Countdown

He nodded. 'You ruined what would have been a very interesting finale.'

'What, our deaths on camera? You sure have a twisted sense of what's interesting.'

'I'm not entirely convinced that you wouldn't have shot him to save your own skin, Kira.'

If my mouth weren't so dry I would have spit at him. Crude, sure, but definitely an effective way of showing somebody what you were thinking.

'I wouldn't have killed him,' I said evenly.

'Perhaps. But now we'll never know for sure.'

I heard a whirring sound, and a small hatch in the wall up in the top right corner of the room opened up and a camera slid out. It swiveled around so that it pointed toward the table.

'What the hell is that?' Rogan growled.

'You ruined my game. I can't have fifteen thousand angry subscribers. Now I will make it up to them.'

Colin moved forward. 'You said that you wouldn't hurt her!'

Gareth put a hand on his shoulder. 'I meant every word.'

Colin appeared to relax a little. He dared a glance in my direction. 'See, Kira? I'm not as bad as you're probably thinking. I refused to help if he was going to hurt you. He promised.'

I didn't reply. I was afraid of what I might say to thank him for his 'help.'

'Come with me.' Gareth led him toward the door. 'I'm sure the new ending I have planned for The Countdown will be very well received.'

Colin moved with him but was frowning. 'I don't understand. You promised-'

Gareth nodded. 'I promise that her death will be completely painless.'

'Gareth!' Rogan roared. 'What are you doing? I said that I'd cooperate if you let her go!'

Gareth shook his head. 'You have no choice but to cooperate. Now I will leave you in private-other than the cameras, of course-to say your good-byes.'

The door shut behind them, leaving Rogan and me in the white room all alone except for the whir of the camera.

Rogan's gaze shot erratically around the room. He strained against his bindings.

I felt the pounding of my heart in the backs of my eyeballs as I waited for something horrible to happen, and the fear I'd been trying to repress flooded over me again.

The metal cuffs restraining my arms behind me released and dropped to the floor. I rubbed my wrists and looked at Rogan with wide eyes.

'What the hell just happened? I'm free.'

I shakily got up from the chair and began to move toward Rogan.

'No.' His gaze moved up toward the ceiling 'Wait. This room … Don't come any closer-'

A thick sheet of glass slammed down from the ceiling to the floor, cutting the table cleanly in half, the force of it blowing the hair back from my face. If I'd taken one more step it would have done the same to me.

I looked at it dumbly, not believing what had just happened. I put my hand against the cold glass and stared through it at Rogan, who had been knocked to the floor when the table fell apart. His hands were still bound behind him.

I glanced up at the camera that taped us and imagined the subscribers watching greedily.

I stalked over to the door and realized that there was no handle.

'Kira!' Rogan shouted. I could still hear him, even if he was a bit muffled on the other side of the glass barrier. He wore an expression of pure shock.

I promise that her death will be painless, Gareth had said.

I had to wonder what he meant for only another moment.

That was when the gas began to seep through the air vents into my side of the room.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The gas slid out of the vent in the upper left comer in a translucent white, slithering line. It trailed down the wall and onto the floor, where it dissipated. But I could see it coming. More and more of it, moving through the room like blind fingers searching me out. When it reached me it

curled around my legs, swirling and moving like a snake.

'Kira!' Rogan yelled.

Gareth was right. It wasn't painful. In fact, it didn't hurt at all. I was surprised that the gas didn't even have much of a scent when it finally reached my nostrils. I clamped my hands over my mouth and nose, but I knew that wouldn't do any good. Not for long. I turned to the glass, to Rogan.

'What do I do now?' My voice was strained with panic.

He pulled hard against his restraints but it did nothing. His expression was frantic. 'I don't know. Dammit! I don't know!'

The camera swiveled to take in both sides of the room.

'Gareth!' Rogan roared. 'I'm going to kill you!'

But there was no reply. There was nothing. Gareth had promised to give us some privacy-other than the fifteen thousand subscribers who were tuned in to watch my death scene, of course.

I tried to hold my breath, but after thirty seconds I realized that breathing wasn't really a choice. Unfortunately.

I inhaled some of the gas, which still had no discernible odor. Maybe it was just a ruse. Maybe this was just something to get an entertaining reaction out of us and make the subscribers happy after we'd cheated them out of a good Level-Six ending by escaping.

But no. The more I breathed, the weaker I started to feel. My head began to swim. I gasped. Instead of pounding hard and fast with fear like it had been before, my heart began to pump slower and slower.

A tear slipped down my face-I wasn't sure if it was from self-pity or the gas itself, which had now filled the room completely. It was see-through, casting a slightly whitish fogginess to the already white room. I found that I couldn't stay standing, and my legs crumpled beneath me, bringing me down onto my knees hard enough to cause a bruise. I dragged myself closer to the window and put my hands up on the cold, smooth glass.

Rogan stared at me. He'd moved close to the barrier, and I could see his breath fogging up the glass. He continued to struggle hard against his bindings, even though it had done nothing but made his face gleam with more perspiration from the effort. His expression was now a mixture of rage and grief.

'I want you to know,' I managed, gasping now for each breath I took, 'I still think that you were wrong earlier.'

'About what?'

'I'm glad I got off the shuttle. I… I'm glad for any time we've spent together, Rogan.'

'Kira-' His voice broke. 'No, don't give up!'

'Just… just promise me that you won't stop fighting.' I blinked and the tears splashed down my already wet cheeks. 'Don't let them change you into a monster like him. You're too good for that. There's… there's still hope….'

My hand slipped off the glass. I was now breathing shallowly through my mouth in quick little gasps. The world in front of me was beginning to fade to gray, darker and darker, to the pitch-black that I feared the most.

Would I see my family? Would I go to heaven when I died?

Be brave, I told myself.

But I wasn't brave. I was afraid. So afraid.

It didn't hurt. That seemed to make it even scarier. At least pain reminded me that I was still alive.

'No, Kira … please … don't leave me! Don't go. Please! I love you!' His voice broke for real this time. He was crying.

Ilove you, too, I wanted to say. I wanted to let him know how much I loved him, how much I believed in him. How much I'd miss him.

But I didn't have the energy to speak. My mouth moved wordlessly as I slid the rest of the way down the