"Huh?"

"Claire..."

"What?"

I didn't understand. What was she saying? Who's Claire?

"Are you alright...?" she continued to say.

"It's none of your business!" I tugged my body and her hands fell off my waist.

"Ugh..." She fell flat on the ground again.

"Get away from me!" I said turning around. I began to walk away. "Don't follow me."

I took a glimpse at her. She was still on the floor.

"Don't mind her!" I told myself and walked away to the other side of the room.

* * *

The blobs were moving around. The entire place was filled with them but unlike before, they were contained inside glass-like boxes. It seemed like that one was an exception. It was able to crawl while shrinking and propelling itself forward. The slimy trail it left behind made me feel disgusted sending shivers down my spine.

The girl, in the distance, recouped herself and sat up. Her lips were slightly dry and her complexion - she gave off - was awful; she looked like she was uncontrollably uncomfortable - unable to control the trembling.

I sipped on my bottle of water I got from the kitchen and munched on the chocolate bar. It wasn't really the time to eat but I needed to. I was hungry.

Looking up into the bright ceiling, the room was white like a lab - or maybe it was a lab. It took me a while to get down here carrying her heavy body.

"Why did I even take her with me?" I wondered. "I should have left her back there..."

The path wasn't the smoothest but it wasn't difficult. We moved from the kitchen into the lift after I gathered some more food and drinks into a small bag hanging off the wall. I wore the bag and dragged her in. We headed down and after a few minutes, we arrived. We arrived at the bottom. It was dark at first. It was like staring into the deep, dark space but moments later, it lit up. At the end of the corridor, there was a room. I dragged her along with me into that room and that was how we got here.

"Was it a mistake? Why am I even here..." I closed my eyes slowly and gathered my thoughts. "What happened before all of this?"

As I tried to sieve through my memories, the pain began to crawl back. I stopped, fearing it would start again.

"Argh!!!" I shouted slamming the floor with my bottle of water.

The girl was shaking. I looked at her and she looked at me. No, she was looking at my bottle of water.

"She's... thirsty..." I thought. After I took another sip, I closed the bottle and rolled it over to her.

I could see her eyes began to brighten as it got closer and closer to her. She hurriedly snatched the bottle, opened the lid and chugged the water.

I looked down into the bag.

"Chocolate bar, energy bar, biscuits, water..." I murmured. Tilting my head up a bit, my eyes shifted towards her face. I felt guilty. I was hoarding all the food and water...

"Argh!!!" I shouted covering my face with my hand.

"She 'did' stop me from eating that mouldy popcorn back there... what would have happened if I ate that...?" I shook my head a little and then glared at her again. "I should give her some of this..."

"Hey," I said sharply.

She stopped moving and her eyes looked towards me.

I threw the bag at her and she turned her body showing her back to me.

"What is she doing?" I thought.

The bag flew and fell on the ground in front of her. Her eyes were closed but they slowly opened and she hovered her head over the bag staring into it.

"Eat it."

She looked up at me and then gradually reached out pulling the biscuits out of the bag. She rushed her way into the package and bit into the first biscuit.

*Crunch*

*Crunch*

*Crunch*

She drank some more water and she began to smile; she was satisfied. The bright smile on her face made me feel relieved. I didn't have that bad feeling anymore.

"Was I always this kind?" I thought to myself. "I thought I only cared about myself..."

I smiled a little too.

She spoke up. "Umm... thanks..."

"Yeah," I replied trying to keep my act up.

"So... Cla-I mean, do you know what's going on...? How'd we get... here?"

"Ah..." I thought for a moment then proceeded on explaining what happened the entire time.

* * *

"Ah... that's what happened," the girl said.

"Yeah... I didn't know why you were chasing me..."

"I wasn't chasing you! I saw you in the distance hiding behind the building. I was going to tell the others but they looked like they were having fun..."

"The others?"

"Yeah, there's two other people besides me."

"That's..."

"They are friendly, don't worry."

"I don't know... I've been running away. I've been... running away from them."

"From them?"

"Yeah... the people in black."

"...?"

"They were fierce. They killed. They trampled on everything around."

"They... who were they?"

"I... I..." I started shivering. Thinking back, I felt like my life was on the line as I escaped and hid from them.

"Claire...?"

I couldn't hear properly, what did she say? I looked up at her. "Umm..." I retracted my legs and wrapped my arms around them.

The girl reached out and placed her hands on my arm. "Hey... are you alright?"

"...they were just..."

I recalled something.

A blue T-shirt? The back of a person, a man. His figure blocked the people in black.

Who was that?

"They were just killing... and killing... and killing... they didn't stop. At first, they were dragging people out, they also dragged me out. My mind was blank... but that someone pushed me. A person wearing a blue T-shirt, he pushed me behind and I saw the black figures shooting at him. I ran. I ran. I ran. I escaped for my life leaving that person behind. I-"

"Hey, hey stop!" the girl interrupted.

My senses were broken. I felt like something was torn in my heart. Something that cannot be fixed anymore.

Suddenly, the siren sounded and I jolted in surprise.

The girl stood up and hurriedly helped me up.

"D-D-Did... they f-f-find me???" I muttered in a low voice.

"Hey... get a hold of yourself," I heard faintly. The siren continued on loudly.

The girl grabbed my bag, closed it and took hold of my shaking hands. "Let's go, we can't stay here anymore."

I nodded slightly and she dragged me away.

* * *

We ran down the corridors and turned a few corners checking if anyone was following us.

"Phew..." the girl said.

I took out a bottle of water and gave it to her. She took a few sips and continued peeking through the corners.

"Do you... *Huff* do you really think... *Huff* think that they found out about you being *Huff* here?" the girl asked.

"I..." I didn't know how to respond.

"Did I drag her into my mess...?" I questioned myself inside my head.

"I... don't know..." I replied.

"It's alright," she said. "Let's leave."

My eyes opened wide. "Did she just... read my thoughts?" I wondered.

We continued down the corridor but then, we heard loud footsteps chasing down behind us. They were getting closer and closer.

My heart raced and I began to panic. The bag wasn't light; sweat started to form and dropped down my cheeks.

We ran and ran but they were not giving up. Every corner we turned, they followed.

The girl running in front of me started to lag behind and slowed down her pace; she was out of breath.

I held on to her arm and dragged her towards a corner slightly secluded from the main corridor.

"Hey," I said. "We can't run on like this."

"What... *Huff* do you mean... *Huff*?"

I pulled out my knife and looked deeply at it. "Distraction."

"Dis..? what?" She breathed heavily but then looked up at me. "Hey... you're..."

I shifted my gaze towards her eyes; she was frightened. It was the same look as I saw before in the room.

"It doesn't make sense..." I murmured. "Why are you looking at me like that..."

The girl spoke up. "Huh...? What did you-"

The footsteps stopped.

Behind me, I heard the movement of something heavy.

"Hey."