AN: This is only an update. As I mentioned on my profile, I intend to "clean up" some of FEAR: Bloodlines as I started writing it in high school and going back over some of it now, well, let's just say I think it needs a bit of polish lol. But never fear, most of the story will remain unchanged for the most part, however a few things are bound to change as is the process I suppose.

And for all of you who are anxiously awaiting the sequel, I do apologize for its delay, however, I'm going to refrain from writing it until I've had a chance to beat FEAR 3, which sadly doesn't release till late May in my country. Very sorry for the wait, but they seem to have changed a few things and I would like to know what exactly before I continue on. Again, so sorry for the delay and the utter silence. College kind of took over there for a bit. I hope you enjoy the "updated" hopefully "improved" version of FEAR: Bloodlines. Also, I would love input on whether yall would like for the sequel to be in 1st or 3rd person. I can't seem to make up my mind which would be more fitting. Any thoughts? I'd love to hear them!

Darkness surrounded me...consumed me...Not even a single ray of light could penetrate my iron cell... The air was cold and still... My breath rose in small clouds of steam...It was quiet...too quiet... What had become of my wardens I wondered? I had not seen or heard of them in some time... Had the prison keepers disguised in lab coats finally died?

No...I was not so lucky...

I laid on the floor, unable to move from the pain. My body was weak, weak from the experiments, the radiation, the lack of food and water... The day of the scientists' sudden absence my body had gone into withdrawals. Only now, three days later, was it beginning to subside.

A sound rang out from beyond the door. Did I hear footsteps? I tried to raise up. The bandages covering my body tugged at my wounds, casing it body to howl in protest. They were old and desperately needed changing, but, without the researchers, that was unlikely to happen.

I lied back down on the floor, my body having chosen not to comply.

I cursed the scientists for destroying my body. It was because of them that my flesh now rotted off my bones. They injected me with thousands upon thousands of drugs. My body was now a slave to such poison, unable to perform even the basic of functions without them, despite its inability to withstand them.

Through force of will I finally managed to sit up only to realize that the footsteps had stopped. Whoever had been there was either gone or no longer walking towards my cell. Like it mattered. None here would set me free. If I was no longer useful then I would be left to die here, in this cell, alone...It was as simple as that...

I looked around my small, claustrophobia inducing prison. Though my vision was limited, due to a missing eye after a radiation overdose, I could still see the red emergency light flashing. The alarm had stopped two days ago but the light still flashed on and off at regular intervals. I wonder what had happened...Why had the light not stopped flashing?

Suddenly I felt the air grow cold around me. Footsteps echoed in the hallway behind me once again. I then heard a sound I had not heard in some time...

I heard latches turning—the all too familiar sound of the great iron door to my cell creaked open. A brief moment of hope rose up within me only to be quickly strangled with dread.

Was it the scientists? Returned from whatever chaos to do more tests? Had the danger been quelled for the torture to resume?

No...not again... I did not want to go back to that place...

I tried to stand, to resist, to run, I'm not sure which... My legs were weak. They caved beneath my weight and I once again found myself staring up at the ceiling, wondering what would become of me.

The footsteps drew near...so very close...

I cursed my body. Why could it not run? Not hide? Why must it let them do this to me?

I closed my eyes, dreading what awaited me. I tired to will it away but it would not budge, would not move... It stood strong, unmoving, waiting patiently for me to cease my trivial efforts.

Finally I submitted, no longer willing to fight. What was the point? My fate had been sealed from my birth...

The footsteps stopped as a large shadow loomed over me while I laid on the floor. My "guest" was male. I could tell by the sound that his shoes made when they hit the cold tile of my cell. He did not smell of the overtly strong aftershave as most of those who came to fetch me did.

However odd, I did not give him the satisfaction of eye contact. As though it would matter…I found that all of my wardens looked the same, hiding behind their surgical masks from my disease—the very disease that they had given me.

I silently hope I had infected every bloody one of them...

Hatred raged within me as I thought of their faces. I despised them, loathed them. I cursed them for what they had done to me. What I wouldn't give for a chance to kill even one of them. I'd give anything.

"Anything?" I heard a chilled voice echo, breaking the silence that filled the room.

I flinched. What was this? How had he known? Was my mind not my own any longer as well? Had the wretches taken that too?

In my rage, I lunged at him, using what little strength my body could muster. It wasn't hard for him to stop me. He grabbed both my arms with ease and stopped my assault before it began.

I attempted to struggle with him but, in my current state, I was no match. I quickly yielded but yet, I still felt something very strange about him, something familiar.

Upon a closer inspection I realized he was not dressed like a scientist or any of the medical researchers. He did not wear an ID badge and his clothes seemed more common place. In place of a lab coat he wore a leather jacket that resembled a general's uniform. But it was his eyes, it was his eyes that truly gave him away. I could see the rage hidden behind those blue orbs. I could see the fire blazing behind them, raging their own private war.

I looked at his face, thin with mistreatment. Though he had fared better than I, I could still see his scars, still taste his hate. It was so potent so…volatile…So very much like my own.

Who was this dark haired man I wondered? Why was he here? More importantly, how did he get here? Was he the source of the alarm? Or something else?

"You're brimming with questions," he said as a slight smile danced across his face.

I wasn't fooled. There was nothing innocent about his smile. I saw something menacing hiding just behind his eyes, something deadly, but I found that I wasn't afraid.

I was intrigued.

"Why are you here?" I managed to ask in a weak and raspy voice.

"I'm here to set you free," he said with a smile that would have chilled another to the bone, but not one such as I. This man was quite possibly my way out of this hell, my rescuer. At that moment, to me, he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen if his words were true. And yet, I couldn't help but fine myself wondering…

Why?

"Why?" laughed the man, "because my mother's blood courses through your veins. You may not have been born as we were, but you are still one of us, and she longs for you to be free. Don't you want revenge for what they've done to you? To her?"

I knew little of the words he spoke of, even less of my "mother" as he said. I'd never really been aware that I even had one…Then again; there was much I was not aware of. But I did know one thing. I wanted revenge, revenge for all they had done. And I wanted out, I didn't care how and I didn't care why, but that's what I wanted.

"And so it shall be" said the man with a smile as he released me gently. "Come with me," he said. "Come and help me free our mother." And with those words he extended his hand.

I looked at it for a moment, overwhelmed by the suddenness of his appearance, of my rescue. Something dark and foreboding lurked in the room, I could feel it. No good would come of either decision, only death. But, at this point…

I didn't care.

I took his hand and my mind was immediately flooded with images both strange and horrific. A little girl in red surrounded in darkness…She was crying, all alone…Though I knew her not, her tears broke my heart...and enraged me.

Someone would pay for her tears and they would pay in blood.

In a flash, the visions were gone and I was once again back to reality, back in my cell and yet…my thoughts still drifted back to the girl…

"And now you see," the enigmatic man said, "why they all deserve to die."

"Yes…" I said with a nod. "Yes I do…now, more than ever…"

The enigmatic man smiled a tainted grin. "Good," he said as he slowly helped me to my feet. "Come with me, Abeo, come with me to free her."

At the sound of my name I looked up. I found it odd as to how he knew it. To the scientists, I was simply AR-1. I was never formally given a name and yet, I knew it was Abeo. I had always known. I couldn't explain why, that's just how it was. Since I was just a boy, I had always know that that name, Abeo…it was mine…mine and mine alone.

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

"How do I know your name?" he laughed. "Because she told it to me…your mother…our mother."

I stared at him for a long, long time trying to make sense of it all.

"What's wrong, brother?" I heard him ask.

"It's just…I…I still don't understand…" I confessed. I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder and looked up to see that the man's facial features had softened.

"I know this all seems alien to you," he said quietly, "but you will come to understand, in time…"

I smiled. Part of me knew he was lying, knew that he knew as little as I, but part of me didn't care. He offered freedom, a chance to belong to something of my choosing. Even if his words turned out to be empty promises, they were better than nothing, better than my current state.

So I chose to believe him.

I murmured the man's name. "Paxton Fettel…can I truly be your brother? I was not born from your mother…In truth…I was never really born at all…not in the way most perceive birth…"

I saw Paxton shake his head. "You were born of her flesh, Abeo..." he said. "Isn't that enough, when you have nothing?"

I thought for a moment. "…Yes…" I said quietly. "Yes, I suppose it is, isn't?"

Paxton smiled and placed his arm around my shoulders as he led me out of my cell. "Come, Abeo," he said kindly. "It's time you met your family."

Yes…It was time I met them…It was time for us to be together…One way…Or another…