly suited man pointed a gun at Taos, trapped at a stack’s edge. A hood covered his head and almost hid a featureless, smooth mask. The glass was so dark it reflected almost no light. One of POM’s elite alpha assets.

I didn’t think.

I grabbed a piece of metal from beside a ruined server and charged the man, swinging at his head. The faint humming of his shield deflected most of the blow, but it still knocked him aside.I slammed my whole body into him, knocking both of us down. Metal struck against metal as his gun skittered across the grate below our feet.

“Run!” I screamed at Taos, and I saw blood leaking from below her hand where she clutched her stomach. She lurched to standing just as pain exploded across my face.

I threw my elbow back as the man grabbed me around my throat, and he groaned as I connected with his solar plexus.

We spun, body over body, on the floor, and I knew he was trying to reach his gun. I kneed him hard in the stomach and hit him anywhere I could connect. He retaliated in kind.

The barrel of the weapon glinted out of the corner of my eye, and I kicked him hard. He flew back against the opposite stack, sparks flying as he collided, and I scrambled for the weapon. But as my fingers connected, his foot collided with my ribs and then the gun. It clattered against the floor and fell through the gap in the grate, out of both our reach.

“Shit.” He cursed as he grabbed the back of my neck and lifted me up. Still dazed from his kick, I stumbled as he threw me toward a server. I caught myself and spun around just in time for his fist to connect with my stomach. I doubled over, but his hand wrapped around my neck and he forced me back.

“Tough bitch, huh? Let me get a better look at you.”

His mask retracted in sections, folding back into itself to reveal a devastatingly beautiful face, framed by shockingly blue hair. His almond-shaped eyes burned with power, Flux tracing around the irises until they glowed cyan like an overheated star. It was brutal and feral and absolutely terrifying.

He pressed his hand into my throat, and I clawed at it, but his smirk only grew, his teeth flashing like fangs. Then an electric field like nothing I’d ever felt before flared.

He pressed me into the stack and sparks flew, my skin burning everywhere the electric current surged through me.Pain burned at every single one of my nerves until my vision went almost completely white.