Nate DuFort

I knew it wasn't a joke.

"'The labs were supposed to be purged when we left.

"'I wasn't too upset.

"'The entire area gave me the creeps, "'and the project weighed on me spiritually.

"'They were all just kids when they were first sourced, "'and then the veil.

"'It wore on you, going through it repeatedly.

"'I was glad to never have to cross it again, "'to fear mundane things like grass, shadows, and music.'

That was before the sector expanded.

Now the trip to the labs would be twice as long and even more dangerous.

I emailed him back but never got a reply, so I did some research on my own and confirmed that four of the eight of us were now dead.

Five, actually, because I assumed that Dr. Isaac's silence was a sign that he was no longer in the land of the living.

I was a latecomer to the project, so I was hoping 313 would overlook me, that she wouldn't turn her evil on me.

I was wrong.

Two days later, I saw her in the distance through the bustle of traffic.

Then that night, she was standing behind me in my bathroom mirror.

I stood stone still, trying not to let her get to me.

Emotional responses and stimuli are how she works her way into the mind.

Instead, I finished brushing my teeth, ignoring the sound of her breathing and the putrid smell of her unwashed body.

I knew how she killed and I hoped I could keep her from doing it to me.

I needed to keep a level head and when I looked in the mirror, a corpse looked back out at me.