THE DOWNLOAD
208 Words
“Ethan—how long?” you snap.
He doesn’t look away from the screen.
“Thirty seconds… maybe less if this piece of junk doesn’t crash!”
The door groans under another impact.
Metal tears.
A second hand punches through.
You step back, instinct screaming.
“Maya,” you say, “this better be worth it.”
Her voice is steady.
“It’s everything.”
Ethan pulls up a progress bar.
12%
“Come on, come on…”
The lights flicker again, plunging the room into brief darkness.
When they come back—
The hand is gone.
The door is still.
Too still.
You feel it before you hear it.
“They’ve stopped,” you whisper.
Maya’s tone sharpens.
“That’s worse. That means they’re adapting.”
41%
Ethan wipes sweat from his face.
“What exactly am I downloading?”
You answer without thinking.
“Something we should’ve destroyed.”
68%
A faint hiss fills the room.
You turn.
The vents.
“Ethan…” you say slowly, “tell me those vents aren’t—”
“They’re definitely something,” he says.
A panel above you pops loose.
Darkness inside.
Then—
A shape drops silently to the floor.
A Null Agent.
Inside the room.
- Writer
