I expected to be up in heaven. I expected to be walking the gold streets of heaven and looking down on my mother and siblings. But what I expected didn't become reality. Thirty minutes later, I woke up. My body lying still and stiff with pain. My vision is flooded with colors of vibrant red, purple, and blue. What is this? Am I even alive? My hands grasp the cool, hard metal floor underneath me. I feel my heart, just to see if I'm still alive. It beats, but something doesn't feel right. A hard, substance seems to be surrounding my heart. Several gaps exist between the substance. Is this bone? My fingers go back to my heart. Wait a minute! Reapers are said to have a bone heart. And this feels just like bone. Have I become... a Reaper?! But how? That's not possible! Unless...

"Now, there's always a chance that you'll survive. But that chance is very small." So I'm a Reaper. And somehow, tonight was my lucky night. Well, I'm alive at any rate. My body aches as my hands grasp the floor. I have to get up! A loud grunt comes out of my mouth. My body lifts up at a snail's speed. But after a few minutes of pain, I stand up. Sooo, where do I go? I can't go back to the elevator. And if I'm a Reaper, I can't wait for the Reaper Hunters. I have to keep going. I have to move out! I move outside of the large ominous room. A flood of light starts to seep my eyes. The vibrant red and white that coated my vision gave way to colors of grey, brown, and black. My vision's back to normal. That's good. A long pipe extends down the ever-narrowing hallway. It's tall; I could easily go through it. But when I emerge from the other side, I see a figure stand before me. His arms crossed, his expression a one of sunken despair, and his eyes pure red. His eyes settle on me. I could recognize him anywhere.

"You! What do you want? To finish the job?" Zaire stands before me. He shakes his head vehemently.

"Aiden always suspected your ability to bond with the Reaper virus. But I will admit, I didn't have very much confidence." I push past him, not bothering to listen to what he had to say.

"Look, child. The team wasn't what you thought it was." I stop. My body turns to face him.

"Save it! You betrayed us! Of course the team wasn't what I thought it was!" A tidal wave of anger washed through me. But Zaire didn't seem to be affected.

"Aneira, look, Margret was a traitor as well as I. She worked for the US government. She spied on us for months..."

"That doesn't matter! Why? What did you have to achieve by this?" Zaire began to look away. His eyes lowered to the ground.

"If I tell you... will you understand?" I nod and let him proceed. Zaire was an army veteran. He had worked in the army for about three years. He would have continued had he not sustained a serious injury. An injury that took his leg. Seeing the look of shock on my face, he told me he didn't know what exactly happened. But next thing he knew, his leg was gone.

"Yeah, my injury was so severe, I could never serve again. So, the military sent me home. Of course, I was honorably discharged. I was sent back home to New Haven. Where my story takes off..." Zaire couldn't find work. According to him, no one wanted to hire him.

"It's a shame when no one wants to hire a honorably discharged veteran. I tried everywhere, but no one wanted me. How truly shameful..." So, when offered a job as part of the newly formed Reaper Hunters, he couldn't refuse.

"When I was offered the job, I was ecstatic. But like you, I was a rookie. I didn't know what I was in for..." And that would be his downfall. Zaire went in with a team of seven. On this team were SWAT, himself, and a couple other Reaper Hunters. Among the Reaper Hunters was Margret.

"She was there... Margret. But, lets say that she didn't come alone. She worked for the government and gathered information regarding this new virus. It's all right and dandy when they say they want to make a new vaccine. But when you began to realize that the government wants a new weapon. That's when you start to get a little... nervous..." They went in there, and lets say the result wasn't pleasant.

"Most of my team, save me, Margret, and couple others, were dead. I was critically injured and near death. We tried to contact HQ, to request assistance. But when orders came in, I was left behind. Left to die by my own team." Zaire was shocked at the shameful conduct of his team. In the military, no one gets left behind. Zaire was not only shocked, but also mad. In fact, he was beyond mad; he was enraged.

"You couldn't help but be mad at the team that supposedly had your back. I wanted to get up, to get my revenge. But I near death, there was nothing I could do..." or was it? Aiden approached him. He gave him an offer that he literally couldn't refuse.

"I could either become a Reaper and get my revenge. Or, I could die of my wounds. And I wasn't in the mood to die that day." So, he accepted. The Reaper virus healed his wounds and even brought back his leg. No more prosthetics.

"I sought revenge but at a cost. A cost that got us where we are now." Zaire continued his career as a Reaper Hunter, but secretly, he was a spy for the Reapers. He fed them information regarding police investigations and Reaper Hunter facility sweeps. He even fed them information regarding me at Aiden's request.

"Aiden seemed to take an interest in you. I never knew he wanted you to be involved in all this. In fact, when you applied for a job as a Reaper Hunter, Aiden requested I make sure you were hired." Confusion started to sweep through me. Why did Aiden want me in this? I know he's Blake and I know we were once friends. But why? Did he want to see me again? Maybe I can ask him when I find him. But another question lingered in me.

"So, you didn't care about our team did you?" I know it sounds kind of harsh, but I just had to know.

"Not all of them, but I did care about you. I made a promise with Elaine to protect you. I tried my best to keep you safe. But, then again, my best wasn't all that good." Zaire's eyes settle on me. When I look at them, I began to realize they are communicating with me. When I look closely, I see the fragments of a silent apology. I nod in reply. So mom made a promise with him too. Well, I can't say I blame her. She is my mom after all. She does love me. Zaire starts to walk away. His footsteps echo through small hallway. Quietly, I follow behind him. Maybe if follow him then I can find a way out of here. My footsteps echo behind me. The echoes sing a song of silence in the distance. But as I follow him the floor underneath me starts to creak. Is this floor old or just creaky? The creaks get louder and louder. I stop, is something else here to? I look in the distance. Zaire has disappeared! Where did he go?

"Zaire?" I say, my voice echoing. But there was no yell or even a whisper. Instead the floor suddenly opens up. My feet, now floorless, start to fall downwards. My body flies through the air towards a pit. Like the swirling wind resisting my body, panic swirls up in me. What am I falling to?! Is this the end? As my body falls ever closer to the pit, a bridge passes by. It's brown surface a blur. But, something stops my fall. A hand grasps my arm.

"Here!" The hand pulls me up to the bridge. My feet eagerly hug the bridge's floor.

"Thanks ahhh" Aiden stands before with a stern look. Him again?! Good grief, I can never get away from him, can I? We stood there in silence. But the bridge itself quickly broke our silence. The bridge is suspended above the pit by wires. But, those wires didn't last long. One of them broke, rocking us to the side. Aiden quickly heads to the end of the bridge. I do too.

"Jump!"

"What?!"

"Jump!" Aiden's feet leave the bridge and make it to the other side. I jump too, but I wasn't as lucky. My feet didn't even touch the floor. Instead, my body slips down the side. In a last ditch effort to save my life, I grab on for dear life. I try to pull up but my arms start to get sore. I can't pull up! Where is Aiden? Maybe he can help!

"Ai..." My grasp starts to slip. I can't hold on much longer! I have to call him!

"Blake!" Immediately, Aiden's hand grabs mine and pulls me up. While I'm glad he saved me, I realized my mistake and fell silent. The bridge crashed into the pit below. The resulting sound was a variety of inhuman moans. Moans? Cautiously, I walk up to the edge. Down below, a multitude of what looks like people moan with their arms outstretched. One of them screeches in what sounds like delight. People? What are people doing down here? Unless, they were kidnapped. My head slowly turns toward Aiden. A silent fury manifests within me.

"Aiden... what are those? Are those people?" But Aiden won't answer me.

"Is this what you've been doing down here? Kidnapping innocent people? Tell me Aiden!" His head turns.

"You're not observant, are you? What you see are not people... not anymore." Aiden's voice starts to trail off. So those were people! Were they experimenting on them?!

"What have you been doing down here Aiden? Are those the people who you kidnapped?" Aiden starts to shake his head.

"What you see are the product of the city's contaminated water supply. If you haven't noticed, there have been murders and kidnappings around the city..."

"Kidnappings and murders you caused! What is with you Reapers?! Why do all of this?! Where is the Blake I used to know? The one who would never hurt a fly?"

"Your Blake is gone! You live too much in the past! You're ignorant as to what's truly going on! You're even ignorant of your own family!" I could feel my heart beat furiously with anger.

"Don't ever talk about my family! What about yours huh?! Clean out your own closet, Blake!" But I immediately regretted say this. Aiden's eyes start to glow with fury.

"Insolent girl! My father experimented on me day and night! He was so caught up with his pursuit of power and glory that he used his own son and experimented on him! On me! Because he so wanted the Reaper virus, I gave it to him. To all the staff! And, as a protective measure, I made sure that my... beloved father never came crawling back out of his grave. A grave he dug for himself. As for you, your mother is one of us. A Reaper! And you never even noticed!" The venom in his words started to seep through my very skin. A cold chill descended upon me.

"That's not..." But deep down, I kind of believed him. If the Reaper virus can turn people to zombies, then there had to be a reason I survived. But mom being a Reaper... maybe she passed some genes that allowed me to survive. But she doesn't have to be a Reaper to do that. But yet, her abilities have actually increased. If she's holding something in her hand, it breaks when she's angry. She's down the stairs in seconds. Her reflexes are so fast. Can it be? She said she's been exercising more, but I didn't see her lift weights. Is it possible he's right?

"This is such folly." Aiden starts to leave but my words stop him.

"Wait. So those aren't people? What are they?" Aiden turns around. His eyes no longer glow in anger. Instead they show a strange sense of calm.

"What you see down below are products of the city's contaminated water. The water is contaminated with a virus; a virus quite unlike the well-known Reaper virus. This virus is the creation of Region Incorporated. Why it's been leaked is beyond me. But, for months, me and my Reaper associates have been trying to contain the infection. We had shot people who had already been infected and turn into those things." Aiden's head shakes in the direction of the pit.

"And we kidnapped those who showed symptoms. We tried to find a cure, but all of it was fruitless. Our attempts only accelerated the process. Those who died were thrown into the pit and incinerated. We couldn't risk keeping the zombies locked up in here. We tried our best to contain the infection. But, unfortunately, it was inevitable. The city's done for." A tidal wave of shock washed against my angry shores. It's water and force eroding away my sands of anger. The city's done for? But nothing seemed to happen when I look at it outside. But then again, distance always seems to mask the city's internal problems. But wait! Maggie, John, mom. Are they okay? If the city's done for... what about them? What about my friends? Please let them be okay.

"It's a shame that this had to happen. It's all my fault." Aiden's head turns to me. His eyes gleam with sadness. Suddenly, a large banging sound echoes through this room. Panic starts to set into Aiden's eyes.

"They're here! Aneira, whatever happens, please forgive me."

"I do." With that, Aiden turns into a blur. His hand goes straight to my chest. He pushes me into a nearby pipe as the banging sound stops. My eyes then close as pain settles in...