My eyes blurred from the blinding light as I stumble to the door trying to get to my sisters room through the hallways of my house. Dazed by the sounds and light shining in through the windows the house started to feel like a maze. I fall into the door opening it yelling her name. “ZOE!” I need an answer but it isn’t given, I walk further into the room noticing the window open. I move my hands to the bed feeling my sister’s shoulder and shaking her without looking but she doesn’t respond. I finally look noticing the burn marks on the cover panic sets in as I scramble to find the problem. I pull the cover quickly off of her seeing the burn mark on her chest like acid had eaten up her showing her heart and other organs.

My eyes open wide staring at a wooden table beer sitting next to me and one of my hands wrapped around it. I must have fallen asleep; I push myself up to find the bar that had a couple people in it completely empty. Shaking my head I try to wake up completely before moving even more. I pull myself up into the standing position beer still in hand; I look around noticing that even the bartender was gone. I look at my watch noticing that it is several hours after curfew. The smart idea would be to stay in this bar and go home in the morning, “But no one ever said I was smart.” I say out loud to myself.

I lean up against the door of the bar causing it to open and spewing me out into the road. I look around for a moment seeing nothing down each sides of the road and begin to walk towards my home. The roads seem so strange now; they used to be filled with cars on a Saturday night and now nothing. I hear the sounds of movement from behind me as I stop and look seeing nothing. As I start to continue walking something grabs me by the neck and slams me into the wall behind me. As I start to come back to reality I see the face of a Kasium in front of me. “You should be in your home.” The creature hisses at me spraying my with it’s disgusting breath.

I let go of the beer bottle for a quick moment switching my hand position to the handle of it. “Well I just thought to myself, why not take a lovely stroll to piss you all off.” I smile even after the grip on my neck gets tighter from my remark. I swing the bottle smashing it into the skull of the Kasium. The grip on my neck loosens and I am able to get out of his way running down the streets into the ally to my right. I step onto the wall quickly two times grabbing onto the top of the fence pulling myself completely across it to the other side. Continuing to run I stop at a sewer instance; pulling out my switch blade I stab into the edge of it and start to prop it open.

I look behind myself back at the fence seeing the Kasium round the corner. My eyes widen as I get the plate completely out and am finally able to go down. As I get to the bottom the wet ground splashes as I start to run again. I turn the corner running into another Kasium standing in front of me. The look in his eye I have no doubt that he wants to kill me, I turn and start to run again. Before I can stop myself I am stabbed with a large blade completely through the right side of my chest. My mouth stays open as I look at the blade and follow it finally getting to the Kasium. The blade went out my back pointing at the Kasium behind me, the blade is pulled out of me quickly. Falling to my knees more water splashes as I fall over completely into the icy cold water. The water causes the wound to hurt less numbing my body as my vision starts to fade in and out. I look to see the Kasium walk away and exit the sewers as I continue to flow down with the current as my vision fades to black.

It is dark. And cold. Black walls with strange, mossy substances and the scittering sounds of small animals echo loudly before being swallowed up by the very walls that magnified them. Previously undiscovered plants of some sort have climbed the walls, nestling their roots within the cracks between the bricks, formed after too many years of disrepair. Their is a cannal going straight down the middle of the tunnel, but only a thin trickle of water still runs in the wide path where there are water stains that prove this place has seen more productive days. Emily can't help but wonder what it was like before the aliens took over. It was only a year and a half ago, but it seems a millinium has passed since they first arrived.

Emily wanders, only half conscience, stumbling through hallways that she does not recognize. She will be unable able to navigate through the winding passages or find her way to the surface when she wakes back up. If she wakes back up. If she's even awake right now. Emily isn't quite sure if this is all real, though it feels real enough to fool any sleeping dreamer. Her vision was blurry with exhastion, making everything dull and slightly mishapen. She could no longer register her starvation or dehydration; not even the cold that bit into her skin. Her whole body was numb and weak, her knees giving out on her more and more often, and Emily has found herself face down on the floor more than once in the past... how long has it been? She can't remember. She can barely hear herself think. But her head is pounding like it's desperate to shatter it's own skull and she tries not to think at all because it hurts too bad to do that. If she were still able to think straight, Emily would have realized that she was too sick to be walking and needed to lie down s othat she could recover her strength. But instead she refused her deprived body and kept moving. She shook her head to try and clear her thoughts, wanting to grasp all was around her, but then touched it tenderly as the violent movement had made her feel very nauseous.

Suddenly Emily can see a light. It is faint and in the distance, but it's there. Only semi-conscience, Emily drags her feet towards the light, slow at first but beginning to move faster. Her body and head protest but she is too numb and ill to understand her own pain and discomfort. She had only one thought she was capable of processing; this was it. This was Sanctum. It had to be. The description, the location, it was exactly as described. She had come too far for it to all be a lie, and though she didn't consider it, somewhere inside her tired mind she knew that if Sanctum was not here she would not be able to find it. If there was no help for her, then this would be her grave as could not care for herself for much longer. She was too sick, too tired, too hungry, too thirsty and far too desperate to know exactly how grave her bleak her future looked if this was not Sanctum. But as the light flew nearer and Emily's feet broke into a sprint, her hopes lifted from the dark place they'd been lain to rest.

She didn't exactly know how, but suddenly she was being held in a pair of arms. "Oh my goodness, darling, you look awful! My dear Jesus, you're practically the walking dead!" a woman's voice cried shrilly, but Emily had lost the ability to comprehend speach long ago, around the same time she'd grown so hungry she was no longer able to feel hunger. Emily was sitting up in the lady's arms and more people crowded around her. "Eleana, she looks real bad." "Yeah Eleana. Will you be able to save her?" "Maybe you should leave this one. He chances look next to nothing." The woman's voice spoke again, harshly, "She made it all the way here! There is no way I'm just going to give up on her when she has come this far!" With that, Emily then vomitted, puking over her shoulder, the acids and scrap of raw meat she'd eaten making a sickening slattering sound on the cold ground. Emily tries to apologize but the only thing she can do is stare, her eyes spilling over with tears. A hand gently rubbed Emily's back and it was warm to the touch, making her shiver uncontrollably, while another held her hair out of the way. "There there baby, it's okay. We'll get you feeling better in no time." The woman began to speak more, but it was lost to Emily as she faded into unconscienceness, going limp in Eleana's arms, a small blossom of hope budding in her chest.

My vision is only black, but the sound of beeping goes on like a drowning beat that starts to get stuck in my head. Voices start and stop sounding panicked then calm with large sounds of machinery, I may be in a hospital. What happened? I remember being stabbed and falling into the water, but after that my memory is blank. A voice breaks through all the others, “Can you hear me?” The voice is of a woman and to my guess would mean she is a nurse or a doctor. Why am I in a hospital? I died in…I was in…I can’t remember. “Can you hear me?” The voice repeats calmly.

“Yes I hear you.” I try and say but for some reason it doesn’t come out. I try to move but can’t, I can feel my arms and legs but when I try to move them they stay still. I’m paralyzed, I’m completely paralyzed not even able to speak. This isn’t how I want to live trapped in my body like a prison. My eyes finally open as light floods into them blinding me.

“The drugs are kicking in he should be getting his feeling back soon.” The nurse to my right explains. She sticks a needle into the IV causing my vision to dim and finally black out for a second or two. As my eyes burst open once again the light enters my eyes like before but I can feel my limbs; I burst up into the sitting position causing an excruciating pain to flow through my body. I scream out leaning to the right and fall out of the bed onto the cold tile floor.

I look up seeing the other bed in the room and a little girl sitting in it with short blonde hair; the pain continues as I pull on the side of my bed trying to stand. The pain is coming from my midsection; I wrap one of my arms around it feeling the bandages underneath the gown. The girl looks awful like she was just saved right before she was about to die. Walking over I pick up a scanner off the tray beside her bed and move it over her. “Dehydrated and malnourished,” Placing the scanner back down I continue to look at the girl; she reminds me of someone…but who?

The doors to the room opens as a nurse comes in quickly startling me causing me to jump as the pain strikes again I fall to the ground unable to move. She runs to me trying to help, “Sir, why are you out of bed?” She starts trying to pull me up causing the pain to grow stronger.

“I’m fine; she on the other hand is not.” I point to the girl in the bed. Placing my hand on the side of her bed I pull myself up and stand next to the nurse.

“I know we found her outside, it’s amazing that she has lasted this long.” She says in the same calm voice I heard before. I smile still looking at the little girl as her eyes burst open staring at the ceiling. The nurse seems off guard for a moment and then starts to gain composure. “Hello sweetie, how are you feeling?” I look at the nurse and then back at the little girl not moving.

“She’s not awake.” I say as the girl’s body starts to shake rapidly causing the sounds of the wheels of the bed to scratch against the floor. “Malnourished and dehydration those are two very big stresses on the body and now you’re fixing them.” I look at the nurse who seems somewhat frightened. “She will be fine, it’s completely normal.” The shaking stops almost as fast as it starts her eyes stop fluttering and close now completely. I place my hand on her head brushing her hair from her face, quickly images flash in my head causing me to take a step back.

“She reminds me of someone.” I smile because even though I don’t know who she reminds me of, I know she is nice. I walk back to my bed and sit on the edge; I look around on the floor then back onto the nurse. “What’s my name?” The nurse looks away like she was trying to think of an answer.

“The doctors and nurses here call you Ghost.” She smiles and starts to walk over sitting next to me. “You were basically dead when we found you and we were able to bring you back.” She pats my knee as if she was giving me support. “That’s how we got your fake name, Ghost.”

I smile lightly even though I didn’t know my name I looked at her and continued to smile. “I like it.”

Emily was unconscience for almost two days before she finally woke up. In the meantime she'd been shaking, sweating, getting goosebumps and dry heaving as her body fought to make itself well again. The nurse had put on IV in her to feed her and rehydrate her as well as putting her on a steady dosage of medication to help her body recover it's ammune system. But she remembered next to nothing of it, including the few hours before she'd arrived or the nurse who'd saved her life. The only thing she could remember were the nightmares.

There was a fire burning all around her was blinding and the smoke choked her, but the flames themselves were as cold as ice. She tried to run, but found her legs and body would not respond. A terrible stench of acid vomit filled the smoky air and a roaring of a gianormous Kasium was charging towards her body. As hard as Emily fought she could not stand up and it looked as if this would be the end of her. But instead of lying down and accepting her fate she looked the Kasium straight in the eye, as if challanging it though any threat she could have made was empty.

But as the Kasium ran towards her, Emily noticed that it was shrinking; smaller and smaller with every step until it was nothing and the growling had ceased. Emily sat up, feeling better, like there was no longer an unfilled void in her stomach. Looking around she noticed her paralyzing headache had left her too and the flames that had burnt and froze her at the same time had been reduced to glowing coals which kept her warm. Emily stood uncertainly but feeling much better and the light that had been void from her nightmarish dreaming slowly returned, illuminating the area and causing everything to blur.

Light shoken bright enough Emily could detect it even behind her eyelids. This was how she knew she was alive. Her headache was gone, along with her sickness, and Emily could think clearly once again. She slowly sat up and opened her eyes, rubbing away sleep with weak hands which were still stiff from so long without use. There were voices around her though she recognized none (one sounded slightly familiar but she couldn't place it). Her eyes focused slowly to find two faces looking at her, one an older woman and the other a young man, speaking to each other about something she didn't know about.

Emily blinked slowly and looked between the two of them, her exhausted brain waking up from its comatose. "What...?" she whispered, confused, her voice sounding strange to her ears, "Who are you? Where... Where am I?"

I look around the table picking up the scanner once again, "Vitals seem normal now." I smile slightly while placing the scanner on the tray. The girls eyes start to open slightly as she starts to wake up from her long sleep.

"What...?" She starts to whisper seeming slightly confused,"Who are you? Where... Where am I?"

"You're fine...my name is Ghost I'm a patient just like you. As for where you are...I don't exactly know...nurse where are we?" I look back at the women by the door of the room.

"Sanctum."

My eyes widen as I try to process that information. "Sanctum! I always thought of you all as a myth." I look back at the girl laying on the bed. "Who are you?"

The man answers first. "You're fine...my name is Ghost I'm a patient just like you." Ghost said comfortingly to Emily and she nodded slightly. 'Ghost,' she thought, 'That's a cool name.' As for where you are...I don't exactly know..." He looked around the room they were in. White walls surrounded them and a glass door. There were four beds, two against one wall and two more against the opposing wall. Emily was on one of the beds and by the looks of it Ghost had been in the one across from hers. The other two were empty and made. He turned back to the woman who'd been standing beside him but now moved to check all of the little devices Emily was hooked up to. "Nurse where are we?" he asked.

"Sanctum."

Emily's eyes went wide. Sanctum. She was in Sanctum. She'd made it all the way here, just as she'd sworn to do. It had been a hard and trying jorney but she was finally here. Safe a Sanctum.

Ghost spoke which took Emily from her thoughts. "Sanctum! I always thought of you all as a myth." Then he turned to her and said, "Who are you?" The nurse looked over expectantly as she would like to know Emily's name as well. Emily coughed once and swallowed, trying to reaffirm her voice, which she had not used for nearly a week no counting her whispered questions moments ago.

"Emily." she said, her soft voice a little bigger and a little braver than before, "My real name is Emilane Daphnie, but my family just calls me Emily."

"Emily." I say the name again just to hear it one more time, "What a beautiful name." I place my hand onto your shoulder and smile at her bright. I take my hand off of her shoulder and turn around swiftly pointing at the nurse.

"Now nurse I'm tired of this hospital gown. Is there anyway I can get into some regular clo..." The pain strikes into my midsection once again causing me to fall back onto the side of Emily's bed. I push myself off of it falling onto another bed in front of me.

"Sir." The nurse says worried as she start to walk quickly towards me.

"I'm fine, and please just call me Ghost." I fall back against the wall and stay there until the pain starts to subside. "Is there anywhere I can get regular cloths?" I try and say cheerfully.

"The desk down the hall can direct you to a place where you can find some cloths." The nurse still sounds worried.

I push myself off the wall and look at both Emily and the nurse, "Well then what am I waiting for." I head for the door and stop right before exiting turning back to Emily. "I'll be back Emily, and don't think you are getting rid of me that easy." I wave goodbye for now at both Emily and the nurse. Walking towards the front desk I saw many people in rough condition in the rooms that I had passed. "Where can I find a place to get some decent cloths?" I smile at the women sitting at the front desk who already sadly looks swamped. She points to the door at the end of the hall without saying a word and then continues back at work.

"Thanks." I say with a fake smile as I go off towards the room that had the letters closet on the plate next to it. I stop in front of the door and pull it open seeing tons of cloths I pull some off of the rack and put them up to myself in a mirror. What would I wear? What would I like? I cloths the door and take off the gown quickly putting on jeans and a belt.

What kind of shirt would I want to wear? Not something to flashy and not something with a design of a band logo on it. I pull a plain white v neck shirt from the rack putting it up to me. "This will work, and maybe this." I put the shirt on and take a black linen coat and smile. I put it on noticing that it makes it's way almost all the way down to my knees. Now what to do about this hair...I ruffle my hands in it causing it to be messy. An idea pops into my head as I open the door quickly and run down the hall to the women again.

"Do you have any hair gel or moose?" The women looks at me almost annoyed then throws some stuff at me as I catch it. I smile as to say thank you and go towards the bathroom and smooth my hair over in a neat but somewhat messy style. I walk back towards the room with Emily all spiffed up and feeling more comfortable.

I walk into the room, spinning around. "So how do I look?"

"Emily. What a beautiful name." Ghost said kindly, placing a friendly hand on her shoulder and a friendly smile on her face. Then he took his hand of her shoulder and whirled around, pointing at the nurse who was diconnecting Emily from the various machines that had made sure she stayed alive until she would do that herself. "Now nurse I'm tired of this hospital gown. Is there anyway I can get into some regular clo..." Suddenly he trailed off and tipped over, landing by her feet. Emily giggled softly as he sat up and she helped push him back up until he was standing again. Then he walked over and leaned against a wall, a small grimance on his face as he was still clearly in pain. "Sir-" The nurse interjects, walking towards him, but he instists, "I'm fine, and please just call me Ghost."

After a moment he stood straight again and asked. "Is there anywhere I can get regular clothes?" strained cheer in his voice. "The desk down the hall can direct you to a place where you can find some clothes." she said, though obviously she was still concerned. Ghost thanked her and left the room, giving a small wave to Emily as he walked out the plexi-glass door. "I'll be back Emily, and don't think you are getting rid of me that easy." Emily smiled slightly and waved back as he turned the corner. The nurse huffed slightly. "That man is so headstrong." she sighed, then smiled warmly at Emily. "Don't you worry dear, you're getting better so fast. You should be out of here by tomorrow."

Emily noddedly slightly as her body was disattached from all the medical equiptment she couldn't identify. She looked down at herself and found she was wearing a similar but smaller white hospital gown. "Wh-Where is my jacket?" she asked the nurse suddenly, her voice weak and fearful again. "Under your bed darling, but it's filthy and torn up. We'll get you new clothes tomorrow dear." Emily shook her head frantically. "No! I need that coat. You don't understand, but I really need that coat." The nurse gave her a strange look but didn't protest her reasons. "Alright dear, alright. I'll send it to be sewn back together and washed so it will be like brand new for you tomorrow, okay?" she asked soothingly, and Emily nodded her head. Just then Ghost walked in, looking much more refined then a few minutes before. "So how do I look?" he asked, turning around so they would see his whole outfit. It was simple, yet fitting. "Looks good," Emily said with a small smile.

"Exactly the reaction I wanted." I walk father into the room grabbing onto my side this time trying to keep the pain from getting to annoying. "You're looking a bit better from before." I step towards Emily a little closer pointing at her. "How are you feeling exactly?"

Emily shrugged slightly, her eyes following the nurse as she took the jacket away to be repaired and washed. The jacket her older sister Amy had given her before she'd died, and the jacket that had kept Emily warm so many cold nights during her search for Sanctum. She had no intention of leaving it behind for convineince's sakes. Emily fought back the desire to cry as her head true processed all that had happened to her. Losing her sister, her parents, her grandfather and everything she knew and loved was hard and Emily's heart beat uncertainly in her chest; she could feel it with every pulse. But now she'd come this far for the safe of finding safty and fighting back, and she couldn't afford to make a crybabay reputation for herself. Emily was the toughest twelve year old in the whole base, or at least that's how she was going to make people think. And the first opportunity to making people think that way started in this room with how bravely she held herself.

"I've been better, but I've been worse to." Emily stated with a small shrug, not registering the wisdom of her own words. "I have to take what I can get, 'cause this will probably be the best it gets for a while." She sat up in her bed and took off the covers, swinging her legs over the side. Her toes touched the ground and she shivered at the chill but ignored it as she stepped onto the tile. Almost immediately her legs gave out on her but Emily, relying heavily on the side table by her bed, managed to stand again. Running a hand through her hair she brushed it back behind her ear and looked at Ghost. "Where do they have clothes?" she asked, feeling the ichiness of the hospital gown, eager to change. "Can you show me please? I don't like this robe anymore than you did." She added with a small, half-humored laugh.

I wave my arm for you to follow as I point down to the end of the hall where it says 'Closet'. "That is where you find your cloths." I look around the hallway for a moment. "You get dressed and I will meet you in a little bit." I start to walk down the hallway the opposite that read exit. I look towards the nurse. "Take me to you leader." I say in a triumphant voice then burst out laughing. "I always wanted to say that." The nurse smiles and takes me to the elevator pushing the top button of the elevator. It take a few minutes but as the elevator stops and the door opens I am greeted with an office type interior, I step into it waiting to hear some kind of noise but never do. I continue to walk being able to see outside the window making it seem like we're on ground level.

"May I help you?" A female voice calls at from the side startled I turn to her quickly causing more pain in my midsection.

"Hi." I say in a bit of a discomfort, "my name's Ghost, I'm a new patient of yours in this place, Sanctum." I get near the window even more noticing that the building is hidden in a rock formation. "Underground city, very clever." I smile before turning back towards the women.

"Well, on behalf of me please welcome to Sanctum." She starts to move over to her seat closer to me and sits down at her desk.

"And you are?" I say a bit skeptical still.

"My name is Madison, I'm the president of Sanctum." I start to walk back over to the door ready to leave because if I were to stay the conversation wouldn't go very well. I press the button for the elevator to open and let me leave. As the doors open once again I step inside turning back to Madison.

"Well nice to meet you Madison, I'll be back to talk a bit more but right now I have more important things to do. " I press the button back down to the hospital, I notice Madison trying to say something in time but fails. As the doors open back up I step back out into the hospital floor and stay at the front desk talking to the annoyed women until you come out.

Emily walked into the "Closet" which was clearly more than that. There was, to her surprise, a vast selection of clothes, probably because the aliens had no need, care or even use for clothes and tended to leave clothing stores alone. She picked out a few outfits and tried them on, keeping about three or four. As she shopped she was tempted to look at the acessories and jewery but reminded herself that these things were unnessasary and decided to leave them alone.

'The sparkling from the jewelery would probably attract attention anyways.' she reasoned as she slipped a pair or two of shoes into the bag.

Once done she walked out of the store with two bags of clothes, under garments and toiletries (apparently this was a multipurpose store). She was extremely grateful to have them as hers old ones had been in an extreme state of disrepair. As she walked she found another person and asked where she could go to pick up her jacket once it had been washed and repaired. The man kindly pointed her towards another store (this underground base seemed to be built much like a mall and a school put together with various stores serving various reasons, a large cafateria and likely dorms somewhere where the residents slept). Walking in she saw her coat had just been finished and gladly took it, tucking it gently into her bags.

Now all she had to do is find out where she would be staying so that she could set all this stuff down!

Willow sat on a half burned down bench in a park that she found was isolated from what was going on in the world around her. She felt invisible here like no one would ever be able to find her.
Her eyes were closed, her head tilted to the sky, and her body slouched on the bench. What else was she supposed to do on these days that she has. They were endless and excruciating.

Technically she wasn't 'outside', she was within the walls of Sanctum. She had arrived here a couple months ago and was still getting used to the idea of being 'safe'. So she was taking the time to try and relax. What else was she to do? She didn't know what to do here yet, nor had she really made any friends yet. That wasn't something she was used to doing either, heck she didn't even know what a friend was. To her it was something of a long lost fairy tale that you only heard of in books and not in this reality.

Willow looked down at her baggy camo jeans, something of a military type set, She even had the black tank top as a shirt. She rubbed her knees with both hands as she rose up from the bench.

"Guess it's time to move on and see what else is here." She sighed. Willow got up from her seat and headed back to the actual building. Opening the door Willow looked back at her somewhat paradise spot and twitched her mouth to the side.

"Oh well, can't always stay the same."

She walked out of the room leaving it all behind her and began her steady stroll throughout the halls of Sanctum.