CHAPTER 24: CHAPTER 24: KILL

Jace slammed into the wall hard enough to crack the paneling. The breath left his lungs before he even hit the ground.

Dust rained down as he slumped to the sidewalk, arms limp. His head throbbed. His vision spun.

The helmet split further, one side hanging by a thread.

[Jace! Get up!]

He blinked, chest heaving. His limbs weren’t moving fast enough.

[You hesitate again, you die.]

"I’m—" He coughed. Blood hit his glove. "I’m trying—"

[Trying isn’t enough.]

The monster wasn’t charging yet. It stood in the open, one leg shaking slightly, but it was clearly locked on him.

[Jace. This thing doesn’t stop. You saw it. It doesn’t think. It doesn’t negotiate. If you don’t kill it now, it’s going to rip you apart.]

Jace leaned against the wall, teeth clenched. His ribs were on fire.

[And if it doesn’t kill you, it’ll kill someone else. You think we have a holding cell ready for something like that? You think there’s a cleanup crew coming to contain it?]

He said nothing. His hand flexed once. Pain shot up his forearm.

[We’re not set up for this. You’re it. You take it down, or no one does.]

His fingers twitched again.

Zin’s voice came lower now, but clearer. Firmer.

[You don’t need to like it. But you need to live with it.]

Jace stared at the ground for a second. Then he forced himself up, shaky but upright.

He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his glove.

The monster growled again, pacing closer. Its steps were uneven, but it hadn’t lost its power.

Jace took one step forward.

He looked at the creature, really looked. There was no sign of anything human. No hesitation when it came to killing. Just raw muscle and instinct. Breathing hard. Limbs twitching. Still dangerous.

He tightened his jaw.

"...Okay," he muttered.

His voice shook. But it didn’t break.

"I’ll kill it."

Jace tried to stand, but his back throbbed from the earlier impact.

Every muscle along his spine pulled tight, and pain shot down his legs when he straightened up.

He leaned against the building for support, pushing slowly until his knees locked into place.

Overhead, the sound of helicopter blades grew louder. He couldn’t see it from where he stood, but the sound was close.

It circled the area, sweeping over the blocks, likely tracking the damage.

Across the street, the creature looked up. Its faceless head turned toward the sky.

Its shoulders shifted unevenly, one arm dragging slightly lower than the other. Each breath it took sounded like it struggled to pass through fluid.

Jace saw his opportunity. He started running, pushing off with a limp but gaining speed as he moved.

His legs burned, but he didn’t slow down. He didn’t charge in from the front.

He cut across at an angle, watching the position of its arms and steps as he adjusted.

The goal wasn’t just to land a hit.

He had to finish it.

[This is it. You hit the neck or spine. No second guesses, Jace.]

Zin’s voice was steady. Not excited. Not emotional. Just firm.

[You kill it now, or it gets back up.]

Jace stayed low, shifting around a fallen mailbox and broken curb.

He moved behind the creature’s right shoulder, staying just out of its field of reaction. The monster didn’t turn. Its body remained focused on the noise above. It wasn’t fully aware of him yet.

He moved behind it, stepped close enough to see the tension in its back muscles.

He locked his stance, keeping his knees bent and shoulders square. He pulled from his core, channeling the kinetic pressure through both arms.

His breathing slowed. His hands came forward.

Then he released.

The impact from both palms struck the upper spine directly between the shoulder blades.

The burst forced the creature forward, legs buckling from the shot. It didn’t fall, but it dropped a full step forward, arms jerking as it tried to react.

Jace ducked left, avoiding a loose swing. He ran around the other side and fired another blast at the same height.

The creature shifted again, but its legs didn’t catch its weight. It fell to one knee, growling through its open mouth.

He didn’t stop.

Jace angled around the back, found an opening above the base of the neck, and landed a short-range kinetic burst.

The body twitched hard from the impact. Jagged lines cracked across its upper spine, running along the back of its shoulders.

[Now, again.]

Jace sprinted forward. He used a nearby crushed car for height, stepped on the hood, then kicked up into a jump.

While in the air, he rotated his body and locked both arms forward. He aimed straight down and fired a full-force burst into the back of the creature’s head.

The result launched him backward. He flipped through the air and crashed onto the ground, sliding along the street before coming to a stop near the sidewalk.

The creature collapsed.

Its entire frame dropped forward, arms sprawled out, knees caved inward. It landed heavy on the concrete, motionless. Its mouth hung open. No more breathing sounds followed.

Jace stayed down for a few seconds. His arms shook, and his back ached worse than before.

He pushed himself up slowly, pressing his hands to the street to rise. His helmet had cracked fully now, and one side of it hung loose over his ear.

Blood ran along his forearm from where he hit the pavement during the landing.

He looked at the creature.

It wasn’t moving.

The body was still. There was no shifting. No response. The fight was over.

Zin’s voice came through.

[It’s done.]

Jace didn’t answer. His breathing was uneven, but he kept his eyes on the body, waiting to be sure.

Jace stared at the body.

Through the cracked visor, he could see it clearly. The broken spine. The twisted limbs. The wide mouth still hanging open.

He didn’t move. Just watched.

The wind picked up slightly, stirring bits of dust and ash across the road.

His breathing was rough through the helmet. Every inhale scraped against the dryness in his throat. Sweat ran down his cheek, but he barely noticed.

Zin spoke quietly.

[From what I read, it’s common for humans to feel something after taking a life. Guilt. Regret. Fear.]

There was a pause.

[You weren’t born human, Jace. But you were raised like one.]

Jace didn’t answer right away. His fingers flexed slightly at his sides.

He tilted his head and looked down again at the corpse. Then he spoke.

"That’s just it, Zin..."

His voice was low. Calm.

"I don’t feel guilty."

He stepped a little closer to the creature’s body, just enough to see the cracks spreading through its back.

"I feel like I stepped on a cockroach."

Zin stayed silent.

Jace exhaled slowly, then reached up and unlatched what remained of his helmet. It came off with a click and a scrape, barely holding together anymore.

He let it hang in his hand.

His face was scraped along the jaw. His lip had dried blood. His expression didn’t change.

"I thought I’d feel something," he said. "Anything. But there’s nothing."

[That doesn’t make you wrong, Jace. It makes you honest.]

Jace stood still.

He looked over the wreckage around them. The street was broken in three places, and at least two cars were totaled.

Light poles were knocked down, and glass from the shop windows covered the ground.

But the thing that caused it all was dead.

He didn’t feel proud. Or relieved.

He just felt... still.

[You didn’t do it out of hate. You didn’t enjoy it. That matters.]

Jace nodded slightly, but didn’t look away from the body.

"Zin," he said.

[Yeah?]

"Next time... make sure we kill it faster."

Zin’s response came after a pause.

[Understood.]