Judy shoved her companion aside, darting in the opposite direction.

  Anna nded hard on the spot where the two of them had been standing just seconds earlier. The impact fractured the ground into a spiderweb of cracks.

  "Get away from me!"

  Sylvia rolled across the floor, pulled out a kinetic shotgun, and aimed it at Anna.

  *Bang!*

  Anna's body flew backward like a kite with its string cut.

  "Judy! Are you okay?" she yelled, hurrying over to Judy and helping her up. Only then did she notice a strange, sticky sensation on her hand. Frowning, she gnced down. Her palm was soaked in blood.

  "Judy… you're bleeding?"

  Sylvia realized Judy had a shallow wound on her abdomen. The dark color of her suspender pants was quickly staining red. Sylvia slipped one of Judy's arms around her own neck and curled her own right arm around Judy's back, holding her right under the armpit. "Come on, up you go. Let's get you out of here."

  Together, they stumbled toward the exit. They had barely covered a few steps when Anna, who had been bsted away moments ago, closed in behind them at terrifying speed. With no subdermal pting to protect her, Anna's flesh looked shredded where the shotgun had hit. She was bleeding so heavily that it sprayed around her like a fountain as she ran, but she seemed completely oblivious to any pain.

  "Shit!"

  Sylvia gnced from the exit to Anna barreling toward them. The factory gate was only a few meters away, but it felt like an impossible distance.

  "This way!"

  She half-carried Judy, rushing into a nearby shipping container. Just as Sylvia yanked the door shut with all her might, Anna smmed against the container with tremendous force.

  Sylvia hurriedly jammed her kinetic shotgun through the door's tch. That improvised brace held up, no matter how many times Anna rammed against the container. On the other side, Judy clutched at the wound on her abdomen, fighting the pain as she called Susie on her holo.

  Perhaps realizing she couldn't break through, Anna stopped smming the container. A moment ter, her presence outside faded away; no one knew where she'd gone. Only then did Sylvia exhale in relief and go over to Judy.

  "Lie down—don't move."

  She wanted to give Judy a shot from a pneumatic injector, but after rummaging through her pockets, she realized she must have dropped it during their frantic run. There was nothing to do but help Judy lie ft and press down firmly on her abdomen to stanch the blood flow. Meanwhile, Sylvia kept talking to her, trying to keep her from passing out.

  They waited inside the shipping container for what felt like an eternity. Checking their impnts, though, only ten minutes had passed. The silence outside was absolute, as if the factory itself had died.

  Sylvia pced Judy's hand over her own wound. Noticing the motion, Judy weakly grabbed onto Sylvia's hand. "Where…where are you going?"

  "I'm heading out to find a pneumatic injector before you bleed out."

  "No… don't…"

  "Judy, I promise I'll be right back," Sylvia said. Pulling her bloody hand free of Judy's grip, she forced a calming smile. Then she carefully approached the container's entrance, removing the shotgun jammed into the door tch. She loaded fresh shells, pressed the muzzle against the door, and gently eased it open.

  Silence.

  Mustering her courage, Sylvia peered outside. Everything looked deserted—quiet as a graveyard, and Anna was nowhere in sight. Stepping cautiously out of the container, Sylvia spotted the pneumatic injector she'd dropped earlier. She moved toward it when she felt something wet and sticky nd on her face.

  She froze, instinctively touching it. There was some kind of viscous stringiness to it. A second ter, her brain registered what it was—saliva.

  She jerked her head upward and saw Anna crouched on top of the shipping container, staring down like a predator eyeing prey. Sylvia's blood ran cold. Still, she shakily raised the shotgun.

  *Bang!*

  The bst grazed Anna just as she pounced. Sylvia went down, and Anna's Mantis Bdes skewered her shoulder—the one holding the shotgun. Sylvia screamed in agony, her grip failing as the gun cttered to the ground.

  "Give me back my child!" Anna shrieked.

  "Anna, wake up! You don't have a child—it's me, Sylvia…" Sylvia tried to shove Anna away, but the woman wouldn't budge. Worse yet, Anna raised her other Mantis Bde, poised to strike right at Sylvia's face. Sylvia's cheeks went pale as despair gripped her.

  Just as the bde was about to descend, an engine roared at the factory gate. The lock shattered under a burst of gunfire, and a white blur on a bck-and-gold motorcycle barreled inside.

  Leo revved his Fenrir, pulling the front wheel high. Then he crouched on the seat, kicked off, and sent the bike hurtling forward. The airborne motorcycle smmed into Anna, knocking her clear of Sylvia.

  Leo rushed over to Sylvia, pulled a pneumatic injector from his belt, and gave her a dose. "You okay?"

  Relief flooded her body, and she almost wanted to colpse on the spot. But she saw Anna rising again in the corner of her vision. "Behind you—look out!"

  Leo's reflexes kicked in. Spinning around, he drew his tech revolver from its quick-draw holster.

  *Bang! Bang!*

  Two shots blew out both of Anna's knees, sending her crashing to the ground. Even then, she didn't stop—she used her arms and Mantis Bdes like crude limbs, dragging herself across the floor.

  Leo leveled the revolver at her head. "Rest in peace."

  *Boom!*

  A final thunderous shot ended the struggle.

  …

  Anna's body was zipped into a bag and carried away.

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