The area beyond the new doorway had an almost identical floor plan to the non-restricted section of the building Aidan was familiar with. It had the same laboratory settings and offices, lacking only a duplicate staff dormitory. Aidan glanced around with a sense of déjà vu creeping up his spine. Everything seemed so alike, even when it clearly wasn't.

Robert led them to his second office, identical in its décor right down to the photo frames the professor kept on his desk. His mind still frazzled, Aidan hadn't even realised he was seated in front of the professor's desk once more until the older man placed a file in front of him, the same way he'd given Aidan the manuscript to read in his other office.

Robert looked poised in his seat, elbows resting on the desk's edge and hands clasped together as he began explaining, "This government facility is only one of many throughout the world dedicated to eradicating creatures deemed a threat to humanity. Thousands of years ago, vampires, witches and werewolves somehow arrived in our world. They took over, got comfortable, and made us their slaves." Robert's lips curled back from his teeth in a show of disgust as he emphasised that last word.

"Our forefathers managed to break away from their control, but the witches somehow bespelled the entire human race, making us forget their existence. If it weren't for the manuscripts and a few other archaeological finds over the past twenty years that these monsters hadn't managed to hide, we would have remained ignorant of the truth. But once it was revealed, the world's most powerful leaders took it upon themselves to establish research centres like the one we're a part of, to study ways to win the war against evil."

By now, Aidan had recovered enough from the shock to pay attention to Robert, blinking rapidly at the older man's words. "War? What war?" Eyebrows scrunched together in disagreement, he argued, "Even if there's an ounce of truth to what you just told me, there is currently no supernatural battle going on. The only wars I see on tv are man-made ones!"

He continued to point out the flaws in the professor's explanation. "You said that the manuscripts and artefacts were found in the past twenty years, but these... I mean, these creatures haven't attacked us in all the time we remained ignorant of their existence. Doesn't that mean that whatever transpired ages ago isn't a reflection of the current world we live in?Your actions may well be the catalyst that starts a war, and I'd stop with this madness if I were you."

"I want you to take a look at the file before you," was Robert's short reply.

Aidan ignored it, choosing instead to ask, "Why are you telling me this? You know me well enough to know I can never agree with what you've been doing. This is dangerous, not to mention beyond unethical. It's madness!"

Robert didn't immediately answer, his expression telling Aidan he was mulling the level of information he was willing to share. Finally, he said, "Before I hired you, I did a background check on you." Aidan gasped before giving the older man an indignant glare, to which Robert gave him an apologetic look before continuing. "Your mother died in a car crash when you were young.

"Your father died from a heart attack when you were fifteen, leaving you under the care of your twenty-year-old brother, Gavin Summers. In what I can only think of as a terrible blow to you in your young tragic life, five years ago, when you were twenty and at university, your brother went missing while on holiday with friends."

Aidan could feel his anger swelling at his superior's utter invasion of privacy, and he wasn't about to hold back. All that fury exploded out of him like a burst balloon as he shouted at Robert, "I'm not sure what my private life has to do with you or this bloody place!"

Robert remained unmoved by his outburst as he studied Aidan's features, flushed red from anger, before calmly replying, "It has everything to do with it. Your brother was in the presence of werewolves when he disappeared."

The colour drained from the younger man's face as quickly as it had risen.

"Wh...what?"

Robert stood up from his chair, expression unreadable. "The file in front of you. Read it." Without another word, he walked out of the room and closed the door. Not hesitating, Aidan grabbed the file and frantically began reading through its contents. Someone had spent a lot of time and effort compiling the information on his brother's trip. Some of the details Aidan knew, but there were parts even he, who had spent hours investigating, was clueless about.

For instance, his brother had told him before the trip that he would be road-tripping with some of his old college buddies, intending to record everything they did for his travel blog. After Gavin's disappearance, Aidan repeatedly reviewed all the photos and footage recorded on Gavin's phone, camera and other digital recording devices to the point he had memorised his brother's route throughout his journey.

Yet somehow, this file contained additional names of places Aidan didn't recognise and hadn't known to check. They seemed to be out of the way towns that took Gavin and his friends through backroads, rugged terrain and nothing much else. Knowing Gavin's sense of adventure, Aidan knew his brother had been more than happy roughing it out in the vast stretches of sparsely inhabited land they had aimlessly wandered through.

On the day he'd gone missing, Gavin and his friends were at a national park famous for its mountainous cliffs, intent on enjoying the day rock climbing in a quieter area, off the beaten path from most tourist trails. Instead, their day had ended tragically. His friends claimed the halter rope had snapped, vaulting Gavin into the raging waters of the river many meters below. Park officials spent days searching for traces of Gavin, but nothing came up, not even his climbing gear or articles of clothing.

Although Aidan's friends had tried gently convincing him to accept Gavin's death, he just couldn't do it. Because of how secluded the place was, no one besides Gavin's friends had witnessed the accident, and their vantage point was so high up the cliffs that it would have taken them hours to climb down to search for Gavin.

Anything could have happened between the time of Gavin's fall and the start of search and rescue operations. No matter the implausibility that Gavin had survived, Aidan couldn't let go of the tiniest shard of hope entrenched deep in his heart that the only family he had left was somewhere out there, alone, maybe injured, confused and lost.

Aidan frowned, two deep trenches forming between his brows as the contents of the file abruptly shifted focus to Gavin's three friends, Andy Silvestri, Charlie Williams and Brandon Santiago. Attached were photos of the three men. Aidan studied them one by one. He had met them briefly after the accident when he'd rushed over after getting the call. They were athletic, just like Gavin, and loved the outdoors as much as he did. It's what initially brought them together as friends.

Andy, he remembered the most because of the man's unique white forelock in his otherwise pitch-black hair. He couldn't remember much about Charlie, other than the man having a rich coffee brown skin tone, dark eyes and thick black hair. Brandon hadn't spoken to him at all. The strawberry-blond man had kept his distance, seemingly lost in thought.

He scrolled further down the page and stopped. Almost in slow motion, the file in Aidan's hands slid onto the desk, shock loosening his grip after reading the paragraph confirming the identities of the three men as werewolves.

Struggling to pick up the file with trembling hands, he continued reading, 'The victim is believed to have uncovered the secret identity of one or more of the perpetrators, resulting in an attempted escape. Although no trace of the victim has been found to date, a probable scenario suggests that the perpetrators murdered the victim and disposed of any evidence before informing local authorities of the staged accident.'

Aidan cried out as his eyes focused on one word. Murdered. No, this couldn't be! Even as a hollowness seeped into his very bones, he read the last line, 'All attempts to locate the three werewolves have met with failure as they have gone deep into hiding.'

Aidan's mind was a tumultuous mess as he sat back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair. His heart began drumming frantically in his chest even as his lungs refused to draw air. Gavin was dead. Gavin was dead because there was no way he would have escaped from not one but three supernatural beings. He was... gone. Fast-building grief made Aidan's body go numb as he slowly leaned his head on the cool hardwood of Robert's desk, sucking in air through his mouth in erratic gasps.

The last bit of hope he'd held on to was finally extinguished, and the inevitable truth that he was alone in the world finally made the corners of his eyes burn as he fought the tears from falling. Mom and Dad were gone, and now Gavin was too. How was he supposed to go on without them? What was the point of everything he'd done so far in his life, all his hard work, sacrifice, and success if he couldn't share it with his family? It was all for nought. He was alone.

Aidan let his eyes drift shut, despair rearing its victorious head. He missed them so much. It hurt just thinking about never seeing them again, the pain settling in his chest like a lump of lead. It grew slowly, years of sorrow and loneliness piled up in layers upon layers, pressing down on his heart, but he'd managed to hold it all at bay using hope as a counterweight.

Mom's death had been a shock to the system, but Dad and Gavin were there to share the grief and unbearable pain. Dad was lost just as suddenly as Mom, but his health had been on a downward trend ever since losing his beloved wife. It had shocked the brothers, but they had come to accept it fairly quickly.

But losing Gavin was something he never anticipated happening. Not at twenty-five, not at the peak of youth. His rock and number one supporter. His best friend. The only person who cherished him for who he was. Now that the hope was gone, the pain came crashing down.

All he wanted to do right now was to go to sleep, and maybe when he woke up, this would just be another stupid dream like all the other stupid dreams to haunt him. Except this was without a doubt the worst of them all. Maybe, it would be better if he didn't wake up at all? Then he wouldn't be alone anymore. He just wouldn't be.

Tormented thoughts continued to rain down on him, but after lying quietly on the desk for half an hour, Aidan's breathing finally returned to normal, and the fog that blurred his ability to think straight began to lift somewhat. Like the calm that follows a dissipating storm, Aidan's mind kicked into overdrive as if trying to make up for the momentary lapse in critical thinking. Raising his head, he looked back at the file.

How could he know for sure that the information Robert had given him was true? The man wasn't who Aidan thought he was, after all. He could be playing at Aidan's feelings, manipulating him into joining the darker side of the organisation. There was no solid proof that Gavin had been killed. Hell, there was no actual proof his friends were werewolves, either!

The hope that had been snuffed out barely seconds before was rekindled in a brilliant burst of the hottest, bluest flames, stronger than what it was even the day before. Aidan sat up straight on his chair, determination giving him the strength to make a clear decision.

He wasn't ready to give up just yet. How could he, when new clues linked to his brother had almost magically fallen into his lap, albeit courtesy of his psycho boss? Aidan knew what needed to be done. He was going to tender his instant resignation to Robert, get the hell away from this disgusting place, and go searching for his brother once more.

As for the creatures held in here, he didn't know for sure if they were dangerous, but one thing he did know was that he was powerless to help them. How could he fight against the world's governments? No one would believe him if he tried to get the word out anyway, and he didn't want to end up institutionalised as a madman for attempting to speak up! He needed time to figure out a plan that didn't involve him getting into some serious trouble.

As he stood up to leave, Aidan noticed Robert's key card lying by the side of the table and grabbed it, stuffing it into his pocket just in case he needed it to exit back the way he came from. Nervously, he stuck his head out the door, looking around, before hurrying to the metal door. Just as he was about to grab the handle, a clicking sound startled him, signalling the door's unlocking.

In walked a young researcher with his hands stacked full with books. He gave Aidan a curious look but was deliberately ignored as Aidan took the advantage to slip through the door before it closed once more. When he re-entered the prison area alone, some of the guards looked at him in surprise, and he saw one of them make a radio call. Trying to look unconcerned, he walked towards the next metal door, but he hadn't made it halfway, reaching near the reinforced guardhouse, before the door behind him swung open, and Robert was calling to him.

"Aidan!"

Aidan grudgingly waited for Robert to approach. "Where are you going?" For once, Robert looked ruffled by the younger man's behaviour. Aidan took a deep breath before replying, "I'm leaving the facility. I resign. I don't know if what you told me about my brother is the truth, but I need to find out for myself, so I'm going to search for him again."

"Trust me, Aidan, we've already tried searching for him—"

Aidan tilted his head. "Trust you?!" He didn't hold back the disgust in his voice. "You've given me no reason to. Don't waste your breath because I've made up my mind. Rephrase it all you want, but that won't change the fact that what you're doing here is wrong! I won't be involved in any of this." Someone began clapping from one of the cells while chuckles and mutterings carried around the enclosure. The guards started hollering threats in response, demanding silence.

Aidan was about to turn away when Robert's voice rang out crisply, "I can't let you leave."

"Excuse me?"

The disappointment was clearly visible on the professor's face as he reached into his back pocket, retrieving a taser. "I had high hopes for you. By far my best and most brilliant employee, even at such a young age. Why did you have to turn out like this?"

'Skewered sausage rolls, what is he doing?!' Aidan's eyes widened into globes, and for a moment, he was too shocked to move. The next second, Robert lunged at him at a speed Aidan didn't think was even possible for a middle-aged man who supposedly did nothing all day but sit behind a desk. Aidan barely sidestepped the attack before running in a panic towards the only place he could; the guardhouse.

"Please work, please work, please work!" He chanted while slipping Robert's key card into the slot near the sealed door. The sound of a click ensued, and he barged in before slamming the door shut. Impulsively, he slammed his fist on the large red button beside the door and heard a series of satisfying clicks as the door sealed itself shut from the inside.

Turning around, he saw a single black-clad guard sitting in front of a bunch of monitor screens in the room, stunned at the sudden invasion. Aidan ran up to the man just as he reached for the gun strapped to his waist. Then, Aidan's fist landed its first-ever punch of his life, hitting so hard that the guard was thrown backwards, where he further hit his head on the side of the console table and fell to the floor unconscious.

Aidan spent the next ten seconds screaming out every curse word he knew while clutching his throbbing fist with his other one in agony. Still in pain but tight on time, he shuffled over to the bunch of monitors. Some displayed the closed-circuit imagery from different angles within the prison, while others were meant to show the software that kept the place running.

A series of violent hits rattled the guardhouse door before a muffled voice called out to him. "Aidan, come out of there right now, or I will personally feed you to the vampires!"

Robert was pissed.

"Yeah, fat chance," Aidan muttered hoarsely under his breath while trying to figure out the software. Suddenly, the glass overlooking the outside cracked as a swarm of bullets bashed against its surface, the sounds of the impact shocking Aidan. It still held, but Aidan realised it wouldn't last for long.

With a sinking feeling, he began clicking through the drop-down menus and sub-menus of the complicated system, looking for anything that might save him from sure death at the hands of his ex-boss. As another round of bullets hit the glass, he finally found the controls for the locking mechanism of each jail cell, but instead of hitting it, he hovered the cursor over the button. Was releasing a bunch of angry and possibly hungry supernatural beasts his best option? The last thing he'd want was to be sucked dry by a hangry vampire or ripped to shreds by either a wolf or a witch.

His options ran out when the glass shattered into pieces. With no other choice, Aidan hit the button and then dove under the console table just as a spray of bullets flew in all directions, several of which hit the unconscious guard, killing him instantly. Aidan yelled in horror at the sight of blood pooling around the lifeless form while outside the guardhouse, screams of a similar kind began echoing, at times overwhelmed by the sounds of growls and gunfire.

Calling the situation a mess was a terrible understatement.

He had to get out of the damn building! Aidan crawled out from under the table on shaky hands and knees and then duckwalked until he reached the window, cautiously peering over.

Utter chaos reigned in the enclosed space as guards and monsters began battling it out. Robert was nowhere in sight. The guards were throwing gas bombs at creatures close by, eliciting screeches and howls of pain. They literally shot at anything that moved. Elsewhere, vampires could be seen running zig-zag, barely dodging bullets, while a single witch used his powers to throw fireballs from the palms of his hands toward the humans.

A strangled yelp escaped Aidan's throat as he caught a glimpse of the werewolves. All of them were fully turned, looking just like the things in his dream. 'Hulky hounds! How the hell is that even possible?!" He questioned himself in utter befuddlement while struggling to climb out of the broken window.

Landing hard on his butt on the ground below, he stopped to analyse the situation. In a corner, a bunch of wolves had banded together with the fire-throwing witch to try and organise a strategic attack. At the same time, the guards were in the midst of regrouping in a valiant effort to stop them.

Aidan thought of making his escape to the non-restricted section, but then he remembered the wall of lasers and gritted his teeth. Robert, that prick, might have activated them. This left only the hidden research labs. Hopefully, there'd be an emergency escape route from that section of the building. Aidan took a deep breath, key card in hand.

It was now or never. Aidan ran as fast as he could, making a beeline for the door while miraculously avoiding getting shot. Reaching it, he swiped the card and...nothing happened. Yanking the handle didn't budge it one bit, either. Once again, he swiped the card, but the door remained locked. "Shit. Biometric scanner," he said aloud as he realised the problem.

"Need some help there, little guy?" Aidan yelped in fright and turned around to face the tallest man he'd ever met in person. Aidan was by no means short, but the young man before him towered at least a foot taller and was markedly bulked up. He looked to be in his twenties, although it was hard to tell with these supernatural creatures. Despite his intimidating size, he had an air of approachability and a friendly smile that caught Aidan off-guard. He was shirtless, likely because the cloth had shredded during transformation, but his sweatpants still hung on his hips, albeit stretched out of shape. 'Just how stretchable were those pants?' Aidan couldn't help but wonder, mildly impressed.

The man ran a hand over the intricate cornrows adorning his scalp before scratching his neck awkwardly. "I might be able to break the door," he explained to Aidan, "but why this one and not the other door?"

"The other one leads us into a corridor with laser beams that'll slice us into sashimi-sized pieces." Aidan hoped the man believed him.

The man whistled in surprise, "This door it is, then," he said without question and to Aidan's relief. He motioned for Aidan to stand back before calling out to a few of the nearby wolves. Aidan watched, mesmerised, as the tall man's body began to morph, his face elongating into a snout, arms lengthening and a tail sprouting from beneath his pants. The shaggy fur that grew was an unexpected rusty red, like a fox.

Altogether, the creatures, four in all, arranged themselves in a line before hurtling one after the other towards the door, using their bodies like battering rams. The first try dented the door, the second seemingly weakened the hinges, but it finally took twenty-three rounds before the door flew off its frame. The wolves turned around and began howling to alert the others of the new escape route, but Aidan had no intention of waiting for them and ran through the gaping doorway, jumping over the mangled door that now lay in a twisted mess on the ground.

He ran through the corridors using the floor plan of the non-restricted side of the building as a guide and quickly found the corridor leading to the emergency exit. That's when he hit a snag in his plan. Unlike the exit he was familiar with, this corridor had lasers, and they were activated! He could see the red lines crisscrossing the entire wall. Experimentally, Aidan dug into his pocket and fished out an old, crumpled post-it note before throwing it into the hallway. It sizzled into a bright orange ball of flames before turning to ash on the floor.

Aidan gulped before backing away. 'Smoking salmon! Oh boy. Don't panic, no need to panic, let's just move to Plan B,' he frantically thought while making up said plan there and then. 'Find the control room that supplies power to the lasers and shut it off,' Aidan formulated in his head as he backtracked. Once again, he headed back through the empty corridors, scurrying about like a quiet little mouse.

The control room was not far away, but Aidan fretted over whether he could overpower the guards to get control. However, nearing the room, he quickly realised his worries were unfounded. The heavy safety door was ajar, and the room empty, as if the guards had rushed out in a frenzy. Sloppy work on their part, but great news for Aidan.

Once again, he was forced to mess about with the computer software but luckily, this one was much less complicated. It took him a couple of minutes to turn off the lasers before he was on his way again, running all the way to the exit without any hindrance.

Cautious of the guards minding the perimeter, Aidan opened the exit door as quietly as possible before tip-toeing out and pressing himself tightly against the wall. The sky was still dark, leaving him blinded momentarily until his eyes adjusted to the dimness. Wariness heightened his senses as he began to move, making him cringe at the soft snap of twigs under his sneakers or the scraping sound of a dislodged loose stone.

Involuntarily, the Pink Panther theme began playing in his head as he snuck about, making him feel terribly sheepish. The sticky song only faded away when he successfully made it back safely to the emergency exit of the unrestricted section of the building.

Thankfully, none of the guards was around; he could guess their whereabouts. Not wasting time, he keyed in the code and unlocked the door before heading to his living quarters. The building was eerily calm as he made his way, but Aidan wasn't sure how long it would last. He hurriedly packed, taking only the things he arrived with on his first day at the facility, which comfortably fitted into his backpack. His most cherished item was none other than the photograph on his desk, which he meticulously wrapped in an old sweater before carefully placing it in the bag.

Then, he tried calling Hailey but received no answer. Not wasting time, he then hurried to her unit and keyed in the passcode she'd given him in case of emergencies. She wasn't in her room either. "She couldn't have left so early to explore, could she?" Aidan wondered out loud as worry over his friend's safety grew.

With the possibility that pissed-off supernatural creatures were about to escape into the forest, he knew he had to find her. Looking around, he grabbed her backpack and filled it with her important valuables, including her laptop, wallet and phone. Without wasting any more time, Aidan rushed to the staff parking bay area at the back of the building, where Gavin's motorcycle had sat idle for the past few months. Luckily for him, it still had a full tank of gas.

Aidan quietly wheeled the bike out of the parking area right up to the bridge gatehouse. No guard came out to greet him. The quietness outside the building was, in all likelihood, a stark contrast to the havoc within the restricted area, but that wasn't something for Aidan to be concerned about anymore. Just beyond the horizon, the sun had already begun its ascent towards dawn, painting the sky with the barest hints of orange and red. He hopped on his bike, adjusted his helmet and took off over the bridge, not sparing a glance at the facility behind him.