Page 168 of Seeking Shadows

The glass shatters against Nico’s skin, and the reaction is immediate.

A strangled, guttural scream rips from him as the acid sears through flesh, eating away in sickening rivulets. The acrid stench of burning meat fills the air, smoke rising as he staggers back, clawing at his face.

It didn’t hit as deep as I wanted, but it’s enough. A distraction.

I don’t waste the moment.

I grab Mia’s hand, and we run.

The tunnel is suffocating, damp air thick with the metallic tang of blood and gunpowder. My pulse pounds against my skull, each step jarring the ache in my arm, but I don’t stop. I can’t stop.

Mia pulls me forward, her grip crushing, her breath coming in short, sharp gasps. Behind us, gunfire erupts, the guards regaining ground.

"Faster!" she hisses, her bare feet slamming against the cold, filthy floor without hesitation.

The path narrows, and for a second, I think we’ve found an escape. A lab door looms ahead, the sterile glow of fluorescent lights cutting through the darkness.

Then the shots come.

Bullets whiz around us, shattering test tubes and glassware as we push through the lab. The acrid sting of chemicals burns my nostrils. Mia grabs a metal tray and hurls it at a guard bursting in, the impact cracking his skull.

We're almost there.

The exit gate is just a few meters away when another burst of gunfire rips through the air.

The sound hits me first—a deafening detonation that reverberates through the cramped space. Then comes the pain.

It burns like fire, a hot, sharp wave tearing through me. The bullet barely grazes, but it’s enough to rip open flesh, exposing muscle and nerve. Blood gushes hot, running too fast down my leg, pulsing in time with my frantic heartbeat.

Pain crashes over me in brutal waves. The torn fabric of my pants is soaked in seconds. I try to move, but my body won’t respond. My skin throbs, unbearable heat radiating from the wound, as if my flesh is disintegrating from the inside out.

I stagger, my balance failing. My lungs seize. My vision blacks out for a second.

“Zane!”

Mia drops to her knees beside me, her shaking hands cupping my face. The panic in her eyes cuts deeper than the pain.

"Go," I yell, pressing a hand to the wound. "Get out of here, Mia!"

She shakes her head frantically, lips parting and closing like the idea of leaving me is impossible to process.

"I'm not going without you."

“Damn it, Mia, run!”

“No!” Her hands grip my face tighter, nails digging into my skin. “Wherever you go, I go. Do you understand that? I wouldn’t leave you. Ever. I don’t care if I have to drag your entire body out of here.”

The guards close in.

Dozens of them.

Mia stands, chest rising and falling with furious breaths. Blood drips from her fingers onto the floor. For a second, something almost primal flickers in her eyes.

But it’s not enough.

They advance like a wave. Even as Mia attacks—ripping out a man’s throat with a knife, burying the blade into another’s stomach—there are too many.

Someone grabs my arms, twisting them behind my back. The pain blinds me.

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