Rhoswen dragged Anna through the back room and nearly reached the back door before Anna pulled free. “We can’t leave him in there!”

”He told us to run!”

”He wouldn’t leave us!”

Rhoswen looked at Anna, then toward the swinging doors. It sounded like a small battle had broken out in the main patient area. “Alright. I’ll go back and try to get him out. You run ahead!”

”And leave you behind?!” Anna asked incredulously.

Rhoswen put her hands on Anna’s shoulders. “Listen, you have Miranda to look after. She doesn’t have anyone else! So go back to her! Terrian and I will meet you at your apartment later!”

Anna hesitated for a few moments, then nodded, tears leaking down her face, and ran out the back door.

Rhoswen swallowed hard. She quickly scanned the room until she located a scalpel, grabbed it from the counter, then ran back through the swinging doors. The sight laid out before her was worse than any nightmare her sleeping mind could’ve ever dreamed up.

Terrian was on the floor, unmoving and blood pooling beside his head. Around half the patients were already dead, decapitated or disemboweled in their beds. The rest were shrieking in terror, most of them confined to their beds but trying so desperately to escape that a few of them had tumbled onto the floor and were now crawling in the direction of the back room. Blood was every where, as if the whole room had been painted red, just like the sky. The three half-breeds were calmly making their way toward the back, slaughtering the immobilized patients along the way.

They don’t even look angry. They’re killing all these people and they’re not even angry!

One of them looked up and noticed Rhoswen. He was taller than the others, with fiery red hair. “Oh, there’s one of the nurses,” he said.

The other two looked up briefly, then returned to their work with the patients as if they were not even interested. The redhead lunged at her, and she sliced at him with the scalpel. She managed to cut the sleeve of his uniform, and a tiny trickle of blood escaped his arm. To a half-breed, it was less than a paper cut.

He quickly grabbed the hand holding the scalpel and squeezed until she dropped the weapon, then flung her across the room. She hit the wall and slid to the floor, wincing. A couple of the patients froze to watch the unfolding scene, and an elderly man who had crawled under a bed nearby reached out to her, asking if she was alright.

The half-breed approached, throwing the bed aside and grabbing the elderly man by his throat. He lifted him into the air, then clenched his hand tightly together until the man’s entire head popped off, like the cork from a bottle of wine. He dropped the now limp body and looked down at Rhoswen.

She screamed, kicking at the half-breed as he came closer, until she heard an even louder scream. She looked up and saw that Anna had jumped onto the half-breed’s back, wrapping her legs around his torso and clawing at his face with her finger nails.

Rhoswen used the opportunity to crawl away and stand up, then run around behind him. The half-breed finally managed to get ahold of Anna and pulled her off his back, throwing her to the floor. “I found the other nurse,” he said to the others.

The two other half-breeds looked up, then began walking toward him. The female looked slightly disgusted. “These two human girls are giving you trouble?” she asked with a hollow voice.

The redhead shook his head. “Not really. But we should deal with them first and save the weakest for last.”

The other male half-breed, who had very long, straight dark hair that fell to his hips, nodded in agreement. “I’ll take the one with curly hair, you take the one with short hair.”

The redhead grabbed Anna by the wrists then jerked her arms above her head. The half-breed with long hair similarly grabbed Rhoswen.

The redhead was facing Anna, and leaned his face in close to hers. “This one looks good,” he said. His face was completely expressionless, making his words all the more disturbing. “I’ll enjoy her first.”

Anna screamed, kicking and struggling wildly, like an animal. Rhoswen couldn’t even begin to imagine the absolute horror the other girl was going through. But then the long-haired half-breed looked Rhoswen up and down, then shoved her onto a cot. “This one looks good as well,” he said.

It was Rhoswen’s turn to scream again, as she was forced face-down on the cot that had only minutes ago held a patient. The full terror of the situation was sinking into her brain. This was the end. She and Anna would be raped and killed right here in the clinic, in the one place that gave them the smallest bit of hope.

Anna’s screams of anger and fear turned to sobs of defeat and sorrow as tears poured freely down her face. Rhoswen could only make out the word “no” among her cries as the redhead wordlessly began tearing at her uniform. Rhoswen still couldn’t understand how he could have no expression on his face. No desire, no anger, no joy. Nothing.

Why are you doing this if you can’t feel anything?

The female half-breed glanced around the room, until her gaze landed in the direction of Terrian, near the front door. “Pity, the only good-looking male is already dead,” she said, “I’ll finish off the rest then.”

Upon hearing this, the remaining patients began to scream and crawl again, trying desperately to reach an exit. Rhoswen’s face was pressed against the pillow on the cot, but she could see Terrian’s body.

Already dead. She said he’s already dead.

She stopped struggling then, closing her eyes and going limp. She could still hear Anna crying, but the redhead had moved her to a cot and Rhoswen could no longer see what was happening to her. She wanted to block it all out, to just pass out or go ahead and die.

Among the screams and cries in the room, she heard the sound of the front door swinging open. She immediately thought that a patient was coming in, some unlucky person who would now be killed like the rest. But then she heard it, that familiar mechanical voice saying “What’s going on?”

She opened her eyes and saw Vartan standing in the middle of the room, looking around. His eyebrows were raised, and Rhoswen remembered that this seemed to be his “shocked expression”.

No... he can’t be here. He can’t see this! He can’t be a part of this!

She couldn’t understand why, but the thought of Vartan participating in this horrible massacre made her heart burn. But he was a half-breed after all, just as Terrian had said. And no half-breed passed up the opportunity to slaughter a few humans.

Rhoswen heard the redhead speak. “These humans are harboring those who escaped punishment.”

Vartan nodded. “I see. And what is their punishment?”

The female answered. “Execution.”

Vartan’s eyebrows raised slightly again. “Is that not severe?”

The long-haired half-breed who had Rhoswen pinned down stood up, but kept his grip on her hands, pulled tightly behind her back. This gave Rhoswen a little more room to move, and she struggled to get a glimpse of Anna. Across the room, she could see her on a cot, the redhead literally sitting on top of her. But only her shirt had been removed, her pants and bra still intact.

Thank God. Nothing happened yet.

The long-haired boy narrowed his eyes a little at Vartan. “Severe? Is it any more severe than our usual punishments?”

Vartan was quiet for a little while, as if debating on what to say. He looked at Terrian on the floor, then to Rhoswen. Their eyes met for a moment, and Rhoswen could feel her cheeks burning. The situation was humiliating to say the least. Then Vartan suddenly looked back to the long-haired half-breed and said “I request that you spare the remaining humans.”

Rhoswen’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe it. Was he actually helping them? The other half-breeds looked at each other, then at Vartan. Their cold faces hinted vaguely at surprise, then anger.

”Why would you request such a thing?” the redhead asked.

Vartan looked at Rhoswen again. “They saved me when I was injured. They could have easily let me die. They obviously have no aims of rebellion or going against the Pagoda. They pose no threat to us.”

The long-haired male chuckled, the first time Rhoswen had ever heard a half-breed laugh. “I understand. You have your eye on this female, don’t you?”

Vartan said nothing.

”If you want this human, stop delaying and take her, otherwise someone else will take her first.”

Rhoswen’s heart was pounding furiously.

Is that what it is? Is he only helping me because he wants me for himself?

The female half-breed sat down on a cot and crossed her legs. Rhoswen hated to admit it, but she was incredibly beautiful. Her caramel-colored hair fell in layers to her shoulders, and her eyes were chocolate brown and hunter green. She looked at Vartan with something resembling a frown. “You’re shameful, Vartan. Consorting with humans and interfering with their punishment! There is only one reason to interact with these repulsive creatures, and that is for our physical enjoyment. I don’t know what you plan to gain by being kind to this female. If you want to enjoy her, do so! But stop embarrassing us with your games!”

Rhoswen had never heard a half-breed talk for so long, much less with so much anger. She had never heard any form of emotion from them, so this was all very shocking to her. But most bothersome was what the female half-breed was saying. Was she telling the truth? Was Vartan just playing some sort of game with Rhoswen?

Vartan finally responded. “She saved me. I want to help her in return. That’s all.”

”You can’t fool us. We’ve been watching you since the last incident,” the redhead said, “Is this not the second time you’ve defied us?”

Vartan said nothing, and the long-haired male stepped away from the cot, releasing Rhoswen. “Alright. We will spare them, but only under the condition that you will accept punishment in their place.”

Rhoswen sat up on the cot, watching Vartan. He looked at her again, then looked to the floor. “I accept.”

Before her mind realized what she was doing, Rhoswen’s body moved on its own. She rushed toward Vartan, putting herself between him and the long-haired half-breed. “No, you can’t!”

Vartan looked surprised again, but quickly shoved her to the side. “Punishment for us is different from punishment for humans.”

”What does that mean?!”

The redhead had left Anna and was standing near Vartan. “He will not be executed,” he said flatly.

Rhoswen looked at Vartan, but he refused to return her gaze. The three other half-breeds gathered around him, then began punching and kicking until he fell to the ground. They closed in even tighter around him, kicking at him with all their might. Finally, he began to grunt in pain.

Rhoswen had tears in her eyes. She carefully made her way around them and over to Anna, who was sitting up on her own cot, having pulled her shirt back on. Anna was crying too, so Rhoswen wrapped her arms around her and held her tightly. The two girls sobbed while the half-breeds continued their assault on Vartan, who by now was almost screaming with each kick.

The day wore on, and after another hour had passed, the half-breeds finally stopped and looked at Rhoswen. “This clinic is officially closed,” the redhead told her, “We will be watching, and if it opens again, we will kill everyone inside. And we will accept no requests next time, not even from Vartan.”

They left out the front door, walking casually as if nothing had happened. When the door slammed shut behind them, Rhoswen and Anna got up from the cot and walked across the room, beginning their long night of picking up the broken pieces of their last bastian of hope.