With shaking hands you rushed through the lab, grabbing everything that seemed essential for your research. Stacks of papers, written calculations and even more data storage disappeared in your emergency backpack.

You knew that you should only take what was absolutely necessary, but you just couldn't help it.

As you noticed how little space there was left inside, you realised how much lifetime and resources you had invested into this stupid research. It was your life's work and you couldn't even pack a fragment of it into your backpack.

"I really did waste a lot of time, didn't I?", you mumbled to yourself as you pushed another stack of papers into the last space that was left. "How long was I blind to the rest? JD... if I didn't spent so much time with this, how long would we be dating already?"

You've had a crush on him since early childhood, but never noticed anything in his behaviour. Only when the two of you parted ways, started to have your own separate lives, he had changed and cherished the limited time he had to visit you.

But now things were different. He was your boyfriend.

Hopefully that would stop him from doing stupid shit, despite how prideful he was.

You smiled to yourself. Even if you could nag about a lot of him, he was still perfect for you. The exact man you had wished for but thought you could never have. Now that your attitude has been proved wrong, you felt lighter than before, happier.

Suddenly, a rustling sound made you listen.

A shiver crawled down your spine. Your body tensed.

Carefully, you raised your head but couldn't spot anything in the dim light. Your hand reached for a scalpel that was laying on the desk.

You took a trembling breath, but forced it to be as quite as possible.

With your head pulled in and the backpack thrown over your shoulder you crawled across the floor and hid underneath a table. The shadows almost swallowed you whole, making it easier to stay hidden.

Steps sounded, heavy and slow.

Your ears twitched whenever a sound filled the silence. Your breath quickened, but you kept your lips pressed firmly together.

Something moved across the room, in the shadows. An outline appeared. It was tall and broad, awfully human.

But you couldn't recognise a face, it was too dark. A soft curse escaped your lips.

If this was an intruder it would be best to stay hidden. However, the shadow might as well could have been JD. The size matched and whenever he wanted to be careful he walked exactly like this.

Usually, it was easy for you to recognise him even without having to see. The pacing of his steps, the pattern in the way he walked, everything was deeply burned into your brain. Just like the sound of his laughter.

But this was strange.

The steps sounded a lot like him, but not exactly. Sometimes it sounded as if he was here, looking for you. But every now and then there was a mistake, one wrong step or hesitation.

You couldn't tell if it was him or someone who tired to be him.

The steps came closer. The rustling of fabric rubbing against fabric sounded.

So the person was a human.

Somehow, the thought gave you a hint of relief. Your shoulders relaxed, but only a bit.

Stretching your neck, you tried to throw a glance around the corner. Your hands were sweating, the scalpel was already feeling awfully slippery.

For the distance you could spot a pair of heavy, black boots, those that were often used by soldiers of the COG.

JD had kept his after leaving. He had always insisted that they were a reliable pair of boots and it would be a shame if they would go to waste.

A wave of confidence washed over you. With a deep sigh, you crawled out of your hiding place. Squeezing your eyes shut, you shook your head and groaned.

"You almost scared the shit out of me, JD!", you said in an accusing voice. "Didn't I tell you to take care of your fiends? Or did you change your mind? Well, doesn't matter... I'm almost finished. Give me a second."

You turned away, not looking at him and grabbed the bag to gather the last few things that you deemed necessary.

But he did not respond. Instead, he remained motionless and just started at you.

"JD?", you asked carefully, feeling that something was off. "Don't want to talk to me?"

A low hum sounded. But it was not the kind of hum he would do. The voice sounded different, way deeper and less human, as if the tongue was too heavy to form proper words.

Your heart skipped a beat. Your shoulders tensed. Holding your breath, you slowly threw a glance over your shoulder.

It wasn't JD who was standing in your lab.

It was a creature that seemed both human and the furthest from a human you had ever seen. It was huge, so huge that even JD would have appeared small next to it and with such a muscular build that it seemed ridiculous. The skin had a strangely greyish tone, mixed with the scales of a lizard.

As it's milky eyes fell on you, a shiver crawled down your spine.

It let out a deep breath, making it sound like the snort of a horse.

Your grip on the scalpel tightened. But as your gaze fell onto the gun that it was holding, you could almost feel your chances shattering.

You swallowed hard.

"Don't...", you whispered in a warning tone and took a slow step back.

Tilting its round, earless head, it matched your movements.

Whenever you moved, it moved too, making it impossible to create some distance.

Its long, black claws scratched over the desks, causing a sound that made your organs want to turn inside out.

"Do-c...tor...", the creature gasped with a heavy tongue, revealing a mouth full of pointed, sharp teeth. "Ki...ll... the... doc...tor..."