21:00, 27 October 2007

Jack's apartment, Los Angeles

Jack was slumped in a chair, exhausted. He had just returned home from a long run, once an important post-rehab routine. It had become a habit over time, helping him feel healthier and fitter again. The physical and mental scars from years of torment still hurt, but he was trying to focus only on what he could control.

Glancing at the clock, he decided to shower before going to bed. He stood up, only to notice fog beginning to form. Looking around, he noticed that it was rising from the floor. Then he noticed the small figure in the corner, watching him with intense eyes that shone through the fog.

"Hello, Jack," the figure spoke in an all too familiar voice. The voice, much to his confusion, belonged to a woman who had died a little over a year before. She could have been dead for half a century and he would still recognise that voice, or her eyes that stared into his soul.

The fog faded, giving him a clear view of her. Nina Myers was stood in his apartment as if she had just walked in off the street. She looked as she did in the last moments of her life, although the wounds had healed.

Jack stared as he tried to process the sight. He was sure it was no hallucination, but he couldn't come up with any logical explanation for what he was seeing. He had shot her four times, had seen her body being taken to the morgue. She had been cremated, her ashes spread at sea. Nina Myers was dead, so she shouldn't be standing in his apartment. "How the hell are you here?"

She smiled before taking a few steps closer. "I'm still dead, Jack, but I am here. The veil between worlds is always thin at this time of year."

He walked closer and grabbed at her arm, expecting his hand to go straight through her. Instead, he took hold of her ice cold wrist, before quickly letting go. "Why are you here, Nina?"

"I have a mission for you to complete," she began in all seriousness. "If you fail, the world will end at midnight on the 30th."

He stared at her, before scoffing. "This isn't real. Who are you?"

Nina moved closer to him, before whispering into his ear. She told him things that only she and he would know. Details of their relationship and their work, before before and after Teri's death. She mentioned things in such detail that there were only two possibilities. Either he was hearing his subconscious, or she really was stood there next to him.

She then took hold of his hand firmly, before the apartment disappeared and all went black. When his sight returned, he saw a ruined world. The buildings were burning, whilst charred remains laid scattered in the streets. Pitch black smoke hid the sky, the only light coming from the intense infernos. Horrific screams could be heard inside the buildings as hundreds were burnt alive.

He sank to his knees. All of his well-tuned senses were screaming that this was real. That this would be the fate of the world if he failed Nina's mission. He had to succeed, or billions would die. No matter what, he had to do what was necessary.

Nina crouched down next to him. "You can make sure this never happens, Jack."

He looked at her. "Since when do you care about the world? Why you?"

She scoffed before standing up and clicking her fingers. The hellish scene faded to black, before the apartment returned. "I didn't choose to be the messenger," she replied. There was no point in convincing him that she wanted him to succeed. All she needed to do was convince him to complete the mission.

Jack stood up and walked over to the couch and sitting down. "What do I need to do?"

Nina sat down next to him and held out her palm. Above it, a piece of black paper appeared, hovering. Blood red symbols covered most of the paper, and she began to read. "You have to kill three different people, on three different days, in three different ways, starting tomorrow. You can't be witnessed by the living, and you have to confirm the death."

He stared at the paper, the symbols almost glowing. "Why does that prevent the end of the world?"

She closed her palm and the paper disappeared. "Like I said, the veil is thinnest at this time of year. The three you choose will avert the apocalypse."

He wasn't entirely satisfied with the answer, but he had seen enough to know this was real. "This happen every year?"

She shook her head. "It happens once a century," she replied, before standing up. "Someone gets chosen because they're the most suitable person for carrying out the killings."

"And you're the messenger because I was the one chosen."

She nodded. "You should get some rest, tomorrow is day one."