Chapter 14 · The Floor Twelve Warden

"Stop right there." The gun barrel pressed between my shoulder blades before I cleared the elevator threshold.

I froze. Iris's breath hitched behind me.

"Hands up," the voice said. Female. Steady. "Step away from her."

"Vera." I didn't turn around. "We don't have time for this."

"You don't get to tell me what we have time for." The pressure increased. "I watched you drag her corpse out of this elevator three loops ago. Now she's breathing. Start talking."

Iris grabbed my sleeve. "Cade—"

"Shut up." Vera's voice cut across. "Not you. Him."

I raised my hands slow. The counter on my wrist read 11, glowing faint through my sleeve. Eleven more deaths before zero. Eleven more tries to figure out who built this nightmare and why Floor Twelve always ended the same way.

"I'm security," I said. "Same as you."

"No." Vera stepped around to face me, gun level with my chest. Mid-thirties, black tactical vest, hair scraped back tight. Her eyes looked like she hadn't slept in days. "You're something else. I've seen you die nine times. Throat cut. Headshot. Fell down the shaft. Every time, the building resets and you walk out of that elevator like nothing happened."