I take a few deep breaths and the voice fades back into the incoherent ramble I'm used to. A few more breaths and even that disappears. A final deep breath and I feel it, the calm. The shrinks call it "disassociated" but they don't understand. I'm still here, it's my choice what I do – but I do it better, with no hesitation of emotion. I am in a better state, one where I can do what needs to be done. I can almost feel the Smuggler moving around in the hospital, and the chatter on the walkies fallen from the hands of their owners confirms my suspicions.

"Oh, fuck! He's moving to the surgery wing! Repeat, he's…wait, who's that? Who's, gah!"

"Shit, he got through! He's…" An explosion cuts him short. I focus and manage to place the source of the explosion near the stairs leading up. If I'm quick I can cut behind him and hit the elevator before they think to lock it down. Hell, I could send it up to him, God knows I hate what they're about to do Asset. Maybe that makes me a bad soldier, but no one deserves to die for this shit world.

My mom used to say, "For He so loved the World that He gave His one and only begotten son." I never understood it, who the fuck loves this shit hole of a world? I hear it used to be nice but then people started eating each other. Without meaning to, the thought of my mom drags me back to that day. The taste of metal in the air and the shattered doorframe warn me of what's to come. But it isn't until I see the bullet hole through our neighbor's head does it hit home. I can still remember running down the hall, hearing Lissy screaming for help. I throw open the door, and saw Rip cut Lissy's nose off. Lissy falls to the ground, exhausted from the blood loss from the missing fingers and ear. I scream – a primal, awful scream – and Rip just laughs. I charge her, but she steps to the side and jabs me with a needle. Within seconds the paralytic agent hits my system and I stumble to the ground as my limbs start to go dead.

Before I can fall to the ground, Rip grabs me and holds my face to hers, "Better luck next time Huntsman." She lets me collapse and the shock of my head hitting the ground knocks me out. When I awoke, they were all dead – my family, the neighbor, even the cat that Lissy loved so much. And Rip was gone.

Daniel…Daniel! Snap out of it!

The order wakes me from my memories and I realize that I'm at the elevator. I can hear some chatter from a nearby corpse and what I hear isn't good.

"Dammit! Does anyone have him?"

"No! Lost him heading up to surgery! Repeat, he's in route to surgery!"

I'm out of time, if I take the elevator the Smuggler will be trapped upstairs, but if I don't take it, Rip might get away.

Or he might kill her. If she tries to stop him, he'll kill her Daniel. Even if she does kill him, she'll be slowed with returning the Asset. Send it to him.

I press the button for the top floor and move out of the way as the doors close. Soon the elevator disappears. With every light indicating the elevator climbing, I can feel my spirits sinking, and with no way to get to Rip my adrenalin is draining, leaving me tired and without the Calm.

"Where to Daniel, c'mon man. Think!" I look around trying to find some way to the basements where Hive is. I look back at the elevator and see it's moving down. I'm running out of time, even if Rip is slowed with Asset, she'll still be right by Hive and all the security around it. And if the Smuggler has any sense at all he would pull the emergency stop in the elevator to freeze it until it's put back in. But sometimes it takes a while to reset, meaning that Rip would likely take…

"Stairs! Where the fuck are the stairs?" My frantic questions are answered only by its echo. I grab a flashlight off of a corpse and start looking for the stairs. The third door I open gives me what I want and I start racing down the stairs, jumping over corners and slinging down the rails. I can feel the Calm coming back to me as I get closer to Rip.

I reach the bottom of the stairs and throw open the door and find myself in the back of Hive. I look through the office quickly and can't see the Smuggler or Rip in the vast sea of parked cars. When I first arrived, I remember being shocked at the number of cars here, but it hardly registers now. A gunshot interrupts my searching. I cautiously peer out a window and manage to make out the Smuggler holstering his pistol and getting into a truck. I duck back down to avoid being seen when I notice the gleam of a scope from behind me. A quick glance back through the window shows the Smuggler still hasn't left. He's in a truck, but he can't seem to get it started. I can hear the click of the chamber being slid and I know the smuggler only has seconds to live; so I act first. I quickly rush the sniper and grab the rifle, jerking it forward and then smashing it backwards to knock it loose. I flip the flimsy card table the sniper used to brace his gun on and stomp on the table over his head. I can hear something crack, but just to be sure I grab his hair and drag him out from under the table. His eyes weakly focus on before I smash his face into my knee. On reflex, I grab the rifle and look around with the scope to ensure that I was unheard.

The Smuggler is leaving in his truck and I can see what looks to be a blue piece of fabric in the window. Before I can think any more of it, he's gone and I finally get a chance to see what he shot. So does Rip, who is emerging from a nearby car where she presumably was hiding.

A/N: Hello again! Continuing the story of Daniel through the hospital hunting the mysterious Rip. Not going to lie, I feel like this is the weakest part of my story, I tend to write emotions and dialogue better than action but I wanted to try action just to see how it would go...hopefully you all like? Also, thanks to BenRG for the ideas for Chasing Dreams, I had been playing with it for a while, but the suggestion BenRG gave pushed me over the edge! So, except an update there soon!

-Intro