Aaron Keys stood awkwardly in a padded white room. What was he doing here? His mind was muddled, he couldn't fathom why. Of course he couldn't, he couldn't think of anything, really.

He was starving. It was consuming him, his only thought, his only feeling. He heard noise, and his head snapped to the left. Two people were standing there, their mouth was moving and they were making noise, but he couldn't understand them. He growled.

One of them screamed, running behind the other. They were fast. Curious, he stumbled towards them, cocking his head to the side. "Ehrrrrehunnghrrr."

The second person ran up a flight of stairs, followed by the first. Aaron followed.

He fell about halfway up, and continued dragging himself as the people slammed a door behind them. He stood again and walked into it. And again. And again.

The door burst off its hinges.

One of the people, the one with longer hair, screamed. The other grabbed their arm.

Aaron moved forward. The longer haired one reminded Aaron of, well, Aaron. The other, however...

Aaron's fingernails dug into the human's arm as Aaron took a bite out of him arm. He gestured to the other human to join, but they shook their head. Aaron continued his feast.

The other human ran.

•*•*•

Aria ran, fast as she could in her odd state, far from the tarp. Why hadn't she been eaten like the guard? She pondered this as she ran.

And who/what was that? He had seemed... zombie-like, but that was impossible. An insane cannibal? Doubtful. A... Police?

"Ma'am, what's going on here?"

She hadn't even realized that she had run into a town hall.

"What's wrong?" The officer asked, kind but suspicious of her blood-covered state. She had been splashed when that man - when he -

Her knees buckled and she hit the floor.

"Are you okay? Ma'am, you need to tell me what's going on. I can help." He took a walkie talkie from his belt and spoke into it. "I have a woman, looks to be in shock, she's got blood on her but she appears unharmed. We're in the town hall, Main Street. Hold on a minute, there's a puncture wound on her arm, it's bruised. Looks like she was injected with something. Over."

He turned his attention back to Aria. She shook a little from her position of the floor, then opened her mouth.

"They- government. Testing, about hair color. There... There was a cannibal guy, he - he -" her voice shook uncontrollably now as she sobbed, but the officer understood.

He paled a bit, then regained his composure. "Okay. I know it's hard, but can you tell me where this was? There's an ambulance on the way, you'll be okay."

He ran outside and grabbed something from his car, then draped an orange shock blanket around her.

"He... He was weird looking, I guess. His eyes were messed up. It- there's a big tent. Outside the t-town."

"Okay, thank you. That's very helpful," he said as if talking to a child. "The ambulance is here now, I'll take you down and then I'll go find that man, alright?"

She only nodded and they made their way down the the ambulance.

•*•*•

Franklin DelMonte got in his car and started the engine. He had seen where the woman had run from, so he followed Main Street west until he reached the outskirts of Stillwater. White tent, she had said. There.

About 300 feet away was a large room-like tarp, off-white in color and with a stain that was unmistakably blood on the front flap. So this was where it had happened.

He parked and climbed out of the car. Walking quietly into the tent, he peered around and saw another door.

Cautiously, he opened it and found himself in a white padded room with a bed and a small table. On the door of the bed was a tray with three plates on it, each a different kind of meat. It looked like it had been dropped hastily.

Suddenly, the door to the room slammed shut. Franklin spun around, drawing his gun. A man threw his hands up, looking terrified.

"Don't shoot!"

"What's going on here? There was a woman-"

"You've seen her? She's okay?" The man looked relieved. "I'm Ian, I'm in charge of testing here. A subject from another lab escaped, he was like a rabid animal. I though he was going to kill someone. You said she's okay?"

"In shock, but otherwise yes. I'll need to see the rest of this place, there should be a body somewhere. She said the man was a cannibal."

"What?" Ian looked dumbfounded. "That's- what?"

"That's what she told me," Franklin said. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, where else would he have gone?"

"Uh, he might have- he may be upstairs? The staircase is outside, but I- come see." He led Franklin outside and around the tarp, where there was a rickety ladder leading to a small compartment on the roof.

"Is it safe?"

"Should be," Ian said. "It's undergoing repairs, so we haven't had staff up their for a couple days, but it should be fine."

"Well if I fall off and die, I'm suing." Franklin joked.

Ian laughed half-heartedly. "I'll hold it steady for you," he offered.

"Thanks."

Franklin began to scale the ladder. But when he was halfway up, he heard a yell. "Ian?"

"Sorry, but I've gotta- I have to go. They're here... There's three of them! I have to go!"

Franklin looked down to see Ian spring away, followed by three lumbering figures. There was a man, a woman, and a small girl. The girl wore a pink sweater and there was a large, bloodied hole in the sleeve.

Against his instinct, he called out to the trio. "Hey, what's going on here? Are you guys okay? I can call an ambulance, that cut looks pretty bad," he yelled down.

The group stopped and looked up at him. The girl stepped forward, and Franklin could see that her face was yellowed and her veins appeared bright blue.

"What the-"

She reached out for the ladder, but instead of climbing it, she shook it back and forth. The man and woman joined her.

"Woah, what are you- stop it! Hey!"

The ladder slipped away from the wall. Franklin tried to lean forwards, towards the tarp, but to no avail.

"Shit."

The ladder, and Franklin, hit the ground hard. His legs shattered. He may have broken a rib.

He gasped, "Help... you... please." The girl reached out and touched his face. She leaned over and brought her mouth to his ear.

She hissed at him. He thought she might be whispering to him, but he couldn't understand.

"What are you tr-"

She bit his ear off.

•*•*•

Ian heard Franklin's tell as the people crowded around his body, but he kept running. There was no hope for him, not if they had already bitten him.

He reached an old shed and locked the door. He grabbed a bit of paper and a pen and began to write.

If you find this, I didn't mean it. Aaron was never meant to leave the testing facility. We were set to put him down tomorrow, but he figured out that he could break the door. He then killed and reanimated his wife and daughter. This wasn't supposed to happen. We were trying to reverse death, but when Aaron went 'rabid' we created a sort of cure/vaccine. Aria should be safe. I'm sorry.

He folded the note and shoved it in his jacket pocket, the retreated to the far corner of the shed. Aaron and his family could be heard getting closer. One of them rattled the doorknob. There was no escape. They began pounding on the rotten wood.

Sitting down, Ian reached into his jacket with a shaky hand, pulling out a small handgun. He raised it to his forehead, shaking uncontrollably. He hadn't wanted to go like this.

The door shattered. He pulled the trigger.