Aaron blinked as the vision slowly restored in his eyes. He felt colder than ever before, like if he was swimming in ice water, and goosebumps rippled across his skin. He had no idea where he was. The room was pitch black, aside from a dim glow penetrating underneath the door.

The harnesses on the chair he was tied to were leather, and his newfound strength as a result of the Ambrosia should've permitted him to rip them off. But exhaustion overwhelmed him. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead and he felt like he hadn't slept in a week. Even scooting up in his seat sapped him of energy.

He froze once he heard a yawn in the dark, along with the clanking of chains.

"Who's there?" Aaron shouted.

"Aaron?" replied a soft-spoken young girl. It didn't take long for him to realize it was Nika.
"What are we doing here?"

"Nika! You need to get out of here! Schaefer's coming for us!"

"Yeah, I can tell," Nika replied with a nervous chuckle. "Richmond visited me in the library. Then I ended up here."

"Wh-wh-who else was there?"

"Lavinia Dyer."

Aaron degenerated into a full-blown panic attack. He jerked around in his seat, trying pointlessly to escape his restraints. All the while he blubbered like a scared little kid.

"Aaron, are you alright?" Nika asked. "What's going on over there?"

"We need to get out of here!" he shrieked, his sanity dwindling. "I can't let Schaefer hurt you!"

"We'll be fine."

"Bollocks! Nika, I've learned everything Schaefer's done. There is no way in hell he'd let us go unharmed."

"Aaron," Nika continued. "Is it true you killed Jonah?"

"Absolutely not. I don't know who told you that lie, but it was all Schaefer's doing! Why would I kill one of my closest friends?"

"That's what I was thinking! I didn't believe it for a second. But is it true you killed other DZI soldiers?"

"That was only in self-defense. I swear."

The door burst open and Lavinia appeared. Or at least her silhouette. He could only make out her messy hair and that silly sling her arm was stuck in. Plus, there was a gun in her pocket.

"Morning, lads," she said, flicking the lights on. Usually she had an unnatural positivity in her voice, but not today. She sounded dead serious. "Hope you slept well."

As the light entered the room, Aaron discovered Nika had a bag over her head. Lavinia used her free arm to pull it off, and she clenched her eyes in discomfort at the sudden flash of light. Her hair was messy and she looked tired, but compared to Aaron she looked like she had just stepped out of a shower. Aaron, on the other hand, was filthy. Every part of his body was smudged with dirt, dry blood or both, and his complexion was pale-green upon closer inspection.

"Aaron!" Nika yelped. "What happened to you?"

"How about we let your sister answer that?" Lavinia replied. "Richmond!"

Richmond appeared at the door along with Natalya, who had her hands cuffed behind her back. "Don't yell at me, bitch," he growled. "I'm your superior here."

Once Natalya was in the room, Richmond tripped her to her knees. She didn't make a sound nor did she glance at her sister or Aaron.

"So, Miss Koslov," Lavinia said to Natalya, "would you like to explain to your sister why her knight in shining armor here looks the way he does?"

Natalya gave Nika a grim look. "He's infected. He was supposed to be executed yesterday morning."

"For being infected?!" Nika replied. "Couldn't you just find a treatment for that?"

Natalya scoffed. "Why are you always so naive? There is no cure! They were just trying to put him out of his misery."

"No, they weren't!" Aaron exclaimed. "Schaefer was trying to get rid of me!"

"Why wouldn't he?" Richmond chimed in. "We haven't even totaled your body count yet."

"He doesn't give a shit what happens to his soldiers! He just wanted to keep me from learning the truth!"

"Did you even know what truth you wanted to learn before the day you were deemed to be executed?" Lavinia asked skeptically.

"Of course! The Deadmen themselves told me Schaefer couldn't be trusted."

Richmond burst out laughing. "For fuck's sake, the Deadmen told you this?" he repeated mockingly.

"Hearing voices is a sign of infection," Lavinia added. "As if the quick-healing wounds weren't enough proof."

"Will you just leave these two alone?" Natalya chimed in. "Sure, Aaron might've been looking for trouble, but there's no way my sister did anything wrong."

"Actually," Lavinia spoke, "while trying to peacefully acquire assistance from this young lass, she refused unprofessionally by shooting me in my broken arm."

"It's not like anyone blames her," Natalya retorted.

"I was really unimpressed. If you really want to solve problems..."

Lavinia quickly pulled her gun out and shot Natalya in the back of her head, eliciting ear-splitting screams from both Aaron and Nika. Natalya's lifeless body slumped to the floor.

"Always aim for the head," Lavinia concluded coldly.

"You monster!" Nika shrieked as tears began pouring out of her eyes.

"Well, that was needless," Richmond commented apathetically. "But I guess that's one way to get a response."

"Fuck you!" Aaron shouted. "Fuck you, you bitch! I'm the one who messed up! Don't take it out on them!"

Lavinia shrugged. "She was a prisoner anyway. This was gonna happen to her sooner or later."

"I hate you!" Nika sobbed.

"I'll let you enjoy your fun," Richmond told Lavinia. "Just get everything over with in less than an hour. Otherwise, we'll kill you, too."

Richmond shut the door behind him, leaving Aaron and Nika alone with this heartless monster. Nika's cried waterfalls for her deceased sister. Aaron wanted to just rip those restraints off and do the right thing. Bring Natalya back to life. Piece back the shattered remains of Nika's heart. Make this whole day just disappear. And him along with it.

"Quit your bawling or you'll be joining your sister!" Lavinia threatened. "I've only got two bullets left."

"What the fuck was that for?" Aaron screamed. "What reason do you have to hurt innocent people?"

"We're not all innocent people," Lavinia replied. "You and me are here as well."

"Exactly! So leave her alone! This is just between you and me."

Lavinia clicked her tongue and shook her head. "You're gonna regret saying that, lad."

She stuffed the gun back into her pocket and pulled out a meat cleaver.

"Please," Nika muttered. "Just stop..."

"Infection test time," Lavinia said with fake cheer, raising the knife. "If it hurts, I'll stop."

She slammed the blade on Aaron's wrist, chopping repeatedly as blood splashed all over the seat and floor. Yet, as Aaron watched the loss of his hand in progress, he felt nothing about the whole ordeal. He could feel his hand being disconnected from his arm, but there was no pain whatsoever. The only pain he felt was seeing a traumatized Nika, watching but unable to do anything.

With one final swing, Aaron's hand was sliced off the rest of his arm. She held up his disembodied hand, blood dripping out of his mutilated wrist, and threw it aside, eliciting another scream from Nika.

"Tell me you didn't feel all that," Lavinia said with a sadistic chuckle.

"I didn't feel anything," Aaron replied hopelessly. He knew lying would only bring the two of them a worse fate.

Lavinia glanced back at Nika. "It's too late for him," she said. "Just one more test."

She placed the bloody cleaver down on a table beside Aaron's seat and walked over to a small slot in the wall. Aaron looked at Nika, who continued mournfully staring at her dead sister's body.

"By the way, O'Connor," Lavinia spoke as she lifted up the door to the slot, "what have you learned out there in the Dead Zone?"

"Why does that matter to you?" Aaron grumbled.

"Just curious, is all."

"The Deadmen are infected by corrupt nano-robots that Schaefer helped create. Schaefer killed the man Bloodletter used to be when he was alive, right after killing his daughter. Bloodletter just wants revenge."

"Interesting," Lavinia replied, obviously not caring. She slid on a glove and stuck her hand into the slot, pulling out a glowing red butcher knife. "Have you discovered why Deadmen only feel burns but no other forms of injury?"

"Fuck off," Aaron threatened.

"Schaefer told me about the Ambrosia Project. For some reason, he trusted me with his secrets, probably because he knew people wouldn't believe me if I told them. And after everything we've theorized, we still don't know why fire hurts." She raised the knife into the air. "I guess it's just the feeling of being destroyed."

Fuck, Aaron thought.

She plunged the red-hot knife deep into his thigh, melting through his skin like butter. Aaron felt something he hadn't felt in a long time: physical pain. And he made that clear by emitting a deafening, inhumane scream.

"You know what's the worst part?" Lavinia asked. "It'll never heal."

Nika wanted to believe this was all just a horrible nightmare. "STOP!" she screamed.

Aaron felt like electricity was coursing through his leg. He had never been shot or stabbed in his life, but this felt more painful than anything he had ever felt in his life. The Ambrosia began revealing itself as veins sprouted out of his skin like weeds and his screams distorted into a monstrous screech. The color disappeared from his eyes once more and the bones of his missing hand proceeded to regenerate, already restoring the carpals and his fingers.

"Leave him alone!" Nika shouted.

Lavinia yanked the hot blade out of Aaron's leg and aimed it at Nika. "Don't worry, lass," she threatened. "You won't be left out. In fact, to make it easier, I'll take off the chains. I love having a challenge."

"Don't underestimate her," Aaron growled.

As Lavinia moved in on Nika, Aaron paused the restoration of his hand simply by thinking about it. Tendons had reconnected to his hand bones and he was able to bend his fingers again. He slipped his bony hand out of the restraints and resumed the healing, watching as muscle and flesh grew back like fruits on a tree. Taking quick glances to make sure Lavinia was still distracted, he proceeded to undo the remaining restraints.

"Don't move or I start removing your fingers," Lavinia threatened as she stuck a key into the lock on Nika's chains.

Aaron ripped off the final restraint on his right arm and stood up, only to topple to the floor as a result of the new incision in his thigh. The loud thud alerted Lavinia to turn back to him.

"Didn't learn the first time, eh?" Lavinia snarked.

Now distracted by Aaron, Lavinia couldn't see Nika coming toward her with the chains. Nika wrapped the chain around Lavinia's neck in an attempt to choke her, whether it killed her or not. She then took advantage of the moment to snatch her gun out of her pocket.

Unfortunately, Lavinia gained the upper hand by brushing the scalding blade against Nika's arm. Nika screamed in pain as she pushed the psychotic woman away from her and grasped onto her new wound, unable to block Lavinia's punch. However, Nika brushed off the blow to her cheek and punched her in the ribs, sending her back toward Aaron. He grabbed the psychotic lady and put in her a chokehold, preparing for the final blow.

Lavinia could help but laugh maniacally. "Get it over with already," she asked. "I've had my fun."

"Then I guess it's my turn," Aaron replied in his beastly voice, and he quickly jerked her arm to the side, snapping it in half. And Lavinia only cackled louder.

In that moment, he had forgotten about the human in him. Breaking one arm wasn't enough. Now that he saw that she dropped her knife, he grabbed the other arm and broke it, evoking louder laughter from the sick woman. He shoved her into the wall and kicked her in the femur, and her leg shattered apart like glass. He repeated the same process with her other leg, and she looked like a rag doll by the time he was done. Her laughter only grew louder and more unhinged with each fracture.

"Aaron," Nika said sheepishly, "I think she's had enough."

Aaron ignored her. He let the Ambrosia take full control, resulting in his infamous veins and dead eyes as he began punching Lavinia repeatedly in the face. His fist was like a hammer, coming back bloodier than the previous hit with every retreat. Lavinia's face was mutating into a shapeless bloody pulp, to the point her nose caved into her skull and her top set of teeth were becoming visible. Yet she could only laugh as Aaron slowly killed her, the skin wearing away from her face doing nothing to hold back her sadistic nature.

"Aaron! Stop!" Nika exclaimed in disgust. "You're going too far!"

"There's nowhere to go but farther!" he screeched as he continued mangling Lavinia's face with his fists. His hands were entirely splashed red with her blood, and her eyeball dangled out of its socket by the optic nerve.

He paused to see if she was finally dead. Now that most of the flesh on her face was gone, the grin of her skeleton was permanently plastered on her face. Her nose was just an empty bleeding hole. And despite everything, she still managed to let out one more cackle, the quietest but also the most sinister.

"DIE!" Aaron shrieked as he threw another punch, but when he brought his hand back, he held her dismembered jaw in his hand. And now Lavinia slumped to the ground dead, just an empty crimson hole where her face used to be.

The entire room looked bright red in Aaron's lifeless eyes, as if blood was seeping down the walls. He looked up at the chunk of flesh he tore from Lavinia's face. It looked...delicious.

No, Aaron thought. Please no. Don't fucking eat it.

His hand started moving toward his face, and drool was dripping down his chin.

DON'T EAT IT!

The sound of a single gunshot rang out through the room. Aaron fell to the floor, dropping the piece of flesh. His arms were dripping with Lavinia's blood and he lay on the floor motionlessly with a bullet in his eye.

"No..." Nika gasped in horror. She fell back against the wall of this insidious prison cell and slid to the floor, smoke trailing out of the barrel of her gun.

Now with her mind in pieces, she took quick glances at the three bodies that kept her company in the room. Natalya Koslov, the twin sister she neglected and failed to save. Aaron O'Connor, the love of her life who no longer had a place in society. And Lavinia Dyer, a woman broken beyond repair with nothing holding her back from carrying out her twisted desires.

"Aaron?" she croaked, tears bubbling in her eyes. "Natalya?"

She curled into a ball, sobbing for the final time. For once she understood Aaron's fear of being alone. Jonah, Aaron, Natalya, the three people who made up her family, all gone. Everything from her past had vanished in the bloodshed.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, planting the gun underneath her chin. "I'm sorry..."

She pulled the trigger.