The three of us stood, staring at the creature as it struggled and forced its way under the door. I could feel myself trembling as I pressed my back to the wall. Tim was the first to snap back into action and I felt him pull me closer to Skully.

He gave the masked man a look of warning before stepping back. "Get her out."

"Tim, what are you doing?"

"I'll be right behind you." His back turned to us as he stepped between us and the Rake, watching as it struggled its way further into the room. "Hurry!"

I could only take his word for it. Turning away, I took Skully's place on the makeshift step and began pulling myself up into the small space. Behind me, I could hear Skully following after me, a grunt escaping him as he pushed himself into the enclosed area. I wanted to turn my head to see if Tim was coming but I could barely move let alone turn around to look behind me.

"Please don't let us get stuck up here..." I could feel my pulse pounding against the thin metal, the throbbing only aggravating the injury to my skull. "Did Tim make it up?"

The only sound I could hear was our shuffling and creaking metal. I moved as fast as possible in the claustrophobic vent until I managed to find light coming from a way out. Deciding I'd rather be chased down than get lost in the ventilation system, I awkwardly began breaking the cover off to get out and practically dropped down in the least graceful way possible. I groaned as I forced myself back to my feet and moved out of the way as Skully fell to the ground after me.

"Tim." He rolled off his side and got up, quickly making his way back in the direction we'd escaped from.

Worry broke through my exhaustion and I followed after him, picking up the pace when I heard a shout coming from the storage room. The bottom of the door was completely torn open and I felt sick as I recalled being ripped apart by that monster. "We need to distract it...!"

I looked over at Skully. "We need to divert it's attention and split up to get Tim out, alright? Meet back at his car- I assume you can find that."

The creature was already aware of our presence. We'd barely forced the door open before it was swiping at us with its claws and snapping at our legs and hands as it shoved its way through the door. Looking behind it, I could see Tim lying on the ground holding his bleeding arm. I backed further out of reach, watching the Rake hobble after me in its typical abnormal gait.

"Go, I'll lead it away." I didn't take my eyes off the humanoid beast to see if Skully listened.

As soon as I started running I could hear the Rake chasing after me, easily keeping pace. Not that it was hard, all the movement was making my vision spin and distort, which in turn resulted in me barely staying on my feet. The creature practically herded me through the unfamiliar building, its reeking breath right on my heels. One swipe from him sent me to the ground and dragged me backward. Twisting, I struggled to kick it away and get back up. I stumbled into the wall as the disorientation worsened. I panted and drunkenly began running again, easily being brought down to the ground seconds later. Blood dripped down the side of my face as my head injury reopened.

"Fuck." I felt my back pop as the Rake stepped on me, pressing its nails into my shoulder and letting them slowly sink deeper.

A loud clattering distracted the Rake and it fell eerily silent before giving a low growl and shot off to follow the sound. I shakily sat up, swaying as I gradually managed to stand up and limp in the opposite direction it had gone. Somehow I managed to get out of the building without further incident, though occasionally I could hear the Rake searching for us.

"Ash!" Tim called out to me as I stumbled into sight of the car.

I looked at him through my tunneling vision before slumping to my knees and falling to my side. While I managed to remain conscious, I was well aware the azoth's healing factors would still take time to deal with my wounds. After that little adventure through the vents and being hunted down, any progress I'd made in healing had probably been reversed. I grimaced and forced myself to my feet despite Tim's offer to help me up.

"A-are you... alright?" I could feel the feverish temperature radiating off of me.

"Don't worry about me." Despite trying to cast off my concern, I knew he had to be in some form of pain. The deep scratches on his arm and leg were proof of that.

"He's lucky it wasn't worse... If we'd been even a few seconds later..." A shiver went through me. "I don't want anyone to experience being ripped apart like that."

"Was this the result you were hoping for?" The sassy tone was dulled down by the gravity of the situation.

I shook my head, immediately regretting the action. "...Not... not really..."

Footsteps made me tense up in preparation to bolt away- or at least attempt to- but relaxed when I saw Skully slowing to a halt, bending over as he caught his breath. I looked at Tim in anticipation of another fight breaking out but he only stared at the man before turning to get in the car. Blood marred his back and I gave a sharp gasp of air at the previously unnoticed injury.

"Tim-"

"I'm fine. Let's just get back home and we can get everything sorted out." He sounded tired, not that I blamed him.

Shakily, I followed after him and slumped down in the passenger's seat. I could barely keep my eyes open. The door shutting was like a shovel to my head and the rumbling from the car starting sent a wave of nausea through me. "I think i'm going to be sick."

"Are you coming?" Tim's annoyed voice made me look over at him as he stared at Skully. The masked figure seemed startled before getting in the backseat as Tim muttered under his breath. "I better not regret this."

I passed in and out of consciousness on the way back. At times I could hear Tim talking or someone shaking me. It wasn't until we got to the apartment that I really woke up enough to focus on what was happening- mainly due to how persistent the person was this time with waking me up.

Looking over at the driver's seat, I nearly jolted back and slammed my head into the window. Skully stared at me, his mask tossed next to his camera and my mask on the floor by my feet. "W-what the hell?"

"Shh." He glanced in the backseat.

I followed his gaze to see Tim out cold, lying across the backseat with a makeshift bandage around his arm. "Shit, why didn't you go to a hospital?"

"And tell them what?"

"I don't know- that we were attacked by an animal maybe?" I growled before coughing lightly. "L-let's just get inside."

I grabbed my mask from the floor and got out of the car, waiting until Skully put his mask back on before helping him get Tim out of the car and get inside. The weight pressing down on the cuts in my shoulder made me bite the inside of my lip to hold back the hiss of pain and I was relieved to feel him waking up as we moved down the hall.

"I'm going to get the medical kit... hopefully we have one." I mumbled, only half talking to Skully as I let him help Tim the rest of the way to the room.

The dizzy feeling hadn't gone away and my movements felt slow as I dug around the bathroom drawers. It wasn't long until I was coughing again, hunching over the sink as I spat out azoth sprinkled with blood as the black substance burned my throat. I fell back panting for breath, double vision distorting the bathroom counter for a minute.

"Find one...?" Skully peered into the room, tensing when he saw the sink. "...Are you...uh, okay?"

I went back to the drawer I'd been checking and pulled out a box of gauze along with a clean towel. "I'll be fine..."

He didn't press the discussion further despite the blatant fatigue in my tone. I ran the towel under warm water before moving past him into the bedroom where Tim was sitting on the edge of the bed. I handed him the towel and began opening the bandages while he wiped the blood from his arm and leg.

"I'll help with your back after this." I swapped the gauze for the now stained towel before looking up to find Skully holding a fresh one. "...Thanks."

"It's not that bad, just worry about yourself." He finished wrapping his arm and stared at me.

"I'll be fine long enough to finish helping you." I continued to fuss over him, carefully moving the ripped cloth away to look at the gashes that were partly visible under his shirt. "...They don't look much worse than your arm. You want me to help with it or Skully?"

There was silence and I glanced at Tim to find him staring at the other man distrustfully. "Me then... You know, he's the reason we both got out alive right? Would've been ripped apart if he hadn't distracted that thing."

I could feel him tense at my words. "He's also the reason it found us."

Skully shifted closer to the door, pausing to stare at Tim with an unreadable expression through his mask before stepping out of the room. "Why doesn't he just tell Tim the truth? ...Then again, Tim didn't even react well to that hallucination of Jay in the ARK."

"Something wrong?" I blinked, snapping out of my thoughts as I turned back to face Tim.

"No... I'm fine." I moved further onto the bed as if to get a closer look at his back. "It'd probably be easier to wash your back off in the shower- might have to rewrap your arm though."

"Yeah, probably." He got up and went into the bathroom after grabbing a set of new clothes and a towel.

I waited until the water was running to get up and go check on Skully as he sat on the couch staring at his camera. "You never answered Tim earlier- why were you at that building?"

"I was tired of waiting for a response so I went looking for you."

"Things came up." I played with the damp towel before gingerly pressing it against my head. "But we shouldn't wait much longer to do it. It's getting too dangerous... especially now that we killed another proxy- hopefully his last one."

"What's the plan?"

"Tomorrow we go to Rosswood... with or without Tim. We go into the ARK, set it on fire, and get the hell out... I'll take the side further in and you take the side with your operator." I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes, trying to get the room to stop tilting. "...If something goes wrong, get yourself out. If either of them show up, run."

"That's helpful. Running won't do anything against it."

"...I don't know if it'll work, but, this mark on my arm seems to hurt them if they physically touch it or anything with it." I pulled up my sleeve to reveal the operator symbol enclosed by a diamond shape. "Maybe if we draw it on you or put it on a knife or something... it'll help..."

I tiredly trailed off and stared blankly at the opposite wall. "I'll be fine... After Tim's patched up I'll get some rest... It's almost over... This nightmare is almost over..."

"How will you get out? The exit might be blocked off by the time you try getting out."

"I'll find a way... That's just the easiest way in and out..." I had to focus to keep my words from slurring.

"Tim isn't going to just let you do this- not like this." I could feel him watching me, waiting for a response before continuing. "He can't lose you. You're all he has left- I can't come back after everything that's happened."

"Funny considering how many times I've... I've probably given him a heart attack..." I got back to my feet, hoping standing would help keep me awake. "I don't plan on dying tomorrow."

"No one plans on dying." Of course he spoke from experience; I gave him an amused smirk as he said that.

"I know."