The bone-shaking blast wave of the exploding bio-artillery quill slammed Arthur Vance into the concrete bridge pillar like a physical fist.
A hail of jagged, crushed bone shards and high-pressure chemical fragments scoured the ditch. The air was filled with a high-pitched, metal whine that drowned out the rumble of the convoy engines. That left Arthur’s ears ringing with ear-splitting tinnitus. The world tilted sideways on a forty-five-degree axis, the gray mud rushing up to meet his knees as his left arm went fully numb.
Arthur didn’t look down at his body. He pressed his back against the cold concrete. That forced his breathing into deep, rhythmic belly cycles to suppress the sudden spike of neurogenic shock.
Through the Zeiss magnifying glass, he ran an immediate sight test scan over his own torso:
physical TRAUMA DETECTED: LEFT SHOULDER 3 PENETRATING SHARDS: DELTOPECTORAL GROOVE Blood-vessel DAMAGE: CEPHALIC VEIN Deep cut NEUROLOGICAL STATUS: TRANSIENT BRACHIAL STUN TOXIC RESIDUE: TRACE PHOSPHORUS ENZYMES
A dull, throb of burning fire erupted across his left collar bone as the first shock faded. Blood was already soaking through the torn charcoal carbon-weave fabric of his coat, hot and thick against his skin. It ran down his ribs to pool at his belt.
