A/N: Thank you for all the awesome reviews and support:) they really mean a lot.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of interest

Pam just watched as Jim and Creed improvised a bandage out of Creed's pocket handkerchief and wrapped it around Michael's injured ankle. Somehow, through her haze, she realized she was standing and staring down at the three men on the warehouse floor with wide eyes. She didn't know why she felt so weird; it was just a bite. But somewhere, deep down, she knew why those puncture marks on Michael's ankle made her stomach lurch: It was tangible proof that Ryan really had turned on all of them. The smashing of the lights and the shrieking only proceeded to scare them, but the fact that he quite literally attacked them and ended up hurting one of them... Pam shivered, hoping that this nightmare of an evening were to end soon.

Everyone helped Michael up to his feet. "Is that better?" Jim mumbled, with Michael's arm slung over his and Creed's shoulders for support. Michael hopped on one foot, nodding jerkily. He slowly and tenderly put his weight back on his heel, and Jim and Creed slowly pulled themselves away from him so Michael could stand by himself. He wobbled dangerously before Kelly moved swiftly forward and wrapped her arm around his waist, letting him use her as a crutch.

"We should keep moving." Oscar suggested, and the others nodded. With a little help from Kelly, Michael had managed get out from the enclosure and into an open area without much difficulty.

Suddenly, two people burst out from behind a shelf, causing Kelly to scream in surprise. But it was only Angela and Dwight, both panting heavily, and everyone sighed with relief. Jim merely looked at them with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Where were you guys?" he snapped, and Dwight glared back.

"You know it's impossible to maneuver around in this darkness, idiot." Dwight said peevishly, still trying to catch his breath. Jim rolled his eyes, turning back to Michael.

"What's going on?" Angela whispered, hiding protectively behind Dwight. She noticed the unconscious form of Ryan lying several yards away, and her fair skin turned a shade paler.

"Is... is he...?" she stuttered out, pointing a shaky finger in Ryan's direction. Jim shook his head.

"I honestly don't know- -" When he said this, Dwight moved forward to check Ryan's pulse, but Jim stopped him. "- -and I'm not risking any more of our lives to find out. Michael already got bitten after he and Kelly got too close; we're not taking any more chances down here."

Upon hearing about Michael's injury, Dwight immediately rushed over to his boss, who was still leaning heavily on Kelly. Jim, Pam, Creed, Oscar, and Angela merely turned to each other.

"What do we do now?" Pam whispered, looking up at Jim. She guessed that in this critical scenario, he was their leader, which she was all too fine to accept.

Jim rubbed his brow. "I'm not sure, but you're right Pam- - we shouldn't stay here. And I think it would be safest if we all stuck together this time."

Everyone nodded vehemently at this suggestion. They weren't about to separate any time soon.

Dwight and Kelly both helped Michael move around, and the group of workers got by rather easily. They walked in silence, occasionally hearing a police siren or a fire truck go off outside. Jim would sometimes walk ahead of them, looking carefully around for a window or a door they could possibly use as a way out. Every time they encountered a door, he would run up and try to pry it open. They never budged.

"Why would they even be locked from the inside?" Pam moved forward and past Jim, trying to tug at the immobile doorknob. She then lifted her hands and pressed them flat against the wood, either pushing on it with her palms or trailing her fingers over to the frame, inspecting it closely. The others were as stumped as she was.

"Wait a minute..." Pam whispered. She pressed her eye against the crack between the door and its frame before exclaiming.

"Oh my God... guys, I- - I think these doors are barred."

Pam turned around to face the others. They all just stared.

"What?" Oscar's mouth dropped open in shock. He pushed past her and pressed his eye against the crack too. It was wide enough so he could see several thick, metal bars running across the frame and the faint gleam of police lights in the background. It certainly looked like they were caged in.

He backed away from the door as the others crammed around it to see for themselves. But before anyone else could say another word, a voice suddenly sounded from outside- - a loud, booming voice, obviously spoken through an amplifier. It sounded as if it were announcing something to the entire business park:

"Attention to all those outside or in the vicinity of the Local Scranton Business Park: Due to a confirmed and possibly deadly hazard contained in the Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company's industrial warehouse, this entire structure has been quarantined until further notice. It is just a cautionary measure, to ensure the safety of those who were inside. The complex has obviously been evacuated..".

"WHAT?" Kelly and Pam burst out simultaneously, drowning out the rest of the pronouncement. Jim and Creed could only stare at each other with wide, terror-filled eyes.

"They don't know we're down here," Angela panicked. She pressed her hand to her mouth, tears filling her eyes.

"We're dead." Oscar mumbled to himself, an edge of hysteria to his hushed voice. He ran his hands through his hair, shaking his head. "We're not gonna make it out of here. We're dead. We're gonna die in here, trapped like lab rats..."

"Whoa, calm down, man." Jim looked at the accountant, his brow furrowed. "Okay, yeah: this looks bad. But that doesn't mean we should give up hope..."

Oscar whipped his head around to look at Jim, a crazy expression on his face. "What do you mean we shouldn't give up hope? That guy just said that we're in quarantine. I don't know what that means to you, but by definition, it means that we're all locked in here with a monster for God knows how long!"

"I know what it means!" Jim shouted back, seething. "But what I'm saying is that we shouldn't give up just yet! There's bound to be a window or a crawlspace somewhere that we can escape through..."

"What, you think this is a game or something? There's probably a barrage of police officers and S.W.A.T teams and CDC officials out there! You don't think they would've covered all their bases and made sure that every possible opening was blocked several times over...?"

"Yeah: they might be out there, but we can't be entirely sure! You don't think it's worth it just to keep looking for a possible opening?"

"You're not being realis- -"

THUMP!

Michael suddenly slipped out of Dwight's and Kelly's grasp and fell to the floor with a resounding thud, his eyes sliding up and disappearing into his head, and Jim and Oscar finally stopped jumping down each other's throats to address this crisis.

"Oh my God... Michael!" Kelly wailed, kneeling down beside the man. Everyone else then piled around the two, trying to see for themselves if he was okay.

Michael suddenly flinched awake. His face looked pained.

"Uggghhh..." he moaned, gripping his sides. "Ohh God, I'm gonna be sick..."

The others instinctively jerked back when he said that, not wanting him to get vomit all over them. Angela and Dwight exchanged a glance, with Dwight giving a look of extreme worry. Pam, Jim, Oscar, and Creed couldn't tear their eyes from the form of Michael writhing on the floor in agony.

Kelly merely stayed kneeling where she was, staring at Michael.

She finally whispered out: "Is it your stomach?"

Wincing, Michael nodded.

Kelly suddenly cupped her hands over her mouth, giving a muffled sob. She quickly got up and turned away, pacing and whispering under her breath. Jim and Pam just glanced at each other.

"Oh God... this isn't good. Why didn't I listen...? Oh God, this is bad..."

Jim approached her tentatively. "Uh... Kelly? What's wrong?"

Kelly turned to Jim, her eyes filled with tears. She slowly brought her hands down from her mouth, and she bit her quivering lip anxiously. "Michael's symptoms... the pain, and the stomachache..." She paused, then took a shuddering breath. "...Well, Ryan complained of those exact same things before we left."

Her words seemed to hang suspended in the air after she spoke them, casting a stunned silence among all those present. The quiet seemed to press against everyone's eardrums, and Pam could've sworn she could hear everyone's heartbeat ticking in rapid succession. Jim froze, just staring at Kelly, whose hands went back to her mouth, as if she wished she hadn't said anything. Her moist eyes moved from Jim's, and down over to Michael, whose face had gone as sickly ashen as parchment.

Everyone's eyes then turned to Michael too. No one could look away.

Michael merely whimpered with pure fear. He brought a shaky hand up, and covered his mouth while gasping slightly in pain. His eyes stared back at the others, wide with panic and heartbreak at knowing his fate.

No one else could do anything. And that's why they only stared.

Michael finally brought his hand down, wincing once again as the stabbing pain shot through his gut again. He gripped his stomach before whispering raspily. "Please, guys... just leave me here. I'll be fine, just please leave me..."

That seemed to break the hypnotic trance the others were in, and they immediately began protesting. Tears glistened in Pam's eyes as she shook her head over and over. Oscar's and Jim's voices overlapped loudly once again, but this time as a united front against their boss.

"Michael: no. We're not leaving anyone behind..."

"This may not be what you think it is, Michael. It could just be an infection or something from the puncture..."

"Please, just don't give up yet."

Michael kept shaking his head and arguing and wincing in pain. While Oscar insisted that he may have just hit his stomach when he fell, Michael's eyes suddenly widened with panic.

"Hold that thought," he mumbled before scrambling toward a nearby box and immediately retching inside of it. Oscar and Jim merely froze when seeing this, and Kelly turned away, mumbling 'Oh God, oh God, oh God.' under her breath many times.

Michael coughed and spit into the box several times before he emerged, pale-faced and shaking. Kelly gasped when she turned back around and noticed his face.

"Michael, your... your mouth..."

Michael blinked and lifted a hand, touching his lips with his forefinger where a dribble of shockingly bright red had escaped from his mouth. He saw the blood on his fingertip, and froze.

That finally seemed to set some of them off. Kelly and Creed both spoke at the same time:

"- -Jim, we gotta get out of here."

"- -Jimmy, we have to move now."

Jim glanced, panicked, between the two before looking down a Michael, still on the ground. He gulped uneasily, then sighed. "You're right."

"No- - they're not!"

Everyone turned in surprise as Pam stomped forward and placed herself in between her and the others. She turned her back to Michael to face the small group of people with her hands on her hips, a look of fierce determination on her face.

"We're not just going to leave him here, completely helpless. We have to bring him with us..."

"Pam," Kelly said urgently, stepping forward. "Seriously, we can't stay here! He's got whatever disease Ryan has- -!"

"I don't care!" Pam shouted, silencing the other woman. "He's our friend and we owe it to him to get him and all of us out of here as quickly as possible- -!"

Michael suddenly started to breathe heavily. No one took notice at first.

Oscar stepped forward, calm for a change. "Pam: your not thinking rationally. Michael's obviously sick, and we can't take any chances- -"

"- -This is Michael, though! He's our friend and colleague and we can't just abandon him like this!"

"Pam- -"

Michael slowly began to get to his feet.

"I'm sorry, but my mind is made up..."

"No, Pam- -"

"No, Dwight, we're not leaving him here!"

Michael reared.

"NO, PAM! DUCK!"

Dwight suddenly lept forward and grabbed Pam by the waist, tackling her to the ground just as Michael pounced at her. Everyone screamed and ducked as Michael stumbled as he missed his target and toppled into the palette stacked with boxes feet away from the others. He shrieked with anger as he tried to fight his way out of the mess of cardboard.

They only had moments before he would be at them again, and Jim knew it.

"RUN!" he screamed as loudly as his voice would allow.

And with that, the seven scrambled to their feet, spun around, and ran like there was no tomorrow.