Chapter 175

Morrigan ran across the ruined streets, searching for a way to slow them down. The soldiers were closing in, their shouts bouncing through the rubble-strewn corridors. She couldn't keep this up forever—Kazuo's dead weight was already pulling on her muscles, and the mech's heavy steps in the distance meant time was about to run out.

Then she saw it.

An old parking lot ahead, the skeletal remains of its structure barely holding together. The concrete pillars beneath it were cracked and split, chunks of rebar poking out at odd angles like exposed veins. It wouldn't take much to knock it down, and if she could, it would block off the entire street behind her. They'd have to find another route or risk climbing over a heap of unstable debris. Either way, it'd buy her time.

She slung her rifle across her back—this job wasn't going to need shooting. Her fists would do just fine.