Moments later, Vasiliy returned to the lab, rushing into the room and unconcernedly stepping over the doctor's body.

"Guys, you need to see this!" he exclaimed, waving a hard drive in his hand.

"What is it?" Ephraim asked.

"I checked to see if the security cameras were running, and what d'ya know – they've been recording this whole time." He marched towards one of the computers sitting on the benchtop and plugged in the device.

Everyone made their way over and gathered around. But Mia stood unmoving, dazed and vacant, like her mind was lost in some dark place. She vaguely listened to their chatter from across the room, and she could hear Vasiliy clicking the mouse of the computer as he searched through the footage. A part of her wanted to see what the others were seeing, but another part of her felt violently ill at the thought of it.

There was a long moment of silence… then Ephraim gasped under his breath, "What… the hell…"

"What is it?" Mia asked anxiously, unable to protect herself from her own curiosity.

No one answered.

"Go back," Ephraim told Vasiliy. "I wanna see what happened earlier."

"Tell me what you're seeing," Mia demanded, losing her patience.

"Alright, but you might not like what's on here," Vasiliy warned.

"I need to know…"

Vasiliy began to narrate the video: "December third, eleven PM - footage from the lobby. The Doctor just entered the building, and he's… uhh… dragging in a body."

A look of confusion appeared on Mia's face. "Human?" she asked.

"Yeah, human – young male. He's dragging him across the floor into the elevator… and that's it, you don't see him after that." Vasiliy paused and there was more clicking of the mouse. "December seventh, one AM – the doctor came in with another body – this one's got a bag over its head."

"Do you think they were infected?"

"Not sure. He's gone back outside." Another pause. "Ok, he's coming back with another body, female this time. She certainly doesn't look infected."

What the hell is this? Mia thought to herself, nervously digging her nails into the flesh of her hand.

"He's leaving the female in the lobby and dragging the other one into the elevator. I guess he's coming back for her."

Then there was a long moment of silence, in which Mia found the anticipation to be unbearable.

"Oh shit!" Vasiliy suddenly exclaimed, as Ephraim also let out a startled reaction. "The woman… she's alive! She's moving. Looks like she's tryin' to get up. I think she's injured… no, maybe just confused. Alright she's up."

"Look, there," Ephraim pointed to the corner of the screen.

"Looks like the doctor's back," Vasiliy continued. "He just walked out of the elevator. The woman's seen him… and she's running for the front door!" Pause. "Shit…" Vasiliy fell silent.

"What?" Mia urged, with panic in her voice.

"He... shot her."

Mia's eyes widened in shock.

"I don't think he meant for that to happen. She ran and he pulled a gun on her. Looks like he's panicking now; he's pacing back and forth, talking to himself."

"Is there footage from the other cameras?" Mia asked. "Can we see what happened to those other bodies?"

"Yeah it's all on here," Vasiliy replied, clicking through the files.

Mia clenched her fists nervously. "Maybe they were infected." She tried desperately to find an explanation, but she did not sound convinced of her own words. She turned and walked a few paces away, and stood with her back to the group. Quinlan watched her from the corner of his eye. He could tell she was hiding whatever emotion was on her face at that moment. The need to hide one's emotions could only come from fear and denial. He understood because he had done the same... many times.

"Here we go!" Vasiliy cried out. "Footage from the lab… from this room right here."

He did not narrate this time; he watched the footage in silence, along with Ephraim and Quinlan. Moments into the viewing, a look of horror began spread across Ephraim's face, while Vasiliy's was frozen in a stern expression; his eyes were wide underneath furrowed brows, and his gaze was locked intensely onto the screen. Quinlan watched the video only for as long as he needed to understand what had happened, and then he walked away, looking around the room, every now and then glancing at Mia.

Ephraim and Vasiliy were silent for a long time as they watched pieces of the footage from one day to the next, until all the footage was over and the last thing they saw was themselves walking into the room. Ephraim rubbed his face and let out a long breath before turning to Mia. "I guess you want to know?"

"Tell me," she replied without turning around.

Ephraim took a deep breath. "Those bodies… they were all alive. All human. He must've drugged them when he brought them in, but they woke up not long after." He rubbed his chin nervously. "He tied them down on these benches, and..."

"And what?"

Ephraim swallowed. "He was performing tests on them. He was injecting them with the virus." Ephraim could not shake the images from his head; images that he chose not to share with Mia. He had seen them screaming and thrashing as the doctor injected them. He watched them wait out their death sentences, bound and helpless, knowing what was going to happen to them. He saw the fear in their eyes. And then he watched them turn; he watched their humanity slowly slip away as they tried desperately to hold onto it. The process was agonizing.

Ephraim had said enough for Mia's imagination to fill in the details. She swallowed her emotions, but she could not turn to face the group. "Did it show how he got infected?" She tried to sound unruffled but her voice trembled.

"His subjects all turned. But instead of killing them, he was keeping them locked up in that room next to the lab. They got out..."

Vasiliy, who had been standing silent and motionless, facing the computer screen, suddenly spun around and stormed over to Mia with a look of rage on his face. Mia heard his sudden ferocious footsteps and turned around to find him right in her face. She stumbled back in surprise, hitting the bench behind her.

"You lied to us!" Vasiliy growled through grit teeth. "The footage shows the doctor got infected over two weeks ago."

He leaned in closer and she pressed back into the bench as hard as she could.

"This wasn't about the vaccine or Eph's research. You knew something was up so you dragged us out here to check it out," he snarled in her face. She could feel his towering presence leaning over her. She defensively put up her hands, but they fell upon his large, broad chest. She pushed against him and he grabbed both her wrists.

Ephraim, in the background, was yelling at Vasiliy to calm down, but it was falling on deaf ears. Meanwhile, Quinlan moved towards the commotion and stood close by. It was unusual that he found this scene somewhat uncomfortable, as he was rarely moved by the rages of men. However, this time, Quinlan felt a certain anxiety that was propelling him to intercept. Perhaps it was because she looked so helpless against the large man, like a damsel in the hands of a bully. But then again, that was unlikely the reason – only heroes feel compelled to protect the weak and innocent; he was not a hero, and she was neither weak, nor innocent. In fact, in truthfulness, Vasiliy had every right to be angry for the betrayal. Quinlan stopped himself from interfering and instead observed the situation carefully.

"That was your whole plan wasn't it? You used us! You risked our lives!" His grip tightened around her wrists.

"I… I can explain…" Mia stuttered in a soft voice. She was visibly scared. Her head was turned to the side, her chin tucked into her shoulder as if expecting to be struck.

"I bet you knew about the experiments too," he growled.

"No, I didn't know anything about that!"

"You expect me to believe that you had no idea what your friend here was..."

"That's enough!" Quinlan bellowed, his deep voice carrying an incontestable authority. He shot Vasiliy a glare that even the hardened Ukrainian soldier would think twice before challenging. Vasiliy could hear Quinlan's stinger producing a soft purr, reminding him once again that this was not a man he was faced with. Vasiliy finally let go of Mia and took a step back, and she cautiously lowered her guard. Quinlan could see that she had tears in her eyes. Ephraim saw this too and immediately felt sorry for the girl.

"I think you're jumping to too many conclusions here," Ephraim said to Vasiliy, defending the girl. "I mean, how could she have known? We saw on the videos that she was never here when any of this…"

"No, he's right," Mia softly interjected.

Vasiliy and Ephraim both turned and looked at her.

"I knew something was wrong… and I needed your help to get here." Her voice was shaky, yet it had a tone of determination. "So, yes, I used you… but I swear I didn't know about the experiments."

"See?!" Vasiliy exclaimed, pointing his finger at her. "We can't trust her!"

"It's just that… I had no one else…"