Zer0grin's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

The signal died three blocks from the Greaves trail. Zer0grin stopped mid-stride, one hand pressed to the side of its head where the tracking feed had been a steady pulse. Now there was nothing. Just static and the faint whir of cooling fans that never actually cooled anything anymore. It found the equipment case twenty paces ahead, half-buried in rubble. The initials DG were scratched into corroded metal panels. Fresh boot prints led away from it, still sharp in the dust. Zer0grin's tracking system flickered once, twice, then went dark completely. The choice was simple. Spend hours trying to repair the feed, or follow the prints before wind erased them. It left the case where it lay and started walking. The fans in its head spun faster.