“I’m sorry, we did everything we could.”

Those dreaded words always shattered someone’s life in an instant. Alison knew; she’d been there minutes ago as Dr. Peterson delivered the bad news. The parents of the poor 11-year-old boy absolutely lost it to the point where the mother had to be restrained. She was completely hysterical, but who could blame her. Alison didn’t know what it was like to lose a child because she didn't have nany kids of her own, but she'd been around death long enough to get an idea of what it did to people. The internal pain was something she couldn't even begin to fathom, but their reactions...she had practically seen it all.

Currently, Alison was making her way down to her station to complete some paperwork. The exchange with those parents left her a bit moody. Sure, she knew how to be sympathetic in a professional sense, but she was only human.

"Hey, are you coming out tonight?"

Alison looked up to see Joey walking alongside her. He was grinning as usual, and she couldn't help but chuckle. "Fine, if I agree to go out, do you promise to stop pestering me?"

"Can't say I will, but you're going out tonight and that's final."

He then walked away without giving her a chance to respond. But that was more or less how their interactions went, so she was used to it. Alison started reading over her notes again when she heard screaming from a distance. Startled, she rushed to the corner to look down the hall when she noticed a large number of individuals opening fire against those in their vicinity. She witnessed as people dropped dead one after the other. After a few moments, Alison could have sworn she made eye contact with one of the murderers, but she didn't stick around long enough to find out. Instead, she ran the other way hoping to find a good hiding place and wait until help arrived.

She hadn’t been in the small closet all that long when the power went out. The generator automatically kicked in, though she was still beyond terrified. More shouting, screaming, and shuffling outside in between gunshots. Alison wondered whether she was making a mistake by remaining in one place, making her an easy target. At that point she was indecisive, and couldn’t help but doubt herself. However, instead of dwelling on it, Alison quietly walked over to the door. She listened in on the chaos outside as it slowly dissipated. The gunmen were moving on, or so it seemed. 

There were footsteps right on the other side of the door, and she distanced herself a bit in an attempt to get away from danger. Her instincts proved to be right when the door was suddenly kicked in and Alison found herself facing one of the killers. 

"Get out, now." His accent was heavy, though one could still understand him. She took a step back, expecting to meet the same terrible fate that had happened to all those people a few moments ago.

"Are you deaf? I said now!" Shaken up, the young woman hesitated for a moment before doing as told. "You have access to patients' files, yes?" 

"Um...yeah," she nodded, not sure what she was in for.

"Good, let's go."

They were both out in the hall and the man grabbed her arm, not being the least bit gentle. He dragged her along in the direction of the nurses' station, the same one she was heading to before the killing started. She didn't make it obvious, but she glanced over at the man and saw that he was tactically dressed, as if he were part of the army or something. Maybe he was special forces, or maybe he was a terrorist doing a good job of looking the part. Either way, she wasn't planning an escape, not when she could be shot dead within a second or two. Alison had noticed how he kept his other hand on the trigger of his rifle and she was not willing to test his speed.

"I'm going to give you a name, and in return, you're going to give me everything you have on this person, do you understand?"

Alison nodded once more, wondering why a single person's medical file warranted such violence.