Noah shoved through another door, his boots hammering on the floor, and his breath coming fast enough to scrape his throat raw.

Zubair stayed behind him. Steady. Measured.

The man threw a table down in the next hall, tripped over it himself in the panic to put something between them.

Zubair stepped over the table without looking down.

The knife came out of nowhere. Noah had another one strapped to his ankle, jerked it free while backing up. He slashed wide at Zubair’s face, desperation throwing his weight off.

Zubair didn’t bother to block. The blade cut a line across his cheekbone, deep enough to hit bone before pulling free.

The skin knitted shut before the second swing landed.

Noah saw it this time.

His eyes went wider than before.

Zubair caught his wrist mid-swing.

Noah’s bones cracked and broke when he twisted them. The knife clattered to the floor.

The man tried to pull back, but he couldn’t. Zubair’s grip didn’t budge.

The corridor lights flickered overhead, casting shadows across both their faces.

Noah hit Zubair in the jaw with his free hand.

Once. Twice. Again.

Zubair didn’t blink.

Didn’t loosen his grip.

Didn’t even seem to notice.

He shoved the man backward into the wall hard enough to knock the air out of him.

Noah gasped for breath.

Zubair slammed him again. Shoulder first this time. Bone against concrete.

Something in the man’s chest gave with a wet snap.

He tried to scream. Came out thin. Shaky.

Zubair pulled him forward before he fell and slammed him back into the wall again.

The creature inside liked that sound.

Wanted more of it.

Noah tried to fight. Elbowed Zubair in the temple. Headbutted him across the bridge of the nose.

Blood ran for half a second before the skin closed over the break.

Zubair didn’t let him go.

Didn’t even shift his weight.

Noah finally went still under the grip, chest heaving like he knew it didn’t matter anymore. Like he knew he wasn’t getting out of this building.

The knife on the floor glinted under the overhead light.

Zubair picked it up without looking down.

Noah shook his head hard enough to slam it against the wall behind him.

"Wait—" he started.

The blade punched into his thigh before the word finished.

Noah screamed high and sharp.

Zubair didn’t pull the blade out.

He shoved it in deeper.

Twisted it once.

Pulled it free slow.

The man slid down the wall before Zubair grabbed him by the collar and dragged him forward again.

Noah tried to fight, and he managed to hit him across the jaw again, his eyes wild.

Zubair drove the knife into the other thigh this time.

Harder.

The scream cracked halfway through.

Blood ran down Noah’s leg fast, hitting the floor in thick drops.

The man swung blind at Zubair’s head. Caught him across the ear.

Zubair hit him in the ribs with the flat of his hand, hard enough to throw him into the opposite wall.

Noah bounced off it, stumbled forward, barely stayed on his feet.

Zubair let him get his balance.

Let him think he was still standing on his own.

The knife punched into his side next.

Deeper this time. Low enough to scrape bone.

Noah’s knees hit the floor when it came out.

He pushed back up, one hand on the wall, the other pressed against the hole in his side like he could hold himself together if he just tried hard enough.

Zubair slammed him face-first into the nearest table.

The man went over it, hit the floor on the other side.

Tried to crawl.

Zubair stepped on his ankle, ground it into the floor until it snapped under his boot.

Noah twisted around, swung at his leg, fist connecting with nothing solid enough to make Zubair even shift his weight.

Zubair hit him in the jaw with the knife hilt this time.

Bone cracked.

Noah spit blood from his mouth, some teeth going with it.

Zubair grabbed him by the shirt, yanked him up off the floor like he weighed nothing, slammed him back into the table again.

The metal frame bent under the impact.

Noah rolled off the side, hit the floor face-first, shoved himself back up to his knees before Zubair reached him.

The man swung wild again. Didn’t matter.

Zubair grabbed the arm mid-swing.

Broke the elbow this time.

Loud.

Sharp.

The scream echoed down the hallway.

Zubair drove the knife through the palm of Noah’s hand, pinning it to the wall behind him.

The man jerked hard enough to tear his own skin wider trying to get free.

Zubair stepped in close, close enough that Noah could see his own reflection in the black of his eyes.

"You touched her," he said finally.

The first words since the bullet.

Noah froze like the voice hit harder than the blade did.

Zubair twisted the knife in his hand until the man’s knees hit the floor again.

Blood ran down the wall where the blade held him there.

Noah tried to yank his hand free. Couldn’t.

The knife punched into his other hand before he got his breath back.

Pinned that one, too.

The man screamed until his voice cracked raw.

Zubair grabbed him by the jaw before he dropped his head forward.

Dragged his face up so he had to look at him.

The man’s eyes went wider than before.

Zubair let him see it.

The black there.

The thing moving just under his skin.

Something feral that liked the sound of bone breaking, that liked how fast the fight bled out of a man once the pain got deep enough.

Noah tried to speak.

Zubair drove the knife into his thigh again before the first word left his mouth.

The man screamed until he couldn’t scream anymore.

Blood hit the floor in sheets now, pooling under the table, under their boots.

Noah sagged forward, hands tearing wider on the blades pinning them in place.

Zubair waited until his head dropped, until the breath came in short, fast gasps.

Then he tore the blades out.

Noah dropped straight down to his knees in the blood pooling under him.

Zubair grabbed him by the back of the neck, slammed him face-first into the wall.

Blood sprayed the concrete.

The man hit the floor on his back, gasping, hands slipping on the blood when he tried to push himself up.

Zubair crouched over him.

Waited until the man looked at him again.

Then broke his ribs one by one with the hilt of the knife.

Noah screamed through the first four.

Stopped after the fifth.

Zubair hit him again anyway.

And again.

And again.

Until the man stopped moving altogether.