Seconds To Zero

CHAPTER 12

"Get away from him!" Silas shouted. "If the System has chosen him, we can't touch him. Not here. Not now."

The spectators began to whisper. The word 'Backed' spread through the room like a virus. They weren't looking at a rookie anymore. They were looking at a predator.

Evan didn't wait for them to change their minds. He turned and walked toward the elevator. The guard, who had shoved him only minutes ago, stepped back and hit the wall to stay out of his way.

Evan stepped into the metal box. He turned around to face the room.

Silas was still standing by the table. He looked old. Truly old. Without the House’s protection, he was just a man who had stolen too much time from others.

"See you around, Silas," Evan said.

The elevator doors hissed shut.

As the box descended, the blue light in Evan’s eyes pulsed one more time.

[MATCH COMPLETED]

[RANKING UPDATED]

[NEW STATUS: TIME-BACKED PLAYER (TIER 1)]

[MESSAGE: THE BANK HAS NOTICED YOUR TALENT. DO NOT WASTE IT.]

Evan leaned his head against the cold metal wall. He had won. He was alive. He had eighteen years on his wrist.

But he had forgotten his blue bicycle. He had forgotten the sound of his father's voice.

He realized then that the System wasn't saving him. It was just changing the way he was being consumed. In the old life, the House took his time with magnets and lies. In this new life, the System took his soul with logic and deals.

The elevator hit the ground floor.

The doors opened to the rookie pits. The smell of sweat and fear was still there. But as Evan walked out, the crowd parted. The low-level gamblers looked at his glowing wrist and looked away.

Evan walked through the lobby and out into the neon-soaked streets of the city. The rain was falling, but it didn't feel cold anymore. It felt like a challenge.

He looked at the towering buildings of the Time Bank. Somewhere up there, the people who owned the world were watching. They were the ones who decided who lived and who died. They were the ones who had turned life into a currency.

"I'm coming for all of it," Evan whispered to the rain.

Suddenly, his watch chirped. A new notification appeared. It wasn't from the System. It was a private message, sent from an encrypted source.

You think you won, the message read. But you just put a target on your back. Run, Evan Kennedy. The Enforcers aren't the only ones who hunt for time.

Evan looked up. On the roof of a building across the street, he saw a flicker of movement. A figure in a long, white coat was watching him. They weren't an Enforcer. They were something else.

The figure pointed a finger at him, then disappeared into the shadows.

Evan’s heart began to race again. He had more time than he had ever had in his life, but for the first time, he realized that having time made you a prize. And in this city, prizes were meant to be taken.

[NEW OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE THE NIGHT]

[PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS: 34%]

"Better than fifteen," Evan muttered.

He turned the corner and began to run.

Evan didn’t go back to his apartment. His apartment was a box in a gray building. It was a place for people with weeks, not years. Now that he had eighteen years, his apartment was a trap. The Time Bank would know exactly where he lived. The Enforcers would have his address on their tablets.

He ran through the narrow alleys of the Low Zone. The neon signs above him flickered in shades of pink and poisonous green.

"Hey! You!"

Evan skidded to a stop. Three men stepped out from behind a pile of rusted shipping containers. they were "Leeches"—bottom-feeders who hunted people with high balances. They didn't work for the Bank. They worked for themselves.

They wore dirty rags and had wires sticking out of their necks. Their leader was a man with a missing eye. His bio-watch was dark—he was down to his last few hours. He was desperate.

"I saw you coming out of the High Stakes tower, kid," the one-eyed man said. He pulled a jagged piece of metal from his belt. "You look heavy. You look like you’re carrying a lot of weight."

Evan looked at his wrist. He tried to hide the glow, but it was too bright.

"I don't want any trouble," Evan said.

"Then give us a year," the man said. He stepped closer. The other two moved to circle Evan. "Just one year. You won't even miss it. If you give it to us, we let you walk. If we have to take it... we take it all."