Chaos erupted and the whole room filled with screams as people began pushing past each other to get to the exits. Loud rattles and bangs echoed through the room as tables and chairs were knocked over in haste.

Elias stayed stuck on the spot, his gaze transfixed to the man he killed not even an hour ago.

Lorenzo was different now, his eyes devoid of emotion. His mouth was set in a grim line, his evil smirk noticeably absent. Blood stained his face, the damage that Elias had done to him clearly visible. The piece of flesh he had taken from Keenan made an awful squelching sound as it hit the ground.

Keenan fell face forward as Jae raced to get to him, his head smacking hard against the floor. Tyrell stood frozen on the spot, staring in horror as he watched the scene play out. It felt like hours passed as Elias stared at the man who had ruined his life.

Of course Lorenzo had the chip. Why did Elias never think of that? It made sense as to why he was determined to find a way to remove it without the extraction resulting in death. It also explained why he didn't care about the other people he was killing. He wanted his own chip to be taken out, before he could turn into one of the Risen.

He wanted to save himself, no matter what it cost.

Elias should have burned Lorenzo's body immediately, even if he didn't think that he had the chip. It was an oversight that would end in death and bloodshed. He had to stop Lorenzo, once and for all, before he could kill anyone else. If he did, then it would be Elias' fault for not destroying his body.

Elias had enough blood on his hands, he didn't need any more.

It was that thought that finally spurred him to his feet. He leaped up, yelling over his shoulder for Eden to stay put. Racing towards Jae, he dodged past the knocked over chairs and tables, pushing his way past the others still fighting to get to the exit on the opposite end of the room.

Jae had reached Keenan, but instead of tending to him, she jumped straight at Lorenzo, knocking him over with her force. They landed hard on the floor, Jae raising her fist and slamming it against his face. Elias knew it would do nothing and doubled his efforts to get to her, knocking furniture flying as he sprinted.

In her rage, Jae had forgotten the most important rule of all.

The Risen don't feel pain.

"Tyrell!" Elias yelled as he finally reached Jae, hoping to snap the man out of his daze. Without thinking of the consequences, he tackled Jae as hard as he could, knocking her off Lorenzo and sending her sprawling across the floor.

They landed hard, with Jae unfortunately taking most of the impact. If looks could kill, then the one she sent him as they landed would have disintegrated him on the spot. "What the hell?"

Before Elias could apologize, Tyrell swooped in, grabbing her from behind. He slipped his hands under her armpits and dragged her across the floor, ignoring the numerous curse words she shot in his direction as she attempted to kick her feet in her efforts to get away.

Thankful that the tall man seemed to have snapped out of his daze and was moving Jae out the way, Elias scrambled to his feet quickly, slipping slightly on the smooth floor. He turned around, coming face to face with Lorenzo who had managed to stand while Elias was getting Jae out of the way.

"Jae, get Eden!" Elias screamed, hoping that Jae would listen to him as Lorenzo wrapped a hand around his neck and lifted him from the floor.

Lorenzo's fingers were like iron, stiff and unyielding. Elias choked and gasped as Lorenzo's grip tightened, fruitlessly trying to pull himself from the dead man's grasp. Each breath was harder to come by as Elias' lungs started to burn, as though someone had lit them on fire.

Stars danced in front of Elias' eyes, his throat in utter agony as his hands finally fell limply to his sides, too tired to continue fighting. The world started turning dark around the edges as Elias struggled to breathe, staring into the expressionless face of the man who had killed his father.

Elias closed his eyes, ready to die, his last thoughts lingering on his little sister and Jae, the girl who had literally changed his life.

Take care of Eden, Jae.

And then, the pressure disappeared and Elias fell to the floor, his back screaming in agony as he felt his wounds tear open. He gasped, breathing in much needed oxygen, his chest filling with relief. He opened his eyes, his vision slightly blurry, to see Lorenzo with a knife protruding from his neck as he attempted to pull it out.

It was the same move Elias had used to save Jae.

Except, instead of running away, Jae kicked Lorenzo in his knees, knocking his legs out from under him and stepping back as he fell to the floor. She grabbed a metal tray from a nearby table and swung it as hard as she could, the rage as clear as day on her face.

Lorenzo's head snapped back from the force, but he remained stoic, as though it barely affected him. Leaving the knife in his neck, he managed to get to his feet and started towards Jae. Tyrell was next to try and hurt him, slamming his fist so hard into Lorenzo's chest that the man went flying.

Elias scrambled to his feet, still clutching his sore throat as Tyrell and Jae began to circle Lorenzo. The three of them now had the Risen surrounded, but with no way to kill it, that didn't make much of a difference.

Their only option was to run, though Elias worried if he would be able to get Eden out in time. His other concern, and a thought that he couldn't shake, was that it was his responsibility to kill the Risen that Lorenzo had become. Elias was the one that unleashed this evil on the world, he had to be the one to put a stop to it. The only question was how?

"What the hell do we do?" Tyrell asked frantically, his words mirroring Elias' thoughts. Lorenzo looked calmly at each of them in turn with his eerie dead eyes, his expressionless face somehow more sinister than his evil smirk. The long handle of the knife was still embedded in his neck, the blade buried deeply in his flesh.

"His head!" Eden screeched from just behind Elias. He turned to find the rest of the room had emptied apart from his little sister and cursed that the cowards had left her behind when they fled. He would have hoped that at least one of them would have found it in their hearts to help the little girl.

He was torn between telling her to run, and telling her to stay where she was. They hadn't seen any other Risen when they had wandered through the hospital, but he didn't want to chance sending her out of the cafeteria, just in case some had entered in the meantime. Nor did he want her to stay in the room with Lorenzo, especially when Elias was too distracted to look after her.

"Eden, stay back," he yelled, the panic almost consuming him as he finally settled on what he considered the most sensible option. His throat screeched in agony with every word, still raw from being strangled. He turned back to face Lorenzo, scared of looking away for too long, and shouted over his shoulder. "Close your eyes and stay back!"

"Cut off his head!" She elaborated, ignoring him.

He exchanged a glance with Jae, whose eyes were as wide as saucers before narrowing slightly as she looked away from him and towards Lorenzo. Even before she took the first step, Elias knew what she was going to do.

"NO!" He screamed, but it was too late. Jae had rushed to Lorenzo, attempting to knock him over, like the stubborn person she was. Lorenzo stood his ground, grabbing her arm and twisting it behind her back easily, as though he was folding paper.

A loud crack echoed through the room, drowned out by Jae's wail of agony. Lorenzo released her arm and placed his foot against her back, kicking her and sending her face first into a nearby table. Her head whacked against it and she fell to the floor, still and unmoving.

The entire world slowed down as Elias watched Lorenzo hurt his closest friend, the moment seeming to freeze for eternity. Jae's scream echoed in his ears, reverberating through his skull as he looked at her motionless body.

He fought the urge to go to her, instead racing towards Lorenzo. Tyrell, who had run forward to try and stop Jae, arrived first, grabbing a hold of the handle of the knife. Elias crashed into Lorenzo, sending him to the floor and allowing Tyrell to pull the blade free. No blood came from the wound in Lorenzo's neck, though that was hardly surprising.

Elias jumped onto Lorenzo's torso, placing his knees on his arms and holding the dead man down as best as he could. Tyrell lifted the blade high, bringing it down hard. It whistled through the air, the gleam of metal catching the dim lights of the cafeteria, and embedded itself in Lorenzo's neck, not slicing the whole way through.

Tyrell and Elias exchanged a panicked look as Lorenzo began to squirm, bucking beneath Elias and trying to shove him off. Tyrell attempted to yank the knife free, just as Lorenzo managed to push Elias off of him, the gaping wound on his neck now looking like a dark, sinister smile.

"Again," Elias called from the floor with a desperate edge to his voice. Tyrell swung the blade down, just as Lorenzo attempted to get up, it missed by an inch, clanging hard against the tiled floor. Elias crawled back on top of Lorenzo, desperate to hold him down even as he bucked beneath him. Tyrell swung again, this time managing to hit his target. The blade sliced through further, but still not all the way through.

Panic began to overwhelm Elias. They didn't have the right weapon, or enough man power to actually kill a Risen. His arms were starting to feel weak and his back and throat were in raw agony. It felt like a battle they would never win. He did his best to steel himself, to keep pushing even though his body was exhausted and desperate to give up.

For dad. For Eden and Jae. For everyone of Lorenzo's victim's.

With that thought in mind, Elias tightened his hold on Lorenzo's squirming body. He looked up at Tyrell and nodded his head slightly, silently urging him to continue. They could do this. They would kill Lorenzo, for good.

Tyrell's face took on a crazed expression as he lifted the knife and brought it down repeatedly, hacking through the sinew and tendons that held Lorenzo's neck together. Elias kept his grip tight, a weight lifting off his shoulders as the head finally almost severed, held only by a few strings of skin, and the body beneath him went still.

But Tyrell didn't stop. Long after Lorenzo stopped moving, he continued frantically hacking away, the blade now sinking into the flesh of Lorenzo's face. Elias finally released the dead body beneath him, no longer needing to hold him down, and placed a hand on Tyrell's shoulder.

"He's dead, Tyrell," he murmured, disturbed by the events of the last half hour. "We did it."

Tyrell finally stopped, staring down at the almost severed head of the dead serial killer. He dropped the blade, which was clean of any blood, and sank back onto his knees. For a moment, Elias thought he might say something, a snarky remark directed at Lorenzo's dead body. Instead, Tyrell surprised Elias by sobbing loudly, rocking back and forth on his heels.

Elias wanted to comfort him, but first there was something he needed to do. He turned to where Jae had fallen. Eden was already there, with Jae's head in her lap as she stroked the hair out of her face. He wanted to yell at Eden for not keeping her eyes closed, what just happened was not something that a kid should have seen, but he refrained for now, telling himself he would do it later.

Elias crawled towards the two girls, almost scared to get too close and find out that one of his worst fears had come to life. If Jae was... He couldn't even think the word. They'd been through too much for it to all end here. He'd lost enough already, he couldn't bear to lose anyone else.

He reached them, his heart filling with relief as he saw the tell-tale rise and fall of Jae's chest. He gathered her in his arms, squeezing tight. "You'll be okay, Jae," he whispered, his eyes filling with tears.

A large gash covered her temple from where she had hit the table, but Eden had torn a piece off her own shirt to hold against the wound, stopping the blood flow. Judging by the already egg-sized lump Jae would probably have a headache and possibly a concussion. Her arm was definitely broken, hanging limply at her side. She was in for a world of pain when she woke up, but she was alive and to Elias, that was all that mattered right now.

Elias placed her down on the floor, searching for something to wrap her arm with, it would be better if he could be done by the time she woke up. He would also have to search for some pain killers for her to take. But all those thoughts got pushed to the side as he heard her croaky voice from right behind him.

"Eli?"