Wolf was now in the Med Center, being evaluated by the doctors who were pretty much experts at detecting signs of the virus. He was conscious, which was more than Cadmar or Cress could say when they came in after getting back to normal.

The only one left was Scarlet. And to be completely honest, she wouldn't be hard to find. The blood she left in her wake became a trail of breadcrumbs for Thorne and Patroclus to follow.

As they approached the area they found Wolf in, they noticed that the crazy doctor's body was gone. There was only a pool where he'd been killed. A pool of thick, red blood.

Streaks of the blood led down the far corridor, and Thorne got a sickening, sinking feeling in his stomach.

He gathered Patroclus had the same suspicions after he asked, "Do you think Scarlet took him?"

Thorne gulped, afraid his former friend might have gotten a tad peckish from so much murder. "Well ... no one else is down here."

"Good stars," Patroclus nearly gagged. He turned his head from the sight, stepping over the mess and following the streaks and tracks left by the monster - most likely the thing living in Scarlet's body.

Both of them had syringes full of the Death's Rival serum on hand. Patroclus had two, because he wasn't leaving anything to chance. If one failed, he wanted to have an extra.

Together, there would be enough for the three of them. Thorne, Patroclus, and Wild Scarlet.

Nauseous and lightheaded from the smell of blood, Thorne moved around the pool. He marched on, doing his best not to vomit. Aces, if he ever saw another drop of the stuff after this, it would be too soon.

It wasn't long before the two found where the hybrid trio had been hanging out whilst infected. A setup of netscreens torn from the walls and rewired must have been constructed by Cress. The array of bloodied weapons larger than Thorne's arm most likely belonged to Wolf.

The red hoodie laying on the ground alarmed Thorne. He knew it belonged to Scarlet. But if it was here, where was she?

"Behind you!" Patroclus cried.

Thorne spun around just in time to view his friend, her mouth painted with red plasma. Her nails as long as Cress's had been. Her hair was a mess, and Thorne swore he saw shards of glass and bits of metal with the curls.

Her eyes were the worst. The part that was supposed to be white was bright red. Her normally brown irises were cracked with similar colors. All over her skin were claw and teeth marks.

She didn't charge them. She merely watched them, like a serial killer. She tilted her head and glanced at Thorne's pistol, strapped at his side. Instinctively, he grabbed it.

She muttered something under her breath. Neither of them caught it at first.

"What?" Thorne questioned, a little timid. "Can you say that again?"

"Shoot me," she barked. Loud and bold, as her former self would have. Except, Scarlet didn't ask for people to shoot at her. She usually asked dumb people if they wanted to be shot at (Thorne knew this from personal experience).

"Um ..." Patroclus trained his pistol on her. "I'm not objecting, ma'am. But why do you want to be shot at?"

Scarlet's lifeless eyes trailed down to her wrists, covered in bites and scrapes. "I can't feel ... anything."

Patroclus gave Thorne a worried glance. "What does that mean?"

"Pain is a weakness," said Scarlet, not exactly answering his question.

Somehow, Thorne made a connection. "You want us to shoot you ... so you can feel something?"

"The contagion improves upon weaknesses," Scarlet elaborated. "It finds them, seeks them out. Then, it does whatever it takes to remove the weakness. I started feeling a lack of emotions. But then, I couldn't feel anything in my hands. Then my arms and chest, and the whole rest of my body."

With her dead eyes, she looked to Thorne. A tear of blood rolled down her scarred cheek. "I want to feel again."

Thorne weld his eyes shut for a moment and took a breath. He needed a second to process what was going on, and to keep his rising fear and paranoia in check. He opened his eyes, with his gun still aimed at her, and did his best to speak coherently.

"We can help you," he said. He reached for his syringe. Scarlet's eyes widened and her fingers spasmed. Slowly, he showed her the syringe. "If we inject you with this, you'll turn back to normal."

Scarlet shook her head, stepping back from them. If the two lost her now, they could lose her for who knows how long.

"I don't want to go back to normal," she snarled. "I want to go back to when I was first alive."

"You mean when you first got the virus?" Patroclus took a step closer to her. To which Scarlet responded with three steps back.

She nodded. "I was content with those improvements. But now ... I'm becoming more like a robot. A mindless soldier."

"Then we can help you," Thorne reasoned. Scarlet was still not convinced. He knew she was about to book it. But at the last second, he got an idea. "Wouldn't you like to feel love again?"

At first, she was puzzled, and her expression was more apathetic. She gave herself time to think for a moment. Allowing her expression to change. From apathy, to sympathy,

To regret.

Her breathing grew heavier and her shoulders slumped. She pursed her lips, and Thorne thought she might cry. Then he remembered she was suffering from a lack of emotions.

But sadly, maybe heartsickness was still in there.

Scarlet grazed the floor, not making a single sound, to reach her hoodie. She took it up in her hands and examined it, her eyes full of mourning.

"Does Wolf still love me?" she posed. A day ago, Thorne knew Scarlet would never ask such a question. She knew she had his love, and likewise with Wolf and Scarlet's emotions.

To be so distant from her former self that she had to ask, it gave Thorne chills.

Thorne didn't have to ask Wolf to know the answer. "Of course he does. He'll always love you. I doubt he'll ever stop, even if something happened to you two."

She pulled her hoodie's sleeves over her arms and the rest over her head. She rubbed her upper arms up and down, attempting to feel something. Just the fabric of her favorite garment.

She glanced at the syringe on Thorne's person. "Give me the cure," she said, her voice gravely and rougher than before. She winced at herself and extended her hand.

Careful to keep ample distance between them, Thorne only got a few feet closer to her. He tossed her the syringe, and she took in deep breaths as she got ready to inject herself.

She hesitated for what felt like years. She stood in place, her hand shaking, threatening to toss the needle down the corridor. Finally, Scarlet got fed up with her own indecisiveness, and jabbed herself.

As she felt the serum running through her veins, she appeared to be feeling every other emotion all at once as well. She crumbled to the floor and took on a seizure. Her mouth started foaming.

That's when Thorne began to wonder, if certain people were past saving.