Ding. Ding. Ding.

Ami swatted away at her ear and her hand brushed up against hard plastic. She grabbed the device and threw it on the floor out of sleepy frustration. She had passed out with her lens still in her ear. She crumbled forward, stuck in a tangle of sheets, and awkwardly rolled off the bed with a thump.

She yawned, stretched, and sighed when she saw that the heavy bookshelf seemed unmoved in front of the still broken window. She sighed again and rubbed her eyes, finally climbing up from the floor and kicking the loose sheets to the side.

Ami reluctantly swiped the lens off the floor and checked to see what it was chiming about. With a click, several messages started tickering across the small screen - all from Charlie.

"Hey, haven't heard from you in a while. Call me when you can."

"Ami? You there?"

"Didn't see you at the park today. Just checking up on you."

Ami shook her head. How long had it been?

She clicked through the messages. Three days.

Three days.

No.

Ami let out a scream of frustration and threw the lens again, though this time on her unmade bed. She started a steady pace back and forth in her tiny flat. This had never happened before. Her eyes turned upwards to the small camera that Red installed in the corner of her room. She hesitated, then shook her head. No, she was not brave enough to watch the feed. She was not brave enough to see what the monster inside of her did with those three days. Three days.

Her mind raced as she went over what had last happened when she was awake. Ami remembered Sabrina's teary eyes as she held her and it brought it back to reality.

Optica.

Ami threw on her heavy jacket and made her way downstairs. Maybe Charlie knew something about the bizarre "marketing" company. It was the only lead she had.

She made her way through the smoggy streets, dashing between the light morning crowd, moving in autopilot towards the park. She passed the vending machine where she got her jacket, and found there was a group of people at the edge of the alleyway. A line of heavily armored Hologuards were blocking the pathway off, pushing back the growing gathering.

There was a shout in the back of the crowd, "Let us see!"

There was a rustling in the growing pack of pedestrians and the murmurs between the group grew louder. They started to edge towards the line of guards, trying to get a better look down the alley.

There was a yelp in the front of the line. One of the guards had pushed back a man who got too close as he shoved him with a metal baton. The murmur of the crowd grew into shouts.

"Hologuard scum!" came another shout from the back of the group.

Suddenly, a larger, taller guard pushed his way through from behind the line of armor. He was at least two heads above the other guards and was carrying a double-headed rifle. He put a large gloved hand in the air and a hush fell over the crowd.

"Call us what you like," his voice boomed over invisible speakers, "but we did not do this."

He stepped to the side and the other Hologuards stepped aside in line, joining him. There were sudden screams in the group, and yelps of both surprise and horror.

Ami tried to squeeze her way forward to see the cause of such shock, but the crowd was too thick. Something was there in the alleyway, something horrible.

"This," the massive Hologuard spoke again, grabbing something off the ground, "This is the work of The Vermin." He raised his arm, holding something at the end of his arm. There were more gasps and screams in the crowd around her.

Ami pushed through more cramped shoulders and stood on her toes to see through the commotion. Her eyes met with silvery blue iris', matching her own.

The tall Haloguard was holding a woman's head above the crowd, silvery white hair in nests around his black gloved hand. He was waving it back and forth over everyone's heads as black caked blood clotted out of her nose. The white haired woman's mouth was stuck in a permanent scream.

Ami shook her head, grateful that it wasn't Sabrina, but still mortified.

"Stop it!" a woman yelled behind Ami.

"Horrible, ain't it?" the massive Hologuard quipped, and Ami swore she could see a smile behind his reflective visor. The large man then lowered the head from view, and Ami heard a ghastly thump as it hit the concrete.

Ami closed her eyes as the people jostled around her, pushing her side to side. Her body was numb, weak to the chaos around her. The air was heavy in the commotion and she struggled to take deep enough breaths. A tin whistle began to grow loud in her ear.

Why is this happening?

She took another deep breath to steady herself, then scanned the crowd for an exit, only to have her eyes meet with something familiar. Through the chaos, the visor of one of the Hologuards flickered, and Ami saw the familiar honey colored eyes of Charlie. He was struggling to push the group back out of the alley. But for a moment, their eyes met, and Ami saw a sudden sadness, a sudden horror and realization, fall over his sweating face.

Ami turned away, feeling her nails dig into her palms. She pushed her way forwards and finally walked out into the open road.

She was seething. She was not mad at him though, no. She was mad at herself for being weak - for thinking that he was different. She didn't even know him very well, so why was she so upset?

He covered you with his coat, gave you some tea, and that somehow makes him any better than the rest of the Hologuards? He was just playing pretend with the downtown street scum. You should have known better.

Ami's hand slammed against the chrome frame of the SimuPark entrance. There was a sleek hum as the chrome door opened and Ami stomped inside. She needed to think.

It was only then, in the shock of the open park, did the panic attack she had been staving off finally hit. A cold sweat climbed down her back and she felt an itch of goosebumps crawl up her arms. Her mouth grew dry and tacky. She tried to take a deep breath, but it felt as though she couldn't get enough oxygen, no matter how hard she tried. There was a cramping ache in her chest, followed by tightness. She tightened her hands into fists, trying to fight the onslaught of anxiety, but they felt dull and achy.

She watched, trapped in her own silent horror, as a tour group caught sight of her. She must have been a sight, pacing in front of the park doors, eyes wide as she held her head.

Everything inside her told her to run. But she had nowhere to go.

So, Ami sat down where she was - in the middle of the SimuPark entryway.

She cradled herself, putting her head between her knees, and waited for everything to stop.

Ami wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it felt like an eternity as she watched the different shoes passing by from underneath her armpit. She didn't want to stand up yet. She was embarrassed to show her face to the curious onlookers, but even more ashamed of herself for putting on such a pitiful display - in public nonetheless. Maybe she should just stay here, curled up in the middle of the path, until she withered away into a sulky malnourished skeleton. Maybe they would encase her in metal, turn her into a statue.

Come one, come all. See the stagnant creep. So full of woe she couldn't help but surrender to her madness. Arrogant fool thinks she has it worse off than everyone else - so she made herself an inconvenience to the rest of us - sitting in the middle of the path like this.

Ami shook her head. She was stuck in the same thought loop of self-pity that often caught her in the worst of times. Succumbing to her worst thoughts and making herself feel guilty for having those thoughts in the first place.

Her back began to ache from being hunched over but she didn't move an inch. She deserved it for putting on such a pitiful display.

Stop it, Ami.

No.

Get up Ami.

No.

Suddenly, there was a sudden tightness around Ami's shoulders as anonymous arms surrounded her - cradling her on the dusty ground. In any other circumstance, Ami would have protested, pushed off this stranger, thrashed about without hesitation. But no, she didn't have it in her to fight. No, not now.

An arm then stretched underneath her bent legs, another rested gently on her back as they picked her up in one smooth motion. Someone was carrying her, but she wasn't brave enough to open her eyes just yet.

If I keep my eyes closed, maybe they'll give up. Maybe they'll leave me alone.