20th of September 7.20am.

A stray of light somehow manages to sneak into the small apartment between the curtains and land on a small bundle on the light-colored tatami floor. A small part of the head covered in black hair, that is full of knots and tangles, peeks from under the blanket covered with daisy patterns. It's a peaceful sight, but after a few seconds the lump moves, removing the blanket and revealing a face of a woman with drool sliding down her chin and cheek. There are obvious marks from the mattress below her on the left cheek and some part of her forehead, which she luckily isn't able to see.

Her eyelids don't flutter open, but from the light that is easily detected through those, she knows it's morning. And as the minutes go by, she continues laying there, immobile.

Nope. Too tired, she mentally shakes her head and pulls the covers over herself again.

The clock on the wall ticks on each second that passes slowly in her head. The sun is also climbing higher and higher behind the walls of the small space and the black-haired woman doesn't open her eyes even once, despite knowing this. Though, they do move under the lids a few times, like she is dreaming about something without a care while awake.

It could stay like this much longer, if the sudden firm and loud knock on the door couldn't exist. It reaches sharply to the sleeping woman's ears and her face scrunches up almost immediately in confusion.

"Ugh," she groans and curls up into a tight ball, determinate not to give in and stand up. There isn't much air under the cover, but she couldn't careless, as long as the knocking sound is muffled even a little.

However, when the knocking doesn't stop – that is one persistent alarm clock – she throws the covers off and groggily sits up, hair tangling in front of her face as a curtain. Yawning loudly and then blinking her tired eyes open in annoyance, the young woman slowly stands up, grumpily cursing whoever is waiting behind the door.

Who in their right minds comes waking people up at this time?

The knocking continues with quicker pace and is louder the closer she gets. The dark-haired woman's sluggish steps in her wrinkled pajama is only dragging on the time. With a trash bag nearly tripping her, the walk goes on even slower. It only makes her annoyance grow higher and she is debating whether or not give the person behind the wood a good earful or not.

Deciding to be more civil and not throw the door wide open in anger, she robotically opens the lock and then twists the handle. The bright light of the outside world nearly blinds her, but then her vision focus on a familiar face.

Hazel eyes blink once, twice, before a small smile forms on the person's face and imaginary blooming flowers are floating everywhere.

"The sleepyhead is awake, I see."

"…Yuki-chan... Why did you wake me up?" The woman asks slowly, while rubbing her eyes.

"Hmm? I just thought you might be oversleeping. You haven't forgotten that we have work today, right?" She asks with a tilt of her head.

"No..." the dark-haired one answers and waits a few seconds in silence, scratching her side in irritation. This one being her friend doesn't make up for the waking up she has done. However, the longer they both keep on standing there – one fully clothed and the other still half-awake and messy – the more her mind starts clearing up. It may be because she stayed up very late and has had only a few hours of sleep, but her brain is still working slowly.

Wait a second… She frowns and looks at the woman who doesn't appear that amused anymore. Did she says work?

Finally, as if someone has flipped on a switch, she bolts inside in full panic. From inside the apartment, Yuki's clear and loud laugh is obvious and echoes on paper-thin walls.

"You forgot to put the alarm, again, Momo!" Was what she yells after her friend who has started stripping in full panic.

"N-no, I did not!" Momo crouches over the small clock next to her bed and freezes from the sight she is seeing. She had set the alarm two hours late. "Shit!"

"No cursing!" Yuki doesn't stop laughing and this only makes her friend's horror worse.

"Shut up and wait for me!"

She can't believe that something like this has happened. Momo is certain that she had put the right time on the clock last evening. Although, half of her head is still in her dreams and the other half is busy panicking about being late for work, so her memory might be unhelpful at the moment.

This time her boss would definitely not go easy on her.

This is bad! Clothes, teeth, breakfast – no, I have to skip it! Momo has managed to get her black T-shirt on, but then yelps, when her toes hit the desk next to the bathroom's door. The sharp pain turns into a painful throb and she hissed, hot tears burning her eyes. No, no, no, not now!

She growls in anger from her own misfortune and then starts running around the apartment again, tripping few times, before actually stopping inside the bathroom again to brush her hair. Lunch, keys, phone, money… Ugh! I hope I didn't forget anything!

The tight jeans around her legs itch by the time she's finished. Splashing some cold water over her face once, she straightens up and wipes the liquid off with enough force to peel off the skin. Once she is done, the towel is placed down to the side carelessly and she looks at her reflection in the mirror. The chin-length of her hair should be short enough for it to be taken easily care of, but it isn't like that at all. The hairbrush has done barely half of its work and the result isn't any better from the moment when she woke up. Strands of hair keep on sticking out like with a hedgehog, but luckily the knots have all been taken care of.

"Just lay flat already," she grumbles unhappily, while hastily trying to brush it again. She also winces every time the tugging feels like it's pulling the entire strand from its roots.

"Hurry up, Momo! Or I will go ahead!" Yuki yells from the door and the sound of her heels reaches to the inside the house as well.

"W-wait! Don't leave me!" Momo quickly brushes few times and then looks back at the mirror. The hair would do for now, but what makes another panic shoot through her is the way her eyes stand out.

Mismatching, heterochromia. The left one is dark brown, so dark that it almost looks black. But the contrast to that is the right one. It stands out especially in the light of the room. It's brown, but much lighter than the one on the left that it is close enough with blending in with the white part of the entire eye.

Seeing this makes her realize what is missing and she exclaims, looking around in another terror wave. "The contacts!"

"Here you go," the blond woman, who was about to leave just a few seconds ago, appears beside her friend who shrieks and jumps back, almost falling over. "Ow, my ears."

"Don't scare me like that! Why are you even here?! Didn't you say that you were leaving?!"

The hazel eyes simply roll themselves and Yuki holds out a white container to Momo. "Hurry up and put it on, before we will truly be late for work."

Momo frowns in displeasure but takes the white object and opens it while muttering under her breath: "Couldn't wake me up earlier... Sneaking behind my back...Enjoying my suffering..."

"I can hear you, you know?" Yuki muses and plays absentmindedly with one of her copper heart shaped earrings. Her voice is a teasing one and the smile on her painted lips is tantalizing. "Hurry up."

"I'm doing this as fast as I can! Ugh! I hate these things!" The dark-haired one hisses and widens her eye with her free hand, before bringing a single contact closer to it. Once it lands to its place, she blinks rapidly a few times and looks at her reflection. Only one contact is needed – the one that will make her right eye appear as dark as the left one.

"Yes, yes. Now, let's go." Yuki grabs Momo by the arm and starts to drag her out of the apartment. However, she stops before the front door and looks down at the garbage bags on the ground. The twitch on her face is enough to tell what she is thinking about the whole mess. "Momo, how can you live like this?"

The flush covers the shorter woman's face and she puts on her flat heeled shoes, trying to ignore the sense of slight embarrassment. This really isn't the first time this comment has been dropped, but it still is just as frustrating.

"Aw! Don't be mad."

"You're treating me like a kid."

"Only because you are behaving like one and – oh my god! We are late!" Yuki yells out, after glancing down at the clock on her wrist.

"What!? Why didn't you say so!?"

"Miss-over-sleeper!"

"Who is the one being the childish one now!?"

"Like you're one to talk! Lets run!"

Momo looks down to see the pretty dark heels covered in a little bit of mud here and there. She frowns and looks away, not wanting to imagine what running in them had felt like. It's all that stupid clocks fault.

Yuki sighs and takes off those heels of hers, before heading to her locker, thinking along the same lines with her friend. The darker-haired woman also does the same and as soon as both lockers are open neither of the two say a word. They're too busy in changing and scurrying to blame one another for this entire mess.

The door opens, but neither of them once more react or say a word, knowing full well that few other workers have also come in to change. They do, however, give some sort of greeting to others, if their eyes lock. Besides, Momo isn't well-acquainted with almost anyone who works in here. Her blond best-friend is the only exception to that, but she still manages to overhear what the others are saying.

"Did you hear? The research department from the capital is transferring something here in Nakagawa."

"Yes, chief Kurowa had mentioned something about that earlier this week... but did you hear what it is exactly that is being transferred here?"

"No idea, but I saw some soldiers coming through the front door earlier."

"Really!? Were they good looking?"

Quite noticeably, Yuki rolls her eyes and hides the smirk on her lips behind a hand. Momo also tries to bite back a smile of amusement and tries to occupy herself by playing with her white sleeves. Some other ladies in the middle of changing giggle and start their own conversation on the topic. The whole room is suddenly like a school ground for gossiping teenagers.

And they are supposed to be professionals, is what Momo is thinking, but can't stop the persistent giggle of her own from how silly this all starts sounding. She grabs Yuki, who is in the middle of also breaking down, by the sleeve and tugs it a few times. It's a bit like a silent message of hers; they have to go to work.

Yuki nods and closes her locker. "Yeah. Let's go."

"I have also heard about this transfer," Momo mentions, once they're out of the locker room. The two of them head for the nearest elevator.

"It's quite impossible not to know about that, when Yamato-san opens her big mouth," the blond states and presses a button to call for a lift. As they wait, a mischievous glint in her hazel eyes. "You want to know what I've heard about it?"

Momo grabs her friend by the sleeve again with a gleeful look on her face. "Yes!"

"Why are you suddenly so excited?" Yuki asks, but doesn't mind the clinginess and they both step into the elevator.

As soon as the doors close, the shorter woman lets her friend go and sighs a bit. "It's just that rarely something exciting happens in here. Besides, we are talking about the transfer from the capital."

"You have a point," Yuki muses and watches her friend presses the number of the floor they need to go. "It's just a rumor, though. A crazy one at that."

"I want to hear it," Momo states seriously, struggling with her twitching lips. When the taller woman doesn't answer, though, she pouts in a playful manner and leans closer, trying to lock their gazes. "Come on. It can't be that bad."

Unlike what she expects, Yuki doesn't join in with the dramatics and actually frowns. It's almost enough to make the light atmosphere in the small space fade and when she looks down at Momo, the dark-haired one swears there's an unusual expression in those eyes. They look so uncertain and for a second, she regrets the demand she has made.

However, the blond finally lets out a sigh and looks back at her friend. "Alright but promise not to freak out."

Momo hesitates and falters again, not really understanding what has made her give such a look to her. She waits for a moment for her friend's mouth to form a smile and to say that it's nothing big, but when those don't happen the brown-eyed woman has to give a small nod.

Yuki inhales a bit and looks at the small screen showing at what floor they are and how down they're still going. "A college of mine from the same section I work at said that the so-called transfer is actually 'transfers'." Momo keeps her mouth firmly shut, waiting for Yuki to continue, the elevator keeps moving down lower and lower. "Those army men, the ones that the others were giggling about in the locker-room, are bringing vampiresin here."

It's silent and the dark-haired woman waits for Yuki to burst out laughing. But when that doesn't occur, her mouth opens, no sound coming out until she finally covers it with her hand. Her brown eyes widen to the point that the contact might pop out, but then a grin of both confusion and excitement spreads on her mouth.

"R-really? Vampires? Those things with fangs and everything?" She continues asking, inching closer to the taller woman.

The blond looks down at her. After seeing the look of pure delight, her own expression forms something completely opposite. "Yes, Momo. Vampires. That's why the army people have come here – to prevent them from murdering us in cold-blood."

Momo's grin drops immediately from hearing the cold tone. It's like listening to a mother scolding her child and her eyes slide down to the ground. "Oh… right. Sorry. It's just that I…"

"Yeah," Yuki sighs, shoulders dropping. The sound of it gives brown eyes enough courage to look up to see how the ice-cold look is melting. "You haven't ever seen one. I get why you would be a bit excited to see one."

"But do you really think that those vampires could escape? How many are there being brought here?" She asks, the enthusiasm dying out the more she thinks of her friend's words.

"Don't worry," she says back reassuringly, already seeing how distressed the shorter woman is starting to become. "Do you think that the Imperial Demon Army would let those creatures roam around the place?"

"No… But that doesn't mean that anything can't happen," Momo states and the doors slid open to reveal three hallways with many doors in them. People keep walking through them, each in their own white coats.

The Nakagawa district is a peaceful one. There are rarely any disturbances in the area. There is a giant wall right next to it, though, protecting and separating the people from the world that was destroyed six years ago by some killer virus. So, you could call it a little countryside in the ruined world.

It isn't that Momo is suicidal and wants to be in the same space as a vampire. She has read and heard horrible things about them more than enough times, but it is just pure curiosity that makes her sometimes wish to see them. Are they truly vicious, bloodthirsty, ugly, horrible, emotionless and all those other negative and scorning things that others keep on describing them as?

She shakes her head from the thoughts and keeps walking down the hallway with Yuki. They continue speaking of small things, like how crazy their dash here was and laugh.

I wonder... what do vampires look like? Momo says her goodbye to her friend the minute she's next to the right place and walks towards a laboratory with the number 11. She presses the code on the screen of the door and watches as it turns green and opens itself for her.

She stops walking, when an ominous shadow is casted upon her the second, she's in. The young woman freezes and looks up at the man with an apologetic weak smile. "G-good morning, Kazama-san."

He doesn't blink, but a dangerously sweet smile is decorating his face. "Good morning, Sato-san. Could you fetch the magic formula 98Q and prepare it with Hakuso-san? He has already gone to fetch some other materials for today's experiment twenty minutes ago."

"Y-yes, sir." The dark-haired woman is about to walk again but pauses. If this was any other day, she would merely leave as soon as possible from the sight of her superior. She instead gathers courage and looks at him. "May I ask what this experiment is about? I don't think that I've heard about it."

Something shifts in the man's eyes and he pauses with his words, mouth about to open. He is clearly hesitating and possibly even thinking how to answer to the question he has been shot with – the most unusual sight of the day. Papers shuffle from somewhere in the laboratory, the other workers have already come in and are busy with their tasks, totally obvious to their chief's reaction. This is strange, though, because he is usually pretty composed and intelligent young man with a sharp tongue.

He finally snaps out of it and straightens up. "We shall all see, this evening. Now, hurry along."

Something twitches in Momo's stomach and she blinks in confusion. She certainly had never seen her boss like this, when he is mostly so open what he is about to say – brutally honest is more like it.

So, all that she manages to say come out after a short pause and a pointed look from him. "Yes, sir."

She isn't sure why she hadn't seen the signs of something more bigger going on in the first place. It should've been quite obvious, if you had enough brain cells to read between the atmosphere and the rumors, but not her. Momo is not like that at all. That is why she is now frozen, as if ice has flooded into the large room and surrounded them. The heart inside her ribcage keeps on drumming faster and faster.

Now that almost everyone from the facility is here, watching through the glass down at the experiment room, Momo feels her insides do a doubletake and she swallows dryly. This can't be real. She had not thought much about what Yuki said this morning. She had just pushed those rumors out of her mind, when she had to work. But now the reality before her comes crashing down like a collapsing ceiling.

She can actually, from where she is standing at the front, see twitching figures down below. Tied to the chairs, chains probably rattling against their thin and sickly pale limbs, but nobody at the upper level can hear anything through the soundproof glass. The light-colored messed up hairs of the captives are clear enough. The way one of them opens its mouth and seems to scream towards the row of white coated people above them is clear enough.

Momo shivers. The two pointy fangs in the mouth are small, but distinguishable. And for that one moment when a pair of ruby eyes flash, she stops breathing.

The scientists around her, though, mutter and whisper either to themselves or their colleagues. The last thing anyone would've expected to happen today, is to see real vampires. Whether they're horrified or not, they hide those extreme emotions fairly well compared to her.

Another shiver goes down Momo's spine and she almost steps back. Despite telling herself to keep it cool and calm, a hand covers her mouth and she nearly closes her eyes from the sight. Those are...vampires, right? Not humans, right?

Despite the odd coloring, they look like people, if you don't count in the long, pointy ears that poke out of their heads and their fangs. She doesn't know what to think about them anymore. The images of creatures with wide mouths and rows of sharp teeth and paper white skins have shattered away, as soon as she stepped closer to the glass. Now, she only wants to sit down and think more clearly, for she can't comprehend the facts she is seeing.

"Momo," a voice makes her shoulders stiffen and the dark-haired woman turns around to see her blond friend right behind her with a concerned face.

She wants to give her a small smile and say that it is okay, but she doesn't feel like that at all. Instead, she says what firstly pops into her mind in a quiet voice. "Those rumors were true after all."

"Good evening, my important colleagues," the voice of the research facility's leader echoes around the room from the microphone he is holding close to his mouth and gathering everyone's attention. "You may wonder why these creatures are here today."

The spit dries on her tongue and she gives the man her upmost attention through the crowd between them. She can only see the top of his head from where she is standing with Yuki but feels a bit reassured from this. At least he is not able to see her expression.

As if knowing her worries, the taller woman places a gentle, but firm hand on her squared shoulder. Momo appreciates it and relaxes slightly, but the beating of her heart doesn't slow down.

"You know that the vampires and monsters outside the walls are a danger, right? For both our safety and lives," the man continues, stating the facts that are quite obvious to anyone. "People in the capital, the army and everyone else who fight for the benefit of the humankind are doing their best to solve the mysteries of magic, monsters, the virus and vampires. And that is also why we are here every day and now our opportunities have become wider. With these here..." he pauses and walks over to the glass, gesturing towards the vampires below, "we can start to make a difference. The main facility has given us an opportunity to explore these creatures and invent ways to make them weak, to destroy them."

The whispering starts again and Momo's mind goes blank. She can't believe what she is hearing. This place has only been researching magic for years and now suddenly it becomes a vampire poking and interrogation room? She doesn't know how to feel about that, but right now she is mostly overwhelmed to think straight. For six, long years, she has thought that returning to the outside world would be too dangerous. All of the people who are around her knew that and accepted it. Momo hadn't even thought of crossing through the wall to somewhere where she could get killed. But if the vampires could all just die, then everyone could go out to the world again.

Brown eyes slide back down to the vampires. The one struggling hasn't stopped, yet. There are soldiers down there with them, too, in case one of them could actually break free. But no matter how many times that vampire struggles, the bindings does not loosen. He continues screaming screams that don't reach Momo's ears and for the first time she feels pity towards the vampire.

He looks like a caged animal.

"And now we shall see what the main facility has been testing with these vampires they have send to us. Observe carefully and take notes to get a basic ground of what has already been tested. First, we shall start by seeing their endurance to physical damage and pain."

Her heartbeat quickens, but she doesn't look away, when a scientist walks closer to the vampire. There is a knife in his hands, sharp, one that surgeons would use and Momo barely realize how her breathing turns quicker. The vampire makes no move to resist, but when the knife slides against its arm the lips that have stayed shut open wide. The blood, red like what flows even in a human, pours down the arm and drips down to the white floor.

It turns worse, when the speaker above them is turned on and the scream can be heard in the observation room. It's piercing, horrifying sound of a dying person and few people flinch in surprise.

Momo covers her mouth, temped to do the same for her ears and feels Yuki's hand on her shoulder tighten. The taller woman whispers: "Calm down."

"B-but…" she can't get almost anything out of her mouth and decides to look away, saving herself from seeing more.

"There are people here. If you freak out, they might throw you out of the building. Don't show how you feel and breathe. Some hate these bloodsuckers, you know."

The last comment isn't necessary, so the shorter woman looks at the taller one. Hazel eyes don't meet hers but keep on gazing down the vampires. There's something in those eyes now that Momo can't describe. Still, it isn't empathy or pity, so her gut drops from seeing such a sight on her friend's face.

"...Even you?" She asks and flinches when the screaming gets louder.

"Of course," the thin fingers twitch on the shoulder, almost ready to squeeze painfully on purpose. "Without them, we all wouldn't even be here."

Momo doesn't say anything to that and turns her eyes back to the vampires reluctantly. She doesn't want to see this, but... Her mind still blank, she can only watch and listen as the director of the building keeps on talking. Words come in from one ear and out of another and she watches. The cutting and injuring continues, but she can't watch long before her gaze starts blurring.

These people don't seem to be only experimenting. If they were, the blade would stop drawing blood after few tries, but it doesn't. To her amazement, the wounds heal, but new ones replace them every time.

Animals forced down and being tortured. That's what she's seeing in this room. They don't even look like cute dogs or anything mildly resembling innocent, yet she finds this all disturbing and wrong... But do they even feel anything, when hurting us humans? Another drop of blood falls down from the pale flesh to the ground and to the small pool that is gathering there. Or are we just animals to them, too?

Her hands shake and she has to clench them into fists. It's one of the world's cruelties played in front of her for the second time.

22nd of October 6.00pm.

It happens out of the blue. Everything is like at any other day, with people walking in and out of the doors and into the hallways. The atmosphere is the same and the sun is setting to the horizon. Some people are even preparing to retire to their homes soon for the evening, maybe even to eat a nice meal and sleep on their warm and soft beds.

Precisely because of this peacefulness, the people of the district don't expect anything. They don't expect this to be the second time that they would face huge losses.

Momo is carefully placing her coat back into the locker and has a small smile playing on her lips. She has managed to finish work early and now she could go back home and eat that delicious shortcake she bought yesterday. She is also thinking of inviting Yuki along, but then pauses with her thoughts and recalls her friend's schedule.

That's right. She will work late tonight...oh, well. Momo stares at nothing and then grins. More cake for me! She pulls the scarf around her neck and shivers from just remembering how cold it had been at the morning. I hope that I remembered to put on the heather, before I left.

Her hand is on the door's handle and she is about to twist it open but pauses for a moment. Her entire form becomes still, eyes blinking a few times in confusion and staring at the door like it has grown a head. At first, she thinks she hears things, but as she listens more carefully, she swears there's a strange sound coming from the other side of the door.

What the…? Slowly, following her instincts, she presses her head closer to the door and frowns deeply. It sounds like… someone is scream –

BANG!

The sound is loud, ear shattering, and makes Momo jump back. Clutching her chest, the dark-haired woman continues standing for a few seconds at the door, before feeling how the color is drained from her face.

She takes another quick step away from the door, expecting something more to happen. And through the ringing in her ears, she recalls gradually what she just heard and is about to think that it had been just her imagination, when the door is opened violently and someone steps in. Both of them freeze from the sight of one another.

"Y-yuki-chan?"

The blond hair that had been put in a bun this morning is now free and reached to the shoulders that rise and fall heavily. There's no sign of professionalism in it and for a moment Momo thinks she's seeing some sort of animal instead of her best friend whose hazel eyes, wide and sharply, focused, dart around the room's every corner like small balls. Yuki is on alert, gaze only momentarily stopping on her friend before bouncing all over the place again.

Brown eyes assert the sight rather quickly this time and then widen from the red color sticking to the white coat. They are bright, but it's hard to tell, whether it's the woman's or someone else's. After all, Yuki is clutching a dark gun in her head and from closer inspection there's a small speck of that same redness on her right cheek.

Momo staggers back, almost falling, when her legs hit a chair. Of course, a fleeting thought that her best friend might have gone into a murderous rampage does flash in her mind, but then it stops. The blond has mentioned to have taken self-defense classes and dealt with weapons before for safety reasons and the memory of those conversations does bring some closure… until the brown-eyed woman starts panicking and looks at the blood again.

There shouldn't be anyone dangerous in this building for her to take these kinds of actions.

Momo moves to the right, as far away as she can from the blond. Her whole body is trembling, and she musters a small whimper from both disbelief and terror, before speaking shakily: "Yuki-c-chan... w-what...? W-w-why are you covered in- in blood!?"

"Look..." Yuki raises both of her hands slowly, but there is urgency in her stiff tone. Her hazel eyes still have a wild look in them but seeing her friend's shaking form softens them. "I understand what this looks like, but we don't have much time."

"W-what is going – don't come closer!" She continues moving away, when the blond takes a step closer.

The bloodied one does stop, but her face forms a hard look and she speaks in a low tone. "Listen and calm down. I need you to stay calm –"

"How can I!?" She screams back and looks for the nearest exist. "You're covered in – hmph!"

In a second, Yuki is in her face, covering her mouth with her palm and glaring down at the frightened brown eyes. Her lips are pulled back into a sneer, hazel eyes darker and harder than ever before. "Shh! Keep quiet or we're done for," she hisses and looks over her shoulder for a second. "There are vampires in this building."

"…Mph?" Momo makes a confused sound in the back of her throat and doesn't relax. The blond has a firm hold on her, despite using only one hand. Their bodies are pressed close to each other, so close that the rapid beating of Yuki's heartbeat and her unusually hot breath are fawning down on her face. W-what did she just say?

"The blood belongs to a vampire," she whispers to her lowly and brings their faces even closer. "I did not kill a human, if that is what you are thinking," she continues, but then the glare melts into a small frown. "Don't scream or run, if I let go. Answer quickly."

A-answer? Knowing that that is more than impossible with the current position, the dark-haired woman gives a stiff nod and relaxes, when the hand is removed from her mouth. She watches the blond take a step back, gun held close in one hand and hazel eyes glancing towards the door she came from.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, brown eyes look between her and the door in both confusion and growing fear. "V-vampires? Are you serious?"

"Yes, now be quiet," she speaks calmly, but there's a layer of irritation in the tone. Yuki has almost never spoken to her like this and it makes her mouth clamp shut. "Follow me and don't make a sound."

Swallowing, Momo does as she is told. But the closer the two of them get to the door, the more her shoulders rise from tension and the cogs in her head start turning. Because they are so silent, she can hear something very faintly that it must be coming from somewhere below them – screams. The sound of those cause the hairs on her body to stand up and the anxiety builds in her muscles. Finally, her limbs start trembling.

Vampires? Here? The thought is almost ridiculous, but the way the blood is splattered all over Yuki's clothes and face, the way she's stiff and appears nervous all add up. This is not a joke or a setup to prank anyone and it makes everything far worse for the one without anything to defend herself with. The brown-eyed woman isn't a fighter, she barely knows how to run to be honest. And seeing how her taller companion's thin shoulders are rigid before her don't make everything better. They are both alone in here and helpless. Whether Yuki managed to… kill one vampire doesn't help, if there are more outside.

The black-haired woman clenches her hands close to her chest in growing fear, staring at the white back in front of her. But then her fear falters, when a low hiss reaches her ears. Brown eyes look at Yuki up and down again with concern, taking in how her shoulders suddenly hunch over slightly. Is she injured?

However, before she can inquire about this, Yuki turns to look at her and straightens up. "I'll open the door on the count of three. Whatever happens, run to the laboratory 13. There is a secret door in the storage room that leads out."

Her mind turns blank and she frowns from the information. "A secret – s-shouldn't we just head to the front door? It's right next to us."

"That's where the vampires supposedly came from. They can be lurking out there, so our safest bet is to head down and to a place they don't know exists," Yuki explains smoothly, not showing her uneasiness or fear for the insane plan and takes out a case of bullets from her pocket. Ignoring her friend's wide-eyed stare, she loads her gun and continues speaking calmly. "Just trust me. The leeches are busy draining others in the deeper part of this place, so we must use the distraction in the escape. Do not scream or you'll be calling for others of their kind. Just run and I'll take care of them."

"Y-you?" A doubtful eyebrow raise from Momo leads to another pointed look.

"Yes, me," she says simply and puts the case back into her pocket. After another second of listening and standing still, hazel meets with brown. "There are things you clearly don't know about me... So, you have to simply trust me on this, Momo."

"B-b-but…" the shorter woman looks at the door, breath shortening from listening to the faint sounds coming through it. She raises her gaze. "I… I am s-scared."

Briefly, Yuki's eyes widen. It's barely distinguishable, but the movement is there. And then she gives her friend a brief smile. "We will be fine. I've the gun that can kill them. All you need to do is run and do as I say," she reaches out and gives her shoulder a squeeze. "We'll get through this, just like in a movie."

This isn't a movie, though.

Mentally quivering, the pair of unstained brown eyes look as the blond woman prepares to open the door.

This is real-life, Yuki-chan.

The door is opened sharply. Wild blond hair slides back and forth against Yuki's shoulders, as she glances to every direction for any signs of something else lurking in the dangerously empty hallway. Then, she gives a nod and the two of them bolt out towards the stairs.

Momo's breath is drained almost half-way down the steps needed to take, as she watches her friend keeping the front with long strides. She does send occasional glances back at Momo over her shoulder and the brown eyed woman doesn't doubt that her fears are as plain as a day on her face. With a nod to her friend, though, they advance even deeper into the building. The laboratory they are headed to isn't too far away, but there isn't also a guarantee that they can make there alive.

Another scream makes the dark-haired woman flinch and nearly fall over on the last steps. It's a terrible sound and Yuki stops dead in her tracks to look towards the direction the scream have come from. The blond stiffens, holding her gun steadily in front of them, but it's Momo who nearly collapses from the sight of a blood covered hallway.

Bodies, scattered all over the ground, are leaking out of read liquid and staining the walls and the ceiling. Nothing moves, but the strikingly bright emergency lights above. Strangely, though, no emergency sounds come from anywhere. D-did they do something to the control room?

Momo is completely frozen to the core, until Yuki grabs her arm and forcibly drags her along.

"Don't stop," she commands and easily steps over the corpses and the blood, not loosening the iron grip on the shaking woman whose vision blurs from seeing the savage sight.

The screams echo around the hallway, but in the end becomes fainter and the dark-haired woman feels tears burning her eyes. She can somehow recognize that last scream. It sounded like the one who had helped her mix some ingredients a few days ago. And even while running her gut drops down to the earth and she has to rip her gaze away from the corpses to stay upright.

The stench is heavy, metallic and warm from the bodies. Please, someone, help us!

They both turn around a corner, when Yuki stops and Momo bumps into her. However, she doesn't need to look to know the reason for their stopping is. The tension, the stiffness of the blond woman's muscles tell everything, but when she looks over the shoulder a wave of horror makes her knees buckle. A figure, dressed in a white hood stands a few feet away, smirking and staring at them with blood red eyes.

"Well, well," his voice is smooth, like a snake's. A single sword is dripping with blood in his leisure-like grip – another horrible sight. "Looks like the livestock came to me first."

"Run!" Yuki pushes Momo back and fires without hesitation, the sharp sounds louder than the screams that kept coming from the different directions of the building.

As the firing continues and vampire raises his sword to block Momo doesn't wait for anything else and does as her friend commands. She doesn't think, just moves her body and runs with a new kind of fear, making her nearly slip on the warm blood covering the tile floors. Her feet move faster than ever before, if that is even possible.

There had been no restrains and no glass wall this time around or the difference on the ground they stood on, like during the experiments some time ago. If Yuki hadn't been there with the weapon, then Momo doubts she could've lived longer from two second. The realization is a hit to the face and horror is the only things making her move like a rapid animal, even when almost slamming against the walls in the haste.

Just like had happened with that vampire, a wrong turn around the corner could bring another one before her. She knows that while her friend – a friend whom she had abandoned – is buying some time, she needed to find the laboratory 13 and go where she had been instructed to. There are many doors of the laboratories and different research rooms that keep passing her, but she isn't there just yet.

The bodies on the way keep on multiplying and it makes her stomach twitch until it is painfully knotted. The corpses are all limp and just resting there, like unconscious dolls. Though, she doesn't stop to look, if any of them are alive and still breathing. She simply keeps on running and doesn't quite honestly want to stop. Without her even realizing it, there begins to be more than one sound of gunshot in the building, ripping the air from every possible hallway. Screams intensify and the whole building shakes out of nowhere.

The stench of smoke and fire mix together suddenly and Momo covers the lower part of her face with the sleeve of her shirt. Greying clouds float around the hallways without a wait and nearly block her vision.

It is an explosion and from the feeling of tremor and sounds it has come from somewhere near.

Worry and fear together, she starts to feel how the running is taking the last of her energy away. She coughs, the smoke getting thicker together with heat. Tears burning the eyes, the young woman experiences despair like no other, when flames start spreading from a nearby hallway. No, no, no! Shaking, her body lowers itself from instinct to get past the smoke, as she struggles through it.

Yuki, please be alright. Just get out of there and come after me!

Another blast shakes the building and this time cracks start to appear around the place. People are still screaming from somewhere, but it is unclear through the smoke and chaos where others might be. It comes to the point where the ceiling really starts to fall down in small rumbles of stones that might soon turn into boulders and crush anyone unfortunate enough to be under it. Momo starts to panic and speeds up, chest already burning from the lack of proper air and the strain it is putting on her.

Tears run freely down her face, she can't hold them back. Some rocks and dust fall on top of her and she gasps, falling down.

"Ah!" She hisses, when she lands on her knees and hands. The small stones cut through the skin of her palms and she struggles back up in a hurry, almost falling back down. Air. I need air.

Picking herself up, she starts running again and it doesn't take too long for her to finally reach the destination. The door is firmly shut, and she presses the code on it in haste, barely remembering not to inhale the smoke. Because of this hurry the code is wrong at first and the screen flashes in red. Panicking even more, she tries again, but more slowly and feels absolute relief, when the color green flashes this time around. The doors slide open and she goes in, closing them quickly, before the smoke or the fire could follow after.

The relief is short-live, though.

The ceiling in the laboratory is also starting to crack, but not as badly as in the hallway. The room is only illuminated by the red, emergency light – the fact doesn't make the short-haired woman feel any better and she quickly makes her way to the other side of the room. There are papers and documents scattered on the floor, but she doesn't see a corpse or anything that moves in the room, which doesn't also make her feel better. She's starting to feel like she will be the only one to survive tonight. How did the vampires get here, anyway? They must have done something to the wall, or they sneaked in somehow... W-what is it like outside, right now?

The air is somewhat better inside the laboratory and Momo keeps on inhaling it greedily but doesn't stop advancing towards the other door at the end of the place. The escape road is just in sight and she has only run to a one vampire on the way here. Everything would be alright now, she thinks hopefully.

And she prays, just wishes that Yuki has managed to escape somehow, too. Even if the chances for that to happen are slim.

With a shaky hand, Momo twists the doorknob open and steps into a dusty storage room. The lights fill it instantly and dark brown eyes look around, heart beating with a fast pace. She tries to recall, if her blond friend had said anything else about the exit that exists here. But when she doesn't remember a thing, despair is once again filling her. Breathing heavily, she goes deeper into the room and looks around wildly. There has to be a door. There has to be. Yuki said so herself and this is definitely the right place.

"Come on, come on, come on..." she chants under her breath and moves some boxes out of the way, pressing her hands against the wall and the floor and even knocking on them. Tears fall down her cheeks, she is starting to tremble, and her breathing comes in and out quicker than necessary. "Please be here... Please."

After a while, Momo sinks down to her knees and wraps her arms around herself. The crumbles of the ceiling are still falling down, but she doesn't care. She may as well be having a panic attack, as she starts having breathing difficulties. Tears soak her face. She keeps shaking her head, still trying to search for a door with her eyes and through the blurry vision. She said that there is an exit here. She said it... No. Gather yourself up, Momo. She wipes her eyes and bites down on her lip. You can't give up yet.

Standing up, she makes her way through the laboratory again and to the door. The fire didn't seem to be thick enough, when she had come in and it hasn't probably spread to the east wing. If she goes that way, she might be able to make it to another front door and then out. The vampires must have left after those explosions and fire, so she wouldn't need to worry about bumping into one. They wouldn't be suicidal enough to stay in a place like this, monsters or not.

So, she will simply need to use this opportunity to make a run for it, before the ceiling would really collapse. The thought is making her feel nauseous and she shakes it away as quickly as it comes. Now, she simply needed to try and survive.

Suddenly, a large chunk of the ceiling falls down right behind the dark-haired woman and she yelps whirling around and looking down at it with wide eyes. Her heartbeat speeds up again and she quickly presses the button to open the door. There truly is no time to stand around here like an idiot.

The doors slide open, but Momo doesn't move. The heat and dryness of the flames reaches her face and the smoke floods in, bringing tears to her eyes again and making it difficult to breathe. But those aren't the reasons why she doesn't budge and why her legs remain frozen to the ground.

The flames don't cast golden and orange hues to her face, but there is a dark shadow over her and when she tilts her head up every fear that she holds send cold sweat dripping down her body and her heart stops beating completely.

It is cold, despite the flames.

The only color she sees is red. Deep, bright and deadly.

The creature smiles, something that makes Momo want to run. It opens its mouth, revealing two, sharp teeth and looms over her like a predator would.

"I thought I smelled some blood over here."

Date: 23rd of October 2018

Time: 9.30pm

Subject: The vampire attack on the Nakagawa district.

On 22nd of October, in the year 2018, the research facility under the Nakagawa district was attacked by over 40 vampires (the real amount has not been made certain), between 6 and 8pm.

During that time, the town above the surface and the laboratories under the ground suffered heavy losses. By now, the vampire extermination unit has found over 150 bodies, but there are people that have been reported missing and not among the bodies. It is also possible that all the corpses have not been reported during the ordeal.

As for the research facility, the vampires had exploded the laboratories, causing unstableness, which caused the collapse of the whole facility. The reason for the attack to happen: The vampires invaded the walls next to the district and managed to kill 22 of the soldiers responsible for the area. The amount is small, compared to the other such events in the past. The research facility that once had 108 members lost over half of its crew. Currently, there are only 4 members that had managed to run and hide from the attacking vampires, they are injured, but not seriously. They have all been questioned by the army and some (2 people) have shown signs of mental and physical traumas from the attack. Recovery from them remains a unclear.

The facility was mostly focused on developing magic against the vampires and used several Cursed Gear experiments as well. There had been mere 4 vampire prisoners in its dungeons and all of them were killed during the attack by the soldiers guarding the place, but they were also killed and buried by the collapsing ceiling. Their bodies have not been found, yet.

The remaining crew of the research facility:

Akiyama Ranmaru, the Chief of the laboratory 10.

Age: 18

Gender: Male

Condition: Several scratched on face, arms and legs. The right leg was broken due to a part of the ceiling that crushed it before he could've gotten out. A head trauma from the impact. You can not make any sense from his speech.

...

Fukui Yuki, the 2nd in command of the laboratory 11

Age: 21

Gender: Female

Condition: Three broken ribs, massive bleeding in the head. The medical team has been barely able to keep her alive. She's currently in coma, but may not be able to speak, see, taste, hear, walk or move normally after waking up.

...

Hamasaki Kyo, the secretary of the Chief of the laboratory 2.

Age: 19

Gender: Male

Condition: Several burns from the explosions. Scratches and large bruises all over his body. An important witness of the attack who can still speak clearly.

...

Sato Momo, scientist-in-training from the laboratory 11

Age: 20

Gender: Female

Condition: A deep cut from a blade on the right arm and the left side of stomach. Several scratches and bruises. An important witness of the attack who can still speak clearly.

...

The investigation continues, but our top priority remains in making sure that the walls are sealed and that the vampires are kept at bay. The monster haven't been spotted yet and the repairs are going smoothly. And as for the evacuation of the surviving citizens of the district. There should be no problems handling the transports and their needs. The total survivors' number is lower than 20.

Commander Matsumoto Kuro.