I still wonder why she didn't shoot me right then and there, take the keys, and scramble away. Would she have survived if she had?

  But something stopped her.

  "What are these for?" I asked, jingling the quantum keys.

  I'm very patient. But my futurecasting was all over the place, and my mental timer was telling me we had to hurry. That said, I wasn't going to hurry into the unknown. I've done that before, and too many times it resulted in dying. Not to mention that my unsatisfied curiosity was getting the better of me. I felt like I was going to snap if I didn't find out what was going on.

  "Please. Just tell me what's going on," I pleaded. "I can help. I'm getting super fustricated, and you won't like what happens next. I bite. I scratch."

  "You bite? You scratch?" she repeated back at me. She extended her shooting arm. "I shoot."

  I was in a losing position for sure. But she would have shot me already if she was going to, right? "Then shoot me. I know you want to."

  She didn't. She heaved a deep breath and sighed. It was cute, all things considered. When I realized that, my face flushed, and I started rambling.

  "The odds are better if we're together," I said. "You know it. I know it. We both know it. The zombies know it. Maybe I don't look like much, but did you see what I did in that doom room? I can fight. I don't just blow myself up all the time. Mostly yes, but no. That's not what I mean. Other aiways blow me up a lot. That's what I mean. But you aren't going to. Right? So, we just need to cooperate, you and I."

  There. Well done, me.

  "What are these keys for?" I asked, watching her closely as I pocketed them in my jumpsuit. Her eyes narrowed in on me.

  "You'll see," she said slowly, as if convincing herself.

  Then she began to slink toward me from across the room, working her way around the tables, her injured form shimmering in its silver glory.

  "I have the keys," I noted, stating the obvious and moving toward the doorway. "You have my gun. You lead the way, and I'll go wherever you want."

  She raised an eyebrow at me.

  "I will."

  "Will you do so quietly?" she asked.

  I had to think about that one. Probably not. But I decided to answer by not saying anything. I shrugged instead, focusing on her violet eyes for signs of acknowledgment.

  That was my mistake. Those vibrant eyes of hers drew me in, and she latched onto my gaze, staring with curiosity and determination.

  I stared back at her, matching her violet for what I assumed were my dazzling, electric blue eyes. Take that! I thought to myself. I'm pretty good at staring contests.

  She continued to stagger toward me, holding my gaze, her hair bobbing with each step, the gun pointed at my head. When she got closer, she lowered the gun, and I breathed a sigh of relief. She inspected her snakeskin outfit with her other hand, eyes still fixed on me.

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  "What? No holster on that suit of yours," I joked.

  "Do you like my suit?" she whispered, limping closer. She stepped out into the open, leaning back against a table so that she could stand taller and show off her snakeskin suit. She was just a few paces away, and at that distance, her suit was blinding in the light, like an explosion of quantum diodes. I could feel my pupils shrinking at the sight of it.

  "You shall not hypnotize me," I proclaimed. "Your womanly wiles are wasted on me."

  "Womanly wiles?" she repeated, trying not to roll her eyes.

  I held her gaze and stood tall and strong, trying to make myself bigger with my head high and my chin out.

  "You look ridiculous," she responded, closing the distance between us. I was pretty sure she was trying not to laugh. Was I offended? A little. I considered myself a reasonably attractive aiways.

  "Nonsense. I'm very handsome," I proclaimed.

  "Well, that's not an attractive look on you. You shouldn't do that again."

  I slumped back to a relaxed pose, glaring at her. I wanted to punch her in the shoulder. She was close enough to touch now, but I decided that would be cheating. I needed to out-stare her, hurt feelings or not. So I studied her violet eyes, the tint of greenish blue at the core. The beaming light highlighted streaks of violet in her hair. In my peripheral vision, I spotted my gun held comfortably in her right hand.

  She winked at me. Cheater. "You have beautiful blue eyes," she said.

  Damnit! I thought. She was pretty. She knew she was pretty, and she was going to use it against me. My heart rate accelerated noticeably, but I ignored it.

  "Begone, demon serpent!" I cursed at her.

  She countered by moving in closer, stepping up to meet me head-on, literally. I obliged, bringing our foreheads together. Game on.

  She brushed her curls away so that I had no other distraction. Multi-colored eyes are unfair, if you ask me. Her eyes were so close and mesmerizing that I thought I was going to break concentration just so that I could process a coherent thought.

  Lucky for me, at this distance, I could smell her breath, and oh my was it foul. Her breath smelled as if she hadn't had a chance to clean her teeth in months, and maybe she hadn't.

  "Ha ha," I said, making an ucky face at her. "Your breath smells."

  I caught a slight shift in her face and eyebrows, barely noticeable being unplugged, but visible at such a close range. My words bothered her. She had been locked up for who knows how long. But she held my stare, and as quickly as that splinter in her facade had come, it was gone again.

  She counterattacked. "Your breath isn't so hot either."

  Hmph. That was weak, although probably true, and it definitely made me want to check my breath. "You should smell my feet."

  "Is that what that is?" she replied. "I thought there was a rotting corpse in here."

  There was no way she could smell my stinky feet. I growled at her, but I kept my forehead glued to hers and stared harder.

  She stared back. Damn, she's good at this.

  I tried not to lose myself in the violet pools of her eyes. Her stupid eyes were magnificent, like someone had liquified a blooming flower and poured it into her eye sockets.

  I tried to tap into my survival instinct instead of my self-destruct instinct. The self-destruct side of me would be happy to stay this way, locked in her orbit, until the overtaken were upon us and I had to blow us up.

  "We should get out of here," I uttered between clenched teeth, trying not to breathe on her. "You're obviously injured. We can't do this forever."

  "You can't. I can."

  Then she licked my nose.

  "Hey!" I exclaimed. "That's cheating." I broke away from her the slightest, but I managed to tolerate the wet feeling on my nose and reestablish my position. Most importantly, I didn't look away.

  "Why is that cheating?" she laughed.

  "You can't lick my nose!"

  "You're just upset you didn't think of it first."

  Infuriating. "Well, it didn't work. What are you gonna do now, huh?"

  She stopped laughing and focused on me, intensely, lulling me back in. It was unnerving. Then she kneed me harshly in the groin and shoved me backwards.

  The fuck! I should have seen it coming. I hit the floor, doubling over in pain. I looked up at her angrily and planted a hand on the floor to rise back to my feet.

  She punched me in the face.

  I dropped back to the floor, landing on my back. "I don't like that," I groaned.

  This wasn't a cute and playful game anymore. I suppose that's what I deserved for putting a small bit of trust in a Burner. My nose was bleeding. My eyes were tearing up. In the bright light, my tears made what little I could see take on rainbow highlights. I could make out her shape slightly as I rolled over and felt my way along the floor.

  That's when she hit me again, not with her fist this time.