"Get down!" Seraphyne screamed, tackling Vaelric backward into the gritty coal dust as a heavy iron grappling hook tore through the empty air where his head had been a fraction of a second before."I can't stay down, Seraphyne! Look at the winch on their front deck—they're already reeling that line back in for a second throw!" Vaelric barked, pushing himself up onto his knees despite the violent, white-hot agony shooting down his right shoulder. The copper wire binding his forearm was glowing a dull, angry red from the thermal output of his mutated blood."If they land that hook inside this hopper, we're done for! They'll drag this entire car right off the rails!" Seraphyne scrambled toward the narrow exterior ladder, her fingers clawing at the rusted rungs while another metallic thud echoed loudly against the side panel. "Cover me while I move to the coupling!""Are you insane? Your ribs are taped together with scavenged cloth and sheer stubbornness! Let me do it!" Vaelric lunged for

"Do it!" Seraphyne shrieked, her knuckles white as she clamped her hands over the back of Vaelric's heavy jacket to anchor him against the violent, rhythmic bucking of the freight car. "Do it right now or we won't even have bones left to bury!"Vaelric didn't hesitate. The golden veins beneath the skin of his throat and jaw pulsed with a blinding, terrifying luminescence, casting long, writhing shadows across the rusted iron of the coupling mechanism. He didn't try to use finesse; he didn't try to find the release lever or tap the rusted locking pin with a calculated strike. Instead, he slammed his entire right arm forward, shoving his massive, obsidian-plated hand directly into the heavy mechanical linkage connecting their ore hopper to the pursuing corporate rail-car.Metal groaned—a horrific, high-pitched shriek of tortured steel that instantly cut through the thunderous roar of the engine."Vaelric, your arm!" Seraphyne screamed, her eyes widening in horror as thick, acrid white s

"The brake line! Grab the wheel!" Seraphyne screamed, her voice tearing past her teeth as she dragged herself up by the edge of the vibrating hopper wall, her face slick with cold sweat and coal soot."I have it!" Vaelric bellowed back, planting his heavy boots against the bucking iron floor. He lunged across the narrow gap of the ore car, his massive obsidian arm flashing with a terrifying pulse of golden light that illuminated the soot-stained timber braces overhead. Without hesitation, he slammed his mutated hand onto the rusted iron wheel of the emergency brake, gripping the metal spokes so hard that the iron began to groan and warp beneath his fingers.The train shrieked in protest, iron wheels locking against the steel rails with a deafening, skull-fracturing screech that set every tooth in their heads on edge. A violent plume of white-hot sparks erupted from beneath the undercarriage, illuminating the rapidly approaching mouth of the tunnel with an eerie, strobe-like glare."Ha

 "I’m awake," Seraphyne rasped, her voice dry as dead leaves scraped across stone. She tried to push herself up from the damp pine needles, but her arms buckled instantly under her own weight. "Stop hovering. I’m fine." "You’re burning up enough to melt lead," Vaelric retorted, pressing the edge of the dew-soaked fern leaf against her cracked, bleeding lips. "Drink. Every drop. Unless you want your lungs to completely fill with fluid before we even reach the valley." "That tastes like rotting bark and swamp water," she coughed, wincing as the motion sent a fresh wave of agony ripping through her bruised, infected ribs. She swallowed a mouthful of the bitter concoction anyway, her face contorting in pure disgust. "Where did you even find this garbage?" "Down by the creek bed where the black alders grow," Vaelric said, setting the makeshift leaf chalice aside on a flat rock. He reached out wi

 "Hold still," Vaelric muttered, his fingers working with clumsy, terrified precision as he unwrapped the blood-soaked linen bandage from Seraphyne's side. The smell of spoiled tissue and old sweat hit the damp forest air instantly, a sickening reminder of how close she was to the edge. "If I pull too fast, you'll pass out." "Then pull fast," Seraphyne hissed through gritted teeth, her fingers clawing into the damp moss beneath her. "Just... get it over with." Vaelric didn't answer. He carefully stripped away the last layer of cloth, revealing the ugly, swollen bruising across her ribs where the internal infection had turned the skin a mottled, sickly purple. With a steady hand, he dipped a corner of a clean rag into their dwindling supply of boiled water mixed with crushed antiseptic moss, pressing it gently against the inflamed flesh. Seraphyne let out a sharp, ragged gasp, her back arching off the ground before she fell back