Chapter 25 · Marked Registry - Chapter 25: Midnight's First Name

The cuffs dig into my wrists and I'm moving before I can think about whether this is the stupidest thing I've ever done.

Cain shoves me forward through a side door I didn't even see. His grip is iron. His face is blank.

"Walk," he says.

I walk.

The hallway smells like disinfectant and old blood. The kind of clean that's trying too hard to cover something up. My boots squeak on the tile. Somewhere ahead, I hear voices. A crowd.

"Cain—"

"Shut up."

He doesn't look at me. Doesn't even blink. But his hand on my shoulder tightens just a fraction, and I remember what he said five minutes ago, right before Horne's broadcast went live. Too late.

Maybe it's not.

We round a corner and the noise gets louder. Chanting. No, not chanting. Counting.

"Fifty-eight minutes."

"Fifty-seven."

I try to twist around but Cain yanks me straight. "Don't."

"Don't what? Don't look at the execution you're dragging me toward?"

"Don't make this harder."

"For who?"

He doesn't answer.

We stop in front of a steel door. Cain swipes his badge. The lock clicks green.