Introduction

The harsh clang of the school bell ripped me from a nightmare.

One moment, I was bleeding out on the cold community center floor, choked by smoke and gasoline, watching the Outlaws murder my family.

The next, I was back in my high school classroom, the familiar scent of chalk and disinfectant filling the air, alive and untouched.

My heart hammered-not with teenaged excitement, but with the primal terror of a ghost, knowing this was it: the day it all began.

Brittany Hayes, perfect blonde hair and a weaponized smile, stood at the front, pushing her dad' s "Life Path AI" onto our entire class for free.

Liam Carter, the class golden boy, nodded eagerly beside her, his handsome face alight with ambition, calling it "foolproof."

A wave of excited chatter filled the room: the exact siren song that had led to ruin in my last life.

I remembered standing up then, my voice trembling but determined, warning them about the AI' s flaws, its bias towards corporate partners.

They' d laughed, calling me jealous, a conspiracy theorist, just because my family ran a charity center.

They ostracized me, humiliated me, and then Brittany' s father' s media machine discredited my family, painting us as backward fools.

Then the Outlaws came, paid to send a message, and they destroyed everything: my parents, my little sister Lily, and me.

The memory burned, a raw, open wound in my soul.

This time, I didn't stand up.

I leaned back, a mask of calm indifference, an empty smile for Liam who glanced my way in surprise.

Let them walk into the fire.

This time, I would be the one holding the gasoline.