The smell hit them first. Not the coppery tang of blood or the sterile scent of ozone, but the acrid, nauseating stench of burnt meat and melted plastic. It clung to the air, a thick miasma that made their eyes water.
Jin slumped against the wall, his hands held out before him like strange, grotesque offerings. The skin was gone, bubbled and blackened, revealing the raw, red muscle and glistening white bone beneath. The pain was a distant, screaming thing, but his body was too deep in shock to process it properly. All he could feel was a profound, buzzing numbness.
"Jin!"
Sera was at his side in an instant, her golden eyes wide with a rare, unguarded shock. Her usual commander's poise was gone, replaced by raw alarm. She reached for his arm, then stopped, her hands hovering, afraid to touch the ruined mess.
