They pounced, claws missed the opportunity to slice into my skin by mere inches as I tore down the passageway.

Bodies slammed into bars, but I refused to turn around to see what damage resulted from the collision.

Just keep running, just keep fucking running.

Around me, a frenzy initiated. Captives went crazy behind barriers, figures were thrown at locked entrances while shrieks became chants that seemed to spur on my aggressors' pursuit. A snarl prickled the base of my neck, warm breath feathered my spine as I reached the aisle's end. Ducking to the ground, decaying flesh flew over my head until it crashed brutally into the nearest wall.

The ends of my ponytail slapped against my cheek as I dared to glance back.

This can't be happening.

The other creature climbed from its original position of impact while that puppy, now fully formed beast, joined its side. Scrambling, I rose back onto my feet, my legs hurtled over the body of the fiend I had evaded. The roar of their paws' scrape against the ground fueled the energy I needed to sprint. On foot I dashed through darkness, my eyes transfixed on the vision of that open door.

"Help," came the screech from lungs that burned. "Somebody help!"

My body virtually collapsed through the doorway before I used my weight to push at its heavy surface. My dwindling strength managed to seal the opening closed; however, the resounding pound of heavy forces almost tore it back open.

"Stop," I screamed, "Please stop!" My back became the victim to the thump of their assault against the entrance. I searched my mind for a solution, but could only achieve the useless mutter, "Oh god, oh god."

Tragically, the door's latch connected before it budged open again.

"No!" I shrieked with feet planted firmly against bleached tile. "Tony! Dean!"

The door wasn't going to hold, and there was no way I'd be strong enough to contain them forever. With what little muscle I possessed, I succeeded in bolting it once more just as the sound of a crash arose from further down the corridor.

My eyes rounded in horror as the consequences of my earlier actions dawned on me.

I'd left the door open.

Mom...

Heedless to the possible danger, my body raced toward that noise. Recklessly, I bypassed those same colorless walls while the wind swept through tangled tresses. I left behind darkened labs, traveled the maze of corridors, and yet nothing but silence greeted me.

Rounding the bend, I almost crumpled at the speed in which my body traveled. The recovery of my balance was a waste, for as soon as I straightened while in mid-dash, my feet completely slipped from underneath me as I neared that intersecting hallway. My figure was airborne for a few terrifying seconds before gravity remedied its mistake, and my back met the full impact of the hard ground.

The pain caused stars to blanket my vision for a second. My eyes closed in the face of the agony that plagued the base of my spine. An odd dampness seeped into my clothing, pressed against skin before I managed to rise into a kneeling position.

Mom...

My eyelids peeled back, the massive pool of blood that surrounded me was almost my mind's undoing.

"No-" With frantic fingers, I tried to rub away its existence from my palms, but such a feat was impossible. "Not her, not her."

Mentally, I knew what the sight of so much blood meant, but I wasn't ready to face that possibility yet.

"Mom?" I cried out weakly.

My sight lifted from endless crimson to spot its identical trail along walls, glass, and entrances. Almost every portion of the once spotless hall was now painted with death.

Then, I heard that damning noise...

No, not again.

My fragile limbs struggled to crawl through the massive amount of liquid on slick tiling, and yet I managed to make it back to my former position behind the cover of plaster. A steady stream of liquefied fear dripped from my chin while shaky palms covered irrepressible pants. Before me were two more of those mutated animals. One set of fangs clutched Dean's amputated arm while another scavenger tugged at its other end. What was left of the security guard, remained partial chewed, stationary, blocking the path of sliding glass that repeatedly tried to close.

Mounted within a wall covered in blood beside the lab, another glitchy monitor ironically droned on in repeat, "Ad- advancing you-your health so that your years spent with loved ones are ex-extended, is the main ambition of BioGene scientists."

A sudden hand on my shoulder almost released my repressed shriek.

A palpable sense of relief threatened to overwhelm me at the sight of Tony's face. He signaled for me to remain silent before he helped me back to my feet. Quickly and yet quietly, we gained ground away from Dean's body.

Turning yet another corner, gun at Tony's side, I winced in my attempt to keep up. Thankfully, we paused within a darkened alcove.

"What happened?" I finally dared to utter.

His panicked-stricken eyes strayed back to the path we had just taken. "The animals they broke free." Shaken hands wiped at the sweat along his brow, his actions resulted in a streak of blood along brown skin. Wheezing, he recounted, "There were too many to sedate, too many already... chomping away at the staff." He shook his head as if his mind tried to erase the image. "I don't think I've ever seen so much blood."

"How?" I whispered brokenly. "How- did this happen?"

Clearly frustrated, he turned back to me as if the answer was obvious. Never had I seen brown eyes so consumed by terror. "You know how. Those scientists tampered with shit that never should have been tampered with, and their cocktail of experiments landed us is this hellhole."

My mind was full of questions I didn't want to voice but needed answers to. "You said," I forced myself to state, "you said that the animals were eat- that they were eating the doctors?"

His jaw clenched, silence fell between us before he finally retorted, "I lost my keys, my badge during the attack. And honestly right now, all I can think of is trying to get us out of here."

Mom's identification card burnt a hole in my pocket, and still I said nothing but, "Where is my mother?"

Incredulously, he simply stared at me. It seemed as if he could see what I internally felt, my mind's unravel. "Kara, I think we both know what happened to Dr. Harlow."

I need to see it. I need to know.

Denial controlled my actions. "May-" I stuttered, "maybe, she's just hiding. Maybe, she's waiting for me."

"Kara-"

"Did you see her?"

"Kara-" he began once again.

"Did you actually see her?" I persisted, my voice rose to dangerous levels in our current predicament.

"Kara," he urged, "you have to keep your voice down. These things have amazing tracking skills once their alerted to your presence. They don't stop until they see blood."

I can't just leave her...

Tony paused before gentle hands took hold of my shoulders. "Look, I know what you're going through. Hell, I've known some of those people for years, but I need you to understand that there is nothing that you can do to help the dead. You want to do something to honor your mother, stay alive." He glanced back to see if the coast was clear, then stated, "We need to go."

Tony began to sprint toward the other end of the hall, but stopped when he realized that he ran alone. "Kara?"

I shook my head as my eyes met his. "You go."

He called my name; however, I had already followed the bloody path we had previously escaped. I fell back on bended knee at the sight of those transformed creatures, those jaws still firmly preoccupied with deceased flesh. Quietly, with measured movements, I carefully crept through a slippery scarlet coating in the direction of my mother's laboratory.

The further I traveled, the less transparent the glass became. Behind red streaks, lay shrieks and that never-ending chaotic uproar. One primate caught sight of my movements behind a sliver of clean glass. Then enraged, threw its body, full speed, at the exterior in its aim to reach me. Its blood stained the barricade with every thrash. And still as if possessed, like Tony had warned me, it continued.

Hurrying by it, my destination finally came into sight. The partition looked identical to all the others, smeared in bodily fluids, nonetheless I whispered, "Mom?"

Slowly, I neared the entrance. "Mom, are you in there?"

My fingers itched to remove the badge from my pocket for I couldn't see through the dense layer of red. "I'm here Mom. You can come out now."

My body paused, fingers trembled in mid-air as I reached out. Badge in hand, I halted inches above the key-less entry pad.

"Kara, I wouldn't do that if I were you-" Tony cautioned just as that fucking rabbit slammed into the door's surface. My body jumped, ready to retreat, when his voice stopped me once again. "Don't move."

Too afraid to look in the direction of what caused such alarm to enter his voice, my sight remained glued the doors before me. Fear overshadowed common sense as unintentionally, I discovered a tiny fraction of unsoiled glass. Inside, my sight scoured the room, searched for something that, my internal voice of reason, had already realized.

My vision trailed over broken shards, overturned equipment, and... bodies. My knees buckled slightly, earning an intensified growl from my left.

"Kara, don't move," Tony repeated. A glance out of the corner of my eye revealed his hand as it slowly inched toward the gun in his holster.

As if magnetized, my sight shifted back to that small portion of glass, my peephole into hell. Papers flooded the floor within the lab, along with shattered beakers and blood... there was always that massive amount of blood.

The atrocity at my side snarled menacingly, and yet my eyes still traveled that trail of red. It traced its path until my vision discovered something as ordinary as a shoe.

Oh god-

I could barely see the pump, for the tears made it difficult to make out the black and white lace design along its heel. It was a shoe that I had seen buried at the bottom of our hall closet. A shoe that had been a birthday gift many years ago.

That heel... was attached to what was left of my mother's leg.

"No," slipped weakly from my lips before the control of my limbs was lost to me. Broken, my body wilted from the sheer weight of my grief.

As if it contained the internal detection of assessing weakness, the beast leapt forward just as my body met the ground. It took two bullets to take it down and still its heavy mass managed to flop partially on me, but mostly on Tony.

Together, we heard the door to the inhabitant's room finally collapse, listened to the snarls of those I had escaped.

Still restrained, Tony yelled, "Run, Kara, run!"

Panicked, I drug my legs free. Over my shoulder, a horde of scientific mutations bolted in our direction. Limping toward the main lobby, A discharge of several bullets sounded before Tony's screams impaled my guilty conscience.

I made him come back for me. He was pinned down because I had to see. I had to see what I already knew.

Instinctively I halted, an unexpected torrent of bullets took out the beast that I hadn't realize had launched itself at me from behind. The dead animal lay wounded at my feet, kicking out at nothing before it became still. I turned back to peer at Tony's now deceased form. Half of his body lay in my hallway while the other half lay hidden around the corner. Several chunks of skin were missing from his neck and still he had managed to drag himself far enough to protect me.

He had saved my life again.

He shuddered, and I almost ran to offer aid, but something stopped me. Several members of that feral pact viciously launched themselves atop his corpse. Teeth tore into skin as if human flesh was now categorized as a snack.

Horrified, my silent footsteps made the mad dash toward the elevator's entrance.

I can't die this way.

The card slid through the entry pad's slot before my finger smashed repeatedly against its button. Internally, my mind prayed- fucking pleaded for the cart's arrival.

Come on! Oh God, come on! I can't die here.

The doors unfastened, the alleviation of dread made my heart rejoice... then plummet, at the heavy weight that abruptly slammed me to the ground.

Twisting around onto my back, my attempt to hold off the fangs' venomous snap became a feat that was near impossible. Up this close, its black eyes appeared crazed, its intention to kill unparalleled.

"Stop," I screamed, I begged as my grip weakened. "I was here to help!"

"BioGene Pharmaceuticals, the wave of the future," that actress spewed once again. The world turned red as, the animal that I once felt desperate to record, chewed its way into my abdominal.