Countdown

I'd approached on Rogan's left side, and I touched his arm. It felt as hard as I'd imagine the metal bar would.

"Rogan …" I was crying now. He was going to kill the man in cold blood like it meant nothing. I could see the determination in his eyes. I felt as helpless as I did the night my family was killed and all I could do was hide in the dark and wait for the silence.

"Please!" Bernard's voice shook as he eyed the shiny weapon. "I have a family who needs me."

"Do I look like I care?" Rogan's voice caught on the last word.

"I recognize you," Bernard babbled. "You … you're Rogan Ellis. You killed people. Women. Killed them brutally. Some while they were asleep in their beds. Lots of them. I remember seeing it on the news."

I felt a tremor go through Rogan at his words. "Do you always believe everything you see on the news?"

"Yes! You're going to kill me, aren't you? Aren't you?" He fell to his knees and shielded his face with his hands.

"Rogan, please don't do this," I managed. "Please!"

Rogan's chest heaved in and out with labored breathing. Then he raised the piece of metal above his head as if he would bring it down in a death blow, but something stopped him. His jaw twitched and he slowly lowered the weapon back down to his side.

He looked at me, his eyes glistening. "Do you believe everything you see on the news, too?"

I shook my head. "No. I make my own decisions. And you … I don't believe you're a bad man. I don't. You're better than this. I know you are."

A tear slipped down his face. "I can't do it. Fuck, Kira. I can't do it. I can't kill him. Even to save us." He was shaking. He dropped the piece of metal and it hit the ground.

"There are four minutes remaining in this level of The Countdown."

I pulled Rogan to me and hugged him tight, feeling his chest go in and out, his entire body tense.

I nodded and pulled back, rubbing my thumb along his cheek to wipe the tear away. "I know. It's okay."

Bernard was fumbling around in his pockets. He let go of his shopping bag and it hit the cement with a thud. Pieces of paper and old tissues fell out of his jacket pockets.

What was he looking for? His wallet? His ID? A piece of gum?

But then he found it.

My eyes widened as I watched him pull out a gun and aim it at Rogan's head.

He smiled, and there was something very unnatural about it.

"Other contestants have taken me out very easily in less than ten minutes," he said.

Rogan tensed even more under my touch. "I knew it. I knew there had to be a catch to this."

"You are supposed to be a formidable murderer. I expected that you would have no problem at all with this level. She"-he nodded at me-"was the wild card. She's not a murderer. It would have been interesting to see if she tried to stop you, but she didn't."

"I did," I said as confusion slid through me. "I didn't want him to kill you."

He shrugged. "You didn't put up much of a fight. He would have killed me, but you would not have stopped

him. Unfortunately, Rogan Ellis is a coward. The subscribers will be horribly disappointed. They had very high expectations."

Rogan eyed the gun. "Ask me if I give a shit what the subscribers think."

Bernard smiled that strange, steady smile. "It is fine. The subscribers will be sated when I eliminate both of you for failing to complete the level successfully." He moved the gun toward me. "Perhaps I will start with you, Kira Jordan."

Rogan put an arm in front of me. "What are you?"

I frowned at his choice of words. What instead of who.

Bernard's head swiveled toward him. "I am highly surprised you don't already know the answer to that, Rogan Ellis. I am an Ellipsis Cyber Drone, model number six-six-five-five-point-one."

What did he just say? What kind of an answer was that? What did that even mean?

"An Ellipsis Cyber Drone?" Rogan's eyebrows went up. "But… but how-"

"There have been many advancements made in artificial intelligence since you were incarcerated, Rogan Ellis," Bernard said evenly. "I am only one of them."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"He's a robot," Rogan growled without taking his eyes off Bernard. "With a very advanced artificial intelligence program. Fuck. I knew there was something wrong. I just don't trust my own instincts anymore. Of course they wouldn't make us kill a civilian."

"Three minutes remain in this level of The Countdown."

Bernard's fake smile slipped back over more of his teeth. "Rogan Ellis, convicted rapist and murderer, could not bring himself to kill an Ellipsis Cyber Drone. And for that, both of you shall be eliminated from The Countdown."

I felt a line of perspiration slide down my spine.

The robot smirked, and suddenly I could see what he truly was. Before I was in too much shock, too much fear, to see that this guy didn't look all that human after all. He was too shiny, too seamless. His eyes reflected no inner personality. His voice had a slightly metallic tinniness to it that reminded me of the computer countdown I couldn't run away from because it fed directly into my brain.

"It will not be long now," the robot said. "Rogan Ellis, my database tells me that you have been wishing for death for many months. You do not like Saradone Maximum-Security Prison? I know that the scar on your face is from fighting off four other inmates who wanted to do very bad things to you. You killed two of them before the guards stopped the fight and placed you in solitary confinement. I think that you are lucky you received only a mark on your face. I am not surprised that you agreed to come on The Countdown instead of facing life back in the regular prison population. I would say that you would not have lasted another week."

I looked at Rogan. That was how he got his scar? Trying to fight off other inmates? I felt a flood of pity fill my chest but tried to push it away.

I couldn't even wrap my head around how wrong all of this was. From holoscreens, to flying cameras, to robots posing as fucking accountants-it was so messed up my brain couldn't even process it all.

"There are two minutes remaining in this level of The Countdown."

"You know what, robot?" Rogan said, and there was zero emotion in his voice. "I still have two minutes left to reduce you to a pile of tin cans. You can't kill us until after the level's done, right? So we still have time."

The robot nodded with a firm jerk of his head. "This is true. I cannot kill you yet."

He lowered the gun and pulled the trigger. I felt the bullet rip into my upper right thigh and I fell to the ground, screaming and clutching my leg.

"However," the robot continued, "I can still entertain the subscribers until the level comes to its conclusion." He chambered another round. "Rogan Ellis, I would have believed that you would appreciate watching another woman writhing around in agony before her inevitable death. Why do you look so stern?"

"Kira!" Rogan called out to me, his voice hoarse.

I could barely hear him. My leg felt like it was on fire, and all I could do was wrestle with the pain. It hurt so horribly that I couldn't see anything but white. I couldn't hear anything except the countdown, now at one minute.

One minute and no more pain.

"Fifty-nine.. fifty-eight.. fifty-seven …"

I blinked and tried to focus as tears streamed down my face. Rogan had rushed Bernard and grabbed his arms, wrestling him to the ground. The gun skittered across the pavement, coming to rest an arm's reach away from me.

"Son of a bitch!" Rogan snarled as he pounded his fist into the robot's face. Through my tear-blurred vision I saw a glimmer of metal show beneath the artificial skin.