The city lights blinked outside Leila's apartment window, the buzz of traffic faint under the muffled laughter echoing from inside.
Luke and Leila sat on her worn-out couch, a bottle of rum between them. The air was lighter—no death, no visions, no fear—just two people who needed to forget for a while.
"You were always the careful one," Luke teased, pouring a second drink. "I didn't think you even owned liquor."
Leila laughed. "It was my roommate's. She moved out after Trey and Brooke… she couldn't handle it."
He handed her the glass, their fingers brushing. They held each other's gaze a little too long.
"Don't," Leila warned, a smile playing on her lips. "We're drunk."
Luke grinned. "That's the point."
Their lips met, clumsy and warm and fleeting, but it lingered just long enough for regret to creep in when they woke up tangled in the blankets.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
A loud, aggressive banging jolted them both awake.
"Shit," Leila muttered, hair in her face as she stumbled to the door.
Valeria burst in first, followed by Cody, Isabel, and Kai—wide-eyed and grinning.
"Well, well, well," Cody smirked. "Guess the apocalypse brings people together."
Kai made kissing sounds. "Is this why you didn't answer your phone?"
Luke rolled his eyes, pulling on his hoodie. "It's not like that."
"It looked like that," Isabel sang, flopping onto the couch and tossing a pillow at him.
Leila groaned. "Okay, shut up, all of you."
Valeria finally stepped forward, serious now. "We talked to Eva."
Luke's smile faded. "You what?"
"She answered," Kai said. "And she confirmed everything. The order. The deaths. The pattern."
"She said Death's twisting everything now," Isabel added. "She's locked herself in a facility, and she's still alive—only one from the first group."
Luke stood up, rubbing his face. "So what now? We wait for it to come get us?"
"No," Leila said firmly. "We fight back. We find a way to break the chain."
They all went quiet.
For the first time in hours, they weren't just surviving. They were planning.
And somewhere outside, in the unseen folds of fate, something waited—smiling.
The End of Chapter 25