Eight Seventeen

A Novel by Alan T. Russell

At 8:17 on May 14th, 2043, Alan Carter is supposed to die.
At least, that's what the code says.

What begins as a strange string of near-death experiences turns into an obsession — a pattern that points to a single moment in time. As Alan hunts for meaning, his oldest friend Darren, a gifted computer science student, tries to ground him in reason. But when impossible glitches and eerie warnings begin surfacing from the very code Darren writes, both men are pulled into a terrifying question:

What if fate isn't just an idea... but a countdown?

As the clock ticks down, the lines between coincidence, design, and sacrifice blur — and one of them will have to make the ultimate choice.

A haunting, heart-wrenching tale of friendship, fate, and the cost of loyalty, Eight Seventeen is a slow-burn psychological sci-fi drama with a twist you'll never forget.