Chapter 9 · The Choice

"Don't move." My gun shook between Lila and the man bleeding on his knees. "One more step, and I shoot."

The rune burned through my jaw. Copper filled my mouth. Every breath tasted like scorched metal.

Lila didn't even blink. "You really think you can shoot both of us?"

"Try me."

Behind her, red numbers flashed across the lab monitor.

00:28.

Zero pressed one hand to his shoulder. Blood slipped between his fingers and pattered onto the floor. He stared at Lila like she'd crawled out of a nightmare he'd spent his whole life trying to forget.

"Ivy," he rasped. "Don't—"

"Shut up." I kept my eyes on Lila. "You first. What's the failsafe?"

Her mouth curved. Not the smile I remembered. Not the one she'd worn when she hid my homework and waited for me to find it.

This smile was clean. Cold. Clinical.

"Zero's biosignature is hardwired to the incubation tanks," she said. "If his heart stops, the locks open."

"And?"

"Fifty miles of dead zone in under an hour."

My grip tightened.

The rune flared blue-white beneath my skin. Heat raced up my neck and into my skull.