Replay: Red

By K. Weikel

The choice is easy. Your heart remembered him when your brain didn't. There is no other option.

Six years ago, he broke your heart. You just barely recovered from the pain of losing him. Now that he's around again, you can't help but feel the pull from you heart to his. The both of you have changed so much... but is this leftover love because of your past relationship, or the new one that's been forged?

| ALTERNATE ENDING 4 OF THE REPLAY SERIES - OLIVER

• Language: English
• Publisher: K. Weikel Publishing
• Release date: Oct 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463713235

K. Weikel

K. Weikel uses her three-dimensional characters to tell stories of life and adventure and magic."The One-Hundred" won the Wattys Award in 2015 and has reached over two million reads. Weikel has also won the 2017 Writers Awards for Building Monsters. She has written 60 books, including her first manga, "Katharsis". To learn more, visit her website: http://www.kweikel.comSERIES:Underdogs (4)Replay (13)Katharsis (1)The One-Hundred (6 Books, 1 Short Story, 1 Novella)The Haunted Mansion (4)The Blood Room [3 Alternate Endings]TRILOGIES:Dead MenMaskless TrilogyTrapped TrilogyCOMING SOON (1)DUOLOGIES:The Unnamed DuologyStop; GoSTAND-ALONES:WaterloggedThrough the Dimension of NightmaresWhen the Sky EatsCreatures of the BelowNord and the BordSamenessBuilding MonstersDollhouseThe Vampire's CarnivalKrystal's WorldLabyrinthFiguresMatchCagedList X

Book preview

Replay: Red

Book 11

Alternate Ending 4

Oliver

By K. Weikel

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is currently coincidental.

Text copyright © 2020 K. Weikel

Jacket photograph copyright © 2020 by K. Weikel

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact [e-mail]

Jacket design and photo-illustration by K. Weikel

The text of this book was set in Calibri. Chapter titles set in Bedtime Stories.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Replay: Red / by K. Weikel. – First paperback edition p. cm.

Copyright © 2020 by K. Weikel

All rights reserved. No part of this public action may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic of mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brie quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Printed in the United States of America

To live… will be an awfully big adventure.

Imprint: Independently published

Other books by K. Weikel

The Replay Series

Amnesia

Reboot

Tiptoe

Crimson

Glitch

Lifeline

Ghost

White

Black

Green

Red

The One-Hundred Series

The One-Hundred

Untouched Water

Tamir

Damian’s Deeds

The One

The Deal

Human

The Unnamed Duology

The Unnamed

The Elite

The Maskless Trilogy

Hiding Behind A Mask

Hiding Behind A Name

Hiding Behind A Face

The Blood Room

Alternate Endings 1, 2, & 3

The Trapped Trilogy

Trapped

Wiped

Grounded

The Haunted Mansion Series

The Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Band Room

Revenge

Through the Dimension of Nightmares

When Dead Men Bleed

When the Sky Eats

Nord and the Bord

Creatures of the Below

Stop

Sameness

Building Monsters

Krystal’s World

Caged

Figures

Catrina Billowson

The Vampire’s Carnival

Labyrinth

Dollhouse

Match

Déjà vu

Chapter 1

The gears lifting the stone doors squeal, Karika pulling a knife from her pocket. She flicks it open, her eyes glinting with craze as she reminds her goons not to shoot aimlessly or they’ll turn her to Swiss cheese.

The guys glance back at you, the moment feeling like an eternity.

You have to… pick one?

A wave of guilt washes through your system as your eyes meet Oliver’s, his green irises piercing through the warm lighting of the tunnels. You hold his gaze for a moment too long, your brain overwhelmed.

Your attention turns to Karika.

Karika, we can stop this. We can stop the rebooting.

You take a step forward to try to negotiate, to try to reach her. She has to listen.

Instead, she smirks. Ronnie and Oliver come near as Peter taps at his tablet to find the best route out of this place. Chris turns to head up the half-ladder he stands beside, his eyes showing his worries as the loud doors continue to rise.

Sorry you guys, Karika grins, her eyes crazed as she twirls the knife in her hand, the wound in your stomach throbbing at its sight. But none of you are getting out of here alive.

Peter ducks under the door as chaos rises.

Warmth, pressure against your hand as someone grabs it.

You turn to see Oliver’s worried face.

Cora, we have to go.

You swallow and nod, following him under the closest door. Ronnie lingers behind, furious as he glowers at Karika, their eyes glistening with silent challenges toward one another.

Ronnie grips his gun tighter.

Hey! Oliver shouts, brushing past you to grab his partner’s wrist to tug him through just as bullets whiz past.

Gah!

Oliver drops to the ground as Ronnie darts beneath the exit and haphazardly aims through the crack, squeezing the trigger. It buys Oliver enough time to stand, the four of you sprinting down the tunnel.

Are you okay? you call to Oliver as he catches up, surprise pushing through the pain in his eyes.

He swallows hard, jaw taut. Yeah.

We need to split up, Peter announces as he folds his tablet in half and slips it into one of his pockets, zipping it shut so the device won’t fall out.

Why can’t girls have pockets that big?

We have to try to get her and Chris alone again, Oliver reminds you guys through gritted teeth as the bullet wound in his leg slows him down.

Or we can just drop her into a casket, Ronnie snaps as he slows his pace, turning around to walk backwards. He lifts and cocks his gun, squeezing the trigger.

Gore explodes at the other end of the hallway.

You spin around, your stomach queasy.

Oliver places a hand against your shoulder and pushes you forward, almost in front of him. Is he… blocking the view of the deaths to protect you from seeing them?

The four of you duck into a hallway, Peter turning to Ronnie while talking fast.

Your tracker is still on her. She’s wearing that earring you got her for her birthday.

Ronnie nods, his back pressed against the dirt wall as he peers around the corner. Good. Meanwhile, there’s a lot of them coming down the hall, so we have to make this quick.

If any of us disappear, keep moving, Oliver’s eyes skirt over yours, as if terrified to meet them. We’re either dead or trapped if that happens. If we’re trapped, we’ll find a way to contact each other, eventually. If we’re dead… Oliver’s jaw clenches. Still, he doesn’t meet your eyes.

Your heart clenches.

Yeah, well, don’t worry about that, Cabbage Patch, Ronnie tells Oliver, checking how many bullets he has left in his clip and cursing. You’re gonna take Cora and get her out of here.

Ronnie and Oliver’s eyes meet, some unsaid promise making itself known as Peter pulls out the tablet to take another look.

Something new shimmers over Ronnie’s irises and he turns away, furrowing his brow in confusion.

Oliver’s eyes widen and his ears turn red as you glance between both of them.

No—No, I can’t take her. Peter—

Peter shakes his head as he shuts the tablet again, moving past Oliver.

It’s up to Cora. We’ll adjust accordingly.

Oliver turns to Ronnie. Dude—

Ronnie’s face falls, sudden anger thwipping across. Turns out I had my fricking chance.

He steps out into the hall, unloading his clip onto the oncoming forces.

You turn to Oliver.

I can get out of here alone. Don’t worry about me. Go. They need you. I’ll follow behind Peter.

Oliver swallows hard, something in his mind clicking.

Ronnie cries out.

Peter shouts from the other end.

I’ll check on Peter, you blurt, sprinting in the direction the rich boy went. Oliver starts to protest but thinks twice and breaks off to check on his partner.

You keep rushing down the hall. He couldn’t have gotten far—

There. On the ground.

You kneel over him.

Peter—Peter, are you okay?

His face is pained. He holds his chest, but there’s no wouldn't, no bullet hole.

He struggles to breathe.

What… What can I do?

Peter slowly rolls over, gasping as he uses his weakened arms to stand. Leaning against the wall, he tries to catch his breath.

When his eyes finally meet yours, they’re sad. Pained.

I don’t know, he exhales, standing upright as he lifts his tablet from the dirt and brushes it off, a crack across the width. Great.

Voices headed in your direction.

Peter curses under his breath as the two of you slip into an open room, various animals stacked in cages. They squeal and complain as they bite at their traps.

Your heart sinks.

Voices pass, both of you pressed against the wall next to a cage with a lemur in it, its ringed tail drooping.

Peter… why are these animals here?

Gunshots outside. You kneel, placing a finger inside Zoboomafoo’s cage. It eyeballs you wearily as it cowers in the furthest corner.

Peter grits his teeth. I’m sure you already know.

You swallow, not wanting to admit aloud that you do. Did you…?

Peter hesitates, the gunshots falling quiet.

Yes.

Why didn’t you do anything about it?

He exhales. I thought it wasn’t happening anymore.

Peetie, someone sings.

You let out a sigh of relief.

Ronnie.

The two of you step into the hall, blue-hazel and green eyes catching on you.

You guys okay? Peter asks, seeming uncomfortable. You’ve never… you don’t think you’ve ever seen him look like that. Nervous, sure, but uncomfortable…?

Ronnie walks a weird distance away from Oliver, and even a few feet ahead, as if he’s trying to avoid him without being too obvious.

His cheek bleeds.

Fit as a fiddle, Ronnie says chirpily. Too chirpily.

There’s a sharpness to his movements, a dead giveaway of irritation.

"Are you? you ask Peter, whose jaw flexes at the question as more voices grow closer. What happened?"

Like I said before, we have to split up, Peter says, his voice forceful as he shoves his tablet into Ronnie’s hands. Copy this to your phone and then give it to Cora and Oliver.

Who said Oliver’s taking her? Ronnie snaps, taking the tablet and pulling his phone out, anyway.

"You did, Peter snaps back, the tension way too high between the three of them. Just a minute ago. And Cora is the one who said—"

Hey, stop whatever’s going on, you demand. I never said anything to anyone. Stop worrying about me. We have to get Karika and Chris to talk again.

Ronnie