Honey looked around. She was out of breath and her anaemia wasn't helping her. Her forehead was bleeding everywhere and she was leaving a trail unintentionally.

'Why? Why is it always me? As if I'm not in a bad enough state al-'

She dropped to the floor clutching desperately at her head and the rough wall to her left. She winced and bent double smearing blood over the floor as she contorted into the foetal position. She couldn't scream she was in so much pain. Suddenly it stopped and everything went quiet. She slumped down with the weight of her body and lazily leaned against the wall and stretched her legs out in front of her. She closed her eyes and a strange light-headed feeling washed over and bright lime greens and royal blue tie- dye patterns zoomed across the inside of her closed eyelids. Her breath whistled noisily through her flared nostrils as a sudden flash of blood red tided from side to side in her view. A sharp pain shot from her until now latent right leg and right through her spine to her nervous epicentre. Her eyes slammed open and she was met by a panoramic view of someone she didn't know.

'What the hell do you think you're doing down there?'

She was in shock. The world sloshed all the way through her ringing head and a fuzzy, white noise; static blinded her sense of hearing. She blinked a few times trying to get her bearings as she breathed in and the world started spinning slowly and lagging every time she tried to focus.

'Are you alright?'

The world still span and her head rocked gently as her neck muscles randomly tried to tense. She screwed up her eyes as tight as she could to avoid the sickening lag but instead a burning silhouette of the stranger was imprinted on her retinas. She opened her eyes as she felt a large, warm hand on her pallid clammy skin. She looked into the eyes of the stranger and pursed her lips to utter a word of help.

'Can you hear me?'

She let out a murmured 'ow' and passed out, her head striking the floor with such force a shock wave went along her limp body.

* * *

'What was that thing?'

'Now?'

'What do you mean Beck?'

Beck ran his fingers through his dark blonde hair and sighed.

'It's different. It... It mutated.'

There was utter silence. The half mutilated body of the teenager lay on the floor limp and near lifeless. She was still wearing her backpack and, although blood smeared, the contents were undamaged. A strange piece of bent metal, it must have been an earpiece or something and a small microchip wrapped in a piece of written on paper. Until the second team cam in, they were going to leave it all well alone, the 'tech spec' Xiang Wong was in that team, and he'd know what to do. His sister, Liu, was in the third team up in the mansion.

* * *

'Morning.'

'Hey.'

A hoarse Liu saluted half-heartedly at her brother as he left for the hive.

'Don't get killed.'

'By what? There's nothing that can kill me Liu.'

'There better not be. See you round.'

'Yeah.'

The rest of the team tried to seem indifferent as they spoke in Mandarin Chinese, but really they wanted to know what was going on.

'Okay team, move out.'

Fernandez, a handsome Latino guy with more muscle than the rest of the team put together led them away and onto the train. Liu waved goodbye to her brother and somehow, she knew she'd see him again.

* * *

The picture on one of the worker's desks brought on Xiang's strange flashback. It was a little girl, about ten, oriental with long black hair. She resembled Liu a lot. They had the same innocent smile. He felt a warm fuzzy feeling wash over him, then spat it out and maintained his usual cold reserve.

'Hey! Wong! Get yo' Chink ass over here man!'

Horrowitz hated him. As far back as Wong could remember he hated him. It was completely irrational. If Wong started wearing a swastika the rest of the team would complain, but if Horrowitz called him a chink it affected no one else. It didn't help that Horrowitz was of 'mixed race'. A Jew pretending to be from the hood. Either sad or sick.

'Go fuck yourself you dumb prick!'

'I didn't get that. Talking a different language is very rude.'

Xiang gave him the finger and walked off nonchalantly. A message came through on the com.

'Get down here Wong; we need your tech specs now.'

'Sure thing Blondie.'

Wong and Beck were close. They went way back way, when, back in the day, they went to the same kindergarten, then school, then university and finally ended up in STARS. Wong didn't even acknowledge Horrowitz as he left for the deepest depths of hive where the other team was covering the bases.

* * *

'What do you mean a T-Virus?'

Wong looked a little frantic. Seemed to the whole team that someone told him something they neglected to tell them.

'WE NEED TO FIND THE ANTIDOTE!'

'Huh?'

'WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE UNLESS WE GET THE ANTIDOTE!!'

'Oh. Where is it?'

CCCCCCCCCRRRRRRRRUUUUUNNNNNNNNCCCCCCCCCCCHHHH!

The double doors at the end of the computer lab were slammed against and the sound of breaking bones made the whole team cringe. A spray of thick blood spattered the glass panels in the metal blast doors and Wong took a few cautious steps forwards.

'You won't like this.'

The team looked confused, except Rico. He covered his mouth in an attempt to gain attention to what he was about to say.

'That...blood...it's...coagulated...they're dead.'

It didn't sink in for Beck.

'Who're dead?'

A half skinned face pressed up against the window.

'OH! FUCK! MAN! GOD!'

'Sweet Mary mother of God. You're right I don't like it!'

Wong turned to the rest of the team and his stark expression shocked them before he even said anything.

'I didn't mean that you wouldn't like that. I meant...well...the antidote is in there.'

'You're kidding me.'

'No.'

'Fuck.'

'I know.'