I awoke from a vivid dream of me being eaten alive by parasites. I shivered and a cold sweat slid down my throat.

My eyes cracked open slowly and I took in my dark surroundings. I was in the same small room, seated on a single, bloody mattress with my reluctant roommate.

"Mhm," I heard Becker grunt. I turned to my right where he reclined in the corner. My dry lips parted.

"Hey, how long has it been?" I asked.

He turned dim eyes to me- the drug is still in his system...the massive amount of blood loss isn't helping either- and said, "I don't know, Stephanie. I'm... confused..." He stopped talking and closed his eyes once more.

I wasn't getting much out of him. He was out of commission and I wasn't much good either. I found it hard to make my eyes focus and my body felt strangely numb. Becker had told me earlier that Pooka had injected me with a drug...and a deadly bacteria. One that had caused the death of so many people hundreds of years ago.

The Black Plague.

I found it difficult to grasp the magnitude of the situation as well as my own mortality. Thinking too much of it would send me into hysterics, something that was the opposite of productive, especially given the circumstances.

Later, Stephanie. Later you can do something about it. If you're still alive any way.

I looked down at my arms, they were cuffed together and chained, bolted to the wall. It was an effective method of imprisonment. My left arm was covered in blood. It was, for a large part, scrapes and debris from slamming onto the pavement.

It was from getting hit by Pooka's van...he probably fractured my arm.

I couldn't bring myself to even think of the possibility that it was broken. Though, as I thought it, I could feel nothing but a slow, heavy pulse.

There were two jagged punture wounds, the same ones that lined both of Beckers arms like some kind of twisted, Swiss cheese made of human flesh. Blood still ran down our wounds.

Becker had been held for many days, an involuntary blood cow for Pooka's thousands of genocide inducing pet fleas. As I looked him over I could see that his breaths were very shallow. He was between life and death and the next second could very well be his last.

I laughed weakly; it was a wretched, pathetic sound.

I started to feel cold. Whatever strength I had in me was slowly draining away.

"Beck," I called. He grunted softly in reply.

"I'm going to get us out of this. I promise." No response this time. I could see faint movement from his chest.

Hold on kid.

I looked back at the chain attached to my arms and the place it was bolted to on the wall. I braced my feet wide on opposite ends of the wall, I wrapped the rusted chain around my hands for grip, and pushed with everything I had. Sweat beaded on my forehead and my vision wavered.

Suddenly I felt warmth and strength from behind me. I looked over my shoulder at Beck. He had put his arms around me and my hands where the chain was wrapped. His legs were beside mine on the wall. His face was weary looking but suddenly youthful when his eyes crinkled and a small smile apeared on his chapped lips. His black hair flopped forward onto his forehead, obscuring the gash our captor had given him when he'd first been abducted.

"I thought it looked like you needed help. You did say you would rescue me didn't you?" I stared for a second before I smiled and turned back. Both of us used all of our power and the chain tore a chunk of wall with it as the bolt was suddenly freed. We flew back in recoil.

I stood slowly, my legs were like jelly. A small sound of surprise escaped from my throat.

"We did it! We did it Beck! If you hadn't helped..." My eyes widened as I looked at him. He still laid on the floor. His form was still. I crouched down next to him. He was still breathing, to my relief, but in very bad shape.

"Go...without..me...get...help," were the words that he slurred quietly. I shook my head.

"I'm not leaving you here. Not while there's a chance that that psychopath will return." My hands were still chained with the chunk of plaster hanging from the other end. I took a hold of his filthy shirt and started pulling.

"C'mon! Help me out here," I said to him. He pushed his body forward a bit but it seemed his strength had left him. I took a hold of his arm instead for better grip and dragged him out of the shed.

We were surrounded by woods. My panting sounded deafening to my ears and my fear was like a vise that tightened its grip on my throat.

My breath clouded in front of me as I pulled Becker as fast as I could. But at some point I couldn't anymore.

I leaned him against a tree so we could take a break. His eyelashes fluttered open a crack.

"Just leave me here Steph. Its useless. I'm dead weight. I'm not going to be alive for much longer. We know that." His words were so quiet it was as if I'd imagined them. But I knew I hadn't. The young boy had just told me to abandon him.

"I can't...I won't."

There's no way I'd ever.

"I'm going to rescue you remember?" My breath was heavy and I felt my eyes burn.

He placed his hand over mine. It felt warm. "You've done enough-" I started to disagree but he continued. The expression in his eyes made me quiet, "- You took us away from that place. I don't have to die there." He struggled to swallow and his hand trembled. He paused and clutched at my hand like it was his lifeline. "Tell...my parents that I'm sorry and that I love them would you? And tell Gobs that I'm sorry I didn't listen to him and that he was a great friend."

"You're not going to die Becker. You're going to live. Both of us will." I sounded hysterical.

He's being unreasonable.

His face was filthy and there were patches of dry blood all over him but his face looked so serene. His green eyes were so calm as he listened to my yelling.

"It was great to meet you Stephanie Plum. When I grew older I think I'd want to be like you." Those eyes of jade filled with water that overflowed. At the last second he gave a small smile and exhaled slowly.

And then he died.

I looked down at his hand clasped in mine. My throat hurt and a hole replaced my stomach. I looked back into his eyes and saw nothing of the clarity I'd seen in them a second ago.

I stood up on creaky limbs and closed his eyes.

I kept walking.

I don't know how long I walked. Hours it seemed like. I was ready to pass out. The puncture wounds were deeper than they first appeared. The blood still hadn't stopped flowing.

Finally I got out of the brush and stepped onto a sidewalk. A van approached in the distance. I slowly placed myself in the road to stop it. It stopped next to me and Ranger got out.

He embraced me, asked me if I was alright. Explained the situation, how he had found me. But I was only half listening.

"I'm glad you're alive," said Ranger.

That's right. I'm alive for now. Plague or not I'm alive right now.

I told him about the body in the woods and he and Hal went to pick it up. I waited in the car.

I leaned against the window and looked out at the sky.

"How can it be such a beautiful day when it was so cold just a moment ago?"

I broke.

I shook and sobbed while I was alone in the car. Expensive leather surrounding me, the heater set on full blast in an effort it warm me up. My voice cracked a couple times as I mumbled unintelligibly to myself. I couldn't tell you about what.

I cried for part because I was scared and guilty. Scared of my own mortality. Guilty for thinking about myself. But mostly I cried because I'd broken my promise.

I stopped afterward, soberly looked down at my hand, and concentrated on the lingering warmth.

'You did say you would rescue me didn't you?'

I looked back out the window at the cloudless sky. Birds chirped pleasantly. The sun glowed brightly. My blood pooled underneath me, the convergence of heavy drops raining from my arm.

The skin around my eyes tightened. Once again

I've been rescued.