Chapter 12 · Whispers Before the Reset

"You’re shaking," Vera said. Her voice was flat, but she didn't pull her hand away.

Kael leaned his back against the cold, vibrating metal of the bulkhead. His chest was heaving, blood soaking through his shirt in a sticky, heavy mass. He looked down at her hand—pale, steady, and gripping his wrist like a shackle.

"I'm not shaking," Kael spat. He tried to pull back, but his muscles felt like frayed wires. "I'm just... counting."

"Counting what?"

"The seconds until this whole fucking place disappears," he whispered.

He could feel it. The hum in the air was changing. It wasn't just the machinery of Sector Zero anymore; it was the Protocol. The loop was closing. In a few minutes, the white light would swallow the city, strip his skin, and put him back in that concrete box with the smell of old bleach and failure.

Vera stepped closer. The smell of ozone and gun oil clung to her, mixing with the metallic tang of his own blood. She didn't look at him with pity—Vera didn't do pity—but her eyes searched his, scanning for something. A glitch. A variable.

"You're different this time," she said.