I.Retraction requires 14 Newtons of force.
Bone fragments have wedged between the second and third knuckle joints. Cranial fluid — 38°C, viscosity consistent with cerebrospinal — coats the alloy surface.
I apply 23 Newtons. The fingers slide free with a wet, grinding pop. 62dB.
[RIGHT ARM STATUS: OPERATIONAL AT 9%][FLUID CONTAMINATION: BIOLOGICAL MATTER IN JOINTS 2, 3, 5][POWER CELL: 2.3%]The body drops. 73kg on packed scrap metal.
Hostile 2 is screaming. Heart rate: 168 BPM. Distance: 2.1 meters. Closing.
He swings the pry bar in a lateral arc. Trajectory: left temple housing.
The pry bar connects. 440Hz ring on impact. Force: approximately 900 Newtons.
Insufficient. The temple housing is 6mm titanium-carbide. The pry bar is recycled rebar.
His follow-through leaves his right flank exposed for 0.7 seconds.
My right hand closes around the high-voltage cable dangling from my own chest cavity. 9-gauge copper core, partially stripped. 1.4 meters of usable length.
I loop it around his neck in a single motion. Wrap twice. Pull.
[FORCE APPLIED TO CERVICAL REGION: 380 NEWTONS][HOSTILE 2 HEART RATE: 168 → 191 → 202 BPM]His fingers claw at the copper. His nails split on the wire sheathing.
Tracheal compression is immediate. The cable bites through the outer dermal layer at the 4-second mark.
Blood seeps along the copper. It smells like hot pennies.
At 11 seconds, his hands drop. Heart rate plummets to 42 BPM.
He is unconscious. I release the cable.
The body drops face-first into rust and gravel. 68dB.
[HOSTILE 2: INCAPACITATED][HOSTILE 3: POSITION UNKNOWN — LAST DETECTED 4 METERS NORTHWEST][PRIORITY SHIFT: HARDWARE & TIME ACQUISITION]His left leg. Mechanical exoskeleton brace — low-grade, aftermarket. But the joint coupling is a standard M-16 hex mount. Compatible with my severed left leg at joint B-3.
I grip the brace at the upper femoral clamp and pull.
The bolts resist. Rusted, cross-threaded. I apply 1,200 Newtons through my right arm.
First bolt shears at 3 seconds. Second at 5. The third takes the kneecap with it.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
The brace comes free. 4.2kg. Scratched chrome over cheap steel. The coupling is 2mm too wide for my B-3 socket.
I force it anyway.
Metal grinds against metal. 93dB — a shriek of incompatible alloys being married by brute force.
Sparks spray from the joint in a 30-centimeter arc. The coupling seats with a deep, ugly clunk.
[LEFT LEG: PARTIAL MOBILITY RESTORED — 7% TORQUE CAPACITY][JOINT ALIGNMENT: 2MM OFFSET — ACCEPTABLE FOR LOCOMOTION][STRUCTURAL WARNING: WELD INTEGRITY UNKNOWN]II.The second Scavenger is bleeding out on the ground. Heart rate: 38 BPM.
His wrist timer glows faintly under a cracked plastic housing. Green digits on black.
[WRIST TICKER READ — HOSTILE 2: 00 DAYS : 12 HOURS : 04 MINUTES]12 hours. Enough.
I step on his right forearm. The stolen leg brace takes my weight.
600kg of hydraulic pressure focuses through my foot plate onto his radius and ulna.
The bones hold for 0.8 seconds. Then they snap.
The fracture is compound. Bone fragments push through the skin at two points.
Beneath the shattered wrist housing, the bio-mechanical port is exposed. Standard civilian model. 8-pin interface.
I reach into my own torn abdominal cavity. A nest of frayed wiring, corroded circuit boards.
One data cable still attached to the central bus. Type-C neural jack. Rust has fused the housing to the connector.
I tear it free. A shower of oxidized copper flakes falls from the port. The cable is 0.6 meters long. The 8 pins are intact.
I jam the corroded tip directly into his exposed arterial port.
The connection is violent. No handshake protocol. No authentication.
[DIRECT NEURAL JACK ESTABLISHED][DATA TRANSFER INITIATED: SURVIVAL TICK ALLOCATION]The Scavenger's dying body seizes. Full tetanic contraction.
His back arches off the ground at 40 degrees. The jaw locks open. No sound.
The green digits on his wrist begin to blur and drop.
[SOURCE TICKER: 12:04:00 → 11:58:22 → 11:41:07][TRANSFER RATE: 1.3 MINUTES/SECOND]The stolen time enters my system as a raw 3,000-volt micro-charge.
Power cell registers the influx. 2.3% → 2.4%. The survival allocation counter, dormant since boot, flickers online.
[I.S.O SURVIVAL TICKER: ACTIVATED][CURRENT BALANCE: 00:00:00 → 00:11:46 → 00:23:31][SOURCE TICKER: 06:50:19 → 01:04:55 → 00:02:11][SOURCE TICKER: 00:00:00][HOSTILE 2 HEART RATE: 00 BPM]The extraction is complete.
[SOURCE DEPLETED — HOSTILE 2: DECEASED][TOTAL HARVESTED: 12 HOURS 04 MINUTES][I.S.O SURVIVAL TICKER: 12:04:00]III.The time hits my motherboard.
[WARNING: HARDWARE CONFLICT DETECTED][INCOMING DATA FORMAT: BIO-ELECTRIC STANDARD v4.2][COMPATIBILITY: 0%]The voltage differential between modern bio-electric encoding and my C0 architecture is 340%.
[I.S.O ARCHITECTURE: C0-COMPANION LEGACY v0.9]The system cannot process the ticks. They are in. They are not converting.
[WARNING: CAPACITOR BANK OVERLOAD][HYDRAULIC LINE 7: 890 PSI → 1,200 PSI][RATED MAXIMUM: 800 PSI]The hydraulic line behind my right optical sensor bulges. Metal casing deforming — a low creak at 55dB climbing to 71dB in 2 seconds.
[HYDRAULIC LINE 7: 1,340 PSI][BURST IMMINENT]The line bursts.
Black motor oil — 140°C, pressurized, atomized on exit — sprays across the interior surface of my only working optical sensor.
Resolution: 14% → 0% in 0.09 seconds.
[OPTICAL ARRAY: TOTAL FAILURE][VISUAL INPUT: NONE]Blind.
Audio triangulation: boots on gravel. Hostile 3. Approximately 7 meters northwest. Running — not toward me. Toward the far wall.
A fist hits a hard surface. Plastic housing cracking under knuckle impact.
A mechanical click. Spring-loaded switch engaging.
Then the sound.
120dB. Industrial-grade electromagnetic klaxon. Spool-up pattern. The frequency starts at 200Hz and climbs. 400. 800. The scrapyard's corrugated walls amplify it into a single omnidirectional scream that saturates every audio channel I have.
[REGIONAL DISTRESS ALARM: ACTIVATED][SIGNAL TYPE: SECTOR-WIDE EMERGENCY BEACON]The siren holds at peak frequency. 120dB. Constant.
---