Author's Note: Thanks for all of the critiques of my previous chapter! They were quite helpful, and I appreciate you guys taking the time out to do it for me! The reason I asked for it is that I am (hopefully) going to work on publishing my second novel this summer, and I plan on writing several large action sequences. Action is not my strongest writing point, and I know I can count on you guys for very constructive criticism. So thanks to everyone, and I promise to work on improving my talents!

Chapter 25 : Safe Haven

The sound of a loud crash caught her attention, and as soon as she heard it, her eyes widened in terror. "Seto?" she screamed, her heart stopping when she received no answer. Her body began shaking, and she glared at the monster standing in front of her before shouting, "You sick son of a bitch!" Firing the rest of her magazine into the creature, she watched as it screeched and fell to the floor, its tongue falling mere inches in front of her. Its body twitched once or twice, yet she instead focused her attention on reloading her gun. She could hear the third creature coming around the corner of the cabinets, and without Seto to help her, she realized she was on her own.

"Seto, are you okay?" she shouted, placing the bullets into the magazine as quickly as she could. Raising her pistol, she turned to look at both ends of the cabinets for any sign of life. No answer. She felt her lips quivering and repeated, "Seto, are you okay?" Still nothing. Her heart felt heavy. "No…no… This can't be happening…"

The creature turned the corner and smiled wickedly at her. She noticed a good amount of red blood on its claw, causing her stomach to spin inside her. Its tongue fell to the floor, and right as it prepared to lunge at her, a slew of gunfire could suddenly be heard. It sounded as though it was coming from every direction, and Anzu, having lost her courage to fight, screamed in horror and fell to her knees. Closing her eyes, she placed her hands over her ears to protect them from the loud gunshots. It echoed like heavy weaponry, and she had no idea who was firing or from where. Tears streamed down her face. She thought she was going to die right then and there. "Seto…Seto…" She kept repeating his name to herself, hoping against hope that he was okay on the other side.

After several seconds of constant gunfire, she heard it cease and slowly opened her eyes. The creature fell to the floor in front of her, its body filled with bullet holes. Blood seemed to pour from every part, and what had looked like a demon before now looked like a black mass of liquids. She could hear several people lowering their weapons, and a man she had never heard speak before said, "The room is clear. All targets eliminated. Survivor, please come forward."

She didn't know what to do. Her thoughts were sporadic, and her body felt numb. She slowly pushed herself to her feet, swaying ever so slightly as she did so, and peeked around the corner of the cabinets. The flash of nearly fifteen guns greeted her, and she realized that the entire room had been surrounded by scientists. They lined the three open walls, their guns aimed through the gaps that were once windows. All of them were wearing the traditional cloaked attire, making it impossible for her to distinguish one scientist from another. Several lights seemed to be pointed directly at her, blinding her vision.

"State your name, survivor. You are not a scientist, that is certain. What was your number?"

"My…number?"

"Sir, do you think she is one of the intruders?" a woman asked.

"Could be," he answered. "I'll ask again, and this is your last chance. What is your name?"

"My name…is…" Her eyes wandered the room. She didn't want to answer them. They had saved her, yes, but they were still the enemy. Instead, she took the opportunity to scan the rest of the room. Her eyes trailed the line of gurneys, and her breath caught in her throat when she finally perceived Seto. She gasped in horror and whimpered loudly, her hands coming up to wipe the sudden tears from her face. She couldn't make out much of him from the blinding lights, but she knew that he was lying still, meaning he was unconscious…or worse.

"I don't think she knows what is happening, sir," the woman stated. "We should take her back and sedate her. When she becomes calm, we may be able to get some answers from her."

"Yes, we should do that," he responded. Seeing a laser pointed at her chest, she glanced in its direction to see a tall scientist standing directly across from her. "Come with us now. We do not mean to hurt you."

She stood still. She knew that they had yet to spot Seto, and there was no way she was going to leave him there. The lights from their weapons blinded her, but she had to know just how injured he was. She had to know if he was still okay.

"She isn't responding, sir," the woman noted. "Should we shoot her?"

"No!" the man exclaimed. "That would only upset her. Come on, child, you need to come back to your room."

"Sir, I don't remember ever seeing an experiment like her before," another male scientist remarked. "I think Amelia's right in her being the intruder."

"Really? Is that so, young lady? Are you one of our intruders?"

"I…I…" She didn't know what to say. To answer yes would mean her death. To answer no would waste valuable time. She had to get Seto, but if she moved, they would fire.

"This isn't getting us anywhere!" the woman shouted. Another laser soon pointed at her, and she flinched in response. "Let's just get rid of her and—"

The hum of the hallway lights turning off suddenly broke through the woman's voice, and an abrupt alarm could be heard throughout the area. Red emergency lights flashed on, startling everyone, including Anzu. "Attention, attention!" a robotic male's voice stated. "Temporary shutdown of all systems will begin in ten seconds. All scientists are asked to return to their posts at this time. This is not a drill. Attention, attention…"

"Shit!" the man shouted. All weapons lowered, and he ordered, "Leave her behind! Return to the testing facility; the creatures will be released at any second!"

Just as he said this, all light sources went out once more. Anzu took this moment of opportunity to drop to her knees and crawl towards the wall, her hands crunching pieces of glass beneath them. She squirmed at the touch of blood, glass, and bullets but continued pushing forward. The pounding of the scientists' feet filled her ears but soon died down, indicating their departure. Just as she felt a hand in hers, the red emergency lights came back on, and the sight before her caused her to scream.

"Seto! Seto!"

He was unconscious, lying on top of a ruined gurney. Blood poured from a long, thin cut in his arm onto floor. She swiftly reached forward and pulled him off the destroyed gurney, placing her fingers against his neck in an attempt to find his pulse. She managed to find it, causing her to sigh in relief, but it was weak, and his breathing was labored. Lifting him to her chest, ignoring the blood as she did so, she cried openly and shouted, "Seto, please, wake up! Wake up!"

The sound of static quickly caught her attention, and she glanced over her shoulder towards the television monitor. She was surprised to see a lean man with long, black hair and traces of a moustache staring through the screen. His glasses were rectangular, and he appeared to be wearing the scientist's attire without the attached hood. He frowned at the monitor and spoke, yet no sound came through. She watched as he moved to the side, seemingly toying with something, before the speaker clicked on.

"There, there, can you hear me? Can you hear me, young lady?"

Anzu gasped. It was Sterner! "Sterner, what are you doing?" she shouted, her arms tightening around Seto.

"Getting you out of there, that's what," he stated, smirking down at her. "You have the keycard, I assume, else Gozaburo would not have taken such a sudden action of turning off this facility's maintenance and control systems. I know I told you to return to the elevator you used before, but there is another one just down the hallway which is adjacent to your position. I didn't want you going down there for fear of coming in contact with other scientists, but I see that you have already dealt with that problem. You need to get out of there now; Gozaburo has released everything, even himself, and I cannot help you for much longer."

"But… But Seto…"

"What is wrong?" he frowned and leaned forward, his face coming closer to the screen and widening in the process. "Is he injured?"

"He's bleeding badly and unconscious," she answered, her eyes wandering back down to the limp figure in her arms.

"Shit… I suppose you couldn't carry him along, could you?"

"No…" She stood and attempted to lift him in her arms, yet his dead weight was more than enough to keep her down.

"Don't stress yourself. If you get injured, we're done, and this whole thing goes to Hell. From your position, I can tell you are in our stretcher storage room. Find an empty one and put him on it. Then push him to the elevator."

"Are you serious?" she shouted, staring in wonder at him.

"You need to get out of there!" he shouted, his eyes widening. "Get to an elevator and use that keycard! Once you get to my testing lab, you will be safe, and I have more than enough supplies to heal whatever wounds Seto has incurred. Just—"

The television monitor began fizzling out, and within several seconds it turned completely black. Realizing her options were limited, she sighed in defeat before placing the unconscious CEO on the floor of the room. Standing, she grabbed the closest gurney and pushed down hard on it. It lowered close to the floor, and she placed her hands underneath Seto's arms. Groaning, she carefully lifted him onto the gurney, placing his upper torso on before lifting his legs. She then leaned down and picked up the blue-tinted keycard lying on the floor and placed it in the CEO's lifeless hand. She made sure he was in the center of the gurney and took a second to look at him. Seeing him unconscious made her want to vomit, and for a split second, she felt the bile rise in her throat. He was still bleeding, and she could tell that no amount of yelling would awaken him. Her heart felt dead, and she cried out in anger and slammed her hands onto the stained sheets of the stretcher.

"Seto, you have to wake up!" she shouted, pushing the gurney across the room. Maneuvering it around the corner created by the cabinets, she pushed with all her strength to move it out of the room and down the hallway. Turning the corner, she ignored the shards of glass underneath the wheels and her feet and shoved forward with as much force as possible. She wondered briefly how nurses could ever do their jobs like this, of pushing a patient forward, not knowing how long they had to survive. She didn't know if Seto was close to dying, but given the loss of blood and the size of his wound, she felt that seconds were precious. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she pushed until she reached the end of the hallway. Making a right, she smiled at the sight of the elevator and swiftly took the keycard from Seto's hand. Pulling him off the stretcher, she pressed the button and waited impatiently for the doors to open. Once they did, she dragged him into the elevator, a slight trail of blood dripping on the floor as she did so. She then swiped the card in the reader, and within seconds the elevator doors closed, and the compartment began descending.

Falling to her knees, she slowly pulled the unconscious CEO towards her and let the tears continue to fall down her cheeks. She gently placed her hand on his neck, feeling the pulse beneath, and, without a second thought, leaned down and gently kissed him on the forehead. Her first thought was that he was still warm. He was still alive. She could hear his breathing, and she could see the rise and fall of his chest. "I don't want to lose you now," she thought aloud, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "Please…just hold on a bit longer. Sterner will help you. You'll be okay…"

Her eyes wandered down to the wound on his arm, and she squirmed at the sight of it. It looked like a clean slice through his lower arm, like a wide knife had been slid through. Blood soaked down his arm onto the floor, and she shivered before taking her eyes away from the scene. "You said we would survive…you said we could make it. You can't die… You can't give up now."

The elevator came to a stop, and she glanced up as the doors opened wide. Standing at the entrance was none other than Sterner himself, a wheelchair standing next to him. He blinked in surprise and said, "Oh my, this is rather worse than I anticipated. Here, help me lift him…"

Anzu stood from her position and grabbed Seto's right arm, Sterner grabbing his injured left arm. They carefully lifted him and placed him in the wheelchair, and soon Sterner was wheeling him across the room. Sighing in relief, she took a moment to look around the room they were now in. It was a large laboratory, larger than any she had seen thus far. It was wide and rather spacious. To her right was a corner lined with bookshelves. On her left were rows of cabinets, filled with what she imagined to be reports and other documents. Taking several steps forward, she saw a computer desk to her right as well as a virtual reality machine in the center of the room. Sterner had gone left, and as she trailed behind him, she saw that there was a small station of medical equipment as well as a bed with clean sheets set against the wall. Several countertop spaces gave room for a sink, and a refrigerator stood at the end.

"Welcome to my home, by the way," Sterner remarked as he placed Seto onto the bed. "I'm sorry it's not very cozy, but you must understand that I do most, if not all, of my research in here, so comfort has always been second to scientific pursuits. Fortunately for Mr. Kaiba here, I happen to know several things about the medical profession, so he will be fine. He appears to have lost a good amount of blood, however. Might I ask just what the hell occurred while I was kicked out of the system?"

"We were ambushed by those monsters," Anzu answered, fidgeting slightly as she watched Sterner take out several containers of medical equipment, similar to the ones found in the infirmary.

"Creatures? Oh, you mean the Tethens. We call them that because the first successful one was given a pair of sharp, metallic teeth."

"Right, well… There were three of them that attacked us. I didn't see what happened, but when I found him, it looked like he had been slammed onto a stretcher. The gurney itself was crushed underneath him, and he was unconscious."

"I see. Well, the Tethen must have used its claw on him, because from the looks of it, there is a cut that runs straight through Seto's arm. Don't worry, the cut itself is rather thin. No stitches are required, by the looks of it. Just a lot of cleaning and bandaging."

"No stitches?" she repeated, startled by such a statement.

"A Tethen's claw is very thin, close to that of a knife. You've cut yourself on accident with a knife before, correct? Well, you didn't need stitches for it, unless of course it was a butcher knife. Same here. The cut is just rather long, and it penetrated most but not all the way through his arm. He'll be hurting all right for several days at the very least, but with how thin the slice is, it just needs time and careful maintenance." Smiling, he turned to her and added, "And don't worry, this will not kill him. I don't know how hard of an impact he suffered if a gurney was crushed beneath him, but he is more likely unconscious due to that than the wound here. Although the amount of blood lost doesn't help…"

She sighed in relief and smiled, watching as he put on a pair of gloves before taking out cleaning supplies. "Feel free to sit down or wash yourself up," he stated as he walked to the side of the bed and held out Seto's arm. "You look dreadful, if I do say so myself. Not that I blame you… You two have literally walked through Hell."

Uttering a small thanks, she went to the sink and began pouring hot water. It felt nice, and, taking a paper towel, she dabbed it in the water and began washing her arms and legs off. The blood was beginning to dry, and she realized she would need more than a few paper towels to wash herself properly. She grabbed a small pile and went to continue when a sudden thought struck her. "Hey, Sterner…"

"Yes?"

"Gozaburo… We saw Gozaburo after there was a slight power outage. He said that you had been kicked out of the system and that we wouldn't be able to communicate with you. So how was it that you managed to appear on the television monitor? How have you been tracking us this whole time?"

He smirked and pointed directly across the room. Anzu turned and saw that behind the desk with the computer was a large series of television monitors as well as several small laptops. Each one depicted a different area, reminding her of the security room she and Seto were in earlier. "That, my dear, is a rather large portion of the security system within this facility. I demanded some control over the protection of this place since I helped to build it, and Gozaburo had no choice but to grant my wish. I've been watching you from the monitors and have been able to keep track of your movements. Gozaburo has hacked me out on several occasions, but he didn't realize the extent of power which he granted me, for I quickly overrode any firewalls he had in place. The reason I couldn't talk to you for long periods of time is that if I remained on one airwave for too long, he would be able to track me. By moving from airwave to airwave, I have avoided him up until now. However, he has shut down the systems and turned off a majority of power within this facility. The only reason I still have power is because of my personal back-up generator. He has released practically everything in order to hunt and kill you two. A foolish, wasteful move, and hopefully the last mistake he will ever make. I managed to hack once more into the system in order to tell you where to go, but after that he locked me out."

"That must have been the alarm that sounded when those scientists surrounded me," she thought as she returned to the task of washing the blood from her skin.

"I'm sure you have a million questions to ask me, but I would like to wait until after Seto here awakens. I need to give him the cure as well, and then you two will need to complete one final task before you leave, a task I'm sure Seto will see as being necessary."

"And what is that?"

"That is for when Seto wakes up." She glanced over to see that he had cleaned a majority of the blood from Seto's arm, revealing the narrow slit in his skin. She also noticed that the bruise around the CEO's neck had turned considerably darker.

"Now what?"

"Now we clean up and wait. Gozaburo cannot get here. He doesn't have the keycard you found, the only card that grants access to this place. That's most likely why he sent those creatures to attack you. He wanted that card to gain access to my domain, and killing the two of you would have made the job a lot easier. Just know that, in this room, we are safe."

She nodded her head. "Thank you…for helping us."

"I didn't do it out of the kindness of my heart, darling. No need to thank me. I am doing this because I am sick of being a prisoner. I am getting out of here and destroying every trace of this facility. You two just showed up at a rather convenient time."

Cleaning the last of the blood from her legs, she walked over to the bed and stared down at Seto. Sterner was sitting in the wheelchair, his hands carefully wrapping the CEO's arm with medical tape. Seeing him still unconscious, she asked, "Do you know how long it will be until he awakens?"

"Hard to say. I'd give him an hour or so."

"An hour?"

"He lost a good amount of blood, by the looks of it, and he was hit forcefully. It will take some time for him to regain his bearings. Besides, I am sure he is rather fatigued, and this gives him a chance to rest. If you want to sit awhile, there is another chair over there. You can relax for a bit."

She smiled and turned to see that there were indeed several chairs near his computer station. Crossing the room, she stopped for a minute to glance into the virtual reality chair. It looked like every other virtual reality seat, and the headrest was thankfully a patented cushion, not a metallic plate. She walked past it and grabbed one of the chairs in front of the computer. She then dragged it back across the laboratory, her exhaustion starting to catch up with her. Setting it down at the edge of the bed, she noticed Sterner chuckle at her and frowned. "I must say, I am happy to see that Seto here has found himself such a caring girlfriend. He is quite fortunate to have someone as strong as you are."

Her cheeks turned bright red, and she quickly stuttered, "O-Oh, we're not dating."

"Oh really? Hmm… I would have thought otherwise, the way you two embraced each other after every attack and seemed to look out for one another."

Thinking back to her light kiss, she felt her throat go dry. "Maybe I do care a bit more for him now, but… But he would never want to date me. I mean, sure he's been nicer to me, and he comforted me when we were attacked, and he even cleaned my wound, but…but… But he's never been one to toy with emotions, either. A-And he has admitted that he trusts me. Maybe…" Standing from her seat, she moved the chair to the left side of the bed and leaned forward, wrapping her hands around Seto's free hand. "Maybe, when we get out of here, we'll have time to talk over those things…" She lightly kissed the palm of his hand, ignoring Sterner's chuckle as she did so.