2025-07-14 05:39:39
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Chapter Twenty
For a moment, Bobby’s heart stopped.Standing beside his mom, half-shadowed by the hallway light, was a woman. Shoulder-length dark hair tucked behind one ear, wearing a soft gray sweater and jeans. She looked perfectly ordinary—the type that can't arouse strong suspicion.Except Bobby knew that face.Lyra Mallis. It was undeniably her.---His breath caught painfully in his chest. His vision narrowed to a tunnel—her face and nothing else. The same woman who’d stood among the Loopers, who’d held a gun in shaking hands and whispered “You’re not a monster, Bobby. But Bob is.”And now she stood in his living room. Smiling politely—deception at its finest.Bobby's mind remained alarmed. He felt scared. Worried. Troubled.---“Bobby?” his mom prompted, her voice oddly cheerful. “This is Lyra. She started working in HR last month. We got to talking and… well, I thought you two should meet.”Lyra’s gaze settled on Bobby. Warm brown eyes. Calm, gentle smile.“Nice to meet you, Bobby,” she sa
Chapter Nineteen
For a moment, Bobby couldn’t move.The figure under the streetlight stepped forward—and the shadows peeled away to show her face.A woman. Late thirties? Maybe older. Hair dark, pulled back too tight, a coat that looked too heavy for the night. But it was her eyes that froze him: cold, hollow. Empty as deep water.And behind them… something flickered. Something not human.Bobby’s breath caught. Heart hammering.Echo Looper.---She stopped just a few steps away. Gaze locked on his, sharp. Deliberate.“Bobby Stokes,” she said. Voice soft, but echoing strange—layered over itself, metallic, flat. “We’ve been looking for you.”Bobby stepped back. Heart racing. “Who… who are you?”The woman’s lips twitched. Almost a smile. Didn’t reach those eyes.“Margaret,” she said, calm as stone. “But you can call me what I am.”Her hand lifted. Coat sleeve slid back just enough. He glimpsed it: a ceramic mask, dull, cracked along the edge.“Echo Looper,” she finished.---Bobby’s mouth went dry. Legs
Chapter Eighteen
For a few seconds, Bobby couldn’t speak.The bruises, the blood, and the bandages on Darius’s arm all looked worse up close.Sympathy glimmered in Bobby's eyes. His expression seemed sad and remorseful.Bobby swallowed hard. His voice felt trapped behind the shock tightening his throat.“God,” he whispered again, softer this time. “What happened to you?”---Darius let out a slow breath, a rough sound scraping against cracked lips. His good eye looked glassy with pain, but behind it, there was still something sharp—alive.“They nearly got me,” Darius rasped, voice low and shredded. "After that robot took you away, other loopers arrived and ganged up on me. At first, they thought that teacher had killed you. I believe they came, hoping to see your lifeless body lying on the floor. I saw the disappointment in their eyes. They were desperate"Darius paused, his eyes fixed on Bobby.“I was stupid. I thought I could slow them down,” he let the words drop, sighing with pain—gritting his te
Chapter Seventeen
The words on the screen felt unreal."I took care of it. Modric won’t bother you again."Bobby’s mouth went dry. His heart pounded so hard he could hear it in his ears."I took care of it."He read the message again. And again. Hoping it would change, or that the words would soften into something less final.But they didn’t.---He’s dead, Bobby thought, the truth sinking through the fog of exhaustion and fear. Future Bob hadn’t said “he’s gone,” or “he won’t find you.” He’d said “I took care of it.”Bobby’s chest tightened, paralyzed by shock.He tried to imagine it. Mr. Modric—who had droned on about tragic heroes and assigned essays Bobby barely read—lying still somewhere. Lifeless.Maybe with his mask cracked and black vapor leaking. Maybe just… gone.And it was Bobby’s future self who had done it.---A sick, heavy feeling settled in Bobby’s stomach. He couldn't tell if it was guilt or fear.Is this what I become? Someone who “takes care” of people?His reflection in the dark pho
Chapter Sixteen
The words on the screen felt colder than anything Bobby had ever read."I’ve been watching you."His heart skipped—shock written on his face. His mouth was agape and his eyes widened a little bit. His fingers went slack, and the phone slipped onto the cracked asphalt beside him.BF-85 stood silently a few feet away. The dull hum of its servos was the only sound in the alley.Watching me? Bobby thought, chest tightening. How? Since when?Images flashed through his mind like a ray of light: The hidden cameras he’d spotted on streetlights, the faint static in his phone speaker late at night, the strange flickers in his reflection whenever he passed a shop window—were all signs that he was been watched.Future Bob had seen it all. It all made sense—Bobby hadn't paid attention to the possibility.As if a bolt of lightning struck his thoughts, he remembered one of the Echo Loopers saying something linked to the revelation:“A place Bob can’t see us...”So, they knew all along—he pondered t
Chapter Fifteen
Silence.For a minute after the blast, Bobby thought he’d gone deaf. His vision blurred and his ears were filled with a high-pitched ringing.He couldn’t feel his arms nor tell if he was breathing. Just a numb, crushing weight pressing against his chest.Am I dead?—he wondered.Then—slowly, sound bled back. The sharp crackle of burning circuits. The faint hum of fluorescent lights. And beneath it all, the pounding drum of his heart. He was terrified.Shapes swam into focus. Smoke curled around shattered lockers. Tiles lay cracked and scorched. And through the haze, something moved. It was tall, dark, and inhuman.---BF-85.The robot’s body shimmered under the harsh lights. Its eyes—faint blue rings, glowed with an emotionless calm.Bobby lay sprawled on the floor—his lungs burning, and every muscle screaming. “Directive engaged,” BF-85’s voice rumbled thunderously. “Protect subject Bobby Stokes.”It stepped forward, each movement precise, mechanical. Its arm extended, massive hand c
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