We have five minutes left until the bomb explodes. It’s stuck right in the middle of the room with a bright red light blinking every other second and clear digits counting down the precious time we have left. With all the flashing and blinking it’s hard to look away, but I know I must. We have to escape. I am not dying today.
We have four minutes, forty seconds left until the bomb explodes. You’re hammering on the door over and over, and your fists are bloody and cut up. I cringe as the door shudders and rattles, but it doesn't open. The locks too strong. I almost laugh at the thought. A lock is going to kill me. After all the knives and guns, after all the torture and kidnapping, after everything I’d been through, a lock is going to kill me. But I don’t laugh. Because I am not dying today.
We have four minutes left until the bomb explodes. You've given up on the door and instead you slide down it with a sob. You've given up. That scares me more than the bomb and the lock and everything else. Now I’m petrified, because you never give up. You fight to the death every single time, and every single time you've come out on top. We've been partners for years; the unbreakable and unbeatable team. The best spies, the best fighters, and, all in all, the best agents The Corp has ever known. And we always will be. I am not dying today.
We have three minutes left until the bomb explodes. I’m threading my fingers through the wires, pulling and smashing. I know what might happen if I do the wrong thing, but it’s better than all the suspense! And anyway, the bomb’s going off some time, I might as well try and do something about it. But I don’t know what to do; our bomb expert got out before we did. Now Agent Q is on the outside and we’re on the inside. I’m going to throttle him once we get out. No matter how hard anyone tries to get rid of me, I am not dying today.
We have two minutes left until the bomb explodes. You’re pulling me away from it, and bloody fingers leave sticky, wet smudges along my arm. I take your hands in mine, pretending to examine your hurts, but really I’m just relishing the comfort of another being. Your hair is sticking to your sweaty face in clumps, and you've got a bloody lip, and your bright blues are brimming with unshed tears. But to me, you've never looked better, and I wish I could tell you, but I don’t. There will be time for that later. I’m not dying today.
We have one minute left until the bomb explodes. We’re both crying now. I’m in your arms, and you’re in mine. I’m afraid. More afraid than I have ever been. I curse Agent Q over and over in my mind. If he was here we wouldn't be in this mess. But he’s not and now we’re stuck here. Me and you. Alone. Not for the first time, it crosses my mind, that this might be the last time I get to see you. All the other times, the other days we were about to be killed, but didn't, I had been able to push the feeling away. But now I can’t. The thoughts there, and it will stay there for the remaining one minute we have left. Because I might just die today.
We have thirty seconds left until the bomb explodes. I’m leaning towards you slowly, because I’m scared and suddenly unsure about how this is all going to end. I can’t see a way out of this. I know I’m supposed to. I’m the ‘genius girl’; I can always get out of tight spaces and fights too big for me. But there’s no one left to outsmart now. Just a bomb and you and me. I’m dying today.
We’re kissing. It’s beautiful. You taste just like how I imagined you would; of anger and sarcasm, of adrenaline and bravery, or happiness and the fear that it could all change in a single second. We mesh together perfectly, and I can tell you wanted this as much as I did. It’s too bad we never tried it sooner.

From somewhere far away there’s a beeping sound. I know it should mean something, but it doesn't. There’s heat and fire everywhere, and my ears are ringing, and my skin’s burning. But you’re here with me, holding me tight, and it suddenly doesn't matter anymore. I’m flying, rising higher and higher. Your arms are still around me. I’m not afraid anymore. We’re leaving together, step by step, away from the heat and the agony. I’m not dying today.