Chapter One: The Seventh-to-Last Second

Zhou Jiming's heart stopped while Shen Yao was holding his hand. White light flooded the emergency room. The monitor flattened into a shriek as nurses cut away the stranger's rain-soaked shirt. Lu Zhi pressed the paddles to his chest and called for everyone to stand clear. The shock arched Zhou's body. His fingers clamped around Shen Yao's. Cold entered through her palm. The room vanished, the alarms rushed far away, and a single raindrop fell through darkness. Shen Yao stood on an abandoned subway platform. The clock read 11:17 p.m. Waterlogged medical charts clung to the walls like dead fish. Where the station name should have been, a mirror reflected her bloodless face. It had happened again.