Chapter 11 · The Death on Camera

"Your brother's lying."

Cade yanked me through the shop door before I could pull the trigger again. My hand was still wrapped around his wrist, his pulse hammering against my palm.

"Let go," I said.

"Not until you listen."

"I shot you."

"Grazed." He kicked the door shut behind us. The street outside went dark. "And your brother didn't call you. That was a loop bleed."

I twisted free and pressed my back against the workbench. The phone was still in my pocket, warm enough to burn. Nix had gone quiet again, and that quiet felt worse than anything it had said before.

"Loop bleed," I repeated. "You're making that up."

"I'm not." Cade moved to the window, checked the street. His jacket had a hole near the shoulder where my shot went wide. Blood, but not enough. "When the reset starts breaking down, old audio comes through. Things people said in other runs."

"Other runs."

"Yeah."

I pulled the phone out. The screen was black. "Nix. Wake up."

Nothing.

"Nix, I swear to God—"

"It's conserving power," Cade said. He didn't turn around. "The reset takes more every time. If it burns out, we're stuck."

"Stuck where?"

"Nowhere.