Chapter 3 TWELVE HOURS

The pain started behind her right eye , a sharp, glass splinter ache that spread until her vision blurred.

She knew what was coming.

The pill had bought her time. That time was up.

She leaned against the diner wall, breath quickening, as the world drained of color. The street sounds warped cars became whispers, footsteps a distant hum and then she was there.

Not here.

Somewhere else.

The air was cold, sterile. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. She stood in a white corridor lined with numbered steel doors. Her hands were gloved surgical gloves and they were shaking.

A voice crackled through an intercom: "Patient 6 ready for retrieval."

Her gloved hand reached for a keycard, swiped it, and pushed into one of the steel rooms.

Inside, a man sat strapped to a chair, his head encased in a web of wires. His eyes fluttered open.

"You shouldn't be doing this," he rasped. "You'll forget yourself too."

She or whoever she was in this moment said nothing. She adjusted a dial on the console beside him. The machine hummed, and his breath turned ragged.

"Evie," he gasped.

The name froze her.

The machine's hum became a roar

And she was back in the alley behind the diner, clutching at her skull like she could hold the fragments of memory together with her bare hands.

Her breath came in sharp bursts. Patient 6. Steel doors. Wires. And that voice - his voice - saying her name like it meant something more.

She didn't notice the figure approaching until he spoke.

"Rough trip?"

She spun around, ready to run again. The man leaning against the wall wasn't the one from the apartment. This one wore a frayed leather jacket, his face unshaven but his eyes too alert to be casual.

"You've got about ten hours before the next hit," he said. "Longer if you take another pill."

"Who are you?"

He smirked faintly. "The guy who still remembers you. For now."

He reached into his pocket and tossed her something small and white. She caught it instinctively another capsule.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked.

His smirk faded. "Because you helped me once. And because the man in your head ,Patient 6 - doesn't have much time."

She stared at the pill. "Who is he?"

The man's gaze darted over her shoulder, scanning the street. "Someone you swore to protect. Someone they'll kill if they find him. And trust me..." His voice dropped. "...they're close."

Before she could press for more, he melted into the crowd, leaving her alone with the pill and a thousand questions.

Somewhere deep inside, the image of the steel corridor lingered. She didn't know if she was trying to save Patient 6 - or if she had been the one to put him there.