"I have to know if they're alive... Please." Tears collected in her eyes quickly, "We have to try..."

I sat in contemplation, the choice in front of us should be clear; do we endanger ourselves for two people who may not even be alive, or do we go back to the people who are still there? Guilt was a thing I always struggled with, part of me has always believed that all that is bad is somehow my fault.

"We have to be fast." I said, giving in quickly, throwing my bag over my shoulder and taking a few deep breaths.

Kiersten simply nodded in response, and we exchanged a quick, nervous glance before opening the bathroom door slowly. I led, walking cautiously down the stairs and scanning the outside in search of any movement. After I was content that everything seemed safe, I pulled Kiersten alongside me to the back door. This was it. I could feel my heart in my chest as though it was going to burst. The decision was already made, there was no turning back now. I pressed down on the handle and opened it, assessing the area again, making sure the Hunters were nowhere near. I watched as Kiersten closed it gently and looked up to me for instructions. I pointed to the left and peeked in the window. All was calm. Nothing had happened, it was eerily still. I took one final look at the kid before I worked up the nerve to open the door. It should've been a bad sign when it was unlocked, like a trap, luring us in further. And, in we went.

Have you ever heard of the idiom, 'deafening silence?' I never truly understood what that meant until the two of us walked inside that building. It felt as though the sound of a pin dropping would change everything, like it would cause uncontrollable chaos as soon as it touched the ground. You don't realise just how loud your breathing is until you're in a situation where you have to be quiet. We manoeuvred past the garbage on the floor, wary of how loud it would be to stand on an empty beer can. Still hand in hand, I inched towards the stairs, peering around the corner first to make sure it was all clear, all that stood was an empty bathroom. I leant in towards the first step, looking up to see what seemed like a never-ending, spiralling staircase. Something about the sight unnerved me, it would be completely unbeknownst to us if there were hundreds of armed men all over the building. The idea was enough to make my breath catch in my throat. I was pulled back to the present as Kiersten squeezed my hand gently, smiling thoughtfully at me. I put on my best brave face and took the first step... and then the next, pulling Kiersten along behind me. There were fifteen steps, plus a small landing in the middle. Somehow, counting eased my panic as we neared the second floor. I always found it strange that doing something so trivial could change how you feel, how the brain can lure you into a false sense of security even when, deep down, you know you should be afraid. My grandfather used to say that, "the mind works in mysterious ways."

We reached the next level and looked both ways before delving deeper into the rooms, it wasn't hard to scan the areas quickly, there were no doors, just open space and lots of cubicles. There were dozens of phones, coats that had obviously been left by workers the day everything turned to shit, lots of paper and pens, but no sign of the boys. The smell of coffee was sickening, mugs that had been left out were forming mould and the chairs that lay scattered on the floor made it very clear that everyone was in a rush to get out.

"There's no one here." I whispered. "There's so many floors though, we have to be safe and fast."

"So, what are we waiting for?" Kiersten asked rhetorically, looking to the stairs behind us.

We repeated the same process again and again until we were the third story from the top. We searched through so many boring, barren cubicles that they were all beginning to look the same. The knowledge that there had been so many people here not so long ago played on my mind. There were easily more than three hundred stalls and not one sign of life. Maybe if those on the higher floors had just stayed put they would have survived the initial attack, but its not hard to understand that in their last moments, people would do anything to spend time with their families, people who loved them. I liked to believe that those who had families, friends, would be happier to die with them than to live without them. That was the first scenario I thought of, people leaving on their own accord, the second was much scarier. The Hunters had been looking for people, Cory had said so, and anyone with half a brain knew that it wasn't to help them. What they needed them for was unbeknownst to us, but everything we knew about the men told us it wasn't for a good reason. If anyone had survived the outbreak and stayed in the building, they wouldn't have survived once the place was infiltrated by the Hunters.

We ascended another set of stairs, the last few floors had us feeling more at ease, I was almost positive the building was empty. The silence was a huge indicator that we were alone, and also the fact that the Hunters obviously hadn't climbed this far up. There was dust all over the desks, but other than that, everything looked untouched, like it had just been left to rot as it were. Kiersten and I were comfortable talking quietly to each other now.

"This is the last one." I spoke to myself out loud. We made it to the top and examined the floor. Part of me was relieved that there was no one there, I breathed a sigh of relief and then I noticed Kiersten had sat down on one of the steps, her face in her hands. The other part of me was devastated, we didn't find them, that was the part Kiersten was relating to. I sat down beside her, there's no words you can say to make anyone feel better in this situation.

"They're not here." She stated.

"They could still be okay. Jordan is strong and Sam is really smart. Maybe they... they moved them somewhere else." I tried to comfort her, but I couldn't even make myself believe it. "Kid, we gotta get out of here."

"I know." She replied numbly, standing back up, her eyes glassy.

"Let's go." I mumbled, taking her hand and rubbing my thumb over her fingers in a failed attempt at comforting her. She nodded silently and walked half-heartedly downwards.

We continued on until we heard it. The unmistakable sounds of engines roaring. We both froze in sheer panic. As soon as the black truck came into view, my ability to move came back, I grabbed Kiersten and pulled her behind the wall of the seventh floor, my hand over my own mouth in fear of making a sound. I looked around desperately and dragged the kid into a nearby cubicle, not the best hiding spot but it's difficult to think on your toes when you're fearing for your life. We sat down; our bodies covered by the separator in the stall. Kiersten was holding her breath, but the terror in her eyes and how quickly her face went sheet white was something I'd never forget.

The sound of a door slam was quiet compared to the roars of the men, what they were talking about was impossible to discern, but they sounded happy, excited even. They all shouted over the top of each other, creating a horrible wall of sound that travelled even up the six flights that separated us from them.

"What are they gonna do?" Kiersten began to hyperventilate, tears forming and threatening to spill from her eyes. "What are they gonna do?"

"We have to be quiet, it's gonna be okay." I managed to choke out.

"They're gonna kill us." She whispered, swallowing a sob.

"No, they don't know we're here." I reassured her, "we're gonna be okay, but we have to get away."

"We can't go anywhere, they're downstairs beside the exits and we're seven stories up."

"I know, so we're gonna go farther up, we get as far away as we can and then we can figure out what to do." I explained, flinching when the sound of a glass breaking echoed up though the staircase. I began to crawl up another few stairs before Kiersten tugged on my shirt to stop me. Her previous fear had been almost completely absorbed by her need to find Sam and Jordan.

"We should go down, we should listen to them. Maybe they'll say something about where the boys are."