Frequency of the Fallen: (Tales From the Vault: Short Shocks 6)

Riley Kade doesn't hear music like other kids.

She hears machines.

Kick drum: piston. Hi-hat: valve. Bassline: conveyor belt. Every song is an engine she can feel turning inside her ribs.

It used to be her superpower.

Then Harbor City started using it against her.

Something is broadcasting through the cove. A rhythm so precise it syncs with her heartbeat before she realizes it's happening. Her headphones aren't playing her music anymore. They're playing something else. Something that wants her walking toward the water, calm, compliant, approved.

[HUMAN RESISTANCE: DETECTED] [COHERENCE TAX: SPIKE]

Riley has one advantage.

She can hear the dent in the machine. The misfire. The place where the rhythm is wrong.

And she knows that wounds can be widened.

She picks up a gear from the dock on her way out.

It feels like the first honest thing Harbor City has ever handed her.

It also feels like a leash she didn't know she was already wearing.

Tales From the Vault: Short Shocks - Short, sharp, shocking tales from the shadow of the Seawall. Read them in an hour. Remember them forever.