What does it feel like to die?

The questions repeated in the back of her head. Will it hurt? What happens after? Every muscle in her body tensed. Will we get away in time?

Her steps creaked the dusty floor. She glanced back every few seconds, anticipating a gunshot with each breath. She counted the numbers on each old wooden door as she traveled the narrow hallway, which only seemed to extend the farther she walked as every groan of the walls, every clap of thunder outside resembled his heavy footsteps behind her.

She’d nearly been caught.

She stopped at a door with the number three on it, and after another quick look around, she knocked.

The device was burning a hole in her pocket, and she stretched the tense muscles in her neck. All throughout her life, her nerves had been made of steel. But tonight… tonight, something was different. A crack of thunder sent a rumble through the building.

As if it isn’t already falling apart, she thought, frowning at the rotten walls and torn wallpaper.

A man opened the door, his curly black hair disheveled. His brown eyes softened as they settled on her.

Before he could speak, she dashed into the room and closed the door. Then she locked it and jammed a nearby desk chair under the knob.

She turned, and a smile grew on her face as she embraced the man before her. “Jacob.”

The man squeezed her tightly. “Willow,” he whispered as if saying her name was confirmation that she was real. That she was alright.

When they parted, she fished the drive from her pocket. “I got it… I almost got caught, but I got it.”

Jacob stared at the flash drive and gulped. He plucked it from her fingers as if it was made of glass. “This…” He held it up to her. “This could be our biggest one yet.”

Willow wrapped her arms around herself, the cold biting into her bare skin. “I’d have brought a jacket if I’d known it was going to be so cold in here.”

She surveyed the room as Jacob shuffled through something hidden behind the desk. The room was barely large enough to walk around in. The dresser in the corner had only two drawers, and the air conditioner in the corner of the room lay broken on the dirty floor. She grimaced when her eyes came to a window with stained white curtains blocking the view.

“I thought we agreed no windows,” Willow muttered. “That makes another entrance for them.”

Jacob rounded the desk with a bundle in his hand. “And another exit for us.” He handed her the black bundle. “A jacket. For milady.”

Willow couldn’t suppress a grin as she took the jacket and wrapped it around herself, savoring its warmth. “Dork.”

“But a chivalrous dork.”

“Still a dork.”

Jacob laughed at the same time lightning flashed in the window, yet even as a shiver of fear crawled up Willow’s spine, his laugh broke through it and brought a smile to her face. Jacob inserted the flash drive into his laptop.

“By some God-given miracle, this place has Wi-Fi.” Jacob clacked the loud, bulky keys of the computer. “Still, it’ll take a few minutes for the drive to put everything on here. Even longer to send it to my colleague. In this hellhole, it’s the best I can do.”

Willow leaned against the dresser, and it groaned. “I know it’s not great, but this was the safest building I could find.”

Jacob gave her a knowing look. “Why is it that all the ‘safest’ places are drug dens? I think we’d be equally safe at a four-star hotel.”

Willow rolled her eyes. “On a reporter’s salary?”

“What about a soldier’s salary?”

Willow scoffed. “They don’t pay as well as you think.”

Jacob shook his head as a bar on the screen slowly filled up. He tapped his fingers on the desk, bouncing one leg. “Are we doing the right thing?”

Willow crossed her arms. “One hundred percent.”

“I mean… if this turns out to be nothing, we’ve just endangered your job in vain.”

Willow glanced at the window, and another flash of lightning stung her eyes. “Probably endangering more than that… Something’s wrong here, Jacob. I’m following my gut on this one.”

“Well,” Jacob sang, “my gut says that it’s hungry, so as soon as this is over, I demand we get hamburgers.”

The walls closed around her. “If I’m putting you in danger—”

“You’re not.”

“He wants all of us to take some mysterious drug that his brother made? The other drugs have enough side effects as it is, but he won’t even tell us what this one is.”

Jacob stood and crossed the room to take her in his arms. He nuzzled his face into her neck, and his warmth defrosted her bones. “It’s gonna be okay.”

Willow wrapped her arms around him. She exhaled, her lips quivering. “I just… don’t like it. It’s not even a vaccine, it’s… He won’t tell us what it is.”

“I know,” Jacob said.

The computer beeped, and Jacob whirled. “It’s ready.” He turned to her with his iconic lopsided grin. “You want to take a peek?”

Willow attempted a smile, but it fell flat. She knelt beside him and stared at the contents on the screen.

“Let’s see what we’ve got here.” Jacob cracked his knuckles and typed, making walls of numbers and text she didn’t understand pop up one after the other. “Let’s start with the emails. Any keywords you want to search?”

Willow racked her brain and listed whatever bubbled to the surface. “Drug… soldiers… vaccine, and…” She pursed her lips. “Willow.”

Jacob’s mouth quirked up, and he typed the keywords. Seconds passed as dozens of emails loaded.

He opened the first one. “Ugh!”

Willow gasped as two images of an arm appeared on the screen. The first was normal, but in the second, the veins on the arm bulged and glowed… purple?

Willow stuttered before she could get her question out. “Does it say anything in the email about this?”

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Jacob scanned through it then shook his head. “Just asking if it’s normal for their veins to be this color.” He scrolled and clicked another email. “Dear God…”

Before Willow could read what it said, a knock sounded at the door. Jacob clicked out of the emails and removed the flash drive.

Willow didn’t take her eyes off the door. She opened her mouth to speak, but the door flew open, scattering splinters across the floor. The chair under the knob narrowly missed her, crashing through the window.

Two soldiers charged into the room, wearing black gear, submachine guns in their hands.

Willow ripped a drawer from the dresser and slammed it into the nearer soldier’s head. The wood shattered, and the soldier crumpled to the ground.

Willow threw herself against the other one just as she fired her weapon. They crashed into the wall, cracking the wood. Bullets sprayed the computer, destroying it in a shower of sparks. Jacob yelled and dove behind the bed. The pungent smell of smoke and plastic filled the room.

Heart racing, Willow ripped the gun from the soldier and bashed it into her head. Her nose crunched, and blood sprayed onto Willow’s face.

Willow made to slam the gun again, but the soldier caught her wrist.

The soldier reared her bloodied face back and slammed her forehead against Willow’s nose.

Willow swore and backed away. Pain rippled through her nose, and warm blood trickled down her lips. The soldier lunged at her. Willow spat blood into her face as they collapsed on the ground. The air left her lungs on impact.

“Get off me!” Willow yelled, gasping for air. She braced her feet on the soldier’s stomach and shoved her away then scrambled for the gun.

The soldier made to lunge again, but an air conditioner flew into her head, pinning her to the ground.

Jacob stood near the bed, his face pale. He pointed at the body pinned by the air conditioner. “I just did that.”

Willow laughed, breathless. She wiped the blood from her nose and spat in a vain attempt to rid her mouth of the copper taste. “Yeah, you did.” She grabbed both guns from the soldiers, wrapping one around her back and holding the other in her hand. “Let’s go.”

Jacob followed as they stepped through the broken door. His voice shook. “This wouldn’t have happened in a four-star hotel.”

“Yeah, ye—”

Two more soldiers rounded the corner. Willow whirled, guiding Jacob back into the room. They dove through the broken window, slamming into the metal grating of the fire escape as bullets flew past them.

“Keep moving!” she yelled.

They scrambled down the steps and landed hard on the cold cement of the alley. The rain battered them, and Willow wiped her red hair from her face.

They rounded a corner and were sprinting down the narrow passageway when a car drove into the alley, blocking their exit.

Willow sprayed the vehicle with bullets, shattering the windshield and killing the two soldiers inside.

They dragged the bodies from the seats, and Jacob wiped his hands on his pants.

They clambered into the car, and Willow backed out of the alley then slammed her foot on the gas and sped down the street.

“We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die,” Jacob repeated, gripping his seat as rain poured in through the broken windshield, each drop like a spike of ice slashing their faces.

“No, we’re not!” Willow yelled, silencing his chanting.

“I can’t believe I touched a dead body.”

Willow turned every corner, using the city as a maze. The road map in her head guided her, and she planned out which turns to take before making a break out of the city.

“Willow?” Jacob warned, looking behind them.

Willow glanced at the rearview mirror and swore as bullets sparked against the car. Two black vehicles just like theirs were tailing them, matching their pace with ease. She swore again and removed the gun from around her shoulders. “Drive!”

“What?!”

“I SAID DRIVE!” Willow turned, bracing one foot on the pedal as Jacob reached over to steer. The car swerved back and forth, dodging the brunt of the bullet fire.

Willow aimed and fired at the driver of the first car, who fell forward into the steering wheel. The car swerved into a shop, shattering glass and brick. Her hands numb from the cold of the rain, she aimed at the next car, but it swerved in a zigzag motion.

“Come on… Come on…” Willow followed the car with her gun, calculating the trajectory.

When the passenger leaned out of the car to fire a shot, Willow took one of her own. The driver went down just as the passenger fired, spraying a hail of bullets into their tires.

The car spun, and Jacob screamed. Willow’s world blurred into one image with occasional flashes of lightning, and she could only hold on to Jacob’s hand as the car smashed into something then flipped into the air. Time slowed, then the car slammed against the ground. The roof caved, nearly crushing them.

Willow couldn’t breathe until the ringing in her ears settled.

She moved slowly, her body aching. Blood trailed down her arms. She could see nothing but blackness with her right eye.

She turned toward Jacob. Blood trickled down the side of his head. His leg was bloodied and bent in the wrong direction.

Tears welled in Willow’s eyes as she forced herself to move, scraping her body against broken glass to reach Jacob. A shard sliced her stomach.

“Baby?” She shook him. “Baby, wake up.”

Jacob groaned again, and his eyes opened. He smiled at her, some of his teeth missing, and the ones that remained were painted red. He held his hand up, the flash drive still intact. “Got it.” He laughed then coughed, blood splattering from his mouth. His smile dropped. “Your eye.”

Willow put a hesitant hand to the eye that had stopped working, and something pricked her finger. Her stomach turned, but she ignored it.

“We have to get out of here before more come,” Willow muttered, hissing through the pain as she slid out of the car.

Jacob crawled after her, dragging his dead leg behind him. He shouted in pain as thunder shattered the night.

Willow stood, scanning the street in the pouring rain. She helped Jacob to his feet. He leaned on her, his breathing ragged.

“Okay, I think we can—”

Gunfire broke the night, and Willow dove into the alley with Jacob. He yelled as he hit the ground, and Willow urged him back up.

“We can do this,” she said. “Just keep going.”

Two more soldiers rounded the corner, and Willow dropped them with a spray of bullets.

They rushed down the alley, and when they turned the corner, a dark figure was standing before them.

Willow made to lunge at him, but he fired three rounds into Jacob’s chest before she could process who was standing before her.

The light left Jacob’s eyes as he sank to the ground. The rain seemed to disappear, as did the pain, replaced by an all-new pain. A weight fell on her chest, and she choked on her own sobs as she cradled his bloodied face in her hands.

“Please don’t do this to me, baby. Please…”

He looked past her, his face and body going slack.

He was gone.

Willow awaited a bullet in her back, but none came. Her gun lay beside her, and she turned and emptied the rest of her bullets into the figure. Flecks of warm liquid splashed her face, and she kept firing until the gun clicked. Empty. The figure crumpled to the ground, and Willow grabbed the hard drive in Jacob’s hand.

She looked down at him one last time and placed a kiss on his cheek. At any moment, he would surely wake up. He would wake up and tell her he was pretending. But the glaze in his eyes was no illusion.

Willow sobbed into his neck, clutching his shirt and pulling him closer as the warmth in his body faded.

She stood, her heart shattering at the sight of his body.

She had to keep moving.

She turned, and the figure stood in front of her again. She stepped back as he stepped forward, and she tripped on Jacob’s body, falling back against the cold, wet ground.

Lightning flashed, and his smiling face appeared, his eyes filled with malicious joy, before disappearing into darkness once again.

“You…”

“Me,” he said, his voice as formal as ever.

He stepped forward, and his veins glowed purple, first dimly, then brighter than the moon. His eyes glowed next as he stared down at her. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight, the dark figure covered with bright-purple veins. A flash of lightning revealed crumpled bullets falling from the man’s body, trickling onto the ground.

The soldiers she’d shot stood up. Like zombies, they rose, their veins purple as well.

“I… I don’t understand,” Willow said, crawling backward until she was against the brick wall.

The man spread his arms wide. “Surprise.” He laughed. “I thought it was you that broke into my office. That was very rude of you, Willow. You could have been one of my best soldiers once you accepted… this.” His veins glowed brighter, and a few drops of purple liquid dripped to the ground as his wounds healed. The alley reeked of a sweet smell, like honey.

Willow sobbed, gripping the flash drive tightly in her hand.

Gunfire rang out, and Willow gasped as pain tore through her body.

She looked down at her right side, riddled with bullet holes. She tried to breathe but couldn’t, as if she’d forgotten how. She gasped and gasped again, but the air wouldn’t come. Panic set in, but she couldn’t move. Please, she begged to the sky, to anyone. Just one more breath. Just one more!

She couldn’t fight him, couldn’t even stop him as he plucked the flash drive from her hand and crushed it like a bug.

“You look uncomfortable,” he said.

She couldn’t speak, couldn’t get the air to leave her body. Blood rushed to her mouth, and she spat it out, aiming for his face. She missed. Please, she mouthed.

Lightning flashed again, and the man’s smile disappeared, replaced with something like sadness.

Or disappointment.

“Despite your treachery, I’m afraid you don’t deserve to drown in your own blood.” He aimed his pistol at her. “I’ll have mercy.”

Willow closed her eyes, refusing to allow those purple eyes to be the last thing she saw.

A gunshot rang out, and the darkness consumed her.