The door to the observation hall hissed open with a soft hydraulic breath.
Ty looked up from the cot behind the glass, his face pale and sharp in the overhead light. He still wore the thermal blanket like a shawl, but the way his posture straightened when he saw her made Jessi stop cold.
He smiled.
"Jessi."
Her fingers curled around the railing. "We need to talk."
He nodded, standing slowly. "Yeah. Of course. I've been wanting to."
She didn't speak at first. Just studied him through the plexiglass. The small tremor in his hand. The dark crescents under his eyes. The way his gaze never quite sat still anymore.
"You lied about your brother," she said quietly.
Ty's mouth opened—then closed again.
"I didn't—" he tried. "It's not what you think."
"Then tell me," Jessi said, voice cracking. "Tell me again. Where is he?"
He looked away.
She stepped closer, pressed both palms to the cold glass.
"You said you'd been on your own for weeks. That he didn't make it. But your bag had two toothbrushes. Your boots had mismatched treads. And someone kept trying to override the external locks."
Ty's jaw flexed. "It's not what you think."
"You already said that."
He moved toward her now, slow, deliberate, palms raised.
"Jessi… come on. We went on that horrible sushi date, remember? You said I ate like a raccoon."
She flinched at the memory—at the fact that she still remembered the sound of his laugh.
"I didn't ask you out again," he continued, "and I should have. That's on me. I got scared. You were brilliant and intimidating and I wasn't sure you'd ever want anything real with me."
"This isn't about that," she whispered.
"Isn't it?" he asked gently. "We finally get a second chance. Everyone else is gone. Maybe this is fate. Maybe we're supposed to find each other now—like this."
"You're trying to gaslight me into ignoring what I already know."
His expression shuttered. Just for a moment.
Then he smiled again. A softer version of the old Ty. Too soft.
"I wouldn't hurt you," he said.
Jessi swallowed hard. Her breath fogged the glass between them.
"I don't think you'd mean to," she murmured. "But I think someone else might have gotten to you. And I think if they told you your brother's life depended on it… you'd open those doors."
Ty said nothing.
Jessi stared at him for a long moment, then stepped back.
"You're almost out of time," she said. "Whatever you're planning—don't."
She didn't wait for a reply.
She just turned and walked out, never looking back.
--
JOSH.
The feed played in grainy grayscale on the central monitor — no sound, just image.
Jessi's back was to the camera. Ty stood across from her, behind the plexiglass, his expression unreadable.
Josh leaned forward, elbows on his knees, eyes narrowed as the exchange played out.
"She knows," Jules said quietly from behind him.
Josh nodded once. "And he knows she knows."
They watched in silence as Jessi turned and left. Ty didn't move for a few seconds — then slowly sat down, hands laced, eyes fixed on the floor like he was calculating something.
Josh leaned back. "That was it. He's compromised."
"I'd bet everything on it," Jules murmured. "The delay. The way he tested the locks. The subtle physical tells. And now? That was a goodbye."
Josh's throat tightened.
"How long before he tries something?"
"He'll wait," she said. "Make it seem like he's resigned. Like he's accepted it. Then when they try again from the outside…"
"He'll let them in."
Josh rubbed his face, scrubbing the tension from his jaw.
"We have to isolate the whole wing," he muttered. "Cut all his access. Kill the emergency overrides. Manual controls only. I want every door in that quadrant key-coded and watched."
Jules nodded. "And Jessi?"
Josh hesitated. "She'll hate me for it. But she's off quarantine duty. Effective immediately."
"She won't hate you."
"She'll think I don't trust her."
"She'll be right," Jules said, tone level. "But she'll also understand. Eventually."
Josh's eyes flicked back to the screen one last time.
Ty was still sitting motionless, but there was something off about his stillness now — too calm. Too centered.
It was time to get rid of this risk before it invited more trouble, the only way into the tower without huge losses was to have someone's help from the inside.
--
JESSI.
She didn't expect Jules to be waiting for her outside the dorm hallway.
The lights were dimmed for night cycle, but Jules stood fully dressed in black, her arms folded, expression unreadable.
"Come with me."
Jessi stiffened. "What's going on?"
Jules turned and walked without answering.
Jessi followed, heart kicking up in her chest. The further they moved from the dorms, the colder it felt. Something in the air had shifted.
They reached the security hub, where Josh stood inside with the door open. He looked up when they entered, exhaustion etched deep into the lines of his face.
"Close the door," he said.
Jules did.
Josh didn't mince words.
"You're off quarantine duty."
Jessi blinked. "What?"
"You're done with Ty. Effective now. No contact."
Her hands clenched at her sides. "You can't be serious. I've been with him from the start—"
"Exactly," Jules cut in. "You're emotionally invested. It's not a judgment, Jess. It's a reality."
Jessi looked between them, pulse hammering in her ears.
"You think I'm compromised too?"
"No," Josh said, softly. "But you're not objective. And he's… not who you remember."
Jessi stepped back, as if physically struck.
"So that's it? We lock him in a box and pretend he was never one of us?"
Josh hesitated. Then: "He's not one of us."
"He was—!"
"He tested the locks again tonight," Jules interrupted. "We caught it on footage. He's playing a long game."
Jessi opened her mouth. Closed it. Something inside her fractured.
Josh's voice gentled. "We're going to expel him at dawn. Quietly. Safely. While the storm's clear. He'll get supplies. A map. Enough to make it if he wants to."
"If he wants to?" Jessi repeated. "You think he's going to walk away?"
"That's the best-case scenario."
Jules stepped forward then. Her voice was firm, but kind.
"We're telling you because we trust you. And because we need you on our side if it goes wrong."
Jessi swallowed the lump rising in her throat.
She'd already lost so many people. And now—
She turned to the wall screen behind Josh. The feed still showed Ty in his quarantine cell. He was lying on his side, curled up beneath the thermal blanket, peaceful as a child.
But the pit in her stomach said otherwise.
"Do I get to say goodbye?" she whispered.
Josh looked at Jules.
"No," Jules said. "Not anymore. We can't tip him off that he's not going to be staying."