Zandra couldn't seem to understand what exactly happened to her. She could sense that the hand that was on her shoulder didn't feel like it was human. It had grabbed her shoulder, almost broke it and was unwilling to let it go even after Zandra tried to free herself. The crystal clear water that was before Zandra's eyes suddenly became murkier and there came a point when she could no longer see anything in it. All that time she had been running out of breath and energy as she tried her best to free herself.
Zandra gave it one last chance when she felt the creature loosen its grip a bit. The result was that she freed herself at the cost of her collarbone and some blood. The creature made one last attempt at her life before disappearing completely. It screeched and sent shivers down Zandra's spine in an unsuppressed fury as she helped herself up to the pool deck and crawled away from the water. She was in intense pain which multiplied as she lay there on the floor. Her vision also became blurry and she cursed herself for stepping foot outside today. However, that wasn't the end of her misery.

She closed her eyes to distract herself from the condition she was in. However, upon opening her eyes she found herself in the middle of an ocean afloat on a raft. She felt an intense surge of heat behind her and turning around only added to her horrors as she saw a large ship half sunk and on fire. The water around it was only lit because of the oil that was present on the water. Zandra was taken back down memory lane as she helplessly watched the ship buckle under its own weight and completely sink as waves upon waves of screams filled the chilly air around her. This moonlit night was one of the many she spent in complete solitude. The absolute serenity of that night as she drifted away towards the unknown was a chilling experience. Unable to speak, she quietly sat on the raft with a crumpled note in her hand by her parents.

At some point in the night she made the effort of opening her tightly closed fist to reach the note. Just after reading the first word written in it, Zandra let out the most shrillest cry in her life. She was unable to make out anything on the paper afterwards no matter how much she squinted her eyes. The small raft which she was on slowly began to sink as water filled inside it from the edges and could no longer support her weight. She realised that it was the end for her. Zandra let out one final cry and accepted her fate. The water slowly took the raft and Zandra along with itself.

～の～

Kayla felt the presence of someone fumbling around with the lock holding her body. She could not make out the shape or figure of the person and nor did she want to. She was slipping in and out of consciousness but falling on the floor broke her trance. The door suddenly rattled viciously and Kayla tried crawling away with what little energy she had left in her body, though someone caught her arm and tried to get her up. She fell again, but before she hit the floor she was caught by the same person who had tried to get her up. Unable to keep herself conscious, she fell into the deepest slumber, she could achieve. The person at the door was becoming even more vicious as all this transpired.

～の～

Ray on the other hand was already out the cell which was holding him. The implant in his head had survived the electromagnetic surges used on him and was guiding him through the corroded infrastructure. It appeared to be a holding point of the type of people you wouldn't ever want to see under the sun. Ray used the walls as support and made his way towards what looked like an exit to him. At first he was blinded by the sunlight coming from the outside but after a while he was able to see the outside clearly. Ray was indeed standing on a cliff, at the end of the cliff was the ocean.

The difference between the inside and the outside of this place made it clear to him that there was a reality alternator being used. Ray took one deep breath and dived down the cliff. Just as he expected, he was caught in mid air by something. The ocean and the cliff around him disappeared and was replaced by a device 20 meters below him emitting electric current in its surrounding. The thing which caught him was just a defense mechanism of the device.

There was a green field of energy above the device which stopped just about anything headed for it. It looked like a shaft of some sort was housing this alternator. Ray threw his arms and legs around to reach the machine but this had little to no effect. It was as if he was stuck in vacuum. He was able to disable this field using his implant and doing so also made him fall the rest of the path down. He cursed himself for not using his brain which was such a strong case of irony. The reality alternator also noticed the change in the shaft and started retracting into the floor. Ray successfully managed to open its side panel and dislocate the power source.

～の～

Zandra opened her eyes once more and saw the lights and the pool beside her. The water inside it was still murky. She heard something from the door, that was in the corner of her eye. Waves started forming in the pool as the sound became louder and louder. The heavy knocking on the door had startled Zandra who was now on the verge of bursting into tears. She was scared of what the door held behind it. She stared at the door. Nothing else, yet she could feel her pulse in her ears, blocking out all other sound except the breath that was raggedly moving in and out of her mouth at regular, gaping intervals. Sobs began to appear from her hoarse throat.

The door along with its hinges blew inwards at one instant. The only thing which was her guardian and warden was gone. The lights flickered and Zandra heard the sound of something crashing through the hallway. The arm was all she saw as the lights gave up. She also heard the sound of something scratching at the wall right where the door was. The lights came back and this time Zandra was inside a derelict room with an empty pool. The only source of light was the one coming from the hole where the door once was. She walked along to the exit using the wall to support herself. She was injured badly and due to that she couldn't focus on what was going on around her. She frantically kept following the sunlight which was coming from one end of the hallway. Weirdly enough no one was in the hallways, that she followed.

The majority of the light she was following came from a skylight however she saw that there was some light behind the door at the end of the hallway as well. Walking around with the injuries she had sustained only made her more weak and she fell just an inch short of the final door. Even moving her hand took a lot of power. Power she did not have anymore. Just at that moment the door opened from the other side and out came a familiar face in equally bad shape, but she couldn't really see who it was.

～の～

Kayla awoke once more to see a body hanging upside down from the ceiling in the same place she was in. It was the same man who had tortured her but he was dead and his mouth was wide open. It seemed as though he had been tortured to death. She came closer to it and saw something burned into his chest.

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE