"B-Ben? Why did you throw her over? You should have known better to let her go down at her own pace rather than impatiently thrusting her down!" Daniel scolded.

"Detective, I don't want to hurt anyone, so please, shut up," Ben replied nonchalantly.

"What... what do you mean? What are you saying—," Daniel questioned before getting cut off.

Cut off by the sound of Ben pulling something out of his pocket. Something that no one had expected him to possess and wanted to see in the hands of a student.

"T-that belongs to Emma!" Daniel quivered. "W-why do you have it with you?"

"Ben. Put the gun down. Right now," Jane ordered Ben, attempting to threaten him to keep away the dangerous weapon.

Unfortunately, this made him shift his aim towards her this time around. "Don't tell me what to do," he warned. "Or you'll be dead."

"Ben, what are you doing? We came here to rescue you and... and now you're trying to kill us?" Daniel heaved a heavy sigh.

"I had plans to escape on my own should the plot fail. And it seems that it hasn't," he chuckled, delighted.

"What do you mean by... plot?" the confused detective asked, curious to know what was up the student's sleeve.

"You don't need to know," Ben replied briefly. "Now, if you don't chase after me or do anything funny, I won't have to hurt you all. But, if you refuse to comply, you'll all be gone," he threatened.

"You know what?" Jane asked. "You're worth trying to stop, you rotten piece of sh—," she said, sprinting towards the armed student before getting cut off by a gunshot. And a bullet had gone right through her left arm, which she had intended to use to punch Ben in the face. She groaned in pain, breathing heavily from the sudden sharp pain.

"Oops," Ben said, watching Jane cry in extreme distress. "That was an accident," he said, chuckling sarcastically.

"Jane! Are you okay?" Daniel said, running over to the once-again wounded student.

"I-I'm f-fine..." she stammered, still shaken by the shock.

Daniel stood up and turned to face Ben. "I know you're a minor, but if you're going to be like this, then I'm sorry," he said, raising his gun and aiming it at Ben. Despite this, he didn't quite get the response he expected from the student. Instead, Ben stood rooted to the spot, not even fearing the pistol pointed at his face.

"Okay," Ben retorted. "Shoot me."

Daniel struggled to find the courage to shoot the student. He tried very hard to pull the trigger, but he couldn't. His hand began to shake violently, and he began to hold back the urge to shoot the boy.

"I said, shoot me," Ben repeated. "Shoot me already. Shoot me!" he screamed thunderously this time.

And so, Daniel pulled the trigger for real this time. At first, he thought that he didn't. He didn't hear anything, nor did he see any difference in the scene. The murderous boy was still standing before him, perfectly fine and well.

And Ben began to cackle and snicker viciously.

"Can't shoot me? That's funny," he snickered. "Of course, you can't. There aren't any bullets in it in the first place, you blockhead," he chortled, facing upwards to the sky.

And all of a sudden, he turned his head back down to face Daniel. "Your chance is over. Do you want to be shot now? Do you?" Ben threatened him, ready to pull the trigger at the helpless detective.

"Wait!" Daniel cried, pleading to preserve his and everyone else's safety.

As a result, the merciless boy stopped. He kept the gun up, but Daniel could tell that the student's grip on the weapon had relaxed a little, making everyone a little more at ease.

"We'll... we'll let you go..." Daniel finally agreed.

Jane, who was still well enough to hear the conversation, gasped softly. "Y-you... you're going to a-allow him to w-walk free like that?" she questioned in disbelief.

"We don't have any other choice, Jane. We'll have to make a compromise here," Daniel said sadly.

"You c-cannot afford to l-let that... scum go.... You c-cannot..." she trailed off.

"Come on, Jane. Just shut up already. If the detective says I can go, then I can go," Ben said before walking over to the girl and lightly hitting her head with the gun. "Wake up, will you? Anyway, in that case, I'll get going now," he added before walking from the group and heading far away.

"Now what?" Daniel asked himself, sighing miserably as he watched the wicked student walk away.

"D-Detective Daniel?" Jane called.

"Yes?"

"Could you pass me the f-f-first aid kit?"

"Oh, right. I can do the bandaging for you, by the way. You can't possibly do it on your own," Daniel said as he grabbed the kit and ran over to the injured girl."

"Actually, that wasn't what I meant, but I guess it's better that I get some treatment first," Jane added.

The detective quickly fetched a cloth and applied some pressure on Jane's wound to stop the bleeding. After several minutes, the bleeding subsided; thus, he quickly brought a water bottle of his own and poured it over the wound. It caused Jane to hurt a lot, but it was for her good after all. Following that, he used a tweezer to pick out some fractured pieces of the bullet and bones—the most significant ones—and placed them on the concrete ground. Finally, he wrapped the wound up with a bandage, and the student was good to go.

"Thank you..." Jane said, still quivering from the weakness caused by the gunshot. "So much so for h-having to get m-medical treatment twice in one day..." she tried to joke in an attempt to bring her own spirits up.

"Now, what I really wanted to do with the k-kit is..." she said before trailing off and pausing. "Detective, could you s-stand at the wall?" she asked politely, still stuttering owing to the shock she had received from the shock of the gunshot.

"All right," Daniel replied, complying as he walked to the brick wall. "What are you planning to do, though?" he asked, worried for Jane's safety, as she was already rather injured. And just as he was about to express his concerns, a coughing spell that came from Jane began as she began to cough badly.

"Are you okay? You don't seem too well..." Daniel asked, still concerned about her health.

However, she didn't reply. Instead, she carefully pulled herself up onto Daniel's shoulders, holding the first aid kit in her left hand and balancing herself on her right hand, which was less wounded than the other. She then stepped up onto the wall, trying not to balance too much weight on her hands but rather on her feet.

She then slid off the wall carefully and landed perfectly on her feet. She turned to look at Matthew and Emma, who she could finally see properly after so long.

"Jane? Why are you here? You're horribly wounded!" Matthew panicked at the sight of a wounded Jane.

"I'm fine, but Emma doesn't seem so," Jane said, glancing at Emma, who was sitting on the floor.

"Well, yeah. Pass me the first aid kit, please. I'll treat her," Matthew requested.

"Oh, actually, I can do the medical treatment. You should start picking the locks," Jane suggested. "I mean, it sounds better since you should know how to pick locks, and I don't."

"I guess that's accurate. I'll get started now, then," Matthew said as he picked Emma's paper clip up from the floor and began working on the locks.

Meanwhile, Jane opened the medical kit and brought out some materials to treat the scraps and cuts that Emma had received from the fall.

"How are you feeling, detective?" she said as she inspected Emma's injuries.

"Uh, I'm not actually a detective. I'm a civilian administrator, but I guess we can standardise things and go with that," Emma chuckled. "I'm feeling better now after resting. But how about you? You... don't look too good," Emma commented, noticing the bandages wrapped around both of Jane's arms.

"Oh, it still hurts a little, but I'm more or less fine. Also, don't worry about the treatment. I've taken first aid courses before, so my way of treatment should be fine for you," Jane reassured her.

"Thank you," Emma said before Jane began treating the injured "detective".

A few minutes in and Jane was done with the treatment. On the other hand, however, Matthew was still working on the locks, which was taking longer than everyone had wanted it to.

"S-sergeant Davis? I-I don't mean to be rude, but could you please hurry? W-we don't know when those creatures will b-break through that door and kill all of us. Well, e-except Detective Washington outside," Mr. Palmer begged.

"Well, I'm doing my best already. I promise we'll get out of here," Matthew said as he continued to pick the second lock.

Suddenly, Jane began coughing again, and this time it got much worse.

"J-Jane, is that blood?" Emma gasped, looking at the student's reddened palm.

"I-I... ahem... think so..." Jane replied, interrupted by a chesty cough in the middle of her sentence.

"That's not good. Once we get out of here, we're bringing you to the hospital immediately," Emma said, noticing that the girl's eyes seemed to be turning red too. Her veins seemed more visible now, and they were darkening.

"No way. You can't bring her there or to any medical centre," Mr. Palmer disagreed with Emma.

"W-what do you mean? We need to get her proper treatment as soon as possible!" Emma said, frustrated.

"She got scratched by one of them, didn't she?" Mr. Palmer asked, convinced that something was happening to Jane.

"Well... yes.... I got clawed by a creature in that room behind the other end of the tunnel, where all the creatures are in right now..." Jane admitted.

"What's that got to do with stopping her from getting treated? It doesn't make sense!" Emma screamed.

"You don't get it, do you?" Mr. Palmer asked. "This... this thing is a virus—a deadly contagion. A subject doesn't just get infected because they consume AES-128. They can get infected by transmission through the saliva or blood of another infected subject. And that includes getting scratched by one of them."

"So... you're implying that she's been infected and will turn into one of those vicious creatures? No way..." Emma trailed off in disbelief.

"It's the sad truth. And as of now, there's no vaccine or cure for this malicious disease. Bringing her to the hospital will only cause a worse outbreak and a purge, too," Mr. Palmer sighed.

"But we can't just give up on her like that! That's just cruel! We'll be no better than those monsters!" Emma cried.

"We may be bad people for doing that. But we won't be good people if we let her go to the hospital, spread the disease all over and kill everyone," Mr. Palmer said.

"I'm at the last lock!" Matthew shouted as he marked the "beginning of the end".

"I think... I think I'm ready," Jane said.

"Ready for what?" Emma said, fearing that she would agree to Mr. Palmer to let herself be quarantined and trapped.

"Ready to die so that others will live," she answered. And just then, the creatures smashed their way through the wooden door at the other end of the tunnel.

"They broke through the door! They're coming now!" Mr. Palmer screamed as he heard the screeches of the creatures getting louder and louder, hinting to them that the animals had broken free.

"That's not good. M-Matthew, you have to hurry!" Emma screamed, worried that they wouldn't get out in time.

"I'm doing my best right now! I'm almost done, but it'll take about two minutes!" Matthew warned.

"I think... I'll do it right now..." Jane said, interrupted by more coughs this time, with blood dripping down from her mouth.

"Jane! What are you doing?" Emma said as she watched Jane limping away, further and further into the tunnel. Her coughs could still be heard echoing through the tunnel, but soon, she completely disappeared in the darkness.

She didn't look behind, and she didn't say anything else. She entered the depths of the pitch-black tunnel and never went back.

"Jane! Where are you?" Emma called out as she followed Jane into the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Jane wanted to shout to Emma not to follow her, but she had lost her voice. She had lost the ability to control her thoughts too. She had lost her mind.

Consequently, rage swallowed her whole.

"Kill me, you moronic beasts! Kill me!" she shrieked loudly, gaining back her voice momentarily. The ear-piercing sound reverberated through the tunnels, which later reached the detectives' ears.

"Emma! Come back! You can't go further," Matthew warned as he finished the last padlock and pulled it down. "She... she went in to save us. She knew she was going to turn. So, she's buying time. It won't be long before she becomes them or dies to them. So... please, come out!"

Emma began to sob again. She wanted to save the poor girl. She thought she had failed the children. Liam. Norman. And then Jane. Their rescue operation would end with all the children dying and letting a traitor run free. All that they had achieved after all was rescuing Mr. Palmer. And the CEO of a random company wasn't someone she held close to her heart. It was children. She just couldn't bear to see them die for the detectives' sake.

But she understood she couldn't do anything but treasure Jane's ultimate sacrifice. And so, she re-emerged from the shadows and appeared to the detectives once more.

"Emma," Matthew said as the sorrowful Emma ran over to Matthew and gave him a hug.

"I'm sorry, Matthew. It was my fault that I left the gun at the school entrance. If I hadn't, Ben wouldn't have been able to pick it up and use it against us..." she cried, tears streaming down her swollen face.

"It's not your fault, Emma. We all have been going through a lot lately, and it's okay for you to be stressed out," he comforted her. "But it's not okay to take away the credit you deserve and replace it with self-deprecation and criticism."

"I know. I... I just feel so guilty. Like... I haven't found a way to redeem myself ever since that day I... almost betrayed you..." she said.

"You don't have to redeem yourself, Emma. We have forgiven you, and all we want is to have a good friendship with you. So, don't go too hard on yourself, okay?" Matthew said to her.

"O-okay..." she sniffled.

"Uh, detectives? We better get going now. I don't think the poor girl is going to hold us back any longer," Mr. Palmer shivered, hearing the approaching footsteps of the creatures.

And so, the detectives pushed the gate open immediately and ran out of the tunnel together with Mr. Palmer. They were finally done with the rescue operation. It wasn't as successful after all, but they knew they had done their best, and that was all they truly wanted after all.

"Is Emma okay?" Daniel asked Matthew, worried about her.

"I'm fine now. And about Jane..." Emma trailed off.

"I know. I heard the conversation. She was a hero. I can't believe she sacrificed herself to save us. Should she have ended up in a hospital and one day was cured, she would have a future to look forward to. But... she gave everything away for us..." Daniel said, touched by the girl's actions.

Meanwhile, Matthew slammed the gate shut and latched it with the bolt that was on the gate itself. He also brought out his own padlock and attached it to the gate to ensure that the creatures would be unable to break free under any circumstances unless someone let them out on purpose. Then again, his padlock would keep them in for a while.

The three detectives and Mr. Palmer walked down the street towards the Ellenwood Park carpark.

"Mr. Palmer, could we have a ride in your car for tonight? We need to get back to our hotel in Binghamton and check out. We'll be heading back to New York after that," Daniel asked.

"Oh, yes, that is absolutely no problem. I'm heading to Edison, which isn't far from the city anyway. I'll wait for you at the hotel lobby while you check out," Mr. Palmer replied.

"Daniel, you can settle the checkout. I'll visit the electronics store across the hotel and get a burner phone. I'll contact the local police and the CDC about the outbreak at the school anonymously. I'll destroy the phone afterwards," Matthew added.

"Got it," Daniel responded.

And so, the quartet got into the car before theydrove away to a better place, far from the horrors of the school...