Chapter 17 · Reset Denied

The gas tasted like copper and burning plastic.

I hit my knees in the core room, vision already swimming. The red emergency lights turned everything into a horror show. Lea was doubled over by the server rack, coughing so hard I heard it rattle in her chest.

My wrist still flashed that message in cold blue letters: RESET DENIED.

No second chance. No waking up three days ago with a clear head and a new plan. This was it.

I had one filter left.

"Mark—" Lea's voice came out strangled. She was on her hands and knees now, trying to crawl toward the door we'd come through. The one that was already sealed. The one that wouldn't open until the system purge finished or we both stopped moving.

I yanked the filter canister off my belt. My hands were shaking. Not from fear. From the gas. It was already in my bloodstream, making my fingers feel like they belonged to someone else.

"Lea. Here."

She looked up. Her eyes were streaming, red-rimmed and desperate. "What—"

I shoved the canister into her hands and pulled the strap over her head. She tried to push it back at me.

"No.