Jax slept like the dead.
After an entire day of runing with no rest, sprinting through gutters and alleyways and hiding with some stone shoved up his guts, his body finally gave out. Wrapped in an old sheet on Liss's couch, he fell into uneasy darkness, the dull pulse of the artifact still thudding inside him like a second heart.
But peace never lasted in the Ashlands.
Not for dirt like him.
CRASH.
The sound of glass shattering tore him from sleep.
His eyes flew open just as the butt of the rifle slammed into his stomach.
He doubled over, choking, tasting bile and blood. Strong hands grabbed him, yanked him up, and tossed him hard against the floor. Dust and splinters filled his lungs.
"Morning, sunshine," said a voice… Kriv. The jagged edge of his accent made every word sound like a threat.
Jax blinked through the haze.
Three men were in the room. All of them familiar, all of them smiling like wolves down at a little piggy.
And standing there beside them…
No.
Liss.
She leaned against the doorframe, her arms crossed, her face unreadable.
Jax tried to speak. His tongue felt thick. "Liss…?"
Then she moved.
Without the slightest hesitation, she walked right up to Deek, the tall one, and kissed him full on the mouth.
Not a trick.
Not a bluff.
Jax stared, frozen, while her fingers traced Deek's chest, playful, practiced. Deek chuckled and gave her a squeeze around her waist.
Something cracked in Jax's chest.
He forced a breath. "What… what are you doing?"
She turned to him, casual as spit. "What does it look like?"
His voice came out hoarse. "Why? Why would you do that to me?"
She cocked her head to one side, as though the question was beneath her. "Because you're poor, Jax. And stupid. Every credit you earn goes to your sick little mommy in a tin shack. I'm not dying in the slums because you want to play martyr."
He stared at her in astonishment, his heart in his belly. It felt like he actually heard his heart the moment it shattered in pieces.
"But you said you loved me."
She laughed, a short, sharp sound like a broken blade. "I loved your hustle, that's all. But a girl's gotta eat."
Deek stepped forward, crouched beside Jax. "Touching, huh? We offered her more. She took it. Let's hope you live long enough to learn this lesson."
Kriv loomed behind him, cracking his knuckles. "Now be a good little worm and tell us where the artifact is. Or I start pulling off fingers one after the other and when i'm done i move to your teeth."
Jax's throat was burning.
His every instinct was to lie, to fight, to run.
But he was alone.
Nobody was coming. Liss had sold him out. No one but his mother would care if he vanished. Even the gangs would forget him in a week.
Only one thing mattered now:
The artifact.
He didn't know what it really was, but it was important enough to kill for.
And it was within him.
Jax forced a cough. "You think I'd be stupid enough to keep it on me?
Deek's eyes narrowed. "So where is it?"
"I buried it." He winced as if it pained him to say it. "Behind the old rotyard. South quarter. Under the water tank."
Deek gave Liss a look. She nodded. "That's where he always goes to hide stuff."
Deek smirked and patted his cheek patronizingly. "Good boy."
Kriv yanked Jax to his feet.
They dragged him through the alleys like a bag of meat, he limped behind them, wrists bound, his head pounding with feelings of betrayal and pain.
The old rotyard was deserted this time of the night-rusted scrap heaps and crushed vehicles beneath a black sky, a cracked water tank at the far corner, leaning as if it might fall and shatter any moment.
Jax pointed. "There."
Kriv shoved him down beside it and began to dig.
It wasn't long before
A few minutes of scraping later, the box appeared-muddy, dented, but intact.
Deek picked it up, eyes aglow. "Finally."
He opened it.
Empty.
His smile disappeared.
"What is this?"
Kriv looked down at Jax. "You lied."
"No," Jax said quietly. "You're just too late."
The silence that followed was heavy.
Deek stepped forward, his hand tightening around the butt of his gun. "Where is it, street rat?"
Jax smiled through bloodied lips.
"In a place none of you will ever reach."
Kriv raised his boot and stomped on Jax's ribs.
Something snapped.
Jax gasped, rolled to his side, coughed up red.
Deek leaned closer. "Last chance. Where's the artifact?"
Jax looked up at him.
And spit in his face.
Deek remained silent.
He just drew his sidearm and shot Jax through the chest.
Pain exploded through him.
It wasn't loud.
Just a hot, shocking pop and then white.
Jax collapsed.
His breath left him in a wet gurgle. His hands twitched. His legs jerked once.
Blood pooled beneath him, mingling with the mud.
He caught Liss in the corner of his eye, standing still, arms folded. Not flinching. Not crying.
Just watching.
"Why'd you do that for?" Jax snarled.
"Don't worry, we will find it." Deek reasured him. then he knelt beside Jax's corpse and wiped the spit from his face before standing.
"Dirt doesn't bleed for long."
They left him there.
Alone.
Empty.
Hours passed.
Acid rain wept from the sky. Steam hissed from ruptured vents. The rotyard was silent except for the wind.
Jax's body didn't move.
But something inside it did.
A pulse.
Then another.
A flicker of black-veined energy shot through his chest.
Veins lit up like circuit lines.
The artifact-the thing inside him-moved.
It had dissolved, broken down, and been absorbed into his bloodstream.
And now it was waking up.
Darkness swallowed him. In that last silent second before nothingness, though, he felt it. A warmth, deep in his gut, uncoiling like a wire of liquid light. Then, the true cold.