Several minutes ago, Kat abandoned her position down in the Commons. Shaw recommended she find that evidence Aaron found from the Ambrosia Project to show the citizens of Lovecraft Babel Tower once they arrived. It was a dangerous journey just to reach the stairwell, as she had to take out nine Deadmen and watch four of her fellow DZI get ripped apart by them. Fortunately, her quick reflexes and sniper rifle kept her alive.

She considered for a moment taking the elevator since most of Matheson's citizens had evacuated to the buses, but there were too many worse-case scenarios if it went wrong. Deadmen could pile up inside the elevator with her. There could be some waiting for her on the seventh floor where her flat was located. The cables hoisting the elevator up could give out at any second. So she bolted up the stairs with her guns at the ready.

"Please still be there," she told herself in reference to the evidence.

There was blood all over the stairs the farther she went up. A Deadman or two would occasionally jump out at her, but she always took them out. Since they were always up close, she could only use either her handgun or her bare hands, which she used twice to send two Deadmen flying over the rails to their deaths. She was too determined to find that evidence.

Eventually, she reached the seventh floor. After gunning down two Deadmen, both of whom she recognized as her old neighbors, she ran down the hallway to her flat. Apartment 713. The door was left ajar.

Kat slowly nudged the door further open, gun in hand. Her old flat was a mess. The settee was overturned in the middle of the room. Her bedsheets and mattress were thrown about and dangling off the frame. A dead DZI soldier lay at the edge of the bed frame, his head wading in a pool of blood. Kat turned him over and found a bite mark on his neck and his skull depleted of eyes, instead revealing bloody sockets. He used his MercyMark.

"Rest in peace, Unwin," she said, placing her hand on her heart to offer her condolences.

The moment was ruined when a Deadman, revealed to be another dead DZI, leaped from the shadows and tackled Kat to the floor. The undead DZI soldier had a crude bite mark on his shoulder and a long slash across his throat. Kat also spotted a bloody razor on the floor in the bathroom.

"Don't worry, mate," she told the Deadman as she held him back. "You'll get your rest." Then she shot him in the head and pushed him off. Her old comrade wouldn't suffer any longer.

Now that her enemies were out of the way, she stood back up and studied the floor to find the case of evidence. Once she found it, she opened it up to make sure nothing was lost. The binder, the recorders, and all the papers were still there. She closed it shut and walked out of the room, never to enter it again.

Before she could return to the Commons to take her last stand against the Deadmen, she heard a loud clatter echo through the tower, like metal slamming against metal. She placed the suitcase down against the wall and leaned against the rails. She gazed up at the sky, the sun not even fully out yet.

And then Schaefer came into view, holding Aaron by his neck above the ten-story drop.

"It was a pleasure knowing you, O'Connor," Schaefer told Aaron.

"Shit!" Kat whispered as she brought out her sniper rifle. She aimed it up at the two of them and pressed her eye into the scope.

"I'd shake your hand if you still had the physical ability to move your limbs," Schaefer continued. "And I'll make sure to remember you once I see your corpse splattered across the pavement of the Commons."

As Kat aimed her rifle at her former colleagues, she couldn't decide where to fire. If she shot Aaron, he'd be put out of his misery and wouldn't have to suffer from the infection any longer. However, she'd be filled with guilt for killing one of the greatest friends she's ever had. If she shot Schaefer, she could be ridding the world of one of the most dangerous people in recent history but ultimately tarnish her loyalty to the DZI. Plus, there was the fact he was the closest thing she had to a father before meeting Aaron and his friends.

Except for one thing. Schaefer had already ruined his reputation by doing the things he did in the past. The Ambrosia Project, killing Are's daughter, Aaron's brother, and all of his colleagues, he was a wild animal without a cage. How much of the sympathy he displayed was even genuine? If he was so willing to sacrifice his own colleagues back then, would he care if he saw Kat and the other vagrants he protected back in London get devoured by the horde?

"Goodbye, O'Connor," Schaefer concluded.

Kat cocked her rifle and pulled the trigger.

The bullet dug through Schaefer's skull and knocked him back. Aaron crashed to the floor next to his enemy. His movement was restored as the nerves in his spine repaired themselves, and once he confirmed he had regained control, he leaped from the floor and unleashed his claws on Schaefer.

"You're no longer in control," Aaron growled as he repeatedly stabbed his claws into Schaefer's neck. Blood was splashing his face with every hit.

Schaefer blocked his next punch, the class stabbing directly through his hand. "And what?" he replied in a raspy voice, blood spraying from his throat. "You think you are?"

Aaron stabbed into Schaefer's arm and bit into it just to reinforce his grip, pulling back until it tore from his shoulder. The second he looked back at Schaefer, he already had a new arm. He opened his mouth and let the old mangled one drop to the floor.

"Listen, lad," Schaefer continued, his voice still raspy as the wounds in his neck continued to heal. "The three of us are monsters, I admit, but if you compare the three of us, it's obvious who's best at hiding it. I had hundreds of plans for every little pitfall I might've encountered. What did you two have?"

"Shut up!" Bloodletter exclaimed as he kicked Schaefer in the head, knocking him back to the ground.

Yet he kept himself up and continued talking. "This bleeding bastard has been hiding in the forest for the last few years, and you, O'Connor, never thought of avoiding conflict. If you wanted to avoid turning, why did you always end up in situations that result in more blood loss?"

"Just a few bumps in the road, is all," Aaron replied. He grimaced as he spat out chunks of Schaefer's skin. "You taste like shit."

Bloodletter kicked Schaefer in the head again and kept his foot down on his neck to keep him pinned. "That's just because he's one of us," Bloodletter replied. "Despite what he thinks."

"I already told you!" Schaefer screamed. "I am above both of you! I'm not cursed with the same poison coursing through your veins! My Ambrosia has made me closer to a god than any of you will ever be! You hear me?"

Bloodletter rolled his eyes and prepared to slam his foot down on Schaefer's neck to shut him up. Unfortunately for him, his enemy blocked his foot with his hands, and he twisted his leg around until it shattered. Then Schaefer lunged from the floor and slammed Bloodletter into the wall, impaling him on a beam protruding from it. Since he knew it wouldn't do much to stop him, he also broke the rest of his limbs before returning his view toward Aaron.

"You!" he yelled while pointing at Aaron.

Aaron raised up his talons, prepared for another fight. He charged at Schaefer and buried his claws into his ribs, yet Schaefer remained unmoved and continued pushing forward. The two of them were slowly approaching the edge of the tenth floor, and Aaron would find himself dangling over instant death once more.

"Come on, lad," Schaefer groaned, Aaron's claws still lodged in his torso. "If you die right now, not only are you doing me a favor, you'll be doing yourself a favor. You'll be one less a threat for the DZI to deal with, and you'll finally get your rest.

"Fuck you," Aaron spat before slicing his claws down to Schaefer's leg. However, before he could hack off his leg and toss him over the ledge for good, Schaefer grabbed his head and slammed it against the floor. Aaron was disoriented and his nose was broken.

"You know what? I'm growing impatient," Schaefer declared, and he prepared to curb-stomp Aaron's skull.

He was interrupted by another bullet, which blasted through his throat like a rocket.

He coughed up blood and looked down over the edge of the floor to see Kat aiming her sniper rifle at him. "How the fuck did you survive that?" she shouted.

"Mathis?" he croaked, the wound in his neck sealing up. "What are you—"

She fired again, nailing him directly in the head.

As Schaefer collapsed to the floor for the hundredth time today, Aaron rolled over onto his back. Blood was seeping out of his nose into his mouth. He wiped most of it off and rested on the floor a little longer, still in a daze. He turned his head to the side to see the arm he ripped off Schaefer.

He didn't remember seeing it covered with dark purple veins. The bite mark he left behind looked revolting, just a messy red mark that resembled the result of a wolf attack.

Then Aaron remembered what Schaefer told him earlier. I'm not cursed with the same poison coursing through your veins. He topped that quote off with the information that no Commoner Deadmen ever attacked him.

He knew how to defeat him. He just had to give in to his inner monster.

Bloodletter finally emerged from the beam. His arms and legs had healed seconds ago, and he recreated his crimson swords out of the blood from his last wound.

Schaefer burst out laughing. "Again with the swords? What makes you think slicing me apart this time will kill me for sure?"

"At this rate, I don't know," Bloodletter replied as he marched toward Schaefer. "I'm thinking of just chopping you into a million pieces, setting those pieces on fire, and then tossing them down a well somewhere."

"I admire the creativity. But in all honesty, I feel like I'm a bit desensitized to your savagery." He unsheathed his machete and swung it around carelessly. "That's one flaw of the Ambrosia. I haven't felt physical pain in years. In fact, I haven't felt anything in years."

Once Bloodletter saw Aaron carefully approach from behind Schaefer, a prideful grin stretched across his face. "Don't worry," he replied. "I think the lad's about to change that."

It was too late for Schaefer. His eyes widened as Aaron dug his teeth into his neck. And for the first time in a long time, Schaefer screamed in agony.

He could feel the corrupted Ambrosia taking over. Aaron's bite felt like he was being branded with a scorching metal, and he knew that was essentially what was happening to him since the mark would never disappear. However, besides that burning pain, the corrupt Ambrosia entering his veins felt like thousands of bugs crawling underneath his skin. He could feel his strength depleting by the second.

He was becoming one of them.

Aaron ripped a chunk of flesh from Schaefer's neck and spat it to the side. Now filled with unstoppable rage, he punched Aaron's face over and over again so his nose stayed broken. Aaron felt like his face was being slammed against the floor again. Schaefer's punches were like concrete.

"YOU'RE DEAD!" Schaefer screamed, and he shoved Aaron over the edge. Aaron found himself falling back down toward the Commons, the view of the tenth floor growing distant.

Fortunately, his descent wasn't as dramatic as anyone would imagine.

He reached out for whatever he could get his hands on and ended up catching the guardrail of one of the lower levels. However, his abrupt halt as he caught the rail caused him to break his arm and his ribs when he crashed against the wall. He looked up at the railing and spotted two things, first his broken wrist and then Nika holding onto his hand.

"You're safe," she said, flashing that wonderful smile.

Aaron didn't respond. He climbed up the railing and saw that Nika had vanished. He realized she wasn't holding his hand. He just had his grip on the rails and it only looked like her apparition had kept him from falling.

Once he was over the rails and safely on solid ground, he looked back up at the tenth floor and heard Schaefer's shrill screams as Bloodletter was tearing him apart with his blades. He wished he was there to see it.

Then he heard Jonah's voice. Watch out, bruv!

Aaron jerked to the right and managed to dodge an incoming bullet. He bolted down the hall and caught his attacker, blocking her hand and shoving her gun toward the ceiling so she missed her next shot. That's when he let his claws emerge from his free hand.

"AARON, NO!" a familiar voice shrieked.

His vision was blurred by the chaos, but once his eyes adjusted, he saw his old pal Kat standing there in front of him. He wasn't entirely thrilled to find out she was the source of that gunshot, but the fear in her eyes changed everything.

If it weren't for that, he might've killed her.