The room was dark and musky, and it smelled heavily of mold. Not that I wasn't used to terrible smells, I lived in a goddamn graveyard for two weeks. But at least I knew that my nose was still functional. I could hear the bodies drop with a thud, but I tried to search for any kind of light switch on the walls.

"No, kid! Leave the place dark." Hen called to me. The only source of light was through one window that was caked with dirt and grime, so it wasn't much help at all. I could only see the faint outlines of bodies, but only when they moved. Nevertheless, I listened and stood still, waiting for something to happen. There was no sound except for fabric ripping, and then all was quiet for a few more minutes. I swallowed hard, standing as still as I could. Not being able to see was freaking me the fuck out, honestly.

And then there was a loud crack and squish...and a blue light came shining forward. And luckily, it was strong enough so that I could see the outlines of the other people in the room. But the blue light...came spewing out of the top of my mother's head. I was disgusted at the sight at first...but I got the strength to step closer to take a better look. And from closer, I could see that spots on the bottom of Hen's boot was now glowing the same color. I could only get so close without gagging from the smell that came from this, and I held a hand tightly over my mouth. "This is Zydrate." she started to say, "Stolen by GeneCo from the dead, purified, and sold at a stupidly high price. Extremely addictive...you don't want this shit in your system. Trust me."

Atom knelt down close to the destroyed head and held a vial close so the Zydrate could drip into it. "Usually we use syringes to extract this, since this way is more reckless..." he explained as he shot Hen a glare, and she frowned in apology. After the vial was filled, he handed it to me. "Hold this, please. I'll show you the proper way." He then crouched over my father's body, and pulled out a needle from his belt. I watched with curiosity and fear as he smacked the nose hard enough to break it, then jammed the needle in, and pulled on the plunger. There it was again, not spilling all over the floor.

"How...is it inside all of us?" I asked before swallowing hard again.

"Not while we're alive. At least that's the conclusion we came to so far." Hen answered with a shrug. "But we're leaving our good scientist to figure it all out. Right?"

Atom just nodded.

"Alright, great. We got the stuff, can we go eat now?" Bullet asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Wait, what are you gonna do with the bodies?" I protested, "You can't just leave them in here...f-for someone else to find..." I didn't want to sound like I was still attached to them. If I was going to be a part of this group, I knew I had to let go of my parents.

"Chill, kid. It's all good." Hen said as she picked up my mother's body carefully, trying to mind the mess. Red grabbed my father and we all headed back outside into an alley where the bodies were thrown into a dumpster and burned. I was quiet, and I decided not to look. Something about this felt so wrong, but I didn't want it to. At that moment, I remembered the vial in my hand, which I almost dropped. But I held onto it tighter and handed it back to Atom. He just thanked me and sealed the top before putting it on his belt.

We decided to go deeper into the city to pickpocket some people for their money, and then they bought the best food I had ever eaten from that point. Or at least that's what it felt like to me anyway; anything was better than graveyard rats. Although Hen started to laugh as she watched my reaction, saying she had never seen someone so grateful. But I don't think she was laughing at me, really. More at the fact that it was astonishment, I guess. Still, I was happy. I finally had a real family who could take care of me.

It's just a shame that the world was only going to get worse.