ATTACK! IT’S YOUR ONLY CHANCE!

Adrenaline coursed through Owen’s body as the thought hit his brain, and he threw himself at the woman with all of his strength. “Run, Kara!” he shouted, knocking the woman to the ground, his robotic heart beating hard against his chest. He landed on top of the woman and rolled off . . . only to feel a cold chill pass through his body as her hand touched his arm.

“Just for that, you little runt, I hope you enjoy this,” the woman said, sneering down at him as Owen’s muscles began to seize up, jerking his arms and legs painfully toward his body.

He tried to yell for help, but all that came out was a low moan. A few teeth fell out of his mouth, and he looked down at them in shock, only to find his hands had shriveled up into claws. His skin looked practically transparent now, and his arms began to shake with the effort of holding himself up.

“Owen!” Kara shouted from his side, sounding panicked as she reached down and turned his head toward her. “I’ll fix this, okay? I promise. Don’t worry. I’ll make this right.” She gripped his arm tightly enough to cause him pain, then seemed to whisper something over and over that sounded like “Not again. Not again.”

“How will you make it right when you’re dust, my dear Kara?” the woman asked as everything began to blur in Owen’s vision. He tried speaking again, but now even breathing was difficult. It was like he’d aged a hundred years in a matter of seconds.

Someone shouted something from far away, but even thinking was too hard at this point. He just needed to sleep. That was it. Sleep.

Ah, readers. You have apparently aged Owen to death. Fortunately, everything resets at the end of the day, so turn back to page 1 (or cheat and turn to page 103) and try not to let him die quite so quickly next time?