Lorraine's POV
"No!" I screamed as the hoses turned, six of them, aiming directly at Kieran.
I tried to run in, to throw myself in front of him, but I couldn't move fast enough.
The hiss came first.
Then the stream.
A clear, sizzling liquid burst from the hoses and struck him square in the chest, the arms, the face. Instantly, his skin began to smoke and blister. I watched in horror as patches of it burned open, raw, red flesh exposed beneath.
But Kieran didn't fall.
He didn't even flinch.
He kept walking.
Step by step.
Through it.
His uniform was already ruined, torn and clinging to the meat of him like melted plastic, but still, he moved forward, eyes locked on the warriors like a predator sizing up prey.
And then....
He lunged.
The first guard didn't even see him coming. One moment he was holding the hose, the next his chest was split open, ribs cracked apart by claws so sharp they gleamed through the blood.
The second tried to turn away.
