Nikki's biological eyes snapped open.
With a sharp, violent gasp that tore through her burning lungs, she jolted awake in the physical world. Her hands flew up, frantically ripping the rusted, sparking neural halo from her head and casting it onto the damp concrete floor. She collapsed forward onto her hands and knees, shivering violently, her skin covered in a cold, terrified sweat as the sheer kinetic shock of the digital ejection washed through her nervous system.
The subterranean communications hub was completely, suffocatingly silent.
Nikki forced her head up, her vision blurring at the edges. Silas and the forty resistance fighters were standing exactly where she had left them, their rusted rifles aimed outward in a defensive ring. But their eyes were not on the heavy blast doors. Every single human in the room was staring at the towering, prone figure lying in the center of the bunker.
Adonis was completely still.
