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Darkness enveloped her and, though she was awake, she dared not open her eyes. Whatever was out there, the thing that had taken her, its master, whatever it all was, Dana didn't want to see. She couldn't bear to open her eyes to the truth. So she stayed there in the safety of her closed eyelids. Alex would come for her wouldn't he?Massive creatures moved around her, their heavy steps squelched in the goop covering the floor. Their grunts and huffs terrified her but she couldn't bring herself to see what they were doing around her. Thankfully the monsters left her well enough alone. Humans, they had reason. Thoughts. Emotions. Curiosity. These were unfeeling monsters at the will of… something else. Dana didn't know, couldn't bring herself to care.It felt like days passed as hunger began to gnaw at her gut. Was Alex coming? The monsters trickled out of the room and something slammed somewhere in the building. Sounds of a fight echoed throughout, Dana feeling weaker and weaker with every passing second. It had to have been days now. She was so thirsty… so tired. Hungry. A man yelled in the distance.Dana stayed there still. Even if she wanted to she couldn't open her eyes anymore. Couldn't watch for Alex. A door slammed open, heavy footsteps thudded against the floor.His voice, the one that terrified her for half her life, sounded like a fucking angel. “Hey, hey! Dana!”He picked her up, cradled her so gently to his chest. She couldn't move to return his embrace but god did she welcome it. He started running and her empty stomach did flips. Outside then up. Up a building? Where were they, where was he taking her? Home? Hospital?They were airborne for an agonizing several seconds and, if Dana could have she would have screamed. She wanted to beat against his chest, claw at his arms, bite him, whatever would get him to stop. She couldn't move.Something hot, unbearably hot, began to wrap itself around her back. Whether Alex noticed, he gave no indication. His ragged breaths ripped across her chest as the heat seared beneath her skin. It wormed its way inside. Burning burning burning her. It hurt so fucking bad, so bad, god Alex STOP!As hard as she tried, Dana couldn't scream the way she wanted. Not even a whimper escaped her lips. The burning didn't stop, only grew worse. Her veins were on fucking fire and then it felt like her entire body was. She could feel her insides liquefying with every leap across a street.Finally, fucking finally he stopped. Alex kicked a door open, they were inside. Down a few halls, then some stairs. Every step felt as if it broke all of her bones now as whatever he had done truly took hold.He kicked down another door and then she was being moved, set down. Another person took her hand. The contact between their skin and hers burned too. Dana tried again, fruitlessly, to struggle. To cry. Anything. It hurt so fucking bad.Alex talked to the other person for a while. Dana couldn't make out much of the conversation, her head was becoming too fuzzy as the burning sensation finally reached her brain. At some point, Alex left but Dana didn't notice. She couldn't. ~~~ Voices and hurried footsteps brought Dana back to awareness slowly, as if she was dreaming. Her eyes remained closed but she could- no, that couldn't be right. Her eyes were closed. Yet she could see the shapes of 6 adults and a child. What the fuck was going on?One of them, an older black man in dingy green scrubs approached her. “It's just- it's unprecedented. I'm not sure what he did.”Another person, a tall lanky woman, spoke up. “We will take it regardless. Trust me, we're experts in unprecedented matters.”“Have you fed it Dr. Ragland?” another stranger asked.The man nodded and looked over at her. Dana could feel his eyes boring into her, practically reading her soul. “I've done everything I can for her. She's not dangerous.”At the tall woman's nod, four of the strangers stepped forward and grabbed her. She still couldn't move, couldn't wake up fully. Her body still felt like fire but now it was dull, just embers left over from Alex's curse raging through her. Where were they taking her? Dana couldn't wonder too long as her consciousness slipped again. ~~~ The first thing she felt when she woke again was insatiably hungry. As if she hadn't eaten in a week. Maybe more. Maybe she hadn't? The world had been black and empty for so long, not even a dream to keep her company. She could barely remember her own name through the hunger.This time she found herself able to open her eyes. The blurry world around her came into… color. Still blurry but now she could see the thing in front of her dressed in orange. The- th-Meat. Hot meat. She needed it more than anything else in the world. Unthinking, she reached out toward the meat, made contact, felt the heat, the taste. She couldn't find it in her to wonder how she tasted like this when-Her body extended itself through her fingertips. She couldn't feel how. Then she was leaning forward, falling to the floor, consuming. Strength returned slowly. More meat stood tantalizingly in front of her. She couldn't stop herself.Over and over she crawled toward the meat and consumed it. Eventually she stopped questioning how her body was doing this. Further still she realized it was familiar. Finally, when her body felt solid again and her stomach wasn't screaming and she could see clearly she knew where she'd seen it.The meat- no the- the boy stood calmly in front of her. Dana looked up at him, his blank expression. She blinked and looked down at her hands, planted against the ground inches from her knees. When had she sat up? What was-“Are you full?” the boy asked, far too nonchalant for his age. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Dana from under a mop of black hair. She hadn't looked up but she could see him.“Who are you?” Her voice sounded harsh from disuse.The boy uncrossed his arms and shrugged. “Connor. Bye.”He turned and walked away, leaving Dana alone before she could protest or ask any more questions. She finally found the strength to look up from the plain gray floor and took note of… nothing else interesting. Blank walls, just as gray as the floor. A door that slid shut behind Connor. A plain bed. This wasn't New York anymore.Slowly, panic growing in her chest like ivy, Dana stood up. Her entire body felt wrong but at least it listened to her now. She stalked to the door but it didn't open for her. Was someone controlling it?“Where am I?” she asked shakily. Her chest tightened more in the silence that followed.Finally, someone answered from a speaker hidden in the ceiling. “Your new home,” they replied, voice flat and disinterested.“What? Where? Who are you?” Dana rapid-fired the questions at the source of the voice.“I'm Dr. Kidd. You're in a safe place now. The safest,” they told her. “We're just going to contain you and study your infection. Like your brother. Welcome to the SCP Foundation Ms. Mercer.”