Leon Cole's alarm went off at 6:20 AM sharp.
taraaa tarraaa taraaa tarraaa taraaa tarraaa.
He reached out from under the blanket, fumbling for his phone on the nightstand. One swipe and blessed silence returned to the bedroom. He lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling fan spinning lazily above him. The morning light filtered through the curtains, painting soft stripes across the room.
"Five more minutes," Maya mumbled beside him, her arm draping across his chest.
"You said that twenty minutes ago," Leon said, unable to stop the smile creeping onto his face.
"Did I?" She cracked one eye open. "Well, I meant it more this time."
He laughed, carefully extracting himself from her grip. "You have that big experiment today, remember? The one you've been stressing about for two weeks?"
That got her attention. Both eyes opened, and she sat up quickly. "Oh crap. What time is it?"
"Six. You're fine. We have time."
Maya flopped back onto the pillow, groaning. "Why do I do this to myself? Why did I agree to run experiments that start at eight in the morning?"
"Because you love science more than you love sleep?"
"That's a lie. I love sleep very much." But she was already swinging her legs out of bed, heading toward the bathroom.
Leon got up and stretched, feeling the satisfying pop of his shoulders. Their apartment wasn't huge, but it was comfortable. One bedroom, a decent living room, a kitchen that actually had counter space. The rent was reasonable for the area, and with his salary from NexTech AI, they could afford it without stress. Sometimes he still couldn't believe he'd landed that job—part-time while finishing his degree, with a promise of full-time hire the moment he graduated. His coworkers kept joking that he was making them look bad with how fast he cranked out work.
He pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt, then headed to the kitchen. Coffee first. Always coffee first.
The machine gurgled to life, and Leon started pulling ingredients from the fridge. Eggs, bacon, bread. Simple breakfast, but Maya needed to eat before her experiment marathon. She had a tendency to forget food existed when she got deep into work.
"You're making breakfast?" Maya appeared in the kitchen doorway, her hair still damp from a quick shower. "Did I do something nice and forget about it?"
"You exist. That's nice enough."
She snorted. "Smooth, Cole. Very smooth."
"I try." He cracked eggs into a pan. "You nervous about today?"
"Terrified. We're testing the protein synthesis pathway Dr. Reeves has been theorizing about for months. If it works, it could explain so much about genetic expression under stress. If it doesn't work..." She made a exploding gesture with her hands. "There goes six months of research."
"It'll work."
"How do you know?"
"Because you're brilliant. And because you triple-checked everything." Leon flipped the bacon. "Also because I believe in you, but that part's less scientific."
Maya walked over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks. I needed that." She grabbed a piece of bacon straight from the pan, ignoring his protest. "What's your day looking like?"
"Work until noon, then Professor Chen's lecture on advanced neural networks at two. Should be home by five. Thinking about hitting the gym, then maybe a run."
"Another run? Didn't you go yesterday?"
"I like running. It helps me think."
"You're weird."
"You love me anyway."
"Unfortunately, yes." She grinned, stealing another piece of bacon. "This is really good, by the way."
They ate breakfast together at their small dining table, trading comments about their plans. Maya talked about the equipment setup for her experiment. Leon mentioned a tricky backend problem he'd been working on for NexTech. Normal conversation. Ordinary morning.
Maya left first, kissing him goodbye at the door. "Wish me luck!"
"You won't need it, but good luck anyway!"
The door closed, and Leon was alone in the apartment. He cleaned up the breakfast dishes, then settled onto the couch with his laptop. Work time.
He logged into NexTech's system and pulled up his task queue. Three bugs to fix, one optimization request, code review on a colleague's pull request. He opened the first bug report.
User reporting latency in data retrieval from backend servers. Response time averaging 3.2 seconds, should be under 1 second.
Leon stared at the code. The problem was obvious within thirty seconds. Inefficient database queries. They were pulling entire tables when they only needed specific rows. He rewrote the query, added proper indexing, tested it locally. Response time dropped to 0.4 seconds.
Twenty minutes total. He committed the fix and moved to the next bug.
This was what he loved about programming. It was like solving puzzles, but the puzzles actually mattered. Each problem had a solution, and finding it gave him a little rush of satisfaction. Plus, he was good at it. Really good. His coworkers kept asking how he worked so fast, and Leon never knew how to explain it. He just... saw patterns. Understood how the pieces fit together.
By eleven-thirty, he'd cleared his entire task queue and done two code reviews. He logged off and grabbed a quick lunch—leftover pasta from last night. His phone buzzed with a text from Maya.
Maya: Experiment setup complete. Starting trial run in 10 min. Pray for me.
Leon: You've got this. Science magic time.
Maya: That's not how science works.
Leon: Sure it is. You put stuff in tubes, say magic words (hypothesis), and boom, results.
Maya: I'm dating an idiot.
Leon: An idiot who believes in you. Big difference.
Maya: ❤️
Leon smiled and pocketed his phone. He grabbed his backpack and headed out for campus.
The university was a fifteen-minute walk from their apartment. The weather was perfect—early autumn, not too hot, not too cold. Leaves were just starting to turn colors. Leon took his time, enjoying the walk.
Professor Chen's lecture was everything Leon had hoped for. Advanced neural network architecture, with a focus on making AI reasoning more transparent. The professor walked them through recent research papers, explaining the different approaches teams were trying. Leon took notes, but mostly he just absorbed it all. This stuff fascinated him.
After class, he chatted with a few classmates about an upcoming group project, then headed home. Maya texted that her experiment was running long—she'd be home late. Perfect. That gave him time for his workout and run.
The apartment building had a small gym in the basement. Nothing fancy, but it had the basics. Leon spent forty-five minutes there, going through his usual routine. Weights, some cardio on the elliptical. He wasn't trying to get huge or anything, just liked staying in decent shape. It made him feel good.
By five-thirty, he was changed into running gear—shorts, moisture-wicking shirt, his slightly beat-up running shoes. He did some quick stretches in the living room, then headed out.
His usual running route took him through the neighborhood, past rows of apartment buildings and houses. About a mile in, there was a small park he liked. Another mile beyond that, the route passed by an old office building being renovated. Construction had been going on there for months. They were converting it into condos or something.
Leon started at an easy pace, letting his body warm up. His mind wandered as he ran. The backend optimization he'd done this morning. Professor Chen's lecture about transparent AI reasoning. That new paper he'd bookmarked about quantum computing applications.
His brain was always like this. Always chewing on problems, making connections between different ideas. Maya joked that he was allergic to boredom, and she wasn't wrong. Leon just loved learning things. Understanding how systems worked. Why code did what it did. How the pieces of reality fit together.
The park came into view. A few people were there—dog walkers, a couple sitting on a bench, some kids playing basketball. Leon ran past them, maintaining his steady rhythm.
He thought about the NexTech job. Full-time offer once he graduated. Great salary, good benefits, work he actually enjoyed. It was everything he'd worked for since he'd aged out of foster care at eighteen. He'd put himself through university on scholarships and part-time jobs, and it had paid off. Soon he'd have stability. Security. A real career.
The construction site appeared ahead. The sun was starting to set, painting the sky orange and purple. The site looked empty—workers must have packed up for the day. Scaffolding covered the building's east side, metal framework reaching up several stories.
Leon's thoughts drifted to Maya. Her experiment today. She'd been so nervous this morning, but he knew she'd do great. She always did. That's what he loved about her—she cared so much about her work, threw herself into it completely.
He was thinking about what to make for dinner when he heard it.
A sharp crack. Like metal snapping.
Leon looked up at the construction site. The scaffolding on the east side was swaying. That wasn't normal.
Another crack. Louder this time. Metal shrieking.
Then everything went to hell.
The scaffolding gave way. Metal beams tore free from their moorings. Concrete panels that had been resting on the upper levels started sliding. The whole structure collapsed in on itself.
And Leon was running right past it.
His body moved before his mind caught up. He tried to sprint away, tried to get clear, but the debris was falling too fast. A massive concrete panel, easily six feet across, came down at an angle.
He dove forward.
Wasn't fast enough.
The panel's edge caught him across the back and legs, driving him to the ground. The impact knocked the air from his lungs. More debris rained down—smaller pieces, chunks of concrete and metal rods—but the panel on top of him blocked most of it.
Pain. Immediate and overwhelming.
He couldn't move. Couldn't breathe properly. Couldn't think beyond the agony radiating through his body.
Something was very wrong with his leg. His ribs. His back.
The dust was settling around him. Through the haze, he could see the street. See that the collapse had stopped.
And then the pain really hit, and Leon's vision went white.