Read previous chapters of Infected here.

The tears just kept on coming.

Hadera sat at her computer desk, and she could not stop the sobs that escaped from her chest. The person she cared for the most was now dead, and there was no answer to what happened to him. All Hadera could think about was the heartache and pain Braden must have gone through during his death.

They found his body ripped into pieces, and blood splatter across the pavement and alleyway walls. The gruesome scene was discovered by a woman who was walking her dog. All this must have happened last night after she got off from work. Hadera could only feel sadness and grief as she started to sob harder into her hands.

She could not concentrate on the rest of the day. It was already close to noon, and she hadn’t done much work since her morning discovery of her closest friend and colleague. Hadera decided to gather her things and leave early from the lab. She made her way to the exit door with tears still streaming from her eyes. She walked her way down to the metal staircase, just as she hit the last step, she heard a loud cracking sound. She stopped and looked behind her to the top of the stairs.

She did not see anything through her sunken eyes. She kept on walking down the stairs till she reached two more flights of stairs, just as she made it to the end of the stairs, she heard another cackling sound. Just as she turned around, she saw the rabid dogs behind her again. They started to slither and bark at the terrified woman. Hadera screamed and as she started to descend the spiral staircase.

She could feel the dogs chasing after her, and they were coming up behind her quickly. Just as she was about to land on the last step, one of the dogs bit her on the leg. She felt the sharp teeth sink into her skin. Hadera tumbled down the last few steps. She hit her head on the way to the ground floor. She slowly looked up to the top of the stairs to see the two dogs standing tall, and a dark figure hovering over them. Hadera screamed again as the dogs came running towards her. She quickly puts her head down and embraced herself for the impact if of the bites. She could feel the presence of the dogs, but just as she looked up again, there was nothing in sight. It was just empty space with some stairs, and Hadera was all alone at the bottom of the staircase and bleeding from the head.