Hybrid by K. T. Hanna Read Free Book Online

boils to the surface again. This dark abscess of emotion that wells up and tries to take him over when he least expects it...even about the most mundane things. There has to be a way to keep the parasite at bay, a way without the GNW’s resets and controls.
    And then there’s the inner quiet without the static of the other dominos.
    Music pulses in his ears through tiny inserts Kayde gave him. They keep the silence at bay a little. All those voices gone, reduced to nothing by the severance of the link in his head. The link no one else was ever supposed to have access to. He turns the sound louder to drown out the loneliness he didn’t realize would be so cold.
    The city looms above him, huge and dark, foreboding in its sheer size. He smiles again and makes his way to the end of town and an old set of living quarters—partially abandoned by those who’d come into fortune, but still good enough for those who were down and out or those with the illegal jobs.
    Dom halts before entering, shifting through the phases of adrium adaption, making subtle adjustments to his surroundings—the bleak concrete walls, the red traces in the sand as it spreads across and into the cement floor. He flexes his fingers in front of his face, slowly willing their shape to change, to morph into sharp implements, rounded, and back into fingers again. The response times are more sluggish than he’s used to, but as long as he continues practicing as he moves through the city, his abilities should be back at peak performance by the time he truly needs them. It’s easier to practice in the dank part of town where no one looks twice at things they don’t understand.
    This is where Sai grew up. Before her gift took away everything she’d ever known, Sai had been one of them—living on the outskirts of society, picking through garbage for a meal, and begging anyone who might be able to toss her a credit. The area hasn’t changed much in the last five years. Children still scrounge around garbage cans, their little urchin eyes wide and smeared with dirt as they gasp in glee at a half-eaten piece of bread. None of them see him, not with camouflage in full swing. He watches for a while as they huddle in groups around hastily built fires to get some warmth. Odds are their parents can’t afford heat in the buildings, or else they’re too drugged out to care.
    For a while, he wants to soak up this darker side of humanity, to see if there is anything from that side of him that might help him figure out this strange new tug in his brain, this darker whispering that doesn’t form words. Everything has an easier way out, a more sinister tinge than he recalls from his sealed memories. Revenge was never his thing, but right now it’s all he can concentrate on. Maybe sating it is all he needs to do. Perhaps the act of fulfilling this strange compulsion will end it.
    Everything is putrid, even the structure he eventually settles on. People passing by don’t acknowledge each other, in too much of a hurry to get their next fix or try to earn a meal. There are no marks to target down here. No one worth anything visits this place.
    The building is adequate, with a few scattered one-bedroom apartments free of habitation, as long as you don’t count the rats. He keeps cautiously out of the way of the children as he makes his way through the halls. Children crouching next to the rats, feeding them scraps and petting their heads. Cheap pets. Easy to feed and free to obtain and most of them would give a cat or dog a run for their money.
    Dom finally chooses a room and settles in, the tiny ear buds making the bass resonate in his head while he thinks of who and when and where.

    The next day dawns in all its murky gloom, and Dom turns the music down a notch. Eventually, he’ll have to wean off things for noise, to fill that gap.
    Concentrating on the shadows, he blends his body to them, wills the adrium to conform. If he maintains that focus, he should be able to