Chapter 18 Enemy Engaged
Enemy Engaged
The metallic taste of Elliot’s blood lingered on Levi’s lip as he tried to process Asher’s impossible question. Do you like me more now? As if murder and manipulation were just different strategies in some twisted courtship.
Levi’s mind raced through his options. Scream for help? No one would hear through the locked doors. Attack? The knife lay across the room, and Asher’s physical strength had already proven superior in multiple loops. Play along? The thought made his stomach turn.
He needed time. Space to think.
“I would have p-preferred if you’d just talked to me,” Levi said, voice steadier than he felt. “About remembering the loops. About knowing who I am.” He swallowed hard. “Instead of... this.” His eyes flicked toward Elliot’s body.
Something shifted in Asher’s expression—a flicker of disappointment that crossed his features like a shadow. His hand dropped from Levi’s jaw, leaving bloody fingerprints on his skin.
“You wouldn’t have believed me,” Asher said, taking a step back. The sudden space between them felt like the first breath after nearly drowning. “You would have run. Like before.”
He turned away, moving toward the window where afternoon light cast long shadows across the floor. Blood dripped from his fingertips, creating a trail of crimson droplets across the weathered floorboards.
“After Riverbend,” Asher continued, his voice softer now, “when you cut your own throat rather than let me touch you...” He paused, staring at his bloodstained hands. “It hurt my feelings.”
Levi remained pressed against the door, heart hammering in his chest. The offhand way Asher referenced his suicide—as if it were an inconsiderate act rather than a desperate escape from violation—sent ice through his veins.
“I decided I didn’t want to be the killer anymore,” Asher continued, wiping his hands on his jeans. “I woke up in that van with you sleeping on my shoulder. You looked... peaceful. I thought maybe this time could be different.”
“What are you?” Levi asked, the question escaping before he could stop himself.
Asher turned, heterochromatic eyes reflecting the dying sunlight. He shrugged, an oddly human gesture from something Levi was certain wasn’t human at all.
“Does it matter?” Asher asked. “I just want you, Levi. If that means being your colleague instead of your...” He hesitated, searching for the right word. “...adversary, then I’ll do it.”
The raw honesty in his voice was somehow more terrifying than any threat.
Levi’s mind worked furiously, analyzing this new information. Asher remembered everything—every death, every loop. He wasn’t just an NPC in this game; he was something else. A player? The game master? Whatever he was, he was the only other constant across the loops.
The only person who remembers what I remember.
The realization hit with uncomfortable clarity. If Levi wanted to understand the rules of this game—to find a way out—Asher might be his only consistent ally, despite everything he’d done.
This is like forming a party with the final boss because you need his loot to progress.
“If you want me to trust you,” Levi said carefully, “there need to be ground rules.”
Asher’s expression brightened with unexpected eagerness. “Name them.”
“No more random killing.” Levi gestured toward Elliot’s body.
“He went through your things without permission,” Asher said defensively.
“No. More. Killing,” Levi repeated. “And no touching me without permission. No...” He swallowed, memories of Riverbend flashing through his mind. “Not without permission.”
Asher studied him for a long moment, head tilted. “And if I agree to these terms?”
“Then we work together to figure out what this place is. How to escape.” Levi straightened, finding strength in having a plan. “You said you want me? Well, I want answers.”
A small smile played at the corners of Asher’s mouth. “A partnership, then.”
“A temporary alliance,” Levi corrected. “Based on mutual survival. Not trust.”
Asher nodded slowly, then gestured toward the electronic equipment scattered around Elliot’s body. “We need to decide what to tell the others.”
Levi looked at Elliot’s corpse, bile rising in his throat. The wound was too severe, too obviously violent to explain as an accident. “What happened to him, exactly?”
“He was reading your notebook,” Asher said, studying the electronic devices with a frown. “Taking pictures of the pages with his phone. I didn’t like that.”
The matter-of-fact admission made Levi’s skin crawl. “So you killed him.”
“I protected your privacy,” Asher corrected. He knelt beside the equipment, unplugging cables from the wall outlet. The red lights flickered and died, but the doors remained sealed. “There’s a difference.”
Is there? Levi wondered, but kept the thought to himself. A more pressing concern occupied his mind.
“Can you unlock the doors?” Levi asked.
Asher tried reconnecting the cables in different configurations, his movements growing increasingly frustrated. “I thought... last time when I plugged everything in, the doors shut. I assumed unplugging would reverse it.”
“But it’s not working.”
“No.” Asher sat back on his heels, staring at the equipment with genuine confusion. “I don’t understand how any of this works. Things were simpler when you guys were just camping.”
“So we’re trapped,” Levi said, testing the door handle again. Still locked.
“Temporarily,” Asher replied, though uncertainty colored his voice.
What happens when night falls and we’re still locked in here?
“The others will come looking for us,” Levi said, trying to convince himself as much as Asher.
“Will they?” Asher asked.
Levi sank onto one of the chairs, mind racing. He looked at Elliot’s body, then at Asher, who was still futilely attempting different cable configurations.
“We can’t bring him back downstairs like this anyway,” Levi said. “The others will panic.”
“Would that be bad?” Asher asked, pausing in his work.
“For our alliance? Yes.” Levi forced himself to think strategically despite the claustrophobic pressure building in his chest. “If we’re working together now, we need to maintain our cover. The team needs to believe this is still a normal investigation.”
Asher considered this, then moved to the recreation room’s supply closet. He emerged with several dusty sheets, probably used to cover furniture during the hospital’s closure.
“We wrap him,” Asher suggested. “For when we get out of here. Tell them he fell through a weak floor. Internal injuries.”
Levi stared at him. “You’re very calm about being trapped.”
“I’ve been in worse situations,” Asher replied, spreading a sheet beside Elliot’s body. “Besides, I’m not alone this time.”
The way he said it—with genuine warmth—sent conflicting signals through Levi’s nervous system.
Together, they wrapped Elliot’s corpse, Asher handling most of the physical work while Levi focused on not vomiting. The sheet quickly darkened with blood, but it contained the worst of the gore.
“The wound,” Levi said, noticing how the fabric revealed the shape of the gash. “It’s too obviously from a knife.”
Without hesitation, Asher picked up a loose floorboard and brought it down hard on the wrapped body. The sickening crack of ribs breaking echoed through the room.
“A-Asher!” Levi jerked backward.
“Trauma consistent with a fall,” Asher explained matter-of-factly. “The knife wound is now masked by blunt force injuries.”
Levi stared at him in horror.
Asher paused, a flicker of uncertainty crossing his features. “Was that wrong? I thought you wanted us to work together.”
“I...” Levi struggled to find words. “Just... warn me next time.”
“Noted.” Asher returned to fiddling with the electronic equipment, but his movements were halfhearted now. They both knew he didn’t understand how it worked.
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence broken only by Asher’s frustrated sighs as he tried different cable combinations. Outside, the light continued to fade.
“How long do you think we have?” Levi asked.
“Until what?”
“Until night falls. Until whatever rules this place has change again.”
Asher looked up from the equipment, those eyes reflecting the dying sunlight. “Does it matter? We’re together now. That’s what I wanted.”
The simple honesty of it made Levi’s chest tight. Even trapped and facing unknown danger, Asher seemed almost... content. As long as Levi was there with him.
“That’s not normal,” Levi said.
“Neither are you,” Asher replied. “Neither is any of this. But here we are.”
As if summoned by their conversation, a loud banging echoed through the building—footsteps on the stairs, voices calling their names. The team was coming to look for them.