We were brought back down the dark and quiet hallway that lead to the room where I was forced to kill the infected with my bare hands. I tried to catch Mac's attention without saying anything, but his gaze was firmly fixated on his feet. He must be freaking out. He knew what was waiting for him thanks to the stories. Amelia stopped at the door beside the room I was shoved in the day before.

"Put him inside. Bring her in here with me," Amelia ordered.

I pushed against the guard trying to pull me into the other room. "What are you planning to do?" I yelled. "I'm the one you want to put in there."

Mac's face was expressionless as the other guard opened the door to the padded room and gently pushed him inside. Mac wasn't resisting. He must have been in shock.

"Mac, don't worry, I'll get you out of there," I screamed, but I had no idea how I would go about that. I turned to Amelia. "I'm the one you want to punish, you bitch! Put me in there again!" I would survive a bite, Mac wouldn't.

"Bring her in here," Amelia said with force.

The guard resumed his attempt at trying to stuff me into the other room. I managed to wrench myself out of his hold and kicked him as hard as I could in the nuts. His armor didn't include a cup apparently as he sunk to his knees grasping at his injured junk and groaning. I ran like a linebacker and smashed straight into the other guard just as he was shutting the door to the padded cell. We flew to the ground and I tried to do the same thing to him as I did to the other guard, but he wasn't going to allow that.

The guard reared his feet up and shoved me back hard like a kangaroo. I flew back and to the side, slamming into the solid cement wall. My lungs froze at the impact, my breathing momentarily suspended. I struggled to get some oxygen and breath through the pain from the collision will the very solid wall. The guard that had kicked me, had gotten up and grabbed both of my feet. I was drug into the next room, still coughing up a fit as my lungs started working again.

The other room was small and skinny and dark. There was a desk attached to the wall and above it, the two-way mirror Rose had mentioned. They were going to make me watch Mac die. To them, he was immune and would suffer a simple bite. To me, it was watching an execution of a friend.

I was still lying on the floor and couldn't see through the mirror from my angle. I rolled to my side and tried to sit up.

"Try anything again, and Carlos will tranquilize you," Amelia warned. "But not enough to put you to sleep, just enough to keep you awake and lucid, but docile."

Carlos must've been the guard I had kicked in the nuts, because he gave me a sick sneer from his bent-over position, like he was already hoping I would try something. The other guard had moved his hands from my feet to my arm and yanked me to my feet. The man-handling from the guards was pissing me off. Next time, I would be angling to break some arms.

I swayed on my feet at first. The guard turned me so that I was now facing the two-way mirror. Mac was in the corner of the padded room on the opposite side of the mirror. He was standing extremely still, his eyes glazed over. They had tried to hose off the mess I'd left on the floor, but there was still a large, ominous russet colored stain where the infected's body had fallen.

I had no choice, I had to tell them. "He's not immune," I said.

Amelia's head whipped from the mirror to me. "What did you say?"

"Mac isn't immune."

"He has a bite mark from an infected."

"He did that to himself when your murdering goons killed everyone in his group—including children," I spat at her.

She took a step back, her hand flying to her mouth. "Children," she muttered under her hand.

"Like you fucking care! You sent them! Now get Mac out of there!" I demanded.

She looked from me to the window a couple of times before swallowing. "I would have never sanctioned for children to be killed. Those mercenaries are godless heathens."

I didn't give a shit if she had some twisted morals where it was okay to subject adults to this torture, but couldn't handle the thought that children were harmed. Amelia was a monster; as bad as the infected in her own way. She was going to forced me to watch as my friend met his end.

She lowered her head and nodded, her cold expression returning. "Carlos, tell them to bring in the dead one."

I knew right then, that I would not be leaving this place until I made sure she was dead. Carlos stuck his head out the door and spoke to another who must've been standing outside. He came back in and closed the door, flicking the lock. The room was now completely dark except for the light coming in through the two-way mirror.

My heart rate picked up. "I told you he's not immune! What's the point other than to get your rocks off, you twisted bitch!"

I struggled to get to her. All it would take is my switchblade to her neck to end her. The guard attached to me like a straightjacket. Carlos came over and yanked my arms behind me painfully and I felt plastic ties cut into my skin as he secured my hands. I tugged against them, ignoring the blood leaking down my arm from the plastic edges piercing my skin. I was helpless. I couldn't get Mac out of this and now I was going to be punished for it.

"Mac may not be immune, but that doesn't mean he won't aid our study. We can record and time the turning process to better understand how it affects non-immune people."

"You're killing him is what you're doing!" My voice came out cracked.

The door to the padded cell opened and a new infected was lead through with the animal catcher rod. Mac flattened himself against the soft wall, his eyes wide. The wire around the infected's neck loosened and slipped over its head, then the door was slammed behind it. Immediately the infected started toward Mac in the corner. Mac's head whipped back and forth, like he was trying to convince himself this wasn't happening. Just before the infected reached him, Mac ran around it like I had and then began a game of tag with the infected.

I tore my gaze from the window. "You can stop this right now." I tried a softer voice. "You are just as bad as the mercenaries if you let an innocent man die."

"I am nothing like them!" Amelia all but yelled at me. I had struck a nerve. "What I am doing will save the rest of our species. We just need more time."

A painful yell brought me back to looking through the mirror. The infected had sunk its teeth into the back of Mac's leg. Somehow the thing had fallen, but it's hands and teeth reached Mac's calve. I lurched forward, my throat swelling with the urge to cry.

"Get them to remove the dead one," Amelia ordered and once again, Carlos opened the door and barked instructions to the person outside.

The padded cell door opened almost immediately. Josh walked through with the animal catcher rod with the noose portion slackened. The infected paid Josh no mind as he was busy chewing through the piece of Mac's leg he had bitten off. Like he was approaching a timid animal, Josh tip-toed toward the back of the infected. Once in range, he deftly dropped the wire metal noose over its head and tightened. He pulled up and back, the infected resisted, but still got up. Its arms clawed at Mac lying on the ground, angry that it had been denied the rest of its meal.

Josh started to pull the thing toward the door, but it veered off and slammed into the mirror. We jerked back as the mirror pulsated lightly from the contact. One more jerk and Josh managed to get the infected back out of the room. Mac scrambled away until he hit the padded wall, his leg leaking a trail of blood.

"He's going to die of blood loss," I said, my eyes blurring from the tears.

"Just keep watching," Amelia said.

Josh re-entered the room without the infected, carrying a medium sized duffle bag. He proceeded to walk toward Mac and leaned down in front of him. Josh grabbed Mac's injured leg and spread it out, ripping open the torn pant leg. He reached into the bag and pulled out a wad of gauze and compression press. He tore into the bag and placed the press over the bite wound for a minute. Mac cried out in pain, his head knocking back with his eyes squeezed shut. I'm so sorry, Mac.

Then Josh took off the press and sprayed some disinfectant on the wound, making Mac yell once again. My own leg throbbed in sympathy. Josh put a clean compression press on the wound and fastened it by wrapping gauze around Mac's leg and tying it off. It made no sense that they were using medical supplies on a soon-to-be-dead man, but maybe they were expecting the turning process to take a while and didn't want their subject to die from blood loss first. Or maybe they were thinking that the disinfectant would slow the spread of the infection.

Mac said something to Josh, but we couldn't hear in the next room. Josh patted Mac's arm and got up and left, closing the door behind him.

Through clenched teeth I said, "So what now?"

"We wait and record."