Chapter 7 · The Thirteenth Reset

"Finish that sentence, Eli." I shoved the gun harder beneath his jaw. "Tell me what happens when the clock hits zero."

His throat moved against the barrel. His hands stayed raised, but his eyes dropped to the neural key clenched in my fist.

"You die," he said. "The version standing here dies."

"And then?"

"The replacement wakes up."

My finger tightened around the trigger. "You keep calling it a replacement like it's a package. It's me."

"It has your face, your voice, your memories." Eli looked back at me. "That doesn't make it you."

Behind him, the archive terminal flashed red.

17:42.

The number dropped another second.

Boots pounded beyond the sealed doors. Quinn's people had found the lower archive. They'd cut through the lock soon, and Eli still had one hand pressed against the blood soaking through his shirt.

"You said I called you every time," I said. "Twelve times. I asked you to kill me."

"You asked me to stop the reset."

"By killing me?"

"By killing what the reset was about to turn you into."

"That's not an answer."

Eli stepped closer to the gun instead of backing away. His coat brushed my knees.