"Seven days? We won't even live beyond 24 hours if we're going to be confined within this hospital with those creatures in here!" Daniel wheezed, trying to catch his breath as he placed his right hand on his stiffened neck.

"Let's not panic. We obviously aren't going to sit here and wait the week out," Matthew said, already formulating a plan in his mind.

Megan tapped Daniel's shoulder lightly, attempting to calm him down as Matthew continued thinking through a solution to ensure their survival. Eventually, Daniel stopped hyperventilating and returned to his normal state, although he was nervous, just as everyone was.

Megan looked at Matthew, raising an eyebrow. "What do you suggest we do?" she questioned.

Matthew circled a small area of ground for a moment, thinking of how he should phrase it. However, before he could open his mouth to explain his plan, he realised that he shouldn't speak his thoughts so openly, considering the fact that they weren't alone. He moved closer to Megan and gathered the rest of the group together.

"I don't think I'll say it here, seeing how we're not the only ones here," he explained as he glanced around at the others around them, some aware of their conversation. As such, he gestured to the rest to follow him and begin moving briskly.

As the four walked through the corridors, away from the south exit and towards the east wing, Matthew began making his plans clear to his friends. However, he made sure that he himself was alert to his surroundings. Just because they had seen only three creatures so far didn't mean there wouldn't be more. There could be more anywhere.

"So, I thought that we—," Matthew said before cutting himself off and changing the subject for a moment. "Wait, where's Amelia?" he questioned Jean.

Jean sighed. "I couldn't bring here, could I? She wouldn't be happy to see her grandma so sick in the hospital. Plus, she's in surgery now, so there's no point in her being here," he said as he continued to sprint with the rest.

Meanwhile, Daniel and Megan stayed silent. They refrained from talking to conserve their energy as they ran, although the two brothers didn't seem to mind continuing the conversation.

"I sent her to a daycare centre," Jean elaborated more. "I'll pick her up once we get out of here... in seven days..."

The four neared the elevator lobby at the west wing. Hence, they slowed their pace. Matthew waited until they had stopped and caught a breather before responding to Jean's statement. "Jean, we're not going to complete the full quarantine. It's impossible to survive here for seven days. Yes, the hospital is huge, but so what? By dusk, at least a dozen people will be dead, and a few more will be infected. We can't afford to join the victims in this—"

"Matthew, I know, I know," Jean interrupted. "You're in the NYPD, so you're fearless and all that. But I'm not. I don't want to evade the quarantine and break the laws that the government has set for us. I would rather plan a way to make this place home rather than plan to escape. It's just too risky and reckless."

Matthew sighed. He couldn't believe what his brother was saying. After all, Jean was supposed to be the fearless one, not him. Had he forgotten about the camping incident regarding Jeffery already? Had he forgotten about how he bravely defended everyone else? It just seemed to Matthew that Jean had lost hope in himself.

"Jean, you're underestimating yourself. You can't possibly believe that you're not capable of fleeing from here. But you are," Matthew encouraged. "We can't stay here, Jean. We can't. If we don't leave, we'll all die. And Amelia... Amelia will have a broken family. Think about that. So please, let's all agree that we get out of here, alright?"

Jean stopped. Because he had arrived at the elevator lobby and also because he needed to pause to think and contemplate his choices. Matthew already knew his brother wasn't going to say no. The look on his face made it clear. He was going to agree. But with one condition.

"Well... fine," Jean gave in. "But I'm only going to leave when Mum wakes up. That's my only condition."

Matthew nodded. "Of course. We can't possibly leave her here..." he reckoned.

"Back to your plan... what was it?" Jean changed the topic back to what it was before.

"Well, we'll find a ward to stay in first," Matthew began. "At least some form of shelter that can keep us away from the creatures," he added as he pushed the call button for the elevator.

"Is that really a good idea?" Daniel hesitated, finally speaking for once after catching his breath. "I mean... sick people have occupied those rooms before, and this isn't a hotel. Are you sure it will be safe for us to stay in a place where there could be other viruses?"

The elevator bell rang, indicating that the elevator had arrived. As the doors slid open, Matthew shook his head and turned towards the other three, walking backwards into the elevator. "This is a hospital. It's the most hygienic place you can possibly find."

Daniel stared at him momentarily while Jean and Megan walked into the elevator without a second thought. Then again, he realised that he had no other choice. Taking refuge in a hospital ward was probably the least dangerous experience they've had in the past few weeks--probably even a month. Thus, before Matthew could snap him back to reality, Daniel intuitively walked into the elevator carriage, allowing the doors finally to close and bring them up to the wards.

The four stayed quiet in the elevator. There was nothing much to say. Jean was busy thinking about his mother. Daniel was still contemplating his choice to follow the others to stay in a hospital ward that could risk their health. Megan was caught up processing the information about Emma's imprisonment. Only Matthew was thinking ahead of their escape from the hospital—about taking down Yael. He thought about how the creature outbreak had just happened in the hospital and how Yael could have started it.

Seeing how all the building's exits were undamaged, the creatures seemed to have originated from within the building itself. Furthermore, one of the creatures had crashed through the ceiling from an upper floor. But how were they transported into the building without anyone noticing, and why?

"Fourth floor. Doors opening," the automated elevator voice announced as the doors slid open to reveal a new sight. It was much brighter, with the lights all on, unlike those on the ground floor, which were all out for some reason.

Before leaving, Matthew looked over at the elevator buttons once more. There was a button for the fifth floor, so he tried pressing it. It didn't light up, and he later realised that a key card was required to access the floor as he stared at the key card scanner. He assumed that it meant that authorised access was needed to go up, which also meant that there was something one floor above them that wasn't supposed to be made known to the public.

"Come on, Matthew. Aren't you coming?" Megan called Matthew just as the doors were about to shut. Matthew stepped forward, placing his right hand in between the doors, causing them to slide open once again. Snapping back to reality, he nodded.

"Yeah," he replied wearily as he stepped out of the elevator, joining the rest of them.

After catching up with the rest, Matthew found Daniel directing them. "Keep on a lookout for any vacant wards that are empty and properly sanitised. Now, a lot of patients must have run away in fear of the outbreak, and so some may have left just before the quarantine was set up. So, make sure that the ward we're choosing isn't an abandoned one that was holding sick patients just moments ago," Daniel told them.

The group then focused on looking out for suitable wards. All of those that they passed by were empty, and many had food or items still left in them. Instantly, they were cut from a list in his mind—the list of potential candidates for a safe ward for the group.

After walking down the hallway for about a dozen seconds, the group stopped, noticing an empty room that seemed suitable for them. Matthew peered through the door window, inspecting the room more closely and looking out for any signs of a previous inhabitant. Fortunately for them, the room seemed empty and sanitised.

Matthew grabbed the door handle and slid the door to the side before stepping into the empty ward. Two beds were present in the room, as it wasn't entirely a private ward. The rest of the group followed behind, getting a clear sight of the room for themselves.

He inspected the name holders, which were empty, indicating that there were no patients in the ward prior to their arrival. It was a great relief for all of them to have a safe place to take refuge from the creatures and also a ward that wouldn't potentially danger their health.

After some final inspection by the group, Matthew decided that it would be the place they would be staying in until their escape. He looked at the rest of the group, waiting to hear their opinion. Instead, Megan shrugged, and Daniel and Jean both nodded in unison.

"This place seems good to me," Matthew stated, hoping the rest would speak. "What do you guys think?"

"Well, I guess it's fine," Megan answered plainly.

"I think this is the best fit for our unprecedented stay here," Jean commented afterwards.

"That's great, then," Matthew chuckled before his glee eventually died out. He stuck his hands in his pockets awkwardly, unsure about how to respond to the awkward silence that filled the room. He didn't know if it was because of Jean that caused the uneasy mood in the room or if it was just his imagination.

Matthew walked backwards before plopping himself onto one of the beds in a sitting position. He eyed Megan and Daniel, who seemed like they had something to say, but were keeping it in because of Jean. Thus, he began speaking first.

"So, there are only two beds in this room," he remarked, stating the obvious as he stared at the other bed.

"I was about to mention that," Daniel replied. "So, are we going to... share the beds?"

Megan looked away, shielding her eyes, as if what she was picturing in her mind was right in front of her. "Oh, no. We're not doing that for sure. After all, it's better to have someone on the lookout rather than have all of us sleeping at once."

"Megan's right," Matthew figured. "Be it a visit from a creature, or an encounter with a staff member of Yael, we will still need to have someone on watch."

"Well, how about food?" Daniel queried. "We don't have the privilege to run back down to the eateries on the ground floor to get food and drinks, do we?"

Matthew frowned, thinking for a bit. "Hold that thought," he requested. He then walked over to a metal cabinet in the corner of the room. He pulled open the cabinet doors to see a whole mountain of water bottles. He ran his fingers through the line of water bottles, satisfied by the amount.

In contrast, the only type of food available was the dried and canned food packets that weren't very generous in portion. He picked them up, grimacing as he inspected their nutritional level. Neither were they very nutritious nor appealing. He figured they were prepared for emergencies like the one they were in, but the amount of food seemed to be lacking significantly.

"There are twenty-four bottles of water here. 600 millilitres each. Enough to last us five days, or six if we conserve some," Matthew announced to the rest. "The problem is... the food. Look at these," he added solemnly as he held up the food packets.

Megan groaned at the sight of their size and dryness. To her, they seemed rather inedible. Meanwhile, Daniel and Jean didn't react well to the food choices either. Daniel moved forward to get a closer look at the measly cans of food, while Jean didn't seem interested in looking anymore.

"For three days, this isn't sufficient for four people, probably not even for two," Matthew sighed. "If we all have two meals a day, it'll only last until tomorrow night. Or breakfast the next day if we share the food."

Daniel sat down on the other bed that Matthew wasn't occupying. He pondered about how they were going to survive in a hospital that was being inundated by infected creatures while lacking food. If they were really going to live on whatever little food they had, they'd have to leave soon. And to leave quickly, they'd need Matthew's mother to be out of surgery able-bodied, and they'd have to plan their escape quickly.

And to plan their escape, they'd need to leave their bubble of safety and venture through the treacherous hospital to choose an escape route.

Meanwhile, Matthew got up and looked out of the window on the ward door. He tried looking through the corridor, but it was an awkward angle for him. He didn't spot any creatures or people around. It was then that he thought that it was strange how there wasn't anyone else on the fourth floor other than them.

"You guys don't find it unusual that we're the only ones on this floor, do you?" he questioned as he turned to face his friends.

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "What do you exactly mean by that?" he asked back.

"Well, I'm pretty convinced we aren't the only survivors in this hospital. It's kind of unusual that we're the only ones in the wing, or at least on this floor," Matthew theorised.

Jean sighed. "Matthew, this hospital is humongous. I'm sure that there are other survivors, just not here."

"Well, don't you think that there's a reason why the survivors, for some reason avoided being here? Maybe—"

"Come on, Matthew. Don't go wild with your theories," Jean stopped him. "The last thing we need is someone to tell us that our refuge site isn't safe."

Matthew rolled his eyes. Jean had changed so much. So much that he wouldn't believe his own brother anymore.

* * *

Soon enough, Daniel and Jean were fast asleep. Meanwhile, Matthew and Megan were placed on night duty to keep on the lookout for any potential threats to their safety.

Matthew felt quite irritated—if not annoyed—by the fact that he was placed on night duty. Of course, he couldn't complain as Megan was also together in it. Meanwhile, he and Megan had been painfully awake for the whole day.

Matthew could feel his eyelids giving way. He tried blinking rapidly to keep himself awake, but every second that he did so, he could feel his eyelids falling even further than the last time that they did. The comfortable armchair didn't make it better. He became semi-conscious by then and was half-dreaming that he was in a bed.

He could picture himself back in his apartment, on his soft queen-sized bed. He could imagine the television in front of him announcing that Yael Biology had been shut down and that potential outbreaks caused by them were contained. He could imagine his life returning to before he had encountered the creatures.

But it was all going to be a dream unless he took action.

"Matthew!" Megan whispered abruptly.

Matthew's eyes blinked open quickly, and he sat upright to focus on Megan. "What?" he asked blurrily.

"Did you see that?" Megan questioned, her eyes quickly turning back to face the door window.

Matthew, who noticed her expression, faced towards the window door too. He got up for a moment before placing his face on the window and looking out. He tried looking through the window and attempted to see if anyone else was outside, but there wasn't.

Matthew turned back to face Megan. "What did you see?" he asked, confused by what Megan had meant.

"For goodness sake, you fell asleep?" Megan questioned him, upset. Before Matthew could protest, she quickly continued with her point. "Whatever the case is, I saw a man outside. A blonde. I thought he was a ginger at first because the corridor lights weren't working, but then the moonlight fell on his hair as he walked past, and I could see his hair was blonde."

"And what's so unusual about that? It could have been another survivor just exploring the building," Matthew asked.

Megan gulped. "T-that's... that's definitely not what he was doing. H-he... stood... there," she said shakily and nervously, her speech a little too incoherent for Matthew to understand.

"Huh? Are you okay—," he tried to calm her before getting interrupted by her speech.

"He stood there and peered through the window on the door, staring at us."