Good Lord, I am so out of shape.

  The gunfire behind us has stopped, I think. It was hard to tell because my ears were pounding like bongo drums and my own wheezing breaths heaved in my ears.

  I was running—well, limping—down the empty street, my chest so tight I thought my lungs might explode. Cassie was hanging heavy off my right shoulder, barely awake. She mumbled incoherently as I dragged her flopping feet along.

  She was at the end of her strength. And I wasn't far behind.

  As I stumbled along, I used my free hand to fumble for the cell phone in my pocket. I flipped it open and hit the redial button.

  "C'mon, Sam, pickup… pickup… please pickup."

  There was a click and a groggy voice rasped over the speaker.

  "…hello?"

  "Sam! Thank God! It's Ray!"

  "Ray? It's like… three in the morning…?"

  "This is an emergency! Listen, I don't have much time-"

  "I have school tomorrow…"

  "Sam, come on! It's me! Have I ever asked you for anything that wasn't absolutely essential?"

  "Yes!"

  "Well-"

  "All the damn time!"

  "You're my god damned intern! It's your job!"

  "Mmmmmmmrgh. Sam is unavailable. Please, call back tomorrow during regular business hours-"

  "Sam! Please, I- I'm begging you here."

  "…what do you need?"

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  "I'm in Fort Bragg, California. I need you to call local emergency services. Tell them I have a gunshot victim, female, early twenties. Tell them there's people after us-"

  "Gunshot? What the hell have you been up to-"

  "No time! Tell them we are at the corner of- ah- one sec-"

  "Corner of what and where?"

  "Ah… oh shit."

  "What? What's wrong!?"

  "Gonna have to call you back, Sam."

  "Why-"

  I clapped the phone shut.

  It didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered anymore.

  We were too late.

  The bastards had found us.

  They were at the end of the empty street, in their big, scary, black van.

  The headlights gleamed orange through the morning mist, bearing down on me like the hungry eyes of some foul beast.

  There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

  They had us dead to rights.

  Well, at least we made them work for it, Cass.

  My legs wobbled and broke down. I just plopped down into the street with Cassie leaning heavy on me. She groaned softly as I eased her down onto the pavement in front of me.

  Down the misty road, the van engine revved menacingly. With a roar, the wheels began to scream and the van lurched toward us.

  Those sick bastards. They're going to run us down!

  "Cassie! C'mon! Get up! We've gotta move!"

  Her eyes fluttered open. They were glossy… distant…

  "Move… where…?"

  Good point.

  There was nothing but an empty street. I hated to admit it, hated even to think it, but our proverbial goose was damn well cooked.

  The van bore down on us, faster by the second.

  Overcome by a sense of impending loss, I did the only thing I could do. I scooped the poor, battered redhead into my arms, pressed her against my chest, and wept like a child.

  "I'm sorry," I said, "I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

  A few more seconds and it will all be over.

  "Ray…"

  I looked down at her, tears streaming down my still-aching cheeks. Her eyes were so bright, so young. So full of life.

  So human.

  "Ray, quick! Say you love me!"

  "…what?"

  "Dammit, just say it! Say you love me! Now!"

  "I- I-"

  I'm going to die. So what does it matter?

  The roar of the van's engine filled my ears. All I could do was stare into her eyes and it seemed, for one blessed moment, it was as if the whole of the human race stared back at me. They seemed to encapsulate the all of it—the entire magnitude of creation, all its endless, terrible beauty, it's plenty and it's loss. All embodied in one single, beautiful soul.

  The soul of girl I barely even knew.

  What the hell?

  "I love you," I said. And I think-

  -I think in that moment-

  -trapped on the bleeding edge of eternal oblivion-

  -I meant it.

  Something sparked, even glowed, in the depths of those emerald eyes... Then the van lights washed over me in a flash of sickly orange light.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my head away on instinct.

  Not that it would do any good.

  There was a howl of rushing wind, the squeal of burning rubber, and the hellish scream of tearing, scraping metal.

  Then silence.