Chapter 78 - The Bloodline Severed
A war was raging inside Julian’s skull.
The blue lights along his neck collar sputtered and flared, fighting the sudden surge of biological neural activity breaking through the cybernetic blockades. Veins bulged along his temples, turning dark purple as he fought the programming locked into his brain stem.
"Three... short..." Julian’s natural voice choked through his throat, ragged and broken. "Two... long..."
"Julian! Kill her!" Margaret screamed from the balcony, hammering her fist onto the railing. "Kill her now! That is an order!"
"I... am... not... a... gun..." Julian roared, a primal, animalistic scream of defiance that echoed through the entire mansion.
He wrenched his knife away from Claire's chest, twisting his own torso around. With a surge of raw, unbridled fury, Julian reached behind his own neck, grabbed the thick bundle of neural wiring running from the base of his skull into his chest plate, and ripped it out with his bare hands.
Sparks and black synthetic fluid exploded across his face.
Julian collapsed to his knees, vomiting blood, gasping for air as the external control signal shattered into static. The mechanical lights on his suit died, leaving only the battered, bleeding human being inside.
"Julian!" Claire scrambled to him, clutching his shoulder, ignoring the agony in her fractured ribs.
Julian looked up at her, his gray eyes clear, tears cutting clean lines through the soot and blood on his cheeks. "Claire... I remember. I remember the lake... I remember the treehouse..."
"I know," Claire whispered, pulling him against her. "I know, Julian. It's okay. You're home."
Above them, the sound of a heavy steel door slamming shut broke the moment.
Margaret had fled.
"The bunker..." Julian coughed, grabbing Claire’s forearm with trembling, bloodstained fingers. "Sub-level three... she’s going to initiate the fail-safe. If the nerve agent enters the water table... fifty miles of the Potomac basin... gone."
Claire wiped the blood from her mouth, her gaze hardening into something ancient and terrifying.
"Stay here," she ordered. "Vance has medics standing by on the perimeter. He’ll be here in five minutes."
"Claire," Julian croaked, holding her wrist. "She won't stop. Don't let her take anyone else."
Claire nodded once. She picked up Julian’s discarded heavy carbine, checked the chamber, and racked the bolt.
She turned toward the service corridor leading beneath the mansion.
May you like
Down into the dark.
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