No.... No... No...

No, he can't leave me here...

No, please don't leave me with them.

Her screams were silent, her mouth pressed tightly together, yet she knew Ryan heard them. The way his shoulders would stiffen, rising slightly as he slowed down, almost coming to a halt. He looked like he was about to turn around... Like he was about to say something.

He didn't hear her screams...But he felt them.

Reed could have sworn she felt tears in her eyes when he reassumed his march, catching up with Lena without a word exchanged between them.

He left her alone... Alone to deal with the burden of keeping up his lie.

She glanced back at the remaining men.

Bryan stood by the wall, leaning against it with his arms crossed while he avoided looking at her. Logan, on the other hand, seemed to have gotten worse over the few minutes they had spent talking. His forehand shone with sweat, baby hairs plastering to his skin. He was heaving, his breath ringing in Reed's ears so loud, she didn't even hear herself speak.

"Is... Is he sick?" she mumbled.

Logan opened his eyes lazily, glassy pools looking over her without a word uttered.

"Yeah..." Bryan muttered.

They fell into an awkward silence, Reed eyeing Logan. She had a suspicion of what might have caused the fever, feeling her mouth go dry at the mere thought.

"Have... Have you had contact with unfiltered water?"

Bryan glanced between her and Logan, cogs turning in his head. He bit his lip.

"We had a spill... Took us a few days to drain the sub... Why?"

"I... The people in the GOI had experienced similar symptoms..."

Bryan scoffed.

"Are you some kind of medical professional?" he barked out, causing Reed to flinch.

"No..."

"How about I ask you a question, huh? How are you planning to get us out of here?"

Reed's heart skipped a beat.

The plan is... We never get you out of here... We come, take and leave like we have never been here in the first place. Is that what you want to hear?

She released a shaky breath....

"I... I am not sure... It depends on a lot of factors-"

"What factors?"

"Umm... The submarine... how far is it from the... the other base... There is a lot-"

"Okay, how did you rescue the GOI team then?

"I..."

What could she possibly tell him? Was she even capable of producing a well-crafted lie like that? Would it fit with Ryan's story? She had so many things to consider and she knew every second of silence cost her their trust.

She glanced at Bryan, the man watching her expectantly with his eyes narrowed like a snake.

Should she tell him the truth? No... No, judging by their reaction it would end poorly.

"They... I..."

Bryan released a grim chuckle, staring daggers at her.

"You are a lousy liar..." he muttered.

Reed felt her eyes prickle with tears.

"I knew the second I saw your faces..." he continued.

They knew... Reed knew it... Bryan must have seen through them...

Her heart was racing, heat travelling to her cheeks.

She could feel his eyes tracking the edges of her face, studying every micro-expression passing through her features.

Bryan readjusted himself against the wall.

"You must be new..." he whispered more to himself than to her.

"You are not as good at lying as the other guy..."

Her breath was caught in her throat, fingers sliding across the sweaty skin of her palms.

Despite having undone some of the airlocks, the suit felt too tight, grazing her body with every move of her muscles.

"So are you going to tell us the truth?"

"I... I.. I don't..." she stuttered out.

"Don't play dumb with me... Do you think I am stupid? That I can't see what's happening?"

"I... We... It's not like that..."

Her mind was racing, red lights blaring behind her eyes. She couldn't think straight, the weight of their lie crushing her like a bug.

No... No, no it's not like that... Please... We are starving... We are dying... Please... I am sorry... I am so sorry...

Her body trembled, eyes watering.

It's not like that...

"It's because we are sick, isn't it?"

Her thoughts came to a screeching halt.

Sick?

He wasn't talking about...

"What?"

Bryan sent her a laconic look.

"Oh, please... Like you don't know it already... It's written all over your face..." he barked, glaring daggers at Reed.

"You are going to leave us here... We are infected with something, and you can't risk it... It's obvious..." he added.

He was right... It was obvious... It was a natural assumption one would make, if they were sensible, except Reed had abandoned sense since the second she'd radioed the Sub.

Bryan let out a humourless laughter, mistaking whatever expression she had made for confirmation. He pressed himself further into the wall, hand going to cover his eyes.

"Of course..." he muttered, his voice breaking.

Reed watched him startled, expecting anything but to see Bryan struggle to hold it together.

"You... You can't leave us..." he whispered through gritted teeth.

"You can't... We... We are still alive...You can't..." Bryan's raspy baritone echoed in her ears.

She clenched her fists, watching the scene unravel with her heart beating fast.

His words felt like sandpaper on her skin, tearing through the walls she'd erected until reaching the soft raw core of her soul.

"Fuck... I... I spent so long working for the... All my life just... I wasted so much time..." he sobbed out, unable to fight the realisation any longer.

The blood in her veins froze.

The same words had been tumbling around her head not so long ago... The same regret that chased the sleep from her eyes every night.

At first, she couldn't help but think of the Oxford crew as the naive sheep she'd sentenced to the slaughter. How they would be taken advantage of despite the comfort they have provided to her. Then, they were adversaries... A savage group of people waiting for Reed to slip up before they tear her and Ryan to pieces. And now? It felt like for the first time Reed had seen them as humans... Just humans, with all of their flaws and virtues.

They were just like them, scared and abandoned by their institute, trying to survive...

They came here to kill humans... People like them... Didn't Ryan see that?

She didn't even feel her mouth open before the words materialised on her tongue.

"We won't leave you..." she uttered.

Bryan shrugged, hiding his face away from her.

"N-no, I promise... We won't leave you..."

What are you saying?! Stop! Stop lying like that?!

"We won't leave you here... We, we will help. We... We have a cure for it..." She didn't know what she was saying, the words pushing themselves out of her mouth. Something desperate woke up in her, wanting to preserve the sliver of hope Ryan had ignited, even if it was fake.

Bryan lifted his head, fragility settling behind his eyes.

His eyebrows were pulled down, dark pools scrutinising Reed like a wounded animal.

"Y-you do?" he asked quietly.

No.

"Yes... We... The crew from the GOI base was also sick, but antibiotics helped-"

"Liar... Don't fucking lie to me..." he slumped down.

"We tried antibiotics, and they didn't... We tried them already..."

"I... I don't know what the medical staff did but believe me..." Reed looked him deep in the eyes, fire burning behind the green irises.

Don't... Don't say another word...

"They worked..." she whispered.

Bryan's attention was solely focused on her, her lie burying its claws in the man. He slowly looked up at her, eyes glazed over and mouth slightly open. He gazed at her with what felt like he was seeing her for the first time, light creeping back onto his face.

"They did?"

"Yes... Yes, they did..." she lied through her teeth.

"One of the scientists was in critical condition, but his fever broke yesterday."

Alex's face flashed before her eyes.

"We... We are going to get you out and cure you."

That was what she told him, a broken smile stretching her features. Her mind longed for the reality she described. A world where Alex was cured, and the Oxford team hadn't been their victim. The world where they all get saved and get to return to their families. A world where Reed had never made the radio call... A world where she had never set foot into the Vault.

"I... I..." Bryan couldn't seem to get the words out...

"You... Promise?" he asked, his voice cracking.

Don't say it... Don't promise this man something he will never have...

"Yes... I promise..."

Bryan's face lit up with a small smile.

"I... Thank you..."

But all dreams pass, and all lies come to the surface. The cold grips of reality had already sunk their teeth into the gathered, and a sudden bang echoed through the walls of the submarine.

Reed's eyes went wide, heart stilling at the chilling sound.

Was that?

Another bang tore through the air, with a dull thud following close behind it.

Reed had known this sound, having heard it before without realising until that very moment.

Her eyes met Bryan's.

Gunshots...

"Wh-what?" Bryan whispered, colour draining from his face.

It was quiet... Deathly quiet. There were no more shots, no running or shouting... Just quiet...

Reed stared down the corridor, sweat dripping down her brow.

Shooting... Somebody was shooting... The thud they heard...

It felt like the air froze around her.

Somebody was shot... And it didn't sound like they survived.

"Y-you..." Bryan's sharp whisper alerted the woman.

Her head snapped to the man.

Bryan was heaving, eyes darkened while his face twisted in an ugly grimace. The fragile hope was shattered into a million pieces, his fists tightening while he stared her down.

"H... How... Could you..." he gritted through his teeth, groaning as if the words caused him physical pain. Tears streamed down his face, the whites of his eyes impossibly bright in the light. His jaw was tremoring, muscles spasming uncontrollably.

"What? I... I don't..."

"That's what you are going to do?! Exterminate us?"

"N-no, that... That must have been one of-"

"One of us?! One of Us?! We don't have any guns! You... I believed you! I can't fucking believe this..." his hands travelled to his hair, a painful-looking grip settling among the curls.

"You tricked us.., We didn't do anything!"

"No, please! I... I don't know what's happening-"

"Do you have a gun too? Going to shoot me like the other guy?" he bellowed through tears.

Reed put up her hands, trying to calm the man.

"No... please, I don't know anything-"

"I won't let you... I won't let you!" he shrieked.

In just a few seconds, Bryan charged at Reed, his arms spread wide and ready to tackle her. Her reflexes weren't fast enough to stop him before the man crashed into her and sent them both tumbling onto the floor. The breath was knocked out of her lungs when her back made contact with the hard floor, some hard object pressing against her spine painfully. Her hands travelled to his chest, clawing at him in an attempt to throw him off, her body kicking and writhing under the man. Bryan, however, took no time to reconsider, his digits immediately wrapping around her throat and squeezing tight.

"I won't let you... You hear me?!" he gritted out, pressing his entire weight against her throat.

Her lungs burned, her mouth fighting for air. She could feel the blood pool in her cheeks, Bryan's grip surprisingly strong despite his size.

"I have a son... A wife! I need to get back-"

Reed attempted to push his face away, her nails digging into the inside of the gloves, but Bryan was relentless like a snake crushing his future meal. Feeling her shift under him, Reed trying to throw him off by thrusting her hips up, Bryan suddenly pulled her up by the neck before slamming the back of her head against the hard floor. The world went momentarily dark as the wave of pain spread through her body like an electric shock, her eyes seeing millions of stars before Bryan's face came back into her view.

"I won't let you..." he would mutter, bashing her head into the floor every few seconds to stop her from resisting.

Unbelievable... After all that happened...

It all felt like she was stuck in limbo, a violent nightmare filled with heartbreak and cruelty. She didn't even know who was beating her anymore... Was it Alex? Was it Bryan? Was it a stranger she didn't even know? She had no idea... It felt as if time itself had morphed into a loop.

Her fingers were getting numb, the lack of oxygen in her blood sending warning signals all over her body. Was that the end? Had her resolution meant nothing after all?

She'd promised to fight back... She had promised she would try... And yet she let him beat her. She was letting him take her life away...

I have a son... A wife...

His voice echoed through her skull, as the last little croak of air escaped her throat.

Did she have people to return to? Would they even take her?

Ruth... Diane... Milo...

She had severed their ties so recklessly... So easily, like she wouldn't miss at least some of them... Bryan had a family, people who wanted him back while Reed made sure the people from the surface wouldn't miss her much. She didn't even hug Ruth goodbye...

But right there, in the darkness of her regret, a new flame would ignite.

Reed's life had always been about compromises, about being the bigger person who would step down and let go of her ambitions. At that very moment, laying on the cold floor of the Submarine as her life was being choked out of her she felt... anger. Distilled rage flooded her system, sirens echoing in her head.

She might not have had anything to return to.

She might have had nothing.

But she wanted to return.

She wanted to return as much as Bryan did. She wanted to breathe fresh air and feel the sunlight on her skin. She wanted to see the sky and the grass, to hear leaves rustling in the wind. She wanted to drink beer in front of the TV and bicker with Ruth over the phone.

She wanted to live.

Reed opened her eyes, a newfound strength aiding her attempts to push him off. She was burning, a phoenix rising out of ashes.

She wanted to return.

Reed pushed against his chest, kicking and hitting whatever body part she could reach.

This couldn't be the end.

She wouldn't let it be the end.

Her fingers bumped into something hard on the inside of her glove. Her fingers desperately pried at the fabric, trying to unsheathe her weapon while the other hand pushed the man away.

There was no time... No time to think.

No time to breathe.

Her vision began darkening.

I want to live!

Please! I want to!

I want to live!

She gave up trying to push him away, the hand letting go in favour of sliding out the blade.

I want to live...

A sickening crunch echoed at the back of her skull. She could feel warm liquid drip down her gloved hand and onto her stomach.

Bryan stared down at her, with his eyes bloodshot and mouth open. His irises jumped around her face, wet breath wafting over her nose and cheeks.

"What-" he barely managed to mutter, before Reed ripped the knife out of his gut with a wet  sound. She didn't stop there, her hand moving on its own as the blade sunk deep into the side of his neck. She held the blade firmly, her bicep trembling from the strain. Her heart was pumping in her ears, adrenaline flooding her brain and body.

The second Bryan's grip loosened Reed practically kicked him off, the man falling to her side limply. That should have been the end... She had done what she had to... But, the thrumming in her ears paired with the boiling rage made Reed jump up, the woman barely feeling any pain. In the second she found herself on top of him, straddling him.

There were no words... No whispers of triumph... Just wet sounds of blood splattering across her face and suit. She didn't think... She didn't see or hear... Her body moved on its own, her right arm repeatedly crashing against the fleshy mass under her. She felt warm and sticky, her fingers sliding on the edge of the knife.

"Me? T-try to kill me?" her whisper barely audible.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

"I am leaving... Do you hear?... I am..."

Her breath was shaky, her throat feeling wet as if she was breathing underwater.

Thud.

Thud.

Her vision was red.

Her hands were red.

Everything was red.

The world was red.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

"S-stop!" a broken scream echoed through the chamber, Reed's mind going silent.

It felt as if she had opened her eyes for the first time in a few minutes, her arms lowering as she looked over to the side.

Logan was pressed against the wall, sweaty and heaving with his fever burning high. His hair stuck to his forehead, knees trembled as he sat down with his arms stretched out along the walls, like a chameleon trying to blend in with its surroundings. Despite the fever, his eyes were open wide, not leaving Reed's face for even a second. His lower lip trembled.

"S-stop... He is already dead... Please..." he stuttered out.

What?

What is he talking about?

Reed's eyes trailed the red splatter on his cheek. She looked down at her hands, her eyes widening.

Crimson liquid dripped from the gloves, little rivers flowing between the folds of the hydrophobic material. Some of the splatter was already drying on her forearms, dark brown spray reaching almost to her shoulders. Her torso... her legs...

Everything was red.

She slowly turned her face towards Bryan, her face feeling sticky with thick liquid drying up on her nose and cheeks.

Her eyes met a pair of blank pools under her.

The world stopped.

It truly felt like her heart halted, as if the time itself decided to suspend her in the moment.

Bryan's unseeing eyes watched her from the floor, blood seeping from his mouth. The dark crimson trails flowed down his chin and onto his throat, maroon pooling under his body. She could see her reflection in the bloody mirror, the crazed look in her eyes and the smeared blood decorating her cheeks and forehead like war paint.

She didn't want to look... She didn't want to look, yet her eyes slid below his collarbones.

She felt a wave of nausea rising with the bile in her throat.

Bryan's chest looked like it had been hacked away by the claws of a wild animal, pieces of bone and tissue mixing with the rapidly oozing blood. Pieces of his ribs stuck out from under the slimy flesh, like fingers of death reaching for her with their hungry palms... And right there... Among all the destruction she'd caused, sat the knife with its blade shining from the lamps above them.

She did this...

Bryan's dead eyes gazed back at her accusingly.

She killed him... She had murdered a man...

Her hands trembled, hovering above his body. With every breath she took her vision blurred.

She did this...

She killed somebody...

She murdered him...

She... She was a killer...

She jumped away from the body as if she had been burned, her right side sliding right into the pool of blood.

She... she didn't mean to... That... That was not what she wanted to do...

Reed looked under herself, seeing the sea of blood her knees and arms were dipping in.

She couldn't hold it in any longer, her guts spilling out of her mouth and onto the floor. She retched, stomach acid burning her throat as the yellowish liquid dripped down her chin. She hadn't eaten in days, yet she continued to puke her guts out.

Just as she was about to wipe her chin, her stomach finally settling, Reed heard rustling somewhere in the corner of her room. Before she could even utter a word, Logan bolted by her, stumbling down the corridor in a desperate attempt to escape. He swayed like a drunk man, fever making him lose his balance every few steps.

"N-no... wait-" Reed called out after him, her voice raspy from the vomit.

Logan was pretty fast for somebody battling a sickness, quickly making it to the turn at the end of the corridor. However, before the man could continue his escape, he stopped dead in his tracks, raising his hands at something behind the wall.

"No... No... No, please no-"

A shot interrupted his pleas, Logan's head erupting with blood while the man fell to the ground with a dull thud. He fell on his back, his face turned just enough for Reed to see the bullet wound right between his eyes.

Logan was dead.

She watched on her knees, staring into the dead man's eyes as if she was in a trance.

Dead... They were all dead...

The movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention.

Ryan emerged from behind the wall, walking quietly towards her. He looked like a ghost... 

Ryan's eyes were open wide, sclera bloodshot. His hair was plastered to his pale forehead, and all colour drained from his face, leaving crimson splatters looking like exotic flowers blooming across his skin and suit. His hands hang limply along his body, his fingers loosely closed around the gun. His knees trembled, threatening to buckle with every step he took. His empty eyes trailed Reed's face, glancing at the body behind her, yet not saying a word.

It was quiet... Like they were in a tomb... Not even Ryan's steps could breach the wall of silence in the Oxford Submarine.

Soon, Ryan entered the room, passing by her as if she wasn't even there. He sat against the far end of the room, his back resting against the wall. The gun would slide out from his grip and hit the floor with a metallic clink. He hid his face in his palms...

"I am sorry..." he sobbed out, but Reed didn't hear him.

She stayed in her place, eyes still gazing down the hallway.

Ryan might have pulled the trigger... But it was Reed who killed them all.

She didn't know how long she had been staring down the hall, time having shattered the second she stuck the knife in Bryan's torso. It could have been minutes... hours... a day even...

It didn't matter...

The blood had already dried up on her suit, dark spots peeling away from the fabric. Her skin was sticky with sweat and blood. She could taste copper on her tongue...

In the back of her mind, she listened to the choked sobs of her companion coming from somewhere behind her. There was nothing but void inside her, feeling like somebody had manually carved out her insides and left a gaping hole where her heart was.

She had killed a man...

She had desecrated a body well after he was already dead...

Reed had been raised in a Catholic family, but she never really committed to the religion like some of her peers. It always felt like there were too many deities... Too many questions to waste one's life pondering about them, and yet... She knew that whatever God was watching her would send her to Hell... Because that was where she belonged... In Hell.

She didn't even hear Ryan's sobs fade behind her, only noticing it when the man passed by her.

He stopped just a few meters in front of her, gazing at the corridor in silence before wiping tears from his eyes.

"We... We should gather everything useful..." He muttered.

"I will bring the box..." Only when he said it, did Reed notice the fridge missing from his back.

He must have left it in storage.

She didn't move, staring at him like she'd seen a ghost.

What was he asking of her? She could barely hear him over the ringing in her ears.

"Reed... Please just... Don't make it harder than it has to be..." he muttered, his tear-swollen eyes narrowing.

Reed just blinked at him.

Go gather? Now?

"Did you hear me?!" he yelled.

"Get up!"

Before she knew it, Ryan was dragging her to her feet by the hem of the suit. Her legs slid across the bloody floor, eyes opened wide in fear. She didn't make a move to defend herself, merely allowing Ryan to pull her high enough to level his face with hers.

She stared him deep in the eyes.

A broken man.

A desperate man.

Unjustified rage boiled in the green pools, a torrent of emotions sweeping through him.

Were these dark eyes the last things those people saw before they met their fate?

Was she like that when...

Was this what Bryan saw in his final minutes? Rage? Desperation? Fear?

A choked sob ripped out of her throat, Ryan's eyes widening in surprise.

He stared at her dumbfounded while she wailed, ugly tears trickling down her cheeks.

Reed hiccupped and sobbed, choking on her own saliva, not unlike a toddler crying after their mother.

"I... I...." Ryan couldn't get the words out.

His grip loosened, allowing Reed to drop back into the puddle of blood with a small splash.

Her face was red, her chest aching from all the uncontrollable noises that squeezed themselves past her throat. Her nose was blocked with slime, and her throat felt like sandpaper.

"I... I am so sorry..." Ryan whispered.

"I... I didn't mean to... I am so..." he hovered above her, ready to put his arms on her shoulders but a much louder sob stopped him. He looked disoriented... sacred...

"I... I will leave... You... You can stay here..." he mumbled, hurrying through the hallway, his suit rustling and squeaking from frantic movement. Soon, he disappeared behind the wall.

Her eyes stung with tears, her throat closing uncomfortably while she thought against the wave of disarming sorrow. She had killed a man... She had robbed some woman of her husband... Robbed some little boy of a father... just like she had been.

There was a possibility that any day a rescue party would arrive, Oxford would change its mind and send somebody to get their scientists out... Only to find the Submarine to be a grave... Their final resting place...

She had killed somebody's dad... Stole all the memories they could have had together.

She covered her eyes, squeezing them so tight that colourful spots danced behind her eyelids.

It was her fault... All was her fault...

She screamed, covering her face.

Reed's sniffles echoed through the halls of the otherwise quiet submarine. She didn't know how long it had been since Ryan departed from the room, the man leaving her to fall apart in solitude.

She felt a cold, dull ache settling behind her ribs whilst the quieting sobs still shook her body.

She was tired...

She was tired of having to choose all the time... Having to face the impossible...

It was unfair... Cruel...

No person should be forced to make the decisions they have to make... To do what they had to do... Nobody deserved such a fate.

She could feel the cooling blood under her. Reed hated seeing it, yet she couldn't move from the spot. It was as if bloody hands kept her in place, gripping her ankles and knees to force her into accountability.

The more she sat there, the more aware she would become of the crimson stains painting the floor. The feeling of self-disgust was too much to bear, Reed's skin feeling clammy as if she'd been stripped naked and bathed in blood.

The blood of sons... Fathers.... Husbands and friends...

She couldn't take it. She couldn't take the eerie feeling of Bryan's lifeless eyes bringing holes in her back. She couldn't see his face, refusing to even glance at what she had done, yet accusation radiated from behind her...

His pale face flashed behind her eyes.

She needed to move.... She needed to move now.

Reed practically jumped to her feet, groaning at the stab of pain as the blood flow returned to her caves. It didn't deter her, however, the woman taking shaky steps towards the corridor.

She needed to leave that place.

Reed could feel her knees shake, calves protesting under her weight but every little step she took brought her closer to relief. One after another, leaving bloody prints in her wake, the woman made her way towards the doorway. She instinctively propped herself against the wall, allowing her knees to rest while she heaved. Despite having taken less than a few steps her body resisted movement, Reed fought with the claws of guilt pulling her back.

Although the journey seemed impossible, Reed pushed forward, stepping over the threshold.

It will all be better... I will feel better... I just need to leave...

Her eyes were glued to the floor, watching her legs shuffle forward one after another in a trance. She would continue to watch them, bent uncomfortably while she made her way forward, the aching of her joints making her feel at least twenty years older.

One step after another.

Left.

Right.

The slow rhythm lulled her frazzled nerves, however, her relief was short-lived. Just a few meters down the road, her feet stopped right before Logan's outstretched hand. Reed didn't see she had been approaching him, so focused on calming her hazy mind she barely registered his presence. The second her mind had registered the presence of a corpse, she squeezed her eyes shut...

She didn't want to see him... She didn't want to see what happened...

She didn't want to see those glassy eyes staring right back at her.

With her heart hammering in her chest and her eyes closed, she attempted to sidestep the body. She kept her hand on the wall, feeling the cold steel under her fingers.

Calm... Keep calm... It's just a body...

She rose her leg, feeling the ground with her foot. A sickening squelch echoed through her ears as she stepped into a puddle of drying blood, her stomach turning at the sound.

Don't think about it... Just don't think about it...

Keep your eyes closed...

Another step... Another squelch...

Her breath stuttered.

Do not open your eyes...

Suddenly, her foot bumped into something soft and fleshy, causing her to yelp. Reed staggered backwards, her eyes opening instinctively as she almost lost her balance on the slippery floor. The green pools met a pair of blank eyes, Logan's face sprayed with blood from the gunshot wound. He laid there, a gaping wound in the middle of his forehead flooding every crevice of his features and trickling onto the floor. His face was turned to face upward, Reed having moved it with her foot by mistake.

It was only a split second that she saw him... An insignificant glimpse and yet the sight sent her into a frenzy. She staggered forward, her mind forgetting about the pain before she bolted ahead in fear. Her knees would buckle and wobble, but Reed was dead set on escaping the scene, haunted by the eyes of the dead men.

So dispassionate... Blank... Dead...

She felt blind as if she had been swallowed by a fog of oversaturated colours and sounds, every little stimulus too bright... Too loud. Grappling with the assaulting sensations she ran down the hallways, stumbling and bumping into the walls like a feral animal, desperate to escape their assailants. An irrational fear gripped her soul tight, phantom hands grasping at her from behind and missing just by a few inches. She could feel them... She was sure she could.

Turn after turn, she ran getting increasingly disoriented with every passing second.

Her eyes jumped across the hall she had fallen into, taking the first turn they landed on.

Reed hasped, her chest tightening in a stabbing pain, when she felt something tighten around her ankle.

Fingers...

The woman barely held her hands up to break the fall, elbows colliding with the floor. A groan forced its way out of her mouth, the punched-out air feeling like a right hook to her gut.

She blinked, seeing white flying all around her... Snow?

No...

Papers...

Stacks of papers climbed up towards the ceiling, Reed feeling like a giant surrounded by the paper skyscrapers. Colourful files, papers and notebooks littered every possible surface of the small storage, spilling from the cabinets and onto the little desk and chair standing in the far corner of the room.

She flipped onto her stomach, scanning the room with newfound curiosity. Her senses calmed at the familiar sight of a messy office, eyes tracing the papers as her heart slowed down. Despite the chaos inhabiting the room, the chamber felt untouched... Pristine. It was a reminder of calmer days at the Salt Hill, where Reed would stay buried under the administrative papers till the wee hours of the morning... back when everything was easy, and her biggest dilemma would be what she would have for dinner... The fond memories felt like a caring hand petting her head, smoothing over the storm brewing inside of her.

However, the grim reminder of her reality soon made itself known as she gazed at her feet.

The paper would stick to the soles of her suit, blood staining some of the documents.

She practically tore the papers off, desperate to preserve the feeling of normalcy.

This room was to remain untouched.

She would not allow it to be defiled by what she had done.

She crumpled the paper in her hand, smearing the blood stain over the document. She couldn't help but read the words arranged on the page.

To do for Lena:

-Rations

-Check on Lily and Markus

-Do records!!!!

-Tell Logan to clean up the data (Colour sorting notebooks)

Reed's heart sunk at the last few lines.

Tell David how you feel ;)

I am serious.

B.

They were people... Every time she would try to forget about it the world would remind her...

Those they had killed were people...

Her stomach churned, palms sweating at the mere thought of the last two hours. Perhaps it would have been better if she had never stepped into that room... Perhaps she could have forgotten all about it if she had just kept going... But Reed wasn't one to forget.

Deep down she knew browsing documents would lead her nowhere besides sorrow, but she couldn't stop herself from reaching for one of the pages next to her.

The papers rustled as Reed pulled one of them out from the fallen stack.

Temperature readings chart

She scanned the numbers. The bottom parameters, showing the highest of temperature records, were circled in a red marker with a big "Epicentre" and a couple of question marks.

"Epicentre?" Reed muttered to herself. The more papers she scanned, the more greedy her hands would become.

What were they doing before they came?

What were they like?

How long had they been here?

Who were they?

Guilt pushed her to grab document after document, her mind desperate to learn more. She scanned through data, equations and random scans. She had found doodles of whales and jellyfish, notes with small requests and even a bunch of pick-up lines scribbled onto the back of one of the documents. She could already distinguish some people by their style of writing.

One of the crew, Reed assumed she was a woman and liked to decorate her notes with small little drawings and hearts, her writing neat and easy to read. Given how her notes revolved around the fauna and flora of the Noctis, Reed could only guess she was trying to classify the specimen they had encountered.

Lena's notes were more straight, looking almost like technical letters. She seemed to have tried to plan almost every part of her day, creating stray notes of what she would do or check in addition to even outright writing what Reed thought to be a confession plan.

Her eyes scanned the floor for the next piece, trailing the mix of handwritten notes and printed documents. She could see some interesting scans by the cabinet, the printing ink reflecting the light above. Just as she was about to reach for them, Reed paused, a different piece of paper grabbing her interest.

Not far from the black scans, safely tucked under the cabinet, laid a crumpled piece of brown paper. Without giving it much thought, Reed leaned over the sea of paper, her fingers barely nudging the paper, before it rolled over straight to her hand. Her fingers gently worked at the wrinkles, afraid to tear the meticulously crumpled edges. It was obvious whoever had used the piece, was immensely dissatisfied with the contents.

Soon, the page opened its core just like a spring flower, blooming before Reed's eyes to reveal the words scratched to the paper.

Dear Marie

Our rations are slowly running out... Lena says we will figure something out, that we can maybe start hunting, but I don't believe it... Nobody is going to step outside from the sub. Not anymore. I haven't seen the sun in... I don't know how long...

The sun... It always made me think of you, have I ever told you? I know what you would say... How corny I am, but I always thought it to be true. You have always lit up my day... Like my personal ray of sunshine...

I love you, Marie. I love you more than anything in this world.

I feel like I never expressed that enough... That I never say it anymore and that it lost its meaning for you, but please believe me when I say that I do. I love you more than life itself.

You and Mikey.

I thank God every day that you couldn't come with me. That you two are safe at home and not here in the dark. I think about you every day, wishing I could be with you.

To see Mikey grow and go to college.

To sit on the porch with you until we are old and grey.

I worry we might be... I worry they won't be able to save us any time soon.

I am really sorry that I am not there... That I left like that...

I know you are going to blame yourself, that you urged me to go, but I promise... Whatever happens, it is not your fault. I want you to know that.

That it was not your fault but mine... I was the one who left when I should have stayed and helped you. I regret it every day... I regret everything that happened.

I hope you will never receive this letter, that you will never have to read it, but I feel we are on borrowed time right now.

I want you to know that I love you and miss you.

You were the love of my life, my soulmate.

I will do everything to survive. I will do everything to come back... But... It might not be enough...

I want you to know I tried everything to get back to you, to be able to kiss and hold you both again. I am sorry... I am so sorry I left...

If... If I don't make it... I will always watch you from above...

I will always be with you.

Love,

Bryan