Thea began to doubt that they would survive..

Her fingers had lost all feeling, and the numbness was spreading up her hand.

The heels of her boots occasionally slipped into some sort of opening in the floor and became jammed. She had to stop and coax the heel from the opening.

Then she continued running.

That was how it went, she had to stop every few meters, and it was extremely slow going.

And then Thea's breathing became restrained, and she had to stop; it was just too cold.

She felt Dan grab her frozen hands.

"Come on," he wheezed, "just a few more meters.."

Thea inhaled deeply and let him lead her towards the open door.

She had lost feeling in her entire body and she was starting to cough.

"We can make it.." Dan muttered, more to himself rather than to Thea.

One more step..

The sudden temperature change came as a shock to both Thea and Dan.

The white tiled room was heated, almost too hot for the two students who had been freezing just moments ago.

Thea felt like she could melt into the tiles, it was such a relief to not be cold.

Dan had a content smile on his face, mainly because he felt the same way as Thea did.

"This is so much nicer than freezing to death." Thea joked.

"Tell me about it." Dan replied, grinning.

They were undoubtedly trying to make the best out of their terrible situation. Almost all of their friends were dead, they had been put through daunting tests, nearly killed each other and then barely escaped the freezing corridor with their lives.
Even Denise and Harry had turned back.

"What should we do now?" Thea asked, the smile fading from her face.

"Maybe we should look around." Came Dan's reply.

Thea nodded and took in her surroundings. The white tiled room reminded her of an operation theatre, there were laboratory tables and a surgical bed in the room. Some of the lamps in the room were smashed and mangled, and there were sharp looking tools spilled onto the floor.

"What happened here?" Dan asked, gesturing to the bed, where the sheets were ripped and shredded.

"Nothing good, by the looks." Thea remarked.

"That is correct, Thea, the events that rocked this place were not good." Came a stern female voice from behind them.

Thea's stomach dropped.

It was the voice from the speaker.

She turned around to see a middle aged woman with shoulder-length blonde hair standing there stiffly.

"Welcome, Thea and Dan. You are the first ones to ever make it this far. For that, I congratulate you."

"Who are you? W-what do you want with us?" Thea asked warily.

"My name is Cornelia Wilson. I am the CEO of this organisation. I am here to answer your questions." She said.

"Well I have a question. Why us?" Dan snapped.

"You and your classmates were exactly what we needed. Especially you, Thea."

"Me?!" Thea was taken aback.

"Yes, Thea. You see, it has been said that you will be the downfall of my precious corporation. And I can't let that happen." Cornelia said.

And then she pulled out a gun and aimed it straight at Thea's head, flicking the safety off.

"Goodbye, Thea. It's been a pleasure to meet you, but it's time for you to die.."