Replay: Crystal

By K. Weikel

Karika chose not to choose, and so can you. But can you right what's been wronged?

There's something off. About everything. Memories you shouldn't have are resurfacing. Deja vu surrounds you like a cloak. Could you still be rebooting, even though... this is supposed to be the end?

| BOOK 12 OF THE REPLAY SERIES

• Language: English
• Publisher: K. Weikel Publishing
• Release date: Dec 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463233313

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: Crystal

Book 12

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: Crystal / by K. Weikel

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

First published on Radish Fiction

Imprint: Independently published

Other books by K. Weikel

The Replay Series

Amnesia

Reboot

Tiptoe

Crimson

Glitch

Lifeline

Ghost

White

Black

Green

Red

Crystal

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 flips it open, her eyes glinting.

Hey, watch your aim if you know what’s good for you! Karika calls to her goons. I don’t wanna be Swiss cheese today.

Karika, you call as the guys’ attention falls heavy on your shoulders. You don’t have to do this!

Karika’s gaze switches and bores into you, the fire in her eyes prickling your skin. "I mean, I didn’t. But now you leave me no choice."

Cora. Peter’s voice breaks through the rising tension, pulling your focus. We need to go.

Cora, back down, Ronnie advises through gritted teeth as he stands strong beside you, his eyes matching Karika’s. You won’t win if you go against her.

Both of you stay focused on the other girl in the room. She twirls the knife as you take another step toward her. I can if she’s unconscious.

A hand grabs your wrist.

Cora, let’s go.

Your eyes meet Oliver’s for a split second before you gently twist your wrist away. Ronnie’s at your back as you face Karika again.

Call your guys off, you demand, the velcroed pouch around your ribs burning a hole in your mind. If you could get to your knife quickly… but you never learned hand-to-hand combat.

I don’t think so, Cora, Karika smirks, holding her knife up. Your stomach throbs as its blade glints in the light. Not until you’re all dead. For good.

Ronnie cocks his gun behind you as your mind presses forward. You speak before anyone else has the chance to, the doors rising higher. If you stay in here any longer…

Karika, this could be your last chance, you press. What if we die and don’t come back? What if you die for real this time?

Fury ignites within her as she stands taller, the air growing fragile as the tension reaches its climax.

Then so be it.

Everything shatters as Karika lunges forward with the knife. You flinch, stepping back just in time to avoid the blade, but it nicks your arm. Her knuckles brush your skin.

Crimson.

It billows from where she touched, blinding you.

As your brain moves with a quickness you don’t recognize, you twist your hand around and grab her arm, able to get the knife from her fingers as it tumbles to the floor. Karika lets out a grunt as you bend her hand back.

Slam!

Karika’s head smacks into yours as she headbutts you, forcing you to release her as you stumble back. Ronnie shoves Karika off of you, standing between you both as Oliver and Chris move to flank you.

Max, take Cora, Chris instructs through a taut jaw as you rub your forehead, glowering past Ronnie.

Ronnie doesn’t budge, your heart swelling. Your eyes snap up to the back of his head as an idea pops into yours.

Max, take her, Chris repeats more forcefully. You two need to calm down.

No, Ronnie spits. Karika needs to—

Gunfire explodes around you.

Someone grab Cora and get her out of here, Peter shouts as he ducks beneath a door. You feel Oliver’s hand grab your wrist again, trying to pull you from safety, but you yank away, slamming into Ronnie. He turns to catch you just as you right yourself.

You meet his eyes, gripping his shirt. Grab her.

Ronnie’s eyes brighten as he nods.

Chris stiffens and reaches for Ronnie to stop him, but Ronnie nimbly dodges as Oliver grabs you again and pulls you toward the nearest door.

Pain blossoms through your thigh.

You fall into Oliver, crying out as he grabs his gun and twists around. He jerks to the side as a plume of blood explodes from his left shoulder.

Karika shouts and Ronnie attempts to subdue her, but she wriggles away from him.

You grit your teeth and stand, sprinting back over to Karika and grabbing her by the wrist, wrenching her around as Ronnie lifts his gun and points it at her head.

You’re going to listen to us, Karika, you grind, hearing Oliver shouting for you through the gunfire. You do your best not to flinch.

Fire explodes in your stomach as the blade of her knife presses into you.

That’s where you’re wrong, Cora, Karika responds as crimson obscures your vision, as it settles into your skin.

She yanks the knife out, Ronnie stepping back to shoot at someone coming at him. You have a death-grip on Karika despite her struggling, gritting your teeth through the fire in your thigh and the agony in your reopened stomach wound.

Let me go, she demands as fear taints her face.

Blood rises in your mouth. No, you spit, yanking her toward you. I know you want this to stop just as much as we do.

Blood drips from your lip as a strange tingling sensation fills you, the crimson dying down as Ronnie’s voice pierces your thoughts. He couldn’t see through the fog.

This is where it ends, Karika, even if it has to be over our dead bodies.

Karika’s eyes flash with surprise, taken aback at your words as your knees shake. Strong arms grab you around your waist and lift you from the ground, making you yelp as your stomach bends.

Sorry, buddy. No time to grab her now, Ronnie exhales as he ducks beneath one of the door, reconvening with an overly unhappy Oliver as he unloads his clip onto the oncoming forces. You catch a glimpse of Chris escaping through a hatch in the ceiling, using the ladder he’d been next to.

When the Ronnie and you are out of reach of Karika’s guys, Oliver comes storming into the room.

Are you two insane? he chastises as Ronnie sets you on the floor, your back against the wall. You put pressure on your stomach, seeing Oliver pressing a hand against his own wound.

We were trying to fix this, you grunt, cut off by pain. As soon as possible.

You shouldn’t have come back for her, Ronnie says as moves your hands to look at the damage. If you didn’t, I could have…

He trails off, touching your stomach. His confused face makes you look down as well.

You lift your shirt where the blood has stained, a strange glow coming from beneath the fabric. Wiping away some of the red, you see the place she stabbed, but it isn’t an open wound anymore. It’s stitched together with sparkling red light, mostly healed.

You meet Ronnie’s eyes as he sits on his butt, staring in awe. Oliver comes over to inspect it, speechless.

You swallow hard, looking down again. You touch where you’d been shot in your leg to see more red light stitching you together, the bullet suddenly plinking on the floor.

That’s… insane, Oliver whispers, the dangers of the moment forgotten. How…?

A new sense of hope washes through you as your hand absently touches the wound you’d gained during your dream. Was it the fog that came from you when you touched Karika? Is that really what’s healing you?

You shift, your chest tingling with optimism. It doesn’t matter. We have to get to her again—

Oliver stands as Ronnie presses against your shoulders to keep you on the floor.

"No, you need to stay put, Oliver argues. Then to Ronnie, And you need to calm down. If we approach this situation like how you two just did—"

Oliver lets out a cry as he clutches his chest, falling to his knees. Ronnie pops up, concern lining his features as he takes a step toward his partner.

And then he yells too.

Oliver falls face-first onto the floor, his eyes closed. Ronnie’s on his hands and knees, wheezing as his fingers clench his shirt. His body vigorously quivers.

While still worried about Ronnie, you crawl over to Oliver and shake his shoulder, panic longing in your throat.

Oliver, you breathe as Ronnie slowly sits up, his eyes darkening with panic. Oliver, wake up.

Ronnie’s breath is heavy as his eyes lift to you, something unreadable shifting across.

Ronnie, you gasp, meeting his gaze. He’s not waking up.

Ronnie moves sluggishly as he comes forward, pressing two fingers against Oliver’s neck.

He’s alive. His voice is quiet, his blue-hazel irises filled with something you can’t decode.

Both of your attentions snap to the closed door as a bustle of sound passes by. You barely breathe, still as statues. When the noises finally die down, you look back down at Oliver and roll him onto his back, resting his head on your lap.

You turn to Ronnie once more, your vision warbled with water. What do we do?

Your whisper shakes as Ronnie watches you, something vulnerable shining through his pinched face. It’s gone in the blink of an eye as he pulls his gun from his pants and hands it to you. I’m going to need you to cover me. Can you do that?

Cover… your voice trails off as you keep his gaze. He’s asking you to do what Oliver did for the both of you so you could get out of that room.

I…

Cora. Ronnie grabs your shoulder with one hand, speaking gently but firmly. We’re going to get Oliver to a safer spot and then we can go from there. The bad thing is Oliver is all muscle and muscle weighs more than fat, so I’m going to have to carry him. His mouth quirks as he tries to make light of the situation. Good thing I work out, then, right?

You swallow, taking a breath in and letting it out as you harden your heart and brace yourself.

Okay.

~

The hallways are eerily quiet. It’s like Ronnie knows exactly where to go to stay under the radar. You realize how close you are to getting caught a few times, barely missing the guys looking for you.

In here, he whispers, your fingers tight around the gun.

You enter a room with crates stacked to the ceiling. The door clicks behind you as Ronnie sets Oliver on the ground with a grunt and immediately starts rummaging around in the boxes like he’s looking for something specific.

His shoulders slump as he hangs his head. Why did I think it’d be here?

What are you looking for? you ask as you move to kneel next to Oliver, watching his chest slowly rise and fall.

Nothing, Ronnie responds, coming over to you and holding out his hand for his gun. You stay here, he says as you set it in his palm. I’ll be right back.

Where are you going?

To get a first-aid kit and some bulletproof vests. Turn on your earbud and tell Chris and Peter about what’s going on. Our silence is probably freaking them out.

You stare at him for a long moment before finally releasing the weapon. Something about him seems more grounded; it’s like he’s suddenly become mature.

He gives a slight nod before stepping out into the hall, shutting the door tight behind him once more.

You sigh, standing to make your way to the door yourself, and press your ear against the crack, but no sounds come. You finally reach up and touch the