Chapter 25 · The Original

"Why do you still remember?" Eli pressed the gun harder against my temple.

The black restraints held my wrists, ankles, chest, and throat against the metal table. I tested the strap across my ribs anyway.

It bit down.

"Because you keep asking me the same stupid question," I said.

His jaw tightened.

He looked younger than the Eli I knew. No scar near his eyebrow. No gray at his temples. No tired softness around his mouth. Just a sharp face and a steady hand that could pull the trigger without shaking.

"I've never met you."

"You have."

"Not twelve years ago. Not here."

"You watched me die."

His gaze dropped to my face. "Is that supposed to mean something?"

"It means you were behind the glass when Quinn started the reset. You were holding a gun then, too."

The muzzle slid from my temple to the center of my forehead.

Cold spread through my skin.

"Who told you that name?" he asked.

"You did."

"I didn't."

"Not yet."

A red warning bar crawled across the ceiling. The lab shook hard enough to rattle the restraints.