Chapter 14 - Fracture in the Hive
The killing grid vanished with a dying whine.
Isabel didn't hesitate. Before the towering husk could register the drop in voltage, she launched herself forward, using the creature's bent knee as a stepping stone. She drove the bone-handled knife directly into the respiration valve at its throat.
Thick, iridescent fluid sprayed across her face, burning like battery acid. The creature convulsed, its steel claws raking across Isabel’s canvas jacket, shredding the fabric down to the shoulder bone. She twisted the blade savagely, severing the brass conduit, and kicked herself free as the colossus crashed into the brine, thrashing in its death throes.
Halden drew a nickel-plated derringer from his sleeve with blinding speed, but Isabel was already moving. She dropped low, scooping her Colt from the wet floor, and fired two rounds without aiming.
The first shot took Halden in the right shoulder, spinning him violently into the central pillar. The second clipped the brass conduit above his head, raining superheated steam down across his neck and collar.
Halden shrieked—a raw, furious sound that shattered his veneer of aristocratic poise. "Naira! Terminate her!"
At the sound of the command, the child pivoted toward Isabel. The golden glare in Naira's eyes pulsed in rhythm with the machines. Her little hands rose, fingers curled like talons, and from her throat came that terrible, vibrating tone—a frequency that shattered the glass observation dials across the entire laboratory.
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Isabel felt her skull contract as if clamped in an iron vise. Blood burst from her nostrils, warm and metallic. The air in her lungs turned to ice. She fell to her knees, the Colt trembling in her grip, fighting against the instinct to pull the trigger.
"Naira..." Isabel choked out, her vision doubling, her brain hemorrhaging behind her eyes. "It's... it's me. It's Isabel."
