Chapter 25 · Neon Zero - Chapter 25: The Guy Blocking the Exit

"Step away from the gate, Mara." Knox caught my wrist before I could slam my palm into the emergency panel.

His fingers locked around me. Not hard enough to break anything. Hard enough to remind me he could.

I twisted, drove my elbow toward his ribs, and missed when he turned with me. My back hit the metal housing. The panel flashed red beside my head.

"Let go."

"You trigger that door again, the purge grid reads us as hostile."

"Great. Then it can read us while we're outside."

"There is no outside." His breath brushed my cheek, hot and sharp from the run. "Not past that gate."

I shoved at his chest. The armor under his coat barely moved. He looked down at my hand, then back at me.

"You done?" he asked.

"Not even close."

"Good. I hate boring people."

The corridor behind us shook. Metal screamed somewhere in the sealed district. A red warning line crawled across the ceiling, one segment at a time, closing in on our position.

PURGE SWEEP: 02:41.

Two minutes and forty-one seconds.

My brother had less time than that.

I yanked my wrist again. Knox's thumb pressed over my pulse.