[Subject 1 and Subject 2 run down a darkened hallway. No features are visible. Subjects [REDACTED] through [REDACTED] encroach behind them. Subject [REDACTED] lets out a howl, ambling forth on two legs of differing lengths. Subject 1 turns around and dashes forwards, slicing it with talons. Subject 2 also turns and engaged in the melee. A loud crack is heard as bone is punctured. Subject 2 falls to the ground. Subject 1 continues to fight. Both Subjects desperately thrash as [REDACTED] is stabbed through the chest and whispers as the breath leaves its mouth. The body rises and falls several times before remaining still.]

Subject 2: I don't... what is it? What is it? [Subject is openly weeping.]

Subject 1: [Subject is completely still, as in death. Subject's body is breached by feathers.] It's what we could have been, but we got lucky. [Subject begins to breathe again, its every labored breath causing the body to shudder.]

Subject 2: We're not lucky. [Subject insists angrily.]

[REDACTED]: [REDACTED]

Subject 2: Ahhh... ahh...!

[REDACTED]: [REDACTED]

Subject 1: It's okay. [Subject holds Subject 2 back with a hand.] Let them die.

Subject 2: I wasn't going to put my hand in that one's mouth. It bit me. I guarantee its infected.

Subject 1: I'm not going to let you die.

Subject 2: [Subject blinks.] I don't want to die.

Subject 1: I'm not going to let you die. I'm not going to die. We're going to live if it kills us.

Subject 2: [Subject laughs, holding the infected arm.] That's your public speaking? You talk like a politician. It's full of paradoxes and broken promises, and-- what's that word for repeated phrases again-- oww.
Subject 1: You're such a baby.

Subject 2: We were born anew in here. I don't think I've acted half my age ever since, but then again... I don't think I ever acted my age. Woods kid, remember? [Subject ambles after the other subject, eyes wide and scanning for movement even in the dark. A deep, rumbling noise can be heard in the back of the Subject's throat, not unlike the noise an animal might make.]

Subject 1: I feel like plenty of mentally stable young people have lived in the woods, isolated from all society. [Subject walks past the bodies, face coiling in revulsion. Slight keratin deposits make emoting difficult. Subject sneezes one such deposit out of nose while passing the bodies.]

Subject 2: [keens] I'm so hungry.

Subject 1: [Subject turns.] Are you okay?
Subject 2: Do I look like I'm okay?

Subject 1: Good point. Sorry, I--

Subject 2: I'm sorry. You did all the work. I just sat around holding my arm and getting thrashed.

Subject 1: No. You get weird when you fight. [Subject kicks a detached arm across the floor. The joints are mangled such that it could turn either way, and it is partially covered in coarse hair.] When we get out of here, you have to promise me you'll hold it back as much as possible. Not for the sake of anyone you might hurt. Because the second you get into it, they'll hurt you, and I don't know if I can protect you or call you out of it.

Subject 2: Until then, you want to call the shots? [Subject winces with pain.] Accckkk...

Subject 1: I want to be a little useful.

Subject 2: Are you sure that it's coming up? Wherever it is, I mean.

Subject 1: [Softly] I don't know anything.

Subject 2: That's... okay. [Subject's voice breaks. Fur is forming at the edge of the subject's face.]

Subject 1: Stay with me.

Subject 2: Why? There's not... there's not a problem, is there, Amy? There's not... there isn't a problem?

Subject 1: Totally delirious.

Subject 2: [Subject whines under breath.] That was some kind of poison, wasn't it?
Subject 1: Come on.

[Subject 2 and Subject 1 continue to walk side by side in the darkness. Lights flash on behind them, but the rest of [REDACTED] are far from them now. Bodies are strewn across the floor in the hallway they exit, human viscera mixed with something entirely alien formed from the amalgamation of human and animal features. Fins pierce skin, eyes bulge out of the skulls with hundreds of small pupils frozen in the grip of death, and some others bear fur or extended jaws. Embryos float in vats lining the halls.]

Subject 2: Garrith. [Subject's jaw is twisted.]

Subject 1: Who?
Subject 2: Thith. Is bad... intherror... desigh?

Subject 1: Stop. [Subject sniffs.] You have to stop trying to make me laugh right now.
[Subject 2 tilts head slightly, as if confused. Subject reaches out hand to Subject 1. Subjects grip each other as they proceed down hall.]

Subject 1: I'm going to break down this wall. Hold tight.

Subject 2: Vath?
[Subject 1 throws self against the wall, screaming. Screaming continues as Subject pummels the wall repeatedly, using talons, even breaking a vat and slamming the glass against the wall while the fluid spills across the floor. The embryo twitches a few times as a fish might and then stops. Subject's screams die out and fade to violent coughing fits, such that the Subject ends up keeled over. Subject sobs between coughs.]

Subject 1: I hate this place. [Subject sniffs.] I hate it. I hate it so much. I hate what they're doing to you. I hate what they're doing to me. I wish I could even be afraid, or repulsed, or... I wouldn't even touch bugs before this. There is literally an embryo on the floor and I can't feel anything. It's just... dying in front of me... and I can only feel...

Subject 2: [Perfect pronunciation.] Hungry.

Subject 1: Don't try anything. Please.

[Subject 2 rips the door off its hinges. Subject falls to the ground, twitching, and Subject 1 runs into the room. Subject 1 and Subject 2 are both in final stages of mutation, as visible in the light, and both Subject 1 and Subject 2 have sustained damage. Subject 2 is in the throes of hypermutation, which has twisted is face until the fox jaw overwhelms the semblance of the human bite. Lights flicker on to reveal a room full of cabinets, which Subject 1 begins rifling through, throwing vials onto the ground. Subject eventually drags out a small white syringe and injects Subject 2 with it.]

Subject 1: That's it.

[Subject 2 collapses to the ground.]

Subject 1: Are you okay?

[Subject 2 hacks weakly.]

Subject 1: Please. [Subject drops to the ground alongside Subject 2 and begins shaking the body.] Please. I can't get out of here without you. I couldn't even get a door down. If you won't come back for yourself... who am I kidding. You'll make it. You have to, right? You... come on. Say something.

[Subject 2 coughs again.]

Subject 1: You're the sky. You know that, right?

[Subject 2 weakly raises a thumbs up.]

Subject 1: Ohmygod. [Subject puts hands to mouth, weeping.] Oh my goodness. Thank every single star and every deity out there.

Subject 2: [Wheezes.] Don't get that dramatic. I'm fine. My mouth just tastes like hair.

Subject 1: [Subject hugs Subject 2.] I really thought you were going to die. That was... that was like a miracle... [Subject begins coughing again.]

Subject 2: There has to be something in here for you.
Subject 1: If there isn't, there isn't. It's fine.

Subject 2: [Subject grabs an inhaler from the countertop.] Take a breath. Please.

Subject 1: [Subject hastily takes a breath through the inhaler, coughs again, and then manages a smile.] There we go. Now, we need to get out of here. Director's on us for sure.

[Subject 1 and Subject 2 leave the room. A gun gleams on the wall from behind a glass case. The ooze from the vat spills into the room, dripping on the ground along with the fluid seeping from the vials. Two chemicals knock together and the room combusts in a bright white ring of fire.]

(Surveillance lost.)