The doctor slowly walked down the corridor, heading towards the set of stairs leading down. How uncivilized of his patients to run away like that, leaving him stranded up there, with the elevators that didn't work anymore. So now, he had to walk all the way on hoof.

He shivered slightly, looking around: as soon as he had turned the corner, the walls had suddenly turned back to their dull white color, slightly stained with mold, scraped here and there. He absently glanced towards the window through the eyes of his mask, and saw that the rain had stopped. He sighed in relief.

He didn't like to leave his sterile room. But at least now that the rain had stopped, those disgusting, walking sacks of infection were going to calm down, and would stop trying to pull his mask off so they could vomit their bile all over him. So for now, he could go looking for those pesky patients.

How dare they try to delay his duty?

He scoffed under his mask. Such inconsiderate ponies. What if the mare's infection [began to spread]? What if it was omething that oculd attach to unicorns' horns? What if he ended up seeing ponies rushing to him in agony, their faces distorted by bubbling ribbons of darkness that devoured their horns, crawled over their eyelids, leaked from their mouths...

The doctor stopped and took a deep breath, calming himself. His legs were shivered at the thought alone. There was not going to be an epidemic. He was going to fix the mare, one way or the other.

He glanced down at the saw still held in his magical grasp: the blade was gooey and clotted with blood and ichors, which dripped silently on the floor. He flinched in disgust, and tosssed the tool in a garbage bin as he passed by: the idea alone of having something so filthy in his grasp disgusted him.

"I have to carry clean tools." he grumbled, looking around. He ignored the few blood splatters over the walls, as he started to look through the various carts that had been left around to see if there were any surgical tools good for defending himself. But that would mainly be good for amputating wings. He slowly walked onwards, his heavy coat flapping slowly around him, the swish of the fabric now the only sound in the empty hall.

He had to give some credit to the rain, though: at least it was a welcome variation from the deafening silence that was now hovering around him, clouding everything like a thick cover of dried blood. The doctor flinched at the thought, before pushing away a cart in frustration: only a couple of rusty forceps and dirty bandages. Nothing useful.

"Mh... wait... if I go down this way I'll pass surgery... they should have enough scalpels to supply an army." he murmured through his plague-doctor mask. He tilted his head around, checking the corners of the corridors once more to ensure he was alone, before starting to trot again towards the stairs. He tried to ignore the blood, crusts and mucus that covered a few of the tiles on the ground, as he continued to walk.

The cleaning staff had been slacking off. For months, to be precise. But well, they were paid a low wage, he couldn't really blame them for doing a bad job. You got what you paid for, wasn't that right?

"Now now... you shouldn't talk ill of how others handle their jobs when you can't finish a simple amputation.

He sighed and continued to look around slowly, his ears perked up. He tried to ignore the faint sound of flapping coming from the air ducts. It was just his imagination, he knew that.

Being a medic can be awfully stressful.

-oOo-

"Are they lost or something?" Camo finally snapped, huffing and jumping to his hooves, walking towards the kitchen door. It had ben almost ten minutes since High Winds and Dahlia had disappeared behind the white doors, searching for something to eat and drink.

"They might be. You never know here." shrugged his unicorn companion, slightly glancing through the dining area's windows. "On a positive note, the downpowr seems to be stopping. We can finally leave this hospital." he added in a cheerful tone. In some sort of agrement, the mare laying on the table slightly twitched an ear.

"That's all nice and dandy, but I'm starting to worry." mumbled the stallion, looking around nervously before starting to walk towards the kitchen. "I'm going to look for them."

"Don'teven think about leaving us here." retorted the unicorn, rolling his eyes and rapidly joining the stallion. "I don't want to be caught here alone." he whined. Camo grunted, and rapidly loaded Silver Streak onto his back, before heading towards the kitchen. It couldn't be helped, he wasn't all that willing to remain alone himself. Even if the only company he had was a unicorn and a passed-out pegasus.

He cautiously opened the white doors and peeked into the kitchen: everything seemed to be in order. The pots had been carefully placed over the switched off ovens, the plates were all piled neatly, the cutlery had been placed over the countertop in order...

"Dahlia?" whispered Camo, looking around carefully. He didn't even know why he whispered. It was probably because this place was starting to wear on him. Twisted looked around as well, opening a few cupboards and fridges, before closing them with a slightly annoyed grunt as soon as he discovered they were empty.

"Dahlia?" asked the stallion again, feeling his heart sinking down as he didn't receive any answer once more. He slowly passed around the line of counters, keeping his head low in hopes of seeing the little hooves of his sister poking out from behind one of them... but still, there was no trace of the little filly.

His eyes casually fell on a big, white door. Likely a freezer room or something. His heart fluttered for a moment. Maybe those two sillyheads had just ended up getting stuck inside there. He wouldn't really be surprised about something like that. He would have probably laughed a bit, before scolding his siter.

He slowly walked up to the door, and pushed it open with a grunt, careful to avoid knocking the mare off his back. For a brief moment, he had the impression he could smell fresh, metallic blood. But as soon as the door swung open, nothing more than a plain, empty, and cold room presented itself to the stallion.

"Well... they aren't here." he grunted, closing the door.

"Mh... what about the back door? Maybe they had to leave for some reason." suggested Twisted from the other side of the kitchen.

"I dunno, I dunno... DAHLIA!" Camo shouted suddenly, looking around, his heart starting to pound in his chest as his panic grew. "Dahlia! High Winds! Where are you?!"

"Hey, hey, stop that!" grunted Twisted, raising his eyes and glaring at the stallion. "You never know what ears might be listening." he scolded. But the other stallion seemed to ignore his complaint, as he continued to call out for his sister, his fear more than evident in his voice. Twisted sighed, closing up the oven he had been checking, before walking over the other stallion.

It was understandable The state of distress Camo was in was understandable. He had already come to understand the state of almost morbid attachment that the stallion had to his sister. But that was going to put them all in danger.

"Camo, stop that!" he snapped in a sudden dry tone, slamming a hoof on the floor. "This is not going to help. Try to use your head, instead that givin in to panic. If you lose hope and focus, you are as good as dead." he stated in a harsh tone, glaring daggers at the other stallion. "If Dahlia was around here, she would have already called back to you, at the least. So it's obvious she isn't here."

"But... she could be alone! Injured or-"

"It's safe to assume that High Winds is with her. No need to panic." huffed the unicorn, reaching Camo and giving him a little hit on the muzzle. "Keep your wits about you. I can't be a foal sitter for a shellshocked mare and a panicking stallion. If you want to go crazy and throw away your caution, say so now so that I can leave."

"No, I... I..." stuttered the earth pony, taking in few deep breaths, trying to calm down. "Sorry I... I just..."

"I'm sure there is nothing to worry about. High Wind will take care of Dahlia, and we'll find them before something nasty happens." Twisted stated gently, trying to calm down Camo. His eyes fell on the floor, stopping over a single feather stained with red resting near the edge of a stove, slightly hidden by the angle. He casually stepped in front of it and gently pushed Camo towards the kitchen door. "Let's just make up a plan, ok?" he suggested, guiding the distressed stallion back out into the dining hall.

"Yes... I guess... yes..." murmured the stallion, stumbling along beside Twisted, his eyes empty and void. His will was gone, or at least just about. Apparently that little sister of his had been what had kept his resolve intact.

"Fascinating..." murmured Twisted, before having Camo sit down, as he gently placed Silver Streak back down. Twisted noticed a slight twitch in the mare's leg, and a faint flicker of her eyes. It seemed like she was going to come back to her senses quite soon. Not a bad thing, considering Camo's sanity seemed to be on the brink of the abyss.

"Well then... now, I'm sure we'll find those two, but we have to have a plan, don't you think?" suggested Twisted, leaning over the table. A void glance was the only response he received. "So, I do think they had to leave. Maybe there was one of those freaks in the kitchen, and they had to silently slip out through a backdoor to avoid it noticing them. So they are probably outside, searching for shelter."

"Do... do you think they are safe?"

"I'm sure of that Camo. I just need you to stay focused, so we can all go and find them, ok? Now, I do think that it's likely they went into the school."

"School...?"

"The elementary school. It's quite close, if I do remember correctly. The school was a big one, so it might be quite a 'safe place' to hide in." explained Twisted patiently, smirking as the stallion's eyes shimmered, his head nodding.

"Yes... It might be the safest bet, if they left!"

"I'm sure of that, too. Just keep calm. Everything is going to be fine, you'll see."

-oOo-

"Run!"

She was running, her hooves clanking over the metallic floor. Dahlia spun around, her eyes trying to pierce through the darkness surrounding her. She flinched at the sound of metallic tingling and scratching coming from behind her, as she continued to flee.

"Run!"

She sniffled, trying to hold in the tears that were already drenching her face. She could still see the image of chains and blood, the screams and sound of ripping flesh echoing in her ears.

She let out a whimper, as she stumbled over the ground, tripping over something cold and wet. The little filly raised herself back on her hooves, and continued her run through the dark, letting out another whimper of disgust and fear as she felt that she had wet her legs with whatever had been the floor. And after what she had seen, she could imagine the most horrible things.

"Camo!" she screamed, crying out her brother's name in the hope that he would come to save her, to protect her.

The only noise that answered her desperate wail was the scraping of metal against metal, and the echoing sound of her hooves. She sniffled, terror rapidly taking hold of her mind, as the filly started to dart her eyes around, trying to find a glimpse, a flicker of light somewhere in that deep and depressing darkness.

"Camo..."she whimpered, slowly halting her run. Her legs were hurting, her stomach was twisting and turning, like she had to throw up, and her heart was pounding in her little chest, as if it was going to burst.

"Please... please... stop..." she whimpered, crouching on the ground, as she heard the scraping of metal coming closer and closer. "Please don't..." she cried out, curling up into the fetal position, trembling. The scaping continued, coming nearer and nearer, until she heard something slither around her, as if two big metallic snakes were moving around her.

Then suddenly, the scraping stopped. For a few seconds, the only noise was the uncontrollable, wheezing crying of the filly. She heard the sound of a switch, and behind her closed eyelids, she saw a blinding and sudden light. Then the sound of something metallic moving in front of her, screeching loudly. She remained coiled on the ground, sobbing and whimpering, too scared to open her eyes.

She layed there, motionless, for what seemed an eternity to her, letting out all her tears and sobs. When she finally started to run out of tears, he finally dared to open up an eye, just to look around.

A big yellow light was shining above her, letting the little filly see the slightly dirty metallic floor, covered here and there in rust and little stains of clotted blood. She flinched when she noticed a chained hook resting on the floor avfew inches from her. She jumped on her hooves and rapidly ackpedaled, breathing heavily, before returning to looking around. Shadows creeped at the edge of her view, formless shapes sliding through the darkness right outside the cone of light shining above her. She slowly moved her eyes, her chest heaving rapidly as she tried to find an escape route, turning her head around, until she finally looked behind her.

A large, rusty set of doors were resting in front of her, the heavy metallic slabs open and letting a cold, damp breeze roll into wherever she was. Dahlia looked at the outside: it was one of the countless foggy streets of the town. Apparently the rain had stopped, leaving just a thick layer of fog crawling around the silent streets.

Dahlia gulped and glanced back at the darkness. And the darkness hissed at her. The filly flinched, and almost stumbled over her legs as she ran out of the door, running down the misty street. She let her eyes wander around, trying to see where she was: the big structure of the hospital was nowhere to be seen, only sad and discolored apartment buildings stood along the street.

Dahlia started to panic again, as her eyes rapidly started to water once more. She was alone somewhere. Where was Camo?

She sniffled and took few steps, her eyes low, looking at the various puddles dotting the street. Then she suddenly rose her eyes, attracted by a shimmer in the water: a tall radio tower was waiting at the end of the street, the various antennas dangling lifelessly from the top of the roof, like dead branches. But in a single window, a warm, yellow light flickered.

Dahlia's heart fluttered, and she started to run.

She just wanted to be safe.

"Camo!"