As a mental health professional, you get your fair share of patients suffering from anxiety. You are responsible for educating these patients on natural relaxation techniques. The most popular technique is deep breathing, it can be done anywhere and doesn't require any special tools (and most importantly, it can be done silently).

There are many different variations on the technique. I chose the 4-7-8 technique. The technique consists of sitting in a comfortable position (or lying flat), placing one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest, breathing in from your stomach so it pushes the hand there out, silently counting to seven and breathing out counting to eight. The hand on your chest shouldn't move from the breathing. I did this exercise five times before I felt a little more in control.

I'm in a building infested with many, many Cannibals. First thing's first, I need to get the hell out of here. I stood up, feeling more calm, and felt around the walls of the apartment. The lights in this one weren't on. My hand knocked, what I think is, a picture frame. I held my breath, the frame swayed from side to side before settling on its hook. I let out a shaky breath. I couldn't turn the lights on because that would attract the cannibals, but this apartment didn't have a freaking window in sight!

My senses felt sharpened from the adrenaline coursing through my body, the darkness seemed to touch every part of my being, wrapping around me. I held my hands in front of me, inching forward. The last thing I need right now is to trip over a couch. I looked around the apartment before my vision focused on faint light pouring out from a room down the hall to the left. It was too faint to be from electricity, so my guess is that it's from the moon. I inched toward the light and peeked into the room. It was a bedroom with a single bed in the corner and a desk shoved against a wall that contained a small window.

But I realised that I wasn't alone in this apartment. There, standing in the middle of the room, was a person. He didn't move, he just stood there, still like a statue, facing the window - facing the light. I bit my bottom lip, sucking on it. I had no other choice except for that window. I thought back to the Cannibal that grabbed my foot when we were climbing the fire escape. It only stopped its pursuit when it suffered some sort of head trauma. I had an awkward angle to work with but I'll have to make it work or die.

I shuffled silently over to the wall opposite the doorway, the Cannibal didn't notice me. I inhaled through my nose and ran toward him. His head whipped in my direction. I jumped as hard as I could and placed my two feet on his chest, using him as a platform that I could jump from and sprung off of him. I turned my body in the air instinctively and landed on my feet. The force of my jump flung the Cannibal against the wall and he bashed his head with a sickening crunch. He slid to the floor, leaving a trail of blood as a testament to his death.

"I'm sorry", I whispered, "but it was you or me and I'm not going to die here."

I walked over to the window and opened it, thankful that it didn't have burgler bars on it, and slipped out into an alleyway. I immediately looked to the street on my right. It was empty. The streetlights were still on, on account of the city's generators but I doubt it will last much longer considering many people left their lights on. Now I needed to backtrack to the corner store where we found our previous supplies, so I can get some food and water. It's very unsettling to walk around at five in the morning in an empty street. The cool morning air, once refreshing, is now unnerving. It's a reminder that you're outside. Despite how lightly I tried to tread, my footsteps still made a faint echoe. And despite the streets being empty, my heart still raced in fear.

I stopped in front of the corner store and fished my phone out. The flash was terribly bright and I held my breath as it illuminated the abandoned store. Everything is scarier when you're alone.
When there was no movement, I stepped inside, albeit, hesitantly.
I went to go grab a backpack and noticed there were aluminium baseball bats in the same section. I grabbed one and thought about putting it in the bag but decided against it. I'll need it somewhere where I can access it.

I then went to the canned goods section -the bat gripped tightly in my hand - and started picking up supplies. I settled mostly for canned beans and canned vegetables, but spoilt myself and took a can of fruit. I also grabbed some bottles of water and a few drying rags. I wrapped the cans in the rags so they wouldn't clang against eachother. I made sure my bag wasn't too heavy, but also not too light. If the bag was too empty the cans would bounce free from the rags.
I needed to find a safe place where I could spend the day and plan my next move. All that was left was to find Matt and Mellissa.

I decided to stay in an office building, more specifically the CEO's office that had an entire wall made of glass that overlooked the streets.

Opposite to the office building was a hotel. The doors weren't smashed in like the corner store's were. It looked to have at least six floors. I'd imagine that a hotel must've been a hotspot of Cannibal activity. All it took was for one to enter the building at the ground floor and anyone above that level would be both oblivious and trapped. Worse was that people who are being eaten aren't very quiet about it, the screams of agony would draw more Cannibals.

I sat there watching the hotel in patience. The sun started rising and if my theory was correct, the cannibals would pile out of the building to reach the sunlight.
I waited and sorted through what I expected to see. I expected the cannibals to walk at that slow steady pace to the front doors and bump against it until they broke it down.
My expectations were far from what happened.

The first thing I noticed wasn't that unsettling. The front doors to the hotel were the kind that opened by a gentle push.

But the cannibals weren't walking out, they were running out. I felt my body stiffen in fear. They were running mechanically, almost as if they were expert joggers. They kept up a fast jog until they were standing in the streets, still as usual.

But they weren't all that there was in the building, several windows of the hotel smashed open and revealed a Cannibal or two falling to the ground, effectively bashing their heads open on the pavement. Their blood wasn't the normal colour of, well, blood. It had a darker appearance, almost like a maroon colour. The sound caused the others to whip their head toward the noise. Then they ran back inside. I checked the time on my phone, 7:56 am. I watched patiently as they ran back outside, halting to a stop in the street. I checked the time on my phone, 7:59 am. It seemed that they lost interest in the noise after a few minutes.

That meant it took three minutes of waiting and hiding - in a dark place - before they lost interest in you.
It's too dangerous to move around during the day with those things capable of running.
I decided to entertain myself by reading the CEO's reports on her workers. I knew it was a female because she had a picture of her and her husband plus their three kids.

My eyebrows shot up after the first report on a poor worker by the name of Sandra. The CEO (who's name happened to be Tammy Smith) wrote volumes of Sandra's "incompetence and laziness".
Poor Sandra. Sandra, if you're out there, you didn't get a very good review, hun.
Next I sifted through a worker's review by the name of Jacob. I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes in suspicion. Jacob's review seemed a little over the top.

I got to the last page - this was clearly a rough draft - and noticed a phone number followed by the message, "if you ever need my services". I nodded my head, Tammy was obviously sleeping with Jacob. This office was out of control.
My stomach cramped in hunger, I didn't have much of an appetite - nothing at all for that matter - but I had to eat before I fell back into bad habits. I settled for the can of beans.
To put it mildly, it was disgusting. I had to pinch my nose closed to deactivate as many taste buds as I could. I gaged several times but just breathed through it. I washed the horrible beans down with a gulp of water.

It only occured to me then that I could've taken some fruit or something but followed Matt's order blindly. Matt.

I hope he and Mellissa noticed the dramatic change in the cannibal's speed. I would have to trust that one, or both of them, were observant enough.