"And damaged some research! I don't see how you can possibly think of that stuff right now!!"

I sighed. It was going to be a long night.

"Moving on, do you have a way for us to get there?" I asked Osamu, trying to simmer down the irritation I was feeling.

He nodded, also irritated, and led me over to a car. It was difficult to see what kind of car in the dark, but it reminded me of a Jeep or an SUV. He took some keys out of his pocket and opened the door. I got in on the passenger side.

He turned the key and the car instantly revved up. It must be used fairly often. I thought to myself as he pulled out of the parking lot and drove down the road.

We road in silence for a while, until finally he spoke up. "How bad is it?" he asked me.

"How bad is what? Your driving? Quite decent, actually!"

"No, the new serum."

Oh. "It's painful," I began. "I'm sure you know that though, because you've also been injected." We pulled onto a highway. "But it's scary. Every passing moment feels like a year gone by. I'm always changing my mind and my method. One moment I'm bored and the next I'm interested. And my muscles are sore as if I've been using every single one. And the weirdest part is that I haven't."

I tried to think of the best way to explain it. "I feel sick, like I'm slowly catching a cold and I'm going to find myself trying to get better soon enough. I really just can't put my finger on it. It's like my body's perfectly healthy, but I know it's not, and my mental health is depreciating rapidly. I was practically going mad in that room before you-- injected me."

"How did you get in there?" He asked me.

"Deborah shoved me in there." I said. He sucked in his breath and looked over at me. I couldn't place what emotion was showing behind his eyes. "What?" I asked.

"I think she wanted me to inject you." he said.

I shook my head. "She told me she didn't! She said she wanted you to-"

He cut me off. "You underestimate her. She's manipulative in a trillion more ways that you know."

"But she was bitter about it." I reasoned.

"Like I said, who, she's a manipulator. She's got more up her sleeve than you think."

"You say Hoo as if you're saying 'who'. I'm Rena Hoo, H-O-O."

"Okay, Rena." he said. I rolled my eyes. I liked being called Hoo more than Rena.

A dark blue Subaru Forester pulled up beside us on the driver's side. I casually glanced over at the driver. I blinked. He was staring directly at me and waving his hand in a not-quite-hello manner. He was waving us down.

"Osamu," I said. No response. "Osamu." I said again, more forcedly.

"Oh, right. Yeah?" He glanced over at me.

"That man." I said. "He's waving us down. In the subaru."

Osamu turned to look, but pressed on the gas instead of slowing down. "Hey!" I said as the car lurched forwards. "What are you doing?"

He looked so concentrated. "Getting us away from him."

"And who is 'him'?"

"I don't know. But we're on the run, and I'm not going to be stopped." he said determinedly.

I sighed exasperated. There was no use arguing with him. "You're so stubborn." I told him.

The blue subaru caught up with us and kept the pace. "It's my stubbornness that's going to keep us alive!" he said as he pushed harder on the gas pedal.

The blue subaru kept up with us though. "Come on, just pull over!" I begged. "Then he can go on his way!"

"I'm guessing you haven't looking a mirror yet then, Rena!" he shot back, "We're different now. Our DNA's been altered and we aren't normal humans anymore! You especially, what with that serum working like you've been on it for months." He pushed harder and the car sped along faster.

I pursed my lips. I didn't have time to think about whether what he said was true or not. I certainly hadn't noticed a difference. Then again, I'd been in so much pain ---!

The car jerked suddenly and I whirled my head to face the driver of the dark blue subaru. He had a determined look on his face now. "He's driving us off the road!" cried Osamu as he was forced onto the side of the road. Furious, he stopped the car and leaned back wearily. "We don't have time for this!" he said to me.

I took a breath, trying to keep my cool. There was a tap-tapping on my window. I looked up, surprised it would be my window. Shaking slightly, I rolled down the window. A clean-shaven man with dark brown hair, glasses, and a hat looked inquiringly with his blue eyes at me.

"Well well. What do we have here?" he asked.

I spoke up quickly. "We're just trying to go to my workplace. I left something there." I could feel Osamu sulking behind me.

"I'd like to see your license," he told Osamu, who didn't even blink. "And I'd like to know what your name is, Miss."

I glanced at Osamu, who was busy looking through a bag, and then I looked back at the man. "I'm Rena Hoo." I said.

"And where do you work?" the man asked, pulling out a notepad.

Osamu looked up. "She works with me!" he said. Then he sighed, put the bag down and began sifting through another bag.

The man sighed. "I'll cut to the chase." he said. "You guys are driving a red Mercury Mountaineer, also known as one of the most wanted cars in my field." He held up a badge. "I'm [Redacted], an undercover officer." I looked up at him, my mouth hanging slightly open. "Now, what's your acquaintance with Syntec?"

"I- I just need to get back to the office, sir." I tried to explain. "I wanted to say goodbye, honest!"

Osamu popped in. "I'm bringing her from one of our laboratories, Mister. She's quitting and wanted to say goodbye to our boss."

"And your boss is-?" the undercover officer prompted.

I shrugged as Osamu said, "Dr. Nelson D. Syphus."

I was so tempted to turn to Osamu and demand to know who on earth this doctor was. I hoped surprise didn't show on my face. I tried my best to nod casually.

The undercover officer also nodded, like he'd heard of this doctor before. Weird.

"So tell me!" prodded the officer, looking at me directly. "How many times have you been injected?"

My mouth fell open. "I- Only once." I said warily. He looked me over, confused.

"You look pretty terrible," he told me, and I knew he was meaning my health. And I probably did. "When did that happen?" he asked.

"Um...5 days ago." I said. "I seriously need to get to the office. I want to say goodbye."

He looked at me strangely, but backed away from the car, the Mountaineer. "You two may go. I'll follow you guys just to make sure, and then you and I can have a discussion, Miss Hoo. Later."

I nodded. "Sure. Thank you!" I rolled up my window and Osamu took off with a shot, infuriated. I tried to break the ice. "At least he let us go." I offered.

"Are you out of your mind?! We're just leading him straight to our office! Not that he doesn't already know where it is!"

I didn't have anything to say to that. About ten minutes later, I spoke up. "Do I really look that bad?" I asked him.

He nodded without looking over at me. "The bags under your eyes are very pronounced and purple, your face is so pale you can see the veins, you have this haunted look in your eyes, your clothing is all dirty and very suspicious looking. You also look exhausted, like you could fall asleep and never wake up." He told me.

"That's how it feels." I replied.

He sighed and the Mountaineer continued to zoom along.

Nov. 11, 2002/Nov. 15, 2002

We reached Syntec a little before cars had appeared in the parking lot for the morning.

He used a key fob to get into the door, and I turned to see the undercover officer driving away in his dark blue Subaru. I followed Osamu inside.

It was unsettling to be in Syntec with no one there. It felt almost abandoned, papers left on desks and coffee cups left on the table from the overnight guards, I assume.

We went up the stairs on the left and he took me to Nathaniel's office. I grabbed a wad of paper and a pen and began writing to him.

Dear Mr. Nathaniel,

The serum she had given to me was the enhanced version of it. I think it's going to kill me. And this isn't an irational fear. I know it's going to kill me. When something to the magnitude like this enters your veins, you know. You just know.

And so it is with a heavy heart that I write to tell you that I shall not be seeing you anymore. I really enjoyed knowing you and getting to see you, albeit brief. I will forever remember you guilt-hunted eyes that you looked at me with, and how badly you want to end our suffering. I want you to know that your fight is not in vain-

"What are you doing?" asked Osamu.

"I'm saying goodbye to Nathaniel." I said simply.

"No you're not." he said. "You're endangering him by writing anything with his name on it. At least write to who it may concern or something of that nature!"

I shifted in place. A thought popped back into my mind. "Osamu, who's this Nelson Syphus guy?" I asked him.

"Oh, he's no one. Deborah made him up so people wouldn't think it was her who was causing all of this. She's manipulated the press to the extent where there's been documents on Nelson Syphus, but he never existed in the first place."

"Oh." I said.

I heard a creaking behind me and saw Osamu dash into a room across the hall, leaving me in Nathaniel's room. I froze for a moment and pressed myself up against the wall with the door, in hopes of letting whoever pass pass without seeing me.

Footsteps creaked towards Nathaniel's office. My heart pounded loudly in my ears.

"Hoo!" cried a voice. I turned to face Nathaniel. "You're alive!" He sounded so shocked.

I nodded solemnly. "I came to say good-bye." I said.

"What for?" Nathaniel asked.

"I- Oh, just look closer, Nathaniel, just look closer, can't you see?! I'm weak, I'm falling apart mentally. There's not much left for me. I know I'm going to die from this."

He sucked in a breath. "No, you- you can't die. No one's died from the serum yet."

I shook my head. "No, this is going to kill me. It's an enhanced serum. So before I go-- I just wanted to say Goodbye. And thank you." He turned away from me. "Thank you for trying." I added. "You did the best you could."

He whirled back at me, his guilt-ridden eyes flashing angrily. "I did? Oh SURE. You're not going to die because of me! You're going to die because I failed to stop this when I had the chance. It's all my fault!"

"She's not dead yet, Wesley!" called Osamu, crossing over to Nathaniel's office. "Don't make this any harder for her than it is."

Nathaniel gave an anguished cry. "But she wouldn't have to fear death if I only got this antidote to work!"

My heart skipped a beat. "There's an antidote?!" I inquired hopefully.

Osamu shot me a look and Nathaniel shook his head woefully. "I can't seem to get it to work." he explained. "All my research is leading somewhere, but I can't seem to figure out where."

"Look closer." I murmured to myself. He looked at me strangely. "Maybe you need to look closer?" I said a bit louder. "I'm no expert, but maybe there's something with how elements are being arranged that you're missing?"

He shrugged. "Maybe." was all he said.

"Come on, Rena." said Osamu as he tried to lead me away.

"I-well, I didn't finish it, but this is for you." I said, and I handed him the beginning of my letter. "You should probably burn it." I added. I looked down at my feet, suddenly remembering and realizing that I'd lost my shoe a while ago. I looked up at Osamu. "Can we stop by the place so I can grab my shoe?" I asked him.

He glanced down at my feet and then looked up at me. Then he sighed. "If we're quick about it." he said.

I followed Osamu down the steps and away from Nathaniel, leaving him to read my half-begun letter.