"It hurts."

You moved away from the needle only to be grabbed again by a firm hand.

"Then stop moving, (y/n) and it won't hurt as much,"

He squeezed your arm holding you still. You whimpered when the needle pierced through your skin, turning away you closed your eyes, scrunching your face until it hurt. After a couple of minutes, the needle left your skin and was replaced by a little ball of cotton and the little flower bandaid you picked out at the doctor's office.

"See, the first round is all done! Good job (y/n)." He chirped over the sound of him putting the vile of blood on the counter.

You rubbed your arm, looking down and allowing your hair to hide your face.

"Alright, one last one, we're almost done." he picked up a new syringe maneuvering to your other arm. He pulled back a bandaid from your doctor's appointment from earlier.

"But, I thought you needed my help," Your voice fought back your tears.

"I do! And you are helping!"

"But, I don't- I didn't-" you stammered.

He sighed cutting you off, you had learned very quickly not to interrupt his sighs.

"I know honey, but you know daddy needs it."

You glanced up at your father. His smile twisted and forced with a needle in hand. He couldn't draw his own blood anymore; your mother didn't like it. She said it's what made him so sick in the first place. Which didn't make sense to you, you never thought your daddy was sick. He never even had to stay home from work. Unfortunately, because he couldn't draw his own blood anymore, he had to get the next best thing.

His glasses rested on his head, reflecting his hair color. His glasses pulled back his greasy hair enough to reveal a nasty bruise on top of his forehead. The bruise scared you. It meant something was wrong.

You gulped when the needle hovered over your arm, aiming right next to the hole from the last blood test.

"If you're tense it will hurt more too, don't you remember that from earlier?"

You nodded and did your best to relax, but it didn't last long, particularly when you felt the sharp pinch drive into your arm. Your breathing was shaky by the time your father got what he needed. Repeating the process of applying a cotton ball and reapplying the bandage from the doctor's office. Taking care of the blood samples in a station behind you.

"I feel dizzy,"

"That happens. Now go back to the house, daddy needs to do important things." He didn't look back at you as he spoke.

You crawled off of the tall stool with weak arms. You looked up at his back, an uncomfortable rush of sadness hit you. He promised. Your head was still spinning and light, but your priorities were somewhere else.

"Daddy? Are we still going to go get ice cream?"

He didn't reply. Were you too quiet again?

"Oh!" The sadness was replaced with hope for a split second until he continued his thought. "You remember what you're going to tell your mother right?"

Your shoulders fell, you nodded. "I need more water, because the doctor had to poke me more than once." You repeated back, suppressing your emotion.

You picked at the end of your shirt, finding the courage to speak again.

"But, did you hear my question?"

He stayed quiet.

"Daddy?"

"I don't know! Now do as you're told and go back to the house." He nearly yelled, irritation evident in his voice.

You took a step back, you already stayed too long. He didn't like it when you stayed too long. Accepting his answer you held your aching arms close to your body. Heading out of the shed you stepped on to the grass. Your head spun faster and your legs began to wobble.

You made it halfway through the yard before you were forced to stop. Falling hard on to the ground and blacking out.

_____

Your eyes snapped open only to immediately shut again from a blinding light from outside. Your hand slipped up rubbing your aching pupils. Feeling the hard ground beneath you, you were almost relieved to still be in the cave.

Yet again, your past had decided to plague your dreams. You hated the fact that it had so much control over you. That he still had so much control over you. Shaking your head, you forced the thoughts out from your head. Shoving the past back into a box clearly labeled, 'never to be opened'. Moving your arms you began to get up, ignoring your irritated injuries. Your body fought to stay rested on the stone floor, but you forced yourself up. Refusing to risk falling back asleep.

A small crinkle made you freeze feeling something sharp poke your back. Maneuvering around you felt your back pockets and sleepily pulled out whatever had poked you.

Your eyes slowly adjusted giving you a clear view of the small piece of paper. Your eyebrows furrowed. You almost forgot about the letter, despite the fact that you were nearly killed over the stupid thing. It now was crinkled and there was a dried brown stain of your own blood staining the top corner of the note. Even with the damage the words stayed, printed just as legible as before. Unfortunately though, its meaning wasn't any clearer.

You slipped the letter back into your pocket and finally scanned the cave around you. Now with the light coming in you could see a pile of dead trees that SCP-049 had pointed out towards the end of the cave. It was a lot larger than you had originally thought. The smell of smoke seemed to have disappeared as well. All that was left was a pile of singed logs and ash.

Looking around your heart began to pound when you realized something was missing.

"SCP-049?" Your voice echoed.

The cave was empty with no sign of the anomaly anywhere. You moved your legs to get up and immediately regretted that decision when you were greeted with stiffness and pain. Still you fought through, pulling yourself up from the ground and making your way to a wall to help keep your balance. You slowly stepped out into the light squinting towards bright green trees and blue skies.

You limped out of the cave blinking again forcing back tears from both the bright light and your uncomfortable limbs. Finally, your vision relaxed enough for you to open up your eyes all the way. It wasn't long before you let out a sigh of relief. A black silhouette materialized at the edge of the stone ground. Standing just before the rocks shifted unto a huge grassy forest.

"SCP-049?" You repeated leaving the safety of the cave wall.

"We need to keep going." He had that urgency in his voice again.

That urgency made a hole begin to sink in your stomach. You knew that was the goal to get out if here, but his tone made you feel like there was more.

"What's wrong?.. Aside from the obvious." You finally replied, you moved closer to his stiff silhouette.

He looked back at you with eyes reflecting his serious demeanor. "I can sense it. The pestilence, it's here."

You took a step back, your eyes widening, "What do you mean?"

"I mean it's nearby. I can feel it. Come, but keep your distance."

"How?" You tried to ask, but just like that he was on the move again. Each step he took was full of determination and a sense of purpose even though in truth we had no idea where we were going.

"Wait!" You tried to call out to him, but he was already set on whatever trail he was determined to follow.

You followed behind him keeping your distance only because of your lack of speed. He continued through the forest taking confident turns and steps as if something was leading him there. Then out of nowhere he stopped. Staring down into a clearing. You continued until you reached a large tree that you could rest against. Catching your breath your nose scrunched, your hand reached up to cover your nose when a horrific stench filled the air.

You had smelled that stench before, and you hated it just as much as you did the first time. Reluctant, you stared down the same clearing SCP-049 was. The first thing you saw was blood and claw marks. You nearly gasped when the mangled D-class came into view just below you. The cliff in front of him had hand marks lining the bottom as well as a broken root that he still held clinched in his hand.

SCP-049 moved.

"Wait!"

He stopped looking back at you, "What is it?" There was a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Didn't you see the claw marks down there? They are obviously fresh."

"Yes, I do. But if you look a little further, there is also someone down there suffering." He dangled one leg off the hill preparing to climb down.

"But, what if whatever did this to him is still here?"

"It's possible." He further climbed down the hill. "I'll take care of it if it happens," he took the time to pause from his descent just to point at you as he said "if".

You bit your cheek, scanning the clearing as SCP-049 made his way down the cliff. He stared down at the corpse, or what you thought was a corpse. As soon as SCP-049 landed near him his breathing went out of control to the point that you could see it from the small hill you were perched upon.

He tried to move away or speak but to no avail. All that came out was sickening gurgles of a blood-filled throat. It sounded almost like he wanted to scream, but his sobs overpowered his fear. SCP-049 crouched down next to him.

"Do not be afraid, I'm here to help." He said, his voice calm and reassuring until he reached out his hand aiming towards the D-class's neck. Your mouth opened, threatening to call out to try and stop SCP-049. But seeing the D-class's state, you bit your tongue. The man could barely move and the trail of blood coming from his throat bubbled as he tried to speak. Normally, you would have stopped him, but in this case. He would have unfortunately died either way, just slower and more painful without SCP-049's touch.

You watched in silence as SCP-049 touched the back of the D-class's neck. Immediately he stopped moving and the bubbles from his throat stopped. SCP-049 didn't waste any time before he flipped the D-class over, revealing the carnage the D-class had to endure. His neck was torn and his stomach and chest were already opened. You felt sick, both from the gore and thinking about when one of those beasts dragged you away. That most likely would have happened to you if it wasn't for SCP-049.

Speaking of which, he had already taken out his doctors bag, kneeling down next to his 'patient' and began the operation. You leaned deeper into the tree in an attempt to relieve your leg. You turned your head away from SCP-049, as he pulled out the D-class's stomach.

"Doctor?"

You stared down at the grass.

"Yes?"

"Would you like to come down here? The pestilence won't hurt you as long as you don't touch him."

Your head turned back to him; he had his hands buried deep into the body shifting the organs around. You pushed off against the tree standing up at your full height to see him look up at you, waiting for your reply.

Your stomach turned, but.. That little bit of curiosity returned, pushing you to get a little closer.

You took your time to crawl down the small cliff, carefully sliding down a long patch of dirt, and hitting a root and climbing down the rest of the roots, carefully to keep from slipping. Finally, your feet touched the ground. Moving your palms together you brushed off the dirt clinging to your hands.

He turned back to the D-class focusing on the task at hand. You studied his movements, backing up enough to see all that he was doing as well as to obey his warning. Don't get too close had changed to don't touch the "infected" D-class. If you for whatever reason decided to touch the D-class or anyone who has the pestilence would you get it? Or at least would he think you had it?

You shifted looking from his hands to his vibrant yellow eyes.

"So, if I were to just touch him, would I get the pestilence?"

He shook his head. "Not necessarily."

"Then what would happen?"

"I said, the pestilence will hurt you if you touch him."

You stared hard at SCP-049.

"How so?"

He stopped, his eyes digging through your soul.

"Tell me, when a human contracts an illness what happens?"

You felt your eyebrows furrow. You were not completely sure where he was going with this, but you decided to answer him anyway, "Well, first there is usually some sort of pathogen that enters the body, and then it kills or disrupts cells depending on what type of pathogen it is."

Your gaze snapped back to his as you continued, "-and then your body fights off said pathogens with heat, antibodies, white blood cells, and many other things.." You trailed off at his expression.

"Yes, that's what happens when most diseases and viruses attack your body. But with the pestilence,"

He turned back to the D-class cutting out his kidneys.

"It is different. It doesn't stay in those who are pure. It will only hurt you for a time, before leaving you vulnerable for further contamination."

His hood dripped down further, hiding his beak.

"I tell you this doctor, nothing is more disturbing than feeling the disease strip away the purity of so many." He nearly mumbled, shoving the D-class's kidney beneath his lungs.

He went silent after that, leaving you with mixed feelings inside. You leaned back on a tree, shifting your weight to your uninjured left leg. His shoulders went stiff after the conversation. You stared at his back, an incredulous look in your eyes. It was ironic to you, to think that to him the pestilence was more disturbing than his 'cure' the graphic and lethal surgery he had put hundreds through.

You let yourself slide down the tree, allowing yourself to rest until he finished his surgery. Shifting a little when your legs and butt rested against the grass.

____

A small crunching and heavy footsteps grabbed your attention forcing yourself to stand, wobbling and grabbing on a low branch for support. A pair of yellow glowing eyes met yours from the top of the hill. The beast growled, blowing out clumps of fog from its nostrils and mouth. It was different from the creatures from last night, it stood tall surpassing all the dogs from the previous night.

In fact, the longer you stared at the creature the less it looked like a dog, it looked almost like a horse. It had long dark purple mane cascading down its back, neck and down its long snout. Similar to all the other creatures you have seen it was covered head to toe or you should say hoof with intricate glowing yellow designs. There was a couple of sharp horns sticking out from it's muzzle

"Umm, SCP-049," You took a step back starring up at the larger beast.

"I'm almost done."

"Look,"

He secured a few more irritated stitches before tying off the end of a stitch. He looked back, then followed your finger to the monster looming above. "What is-" he stopped at the sight of it.

"We need to go." You said, frantic.

Slowly he picked his doctor bag back up, making his way back to your trembling form. The beast surprisingly stayed calm, the further the two of you backed up the less it growled. The fog around it faded away. Watching both you and SCP-049 almost with an air curiosity.

Your heart raced when it jumped down with a thud and clopped over to the dead D-class. It stood tall above the corpse, bending its neck to smell the freshly stitched seam across his torso. Your heel stepped on a twig beneath you, snapping it in half grabbing the horse's attention.

Your eyes widened when a piece of metal reflected off the horse's neck. It was a blue key dangling from a golden chain. The horse's eyes stared through your soul, tilting its head at your stiff form. The sudden groaning and shuffling began from the now awake SCP-049-2 spooking the horse.

It jumped back, easily leaping over the hill and disappearing into the forest. You stood there starring at where the beast disappeared for almost too long.

"Did you see that?"

SCP-049-2 flopped over as it tried its best to figure out how to stand again.

"I assume you are referring to the key," SCP-049 said, his deep voice echoing in his mask.

"Yeah,"

The zombie found it's balance stumbling towards SCP-049. Mumbling and groaning it sauntered past you, making you take a couple of cautious steps back. SCP-049 took a step towards where the creature disappeared heading back towards the cliff. Your eyes snapped between him and where the horse disappeared.

"I think that key might be helpful,"

"Most likely."

Grass crunched beside you as he made his way past you, taking his hand out he began to re-climb the short hill. In only seconds he was on top glancing back down at you.

"Are you coming?"

You hesitated before carefully stepping over to the hill. Looking up all you could see was smooth dirt with some roots and a few rocks nowhere near each other. Your leg stung.

"I'm not sure I can climb this." You admitted. Getting down was easy, just sliding down from the dirt. But climbing back up, you were limping as it was and a fall from that height could take even that from you.

He sighed. "Can you make it up to that rock?"

He pointed to a larger rock that was a little under halfway up the hill. You studied the wall in front if you deciding the best route you could take. There were plenty of roots, maybe you could climb up with them. Making a plan you stepped on top of a root and reached your good arm up to a higher root.

Slowly but surely you crawled up until a root cracked underneath your left leg. In seconds the root broke leaving most of your weight on your injured limb.

"Help her," SCP-049 ordered and a shaky hand pushed your leg up from below. Helping you until you made it on top of the boulder. The SCP-049-2 stayed on the roots it clung to until further instruction.

Looking up you were met with a bloodstained glove reaching down just a little above your head. You hesitated for a moment obviously long enough for him to get irritated, halfway closing his fist and quickly opening it back up to you.

Giving in you reached up and grabbed his wrist, letting him pull you up. Your legs scrapped on the dirt in an attempt to help him carry your weight, although he didn't seem to struggle in the least.

The next thing you knew you were being helped to your feet, landing on the grass above the hill. With a groan SCP-049-2 easily climbed up the side of the hill and roamed around.

"Alright, now we can go." SCP-049 said turning his back to you and following where the horse had disappeared. You followed quickly after, moving as fast as you can and trying your beat not to make your injuries worse.

_______

Nearly an hour passed before the three of you noticed a piece of white reflecting against the sun. As soon as you were close enough you stopped, starring at the bright white door standing out against the green. A rush of hope and happiness hit you until SCP-049 tried the door. Unsurprisingly, it was locked.

He looked back at you, an obvious glint of irritation in his eyes. You held your arm with the opposite hand.

"Have you ever caught a horse before?"

He shook his head no, "I have never cared for it,"