Chapter 8 · Reset Protocol - Chapter 8: Back to the Crash

"You're not coming with me."

Vera looked up from the cracked pavement, her gold eyes sharp and way too bright in the dark. "Like hell I'm not."

"I mean it." I stepped between her and the overpass, the one I could see three blocks down, looming like a concrete grave. "You just read a kill code. Your body's still fighting whatever that rig put in you. You stay here with Lucas."

"Lucas passed out ten minutes ago." She nodded toward the collapsed storefront where we'd dragged him after the rig exploded. "And you think I'm gonna sit here and wait while you walk into the exact spot that killed you four times already?"

"Five," I said. "Five times."

Her mouth twitched. Not a smile. Something colder. "Then you need someone who can stop time."

"You stopped it for three seconds. You don't even know if you can do it again."

"Guess we'll find out."

She pushed past me, shoulder against mine, and the contact sent a jolt through my ribs. Her skin was still too cold, like she'd been pulled out of a freezer, but her pulse was there, fast and hard under her jacket collar.