A/N: I am eternally grateful for all the reviews and love you guys have given my story. I hope it continues to please you.

Welcome all readers. Please enjoy.

Song of the Day: "Angel Kisses" by Thad Fiscella

(Miles)

My throat dried up as Young-ja's arm banged against the glass window before sliding down and leaving a trail of blood behind.

"..How…did..you..?"

"It was gift from Billy. He dropped it in front of me and said it was part of 'Mother'."

"It was the Walrider that attack her? But, Young-ja never told me that-."

"She never said how her arm was taken? Heh. Maybe she was afraid to admit it."

My head was pounding and my vision faded to pure red as his laughter echoed through my mind.

"Are you angry, Herr Journalist? Good, use anger to kill Billy. Don't let your heart be clouded with pity…like your wife did."

"SHUT UP!" I punched the glass wall over and over, leaving bloody prints with each strike. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! EVERYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED WAS ALL YOUR FUCKING DOING!"

Wernicke said and did nothing, just turned his chair away so his back was to me.

"Shut off the valve to Billy's Life Support Fluid Reservoir, then disable the power to the machine. Once you've done that, you can override his life support's failsafe." He sighed, staring at the painting in front of him. "Then everyone will be free, Herr Journalist. Everyone."

I glared at his back, wanting nothing more than to tear the wall down and rip the bastard to pieces.

But, instead, I whispered, "I'll be back for you," and tore out of the room, heading towards the Morphogenic Chambers.

(Young-ja)

"Waylon!" I whispered as he pratically dragged me down the hallway. "We..can't leave! We have to…find…Miles!"

"We can't risk that." He replied coolly. "The Tactical Unit was been ordered to kill anything that moves. We can't worry about him. Right now, we need to get downstairs and hurry out of here."

"No!" I tore my arm out of his grip and backed away. "I did not…come here…only to leave emptyhanded! I promised our daughter….that I would come home with Miles…and I'll be damned…if you are going to stop me!"

"Young-ja! Keep your voice down!"

"Why…are you…being so heartless?! Why won't you-?!"

"Because I made a promise, alright?!"

(Waylon)

"What I am about to ask you is very important. You have to promise to go through with it no matter what, alright?"

A sense of dread crawled up my spine at his words, and my palms began to sweat.

But, I didn't question it. I just steeled myself and looked him straight in the eye, hoping whatever he was about to ask wasn't something life threating.

"…Alright. I promise."

Miles glanced down at Young-ja's sleeping form before looking me dead in the eye.

"If anything should happen to me, I want you and Young-ja to escape without me. You can take my jeep, keys are beneath the sun visor."

"…What?" I breathed out, trying to process his insane request. "How…how can you ask me to do such a thing? No way are we leaving you behind!"

"So what do you plan on doing then? Coming after me and end up lost in the asylum? Dragging my dead body behind you and risk getting captured by another Variant?" His tone and gaze were cold as steel "Don't be stupid, I am going to escape with you guys, but…this is just in case…something does happen."

"….Do you honestly expect Young-ja to leave quietly if you're not with us?"

"That is why…I need you to promise me that you will get her out of here. I don't care if you have to tie her up and carry her out, all that matters to me is that she is safe and that one of us can expose Murkoff. If it is not me, then it is you."

"But…."

"Do I have your word?"

"Miles, I-."

"Do I have your word?"

"…..Yes." I sighed, shaking his out stretched hand. "You have my word."

(Young-ja)

"You…promised what?" I bunched up the front of his jumpsuit in my hand and dragged him down to my level. "How could you…make such a foolish promise?!"

"Do you think I want to leave Miles behind?!" Waylon shot back, a flicker of emotion flashing across his eyes. "I want nothing more than to go after him, but he is right! Miles came here to expose Murkoff and it would be an insult to everything he went through-Hell, everything we went through- if we let it all go to waste by dying here!" He yanked me into his arms, and I slowly released my hold on him, tears pouring down my cheeks as I processed his words. "Your safety is his top priority. The evidence is important to him too, but…not as much as knowing you are alive. And, I realize I may have no right to say this, but I think of Miles as a dear friend and honorable man. So, please, let's respect his wish and end this nightmare."

I said nothing, but I allowed him take me by the hand again and silent followed after him, the sound of bullets and stomping echoing from the bottom floor.

'Miles….'

(Miles)

There he was, inside a glass sphere in the middle of the room.

The Walrider's host and the cause of the outbreak.

"So you're Billy Hope." I stared at the man inside the glass sphere, tubes jutting out from his ragged body and his eyes glued on the Morphogenic Therapy images. "The reports say you are twenty-three years old. For what I can see, you look more like fifty years of rough road. Killing you would be an act of kindness."

The kid didn't even acknowledge me.

"After everything you've done, I would love to take pleasure in killing you, but you're not even human anymore, are you? Perhaps you cannot fully control the Walrider and were too far gone to be a stable host, so I pity you in a sense. But, it is time to end this, William Hope. Whether you want it or not."

Giving him one last look, I spun towards the Fluid Reservoir room and made me way towards it, ready to end this horror show once and for all.

(Young-ja)

There were military police officers swarming down every hallway.

Waylon and I could barely move an inch without a solider running by, forcing us to hide.

It was all falling apart.

The soldiers were killing Variants left and right, and Chris Walker was nowhere in sight. In the back of my mind, I wondered where he was. Maybe he could bust out of the wall like he always does, and give Waylon and me the chance to run.

But no such luck.

So Waylon and I just huddled in a locker and waited.

'Please, Miles.' I placed my hand over my heart and prayed. 'Please….come back to me.'

(Miles)

Wernicke wasn't lying when he said Billy wouldn't make this easy for me.

I had just shut off the Fluid Reservoir tank, aka Billy's lungs, and the Walrider was hot on my tail.

'I don't care though. Fuck it all. Break it all. He has to die.'

The whispering had become screams, like Billy knew what was happening.

'I have to shut off the power now!' I jumped over the railing and rolled onto the bottom floor, not bothering with the stairs.

As I ran for my life, I peeked over my shoulder to find a large black shadow spiraling towards me.

'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!'

The power switch was on the other side of the laboratory, and as I flew by the sphere, I swear I saw Billy watching me.

My lungs were on fire, but I couldn't stop.

I needed to kill the bastard.

And, if I was lucky, Wernicke would be next.

Reaching the top of the stairway, I slid underneath a pile of barrels and kept going, the dark hallway illuminated by flashing sirens.

The whispering never stopped, so neither did I.

There was another stairway I had to race up, and the higher I went, the more I suspected that it was an illusion.

Like Billy was mocking me with Penrose Stairs.

When I finally reached the top, the hallway had collapsed, meaning I had to jump to the other side. I barely made it, but I knew my ribs were going to be in horrible shape if this continued.

I crawled to my feet, only to see Billy floating above me and I scurried away, desperate to shut the power off before the bastard got any closer.

My heart was in my throat as I hurdled over crates and vats as the shadow grew closer and closer.

The fuse box was at the end of the hallway, and with one hand shielding my face, I yanked out the wires and immediately heard Billy's distorted screaming resonate throughout my mind.

'Have to hurry back." I whipped around and hopped over the ledge, landing on all fours on a connecting bridge and ran for my fucking life.

The bridge began to quiver under my feet and I prayed that Billy wasn't planning on crushing it and sending it down into the abyss below.

When I reached the gap again, I leapt across…only to be snatched up by Billy while I was still airborne.

"Let me go!" I struggled against his grip, but he paid me no heed, opting to thrash me around the in the air as I screamed bloody murder.

"LET ME GO!"

And this time, he listened.

I was dropped down three stories and slammed against the concrete floor, in too much pain to properly scream.

I could feel my humerus on the verge of popping out of my Glenoid Cavity, but I still pulled myself up and limped back to the Engine Room, ready to finish this.

'Once I've shut off Billy's fail safe, I'll be free. Whether I live or die here, I'm free….I'm free.'

(Young-ja)

I stared down at the Twins' bodies, both of them covered in bullet holes and their eyes still wide open.

While Waylon and I were hiding in the locker, the Twins came by, ready to fight off the soldiers, only to be put down immediately.

No hesitation, no questions.

When the soldiers' footsteps faded away, the two of us ventured out of the locker and observed the corpses before us.

They were Father Martin's right hand men; they did everything for him. They even spared our lives at his request. But I still remembered when I first came across them. They wanted to split my organs amongst themselves and treated me as easy prey. I didn't know how I was supposed to feel about them, but I knew I wasn't supposed to be sorrowful.

So….why was I crying?

I should've been furious, afraid, indifferent, but now, I was just tired.

I wanted to lie down in the fetal position and cry.

I wanted to mourn the patients.

I wanted to mourn my physical state.

And I wanted mourn my husband's unknown condition and how I was betraying him.

Waylon crouched next to me and wrapped me in his arms, like he understood what I was feeling.

And….in the distance….I could hear soldiers thundering down the hallway.

Both of us went deadly still.

What could we do? By the time we could crawl back into the locker, we would be spotted, and the soldiers would hear the door close anyways.

So, what could we to do but wait?

Waylon held me tight as the sound of military boots grew closer.

And closer.

And closer.

Until…

"MULTIPLE OFFICERS DOWN IN SUB BASEMENT! UNKNOWN ASSAILANT! WE NEED EVAC AND PARAMEDICS NOW!" A frantic voice boomed from the soldiers' headphones and they stopped in place, just an inch away from turning the corner and finding us.

"Alright men, you heard Sargent Myers! Hurry to the basement, STAT!"

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers' replied, turning around and dashing back down the hallway.

Once the coast was clear, Waylon let out a sigh of relief, while I remained still.

'The basement? Oh no, Miles!'

"We need to go now!" Waylon hopped to his feet and pulled me up. "While they are distracted, we can leave safely!"

Waylon dragged me down the hallway until we ended up back in the elevator room and found that the barricade was gone.

As we hurried to the bottom floor and the exit was in sight, a part of me wanted to become stone so Waylon couldn't leave and he would have no choice but to let me get Miles.

But I let him dragged me into the main lobby, and there, sitting in the doorway, was Jeremy Blaire.

I had forgotten about him, but apparently Waylon had not.

"Son of a bitch is still alive." He whispered, his grip on my hand getting tighter. "No way in Hell is he stopping us for getting out of this godforsaken place."

"Mr. Park?" Blaire groaned, his hand on his bleeding side. "How the fuck are you still alive? And, you! How…are you both still alive?"

"None of your business." Waylon spat, standing his ground.

"H-Hey, let's…make a deal. You help me, I'll help you. God….I'm stuck like a pig."

"Where is Chris Walker when you need him?" Waylon muttered under his breath.

"Help me up. Please." Blaire whimpered, trying to appeal to our sympathies.

It didn't work.

"Stay close." Waylon whispered to me before pressing forward, hoping to side step around his former boss and make a run for it.

However, once we were within a foot of Blaire, everything went into slow motion.

I could see something shiny in Blaire's hand and immediately knew what it was. As Blaire pouched, whipping out a butcher knife, I pulled Waylon back and attempted to push him away.

Instead, the blade pierced my chest as I flew backwards and Waylon crumbled down with me, catching me and shouting my name over and over.

"Young-ja!" He held his hands over my wound, trying to stop the bleeding. "Oh no, no, no, NO!"

"No one can know!" Blaire growled, limping towards us and brandishing his knife. "No one!"

As our assailant drew closer and Waylon held me close and tried to stop the bleeding, I could only do one thing: I gathered all my strength and screamed his name at the top of my lungs.

"MILES!"

(Miles)

The moment I shut off Billy's fail safe, I watched him thrash around in his sphere, the space rapidly becoming red with its occupant's blood.

However, I couldn't enjoy my victory for long.

Before I could blink, I was slammed against the glass orb and yanked around to face a deteriorating Walrider now without a host to control it.

'Fuck!' He lifted me up and smashed me against the concrete wall.

I collasped to the ground, holding my camcorder to my chest as I whimpered in agony.

'I should've expected this. I should've known!'

As I tried to crawl away, I was suddenly yanked up by my ankle and dragged across the floor.

"No! NO! NO!" I crawled at the concrete floor before I was tossed into the air and slammed against the wall.

Then…words cannot describe the ungodly and immeasurable pain that tore through my body as the Walrider stuck into claws into my abdomen and tore into my insides.

I couldn't breathe. The buzzing and whispering were now swarming throughout my body, and pulsing through my veins until I felt like I was being ripped apart from the inside.

'I lied. I don't want to die. Not here. NOT HERE!'

Then, just when I couldn't take it anymore, I was plummeting to the ground and screamed as I felt several of my bones shatter from the fall.

And I laid there, feeling nothing yet feeling everything.

The buzzing and whispers had disappeared, but something else had taken its place.

Something I didn't want to think about.

Letting out a pathetic sob, I lifted myself up on my elbows and slowly crawled to my feet.

'It's all over now. Please…give me enough strength to make it out of here. Let me make it outside.'

With a hand supporting my cracked ribs, I hobbled to the stairway, my vision fading in and out with every step I took.

My throat tasted of copper, and I cried every time I collapsed to the ground, my body slowly shutting down.

But I refused to die.

Not here.

Just…let me feel the sunlight.

'Can't you at least grant me that?'

As I stumbled down the hallway, using the wall as a crutch, images flashed through my mind.

Trager, the bastard who stole my fingers.

Father Martin, the piece of shit that dragged me through into the asylum.

The Twins, Eddie Gluskin, the Murkoff officials, Billy Hope, and Rudolph Wernicke.

May they all die here.

May they all be buried here.

I couldn't feel a thing a now, and as I reached the double doors leading outside, they opened up before me.

And there stood a batch of military officers and Wernicke sitting behind them with a blank expression on his face.

"No.." I whispered, holding my hands out in surrender. "I'm not your enemy! I did as you asked, Wernicke! I KILLED BILLY FOR YOU!"

"Ready on Five!" The lieutenant commanded and all seven guns were aimed at me.

"Please!" I screamed, falling to my knees. "Just let me die in the sunlight! Please!"

But my words fell on deaf ears, and as their bullets ripped through me, I couldn't help but laugh.

'How ironic. I went through all of Hell….just to die near the exit.'

As I fell onto my back, my vision began to dim and my consciousness faded into nothing.

But….just before everything became black, I heard it.

Young-ja's voice.

"MILES!"

She's…calling out to me.

I…I have to go..to her…

I have…to see her...!

And at that moment, the infernal buzzing crawled through my body and I felt something lift off the floor.

Everything…had….become…RED….

"Gott im Himmel. You…have become the host."

And the last thing I remember….was the sound of military soldiers getting torn to shreds.

(Young-ja)

My throat burned and tasted of raw copper, when Blaire finally loomed above us, I waited for him to bring his blade down.

But, in the distance, I heard familiar whispering rising from the ground.

'Billy?'

Suddenly, the Walrider shot out of the floor and lifted Blaire into the air.

"GRAH? WHAT THE FUCK…..! OH GOD! OH CHRIST IN HEAVEN HOW DID IT GET OUT?!"

The Walrider wrapped itself around Blarie's flailing body and snapped him into pieces, raining his blood down on Waylon and I before disappearing.

As Waylon gasped and covered his face, I stared up at where the Walrider once was, tears streaming down my cheeks as his name slipped through my lips again.

"…Mi…les?"

"Young-ja! We need to get out of here!" He tore a piece of my poncho off and held it against my chest. "Just hold on! I'll get you out of here!"

As he swept me up in his arms, I continued to stare at the ceiling in utter shock through my blurry vision.

"Miles…?" I whispered again.

"What?" Waylon asked as he neared the doorway. "What are you talking about?"

"That was….Miles." I whispered, closing my eyes as the bright sun shone on my face and I meekly covered my mouth as the truth hit me. "Miles..has become the Walrider."

'Oh, Miles. What have they done to you?'

"Don't talk anymore, Young-ja." Waylon snapped, limping down the stairway. "We need to get into the Jeep and I'm taking you to the hosp-."

"Waylon, put me down."

"Wha-?"

"Put…me down."

After hesitating for a moment, he placed me down on my feet and I slumped against him, my white poncho and dress quickly becoming crimson red.

"Young-ja, wha-?"

"Go on…without me, Waylon."

"I told you, I made a-!"

"That promise…isn't valid anymore." I rested my forehead against his chest, feeling frozen despite the sunset beating against my back. "Leave me here…and escape. Tell the world…what really happened and…finish this…for all of us."

"I can't do that!"

"And," I lifted my hand to my mouth, sliding off my rings with my mouth, and placed them in Waylon's quivering palm. "I want you….to bring these to our daughter."

"Youn-!"

"Tell her, Mommy is sorry."

Waylon was shaking and I could feel his tears falling into my hair.

"Go." I whispered, gently pushing him forward with a weak smile. "Go home…to your family…and…make sure none of this…was in vain."

Waylon covered his mouth as he stifled back a sob, but he slowly nodded and began walking backwards, afraid to take his eyes off of me.

"Goodbye, Waylon." I smiled, my tears stinging my face. "Thank you..for everything."

He opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. After a few failed attempts, he just nodded again and with one last look, he whipped around and limped towards Miles' jeep.

Coughing up sputum, I struggled to stay standing and turned around to see a dark cloud pouring out of the asylum.

"Miles…" I whimpered, "I can't…leave without you. You…promised we'd always…be together. For better and for worse. Until death do us part."

I could make out a form in the cloud and limped towards it, only for the figure to back away.

"Please…don't run away from me, Miles." I wept, coughing up more blood. "Please…."

I could no longer stand up and fell to the ground.

But instead of smacking against the gravel, a pair of cold arms caught me and I gazed up into the eyes of my husband. His hands were like little tiny spiders crawling across my skin, he was covered in a dark shadow, and he faded in and out with the sunlight.

And, it was still my husband.

This was still my Miles.

I smiled at that and I lifted my hand up to caress his face, his tears like smoke against my fingers.

"Let's…go…home." I whispered, my body getting colder and colder. "Let's…go…home….together."

And the last thing I saw before everything went dark….was Miles' sobbing face.

"YOUNG-JA!"

(Waylon)

I watched the entire thing unfold from the jeep.

"Miles," I gasped, "You've really become the Walrider."

Young-ja was saying something to him, when suddenly, I saw her eyes close and her arm fall to the side.

'…No…Oh God no!'

Miles' began to shake her, calling out her name, but she never responded.

And as Miles buried his face against her body, the black cloud began to swirl around like a hurricane and it swept out towards the jeep.

I tried to get it into reverse, but the cloud had surrounded the jeep before I could. And what I thought was a sign of malice, was actually an act of mercy.

The cloud whipped the jeep around and rammed it through the gates, like it was telling me to leave.

And…the last thing I heard before I raced down the mountain, was the distorted sound….of Miles weeping.

(3 months later)

"You press that button, there is no going back, Mr. Park."

I glanced up from my laptop screen to gaze at the man standing before me. He was the owner of ViraLeaks, the same website that Miles used to publish the Afghanistan incident years ago. "There's enough hard evidence in that video file to make a world of shit for our friends at Murkoff. You got out of Mount Massive alive, and we've done everything in our power to cover your tracks, but our enemies are twitchy and malicious corporate paranoiacs with resources you are too moral to imagine. You won't be the only target. Anyone you care about, your wife, your children, they'll be nothing to Murkoff but ways to hurt you." The man uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on the table, staring me straight in the eye. "I need you to understand the bridge you are crossing here. You will bring irrevocable damage to the company, you might even get close to something like justice. But, once you click upload, your life is over. Everyone you love is fucked. But it's the right thing to do. Is hurting Murkoff worth that much to you?"

I stared back down at my computer screen.

My reunion with my family was bittersweet. My boys clung to me with tears running down their cheeks, and Lisa, oh Lisa, she refused to leave my side even after I was discharged from the hospital.

But, now, we had to go into hiding.

The moment this footage hits the internet, our lives as the Parks are over.

And nothing will be the same.

But, the people that really stood out in my mind were Miles, Young-ja, and Ae-cha Upshur

Their smiling faces and that final image of them on the steps of the asylum.

And the look on little Ae-cha's face when I gave her mother's wedding rings to her.

'This is for all of you.' I clicked the 'Upload' button and slammed the laptop shut. 'The Mount Massive Asylum case…is now closed.'

A/N: Look forward to the next chapter. Yes, there is a little more that needs to be written. Thank you guys for everything.