Chapter 20 · Where It Always Starts

"She's lying." Emma's voice cut through before the survivor even finished pointing.

Mark turned. She stood in the warehouse doorway, backlit by the emergency floods outside. Smoke still clung to her jacket from the file room.

"I wasn't here," Emma said. "Not in any loop."

The survivor—pale, shaking, blood crusted under her nails—shook her head. "You were. First night. You came with him."

"With who?"

"The man who keeps dying."

Mark stepped between them. "Kyle."

"No." The survivor's eyes locked on Emma. "The other one. The one who screams when the loop cuts."

Emma didn't blink. Didn't move. But Mark saw it—the way her shoulders went still, like she'd stopped breathing on purpose.

"There's no other one," Emma said.

The survivor laughed. It came out wet, broken. "He said you'd say that. Said you always do, right before—"

The lights went out.

Mark's hand went to his gun. Emma was already moving. He heard her boots on concrete, fast, toward the survivor. He got there first, shoulder-checking Emma back.

"Don't."

"She's bait," Emma hissed. The emergency floods outside were dimming now, one by one. "Kyle's collapsing this site. We have maybe two minutes."

"Then we take her with us.