Something metal hits the floor next to me.
“Shit,” I say, diving for whatever cover I can find.
The explosion is deafening. My outfit protects my legs from getting burned, but I can still feel the heat. Another disc sails into the structure, landing closer to the common room just opposite me. I move further into the house, entering one of the bedrooms. The building moans in reaction to the detonation, and begins to shift. I walk as quietly as I can and step through a hole in the back wall of the room. Another disc goes off, this time igniting the dry pressboard that makes up much of the interior. I slink around the side of the house, peering around the corner. Two contestants from Nius are taking turns lobbing their arsenal into the house.
Why haven’t the Keepers stopped them? Hammond said if we buddied up our kill rate would increase and our shields turned off.
Let’s see if that’s true.
I pull out my Kopis, as it had been sheathed, and loop behind them. My blade slices through one of the Nius before he can react. He drops dead as his partner works on generating her shield. Just as Hammond had said, it’s been deactivated. She turns to run, but my blade cuts through her before she’s even an inch away.
Three left. Two Loopers including me, and one Rapid.
I loop, projecting myself as far from the house as possible. Through the haze that occurs while looping, I see the other Looper hovering in mid-air by the statue I was near earlier. I land in my chosen location then loop again, heading for where I started. The Looper is still hovering, perhaps not sure where to land. I select a different location to set down in, alongside the building instead of in front. I call up my shield and approach the plaza with caution.
Drake is sitting along the small wall that encircles the pool below the statue’s feet, staring up into the sky. I follow his gaze from my vantage point. The Looper I saw in the haze is spliced between realities. Portions of him show in the air like puzzle pieces, only grotesque and distorted.
“I wonder how he managed to do that,” Drake says, now standing next to me. “That’s a horrible way to die.”
I step backwards, but Drake places his hand on my back and pushes me forward. As he does this, his weapon carves a deep half-moon incision into my arm. I bring up my Kopis, slamming it against his shield.
“You know, Max, we’re evenly matched. My shield protects me against your weapon and yours against mine.”
“I can loop away from here.”
“I don’t think you’ll do that. Something tells me that the Keepers have moved the barrier to this plaza.”
I look at him quizzically.
Drake picks up a piece of concrete and hurls it up towards the street. It hits an invisible barrier, falling to the ground.
That must be how the Looper got caught. They must have been moving the barrier while he was looping. I’m surprised that didn’t happen to me. It should’ve since I was further away than he was. I wonder why it didn’t.
I step away from Drake, walking backwards, never taking my eyes off him. I don’t stop until my legs hit the barrier around the pool. I keep my Kopis extended in front of me. Drake doesn’t put his shield up, but he also stays out of reach.
“You know what Brink told me before I left the unit? He said for me to make sure you survived, which means he wants me to die as only one of us is leaving here.” He paces between me and the stairs up to the building. “Can you believe the gall of such a request?”
“It’s only because he cares for me, that’s all,” I say. “If you can beat me, then you deserve to win.”
He’s suddenly next to me. His one hand wrapped around my throat while his other one has thrust my arm to its side, preventing me from brandishing my weapon. “Aren’t you confident, Max? But what are you going to do now? You can’t loop away from me since you’ll be spliced like your friend.” He nods towards the other Looper, but my gaze is focused on the pair of birds flying in and out of the lobby door.
I take my free hand and grab his wrist. “Let’s go for a ride.”
I loop the both of us inside the building. When we land, I shove Drake off me. He skids across the floor, stopping when he hits the lifts. I loop again, landing right at his feet, my Kopis thrust forward stabbing him in the shoulder. He screams from the pain and sweeps my legs out from under me. My Kopis is still in Drake’s shoulder when I lose my grip. Since it can only be touched by me, the minute my flesh stops making contact with the weapon, it vanishes.
Drake notices I’m now weaponless, pulls his weapons from the pocket on his belt, and slashes at me. He cuts deeply into my arms. As he’s about to pull them out, I grab them with my hands and loop. Drake is stunned by my move. I let go of the weapons while still looping and they disappear.
“How?” he screams from below my feet.
I land in front of him, grab him by the collar, and loop again, this time projecting us high above the lobby floor. I’m not sure if the Keepers or our units can see and hear what’s going on inside the void Drake and I are currently in, but I speak my mind anyway.
“Look, I don’t want to be here any
