The buzzing stopped. That was the most shocking thing at first, that constant sound suddenly cut off in a moment's notice, so shocking that his eyes opened immediately. They flooded with a stinging liquid and he shut them immediately, going forward until it was evident something was holding him back. It pulled at his chest and face and stomach, and his hands instinctively went up to meet whatever was in the way. It was over his nose, and going down his throat, and something in his arms pulled, but released when he yanked away from the side of whatever he was in. It was rounded, he knew that. Rounded, and clear. The sight before him was rather dark, but at the same time, lit here and there in curious manners.

He pulled the thing off his face, a mask of sorts, and something came with it---a tube that lifted from his throat and out of his nose, forcing his gag reflex to make him retch, going forward and hitting his head on the glass in front of him. Something else moved, then---the glass. It swung forward, spilling the liquid he had been standing in and letting him breathe actual air, until his feet lost traction and he slipped. Something pulled from his other arm, and his left side, leaving a stinging sensation that lingered. His hands went up, feeling his arms, his face, pulling more of the slick gel from his face and eyes and slinging it every which way.

He tried to stand, but slid out of the bottom of the pod-like container he had been sitting in previously. The floor was tile, and dirty tile at that. The lights in the ceiling were so dim they barely gave the room a glow. There were other sources of light instead, littered around the floor. Some old rags and cloth that seemed to be accumulated over time, a sleeping area that had been spared the disgusting goo that he'd been in. He tried to stand again, feeling weak and slippery, but fell yet again onto his stomach. In defeat, he set his head down and stared at the other wall. Computers. They seemed to have exploded. Above them, dark words were written in a different language, but in the common alphabet. Where was he? Vaguely, he remembered something.

Words. Conversations. He never replied, but he had been listening. But while the voice was there, the words were so distant and tinny he couldn't make them out. He slipped and slid into a sitting position and looked back at the cylinder he'd been in before. A note beside it. The pencil writing was very vague, but he could make it out:

'Erin

Species unknown---presumably human. Found in Northern Territory, near Alice Springs. Transported to Perth for better sea-traffic if necessary.

15% bone structure at time of discovery---brainwave activity at time of discovery: 12%

Regeneration process: 21% per day'

Erin...? Was that him? It was posted on the cylinder he had been in. The name didn't sound familiar, though. He shook his head, shivering in the cool air and on the chilly tile floor, giving up his attempts to stand until he could feel his limbs a bit more.

The sudden silence was louder than the constant buzzing of machines that had lulled him to sleep. Blinking in confusion, he crawled out from under the table where he had been sleeping just a moment before. He stretched, glancing about the dimness of the empty room, as though expecting something to be there. It took him awhile longer to realize what had made him wake... The noise... It had stopped.

"I wonder why that is...?" he said quietly to himself, creeping from the room he was currently in and making his way down one of the many corridors that the abandoned building had. Had the power finally cut out after so many years? But... The lights still flickered on in most rooms - dimly, but still working. He tilted his head, remembering that the buzzing siren-like noise came from one room in particular. The room where many tubes and other science-y things were kept. The room where a body floated in some sort of liquid.

He made for it now, suddenly feeling a bit nervous. The air felt heavy, as though a million people were in the shadows, watching him pass by. He had had dealt with trespassers before; mostly vandals and kids breaking in as a dare. He hoped no one had tried to steal away his only friend.

As he approached the room, he heard noises... As though someone was stumbling around in the darkness behind the closed door. Heart beating fast in his throat, he gulped and slowly opened the door. It took just a second for him to take in the scene. The tube smashed, the body on the floor... Moving... Gasping for air... No, it couldn't be possible... The body that had been suspended in that tube for nearly a decade... The thing he talked to every day and considered a friend... It was alive?

He stifled a scream and fell backwards, as the thing slowly looked in his direction.

Where was he? He couldn't remember that. Erin was what they had written on that old, curled paper but was it really his name? None other came to mind, and Erin was as close to a title he could have. Erin. It was good enough in his confusion. He knew, vaguely, that Alice Springs was a city... a town, maybe. That being in Australia. And they'd brought him to Perth? What did that mean? How had they found him at all, and in what condition...? Those percentages didn't necessarily look as if they could be survived by a normal human... He slid about, crawling a little toward a pane of glass against the wall. Black hair. Striking green eyes underneath heavy-looking---if a little clumped---lashes. His tan skin let him blend in with how dark the room seemed to be, and as he had come to realize almost immediately, he was completely naked.

The door nearby opened. Coughing the last bit of fluid from his lungs, Erin slipped about and turned to face the door that had opened. The first sign of life in this odd, dilapidated building. Other than him, of course. A pale shadow. A young man. His face changed from curiosity to unfiltered shock at soon as his gaze fell upon Erin, who tried to scuttle back at the same time. His humanity seemed to be suspended as he had been, until the form showed his fear and reacted accordingly. Suddenly all he wanted to do was calm him.

"H-hey...! Hey... It's okay, I won't hurt you..." Those whispers over such a long, long time... How long? He couldn't remember. Had those whispers been this form's voice breaking through the barrier of whatever comatose sleep he had been put in? How long had he been talking to Erin for? Moments? Years? He covered himself, curling up into a ball.

"Im... Impossible... You were..." he was stammering now. He gulped again and bit his lip, watching the body curl up to hide his nakedness... Perhaps also in confusion and maybe fear. He felt sorry for it. "I just... You were..." He slowly approached, carefully walking over the slime and broken glass that covered the floor.

"I just can't believe..." He shook his head, crouching beside the now alive person, who he knew had been named Erin. "Um..." He looked about him, seeing a blanket nearby that he had used as a bed. He thanked fate that he hadn't been sleeping here tonight, as he probably would have been struck by some broken glass. He went over to his make-shift bed and picked up the old blanket, bringing it over to Erin and offering it.

"I can... Find you clothes..." There had been a supply closet somewhere deep inside the facility, all he had to do was find it again. He clenched his fists, to stop them from shaking. He was still trying to make sense of everything that had happened. Erin, the body that he had previously thought was dead, was now awake... Breathing, talking, moving... As though he had just been asleep. He had wished for years that his friend wouldn't really be dead, but now that his prayers were answered... He hated how cowardly he felt.

"Erm... My name is Az..." he offered, trying to calm himself down.

He was thankful for something to cover himself in. A blanket, no matter its age, was a lifesaver, and he shakily accepted it and huddled down into it, shivering more in content that he had something to hide in and warm himself. "Thanks..." He muttered. "Is... my name Erin?" He was sure it was, so he shook his head after that stupid question. "Um.. Where, exactly, are we...? I... can't remember..." He'd been found in a crater near Alice Springs with barely anything to recover, how could he recall...? But it was all he could say when he had no other idea what to say.

"Az..." He nodded. "That name sounds familiar... Do... I know you? I mean..." He struggled to stand, rubbing the gel off his skin and securing the blanket around his waist. "I guess I don't know anyone. But that name..." It was in the whispers he'd heard while he was sleeping. Or he thought he was asleep. Was it a coma? Was that why he'd been in the pod? If so, where was everyone else? And why was what appeared to be a young homeless man the only one around a dilapidated building whose last life support system had finally failed?

"How... long have you been here...? I mean, talking to me? I... think I would hear you sometimes." Maybe he heard Az a lot more than he thought. Perhaps every conversation was logged away. He nodded, hoping to find some clothes---perhaps something to clean himself up---somewhere else.

Az found himself blushing and had to look away from the newly awaken Erin. So his friend heard him speaking to him? For some reason he found this embarrassing more than anything. "Erm... I came here a couple of years ago... It was abandoned for awhile, so I thought... I mean... I didn't think that you were actually alive... I thought you were some... rejected experiment...." He exhaled slightly and glanced back at Erin.

"I can't really read... But I could read the name they gave you on that piece of paper..." he pointed towards the broken tube. "It says Erin... But they could have just named you that..." He looked away again. "You don't look like an Erin..."

He suddenly felt extremely awkward, and a little bit self-conscious as he always did around others. He was used to his looks frightening strangers, to the point that he was called a demon, a ghost. Sometimes he would be whipped or beaten, other times he was chased away. He had never really talked like this to another person in his life. He got to his feet nervously.

"So... Um... I'll go find those clothes for you... I guess..."

"I can come with you!" Erin made sure the blanket was securely knotted and tight around his waist before letting it go and sliding his way away from the slippery gel on the floor. It fell off him in slick globs and made him grimace in disgust. It was all over him, clinging to his legs and hair, trying to get into his eyes. "I... if this is a science facility, at least they'll have chemical showers in case of an emergency spill... And being so important, they would have their own generators. They might be working. And if not I could snap a pipe to get the water moving..." How did he know all this? If he was a rejected experiment he shouldn't know much at all---not how to read or walk, even. Unless they, somehow, put that knowledge into him.

He stepped around the broken glass and swept it aside with his foot, getting to the door Az had come from an opening it. "Maybe... there'll be some better clothes for both of us deeper in." He suggested, nodding a little. "And... well, Erin might not be my name. The paper said I... was found near Alice Springs. By the percentages, there was hardly enough of me to fill a small water glass, but... well, I can't be here now if that's the case..." Could he? No, that was impossible! Just a few charred bone shards. Maybe they had cloned him? Was that possible? If they could keep him alive for so long after the place was abandoned, couldn't cloning be possible?

"Erm... Az? What did you talk to me about... when you thought I was..." Dead. When he thought Erin was dead. He had to be terrified, or at least confused... But Erin had no idea what to do to cull that.

Deeper in...? Az hadn't risked becoming lost or hurting himself deeper in the building. Where they currently were, the front doors were just a few doors away. Az knew that the facility was huge, because he had seen the outside of it. There were separate buildings he had explored, mostly ones that would have contained vehicles or other large machinery. Not much was left, it seemed. He looked to Erin, studying him closely. How was he alive? It had to be at least 5 years since this place was last in business. "You must be tired... Or something..." Maybe weak from years of no exercise or food. "I can get us something to eat once the markets open..." Which wouldn't be until a few hours. It was still dark out.

"I... I didn't talk about much," he replied, carefully leading the way out of the room and down the darkened hallways. He peered into every closet and room they came too, trying to get his bearings. "I... I just... Liked the company..." He didn't want to mention the nights he had cried to Erin, the nights he lay next to the tube and sung songs to keep the loneliness at bay... He found the closet that had many different clothes kept inside, mostly the type doctors would wear at a hospital. "Well, here's where I get my clean clothes from... And there is a laundry just down here..." He had made a nice home in this building, despite never having explored the whole of it.

Erin followed along beside Az, keeping close, but not too close. He actually felt... alive. So full of energy he didn't know what to do---it was incredibly difficult to keep from darting down the hall and into every door he could find in curious exploration. And he wasn't hungry. No doubt the machines attached to him kept him fed, hydrated, and well, keeping disease at bay. And the gel. It had kept him upright, kept his skin from drying, and had cycled to keep him clean. He didn't necessarily feel clean---in fact, he felt sticky and heavy, disgusting.

"I hope I was good company..." He muttered, looking through a different door than the one Az had paused at. "Er... I... don't think I should touch any clean clothes yet..." He stepped aside. "Just... give me a few moments. I need to look around..." For some reason he knew this place. Why did he know it? Was he somehow aware when they were transporting him from place to place? Did they ever do that...? But he knew where the restrooms were, the showers. People used to live here. They used to bunk up, play games, eat, and bathe in this facility. After another turn, and going down several doors, Erin found it---a row of open showers. The plaque on the side alongside the door was disfigured to the point it couldn't be read, but it probably didn't matter now. He stepped in, glancing around. It was spared a good amount of decay, and when he turned the knobs underneath the showehead. It shuddered for a moment, then spurted out cool water that slowly became warmer, and then hit a steaming point, and Erin discarded the blanket before stepping under and shuddering a little.

He was sure a mirror was around but almost dreaded seeing himself. What if it was something ugly and disfigured that Az had gotten used to over the years? Maybe it would be horrible... He ran his hands through his hair, over his face. It felt normal. But maybe that was the point---he felt normal, but wasn't.

Az watched Erin walk away, seeming like a man that had walked these halls before. He slowly followed behind, stopping at the showers and looking at them in amazement. He hadn't known these were here. Grinning happily, he took his own clothes off, hoping Erin didn't mind too much. He carefully turned on one of the showers, picking one furthest away from his new companion. "Wow... The water still heats...?"

He stepped under the warm water, scrubbing the layers of filth that had collected on his skin over the years. He tried his best to keep Erin from seeing his back, not wanting the man to worry about the scars that were most probably there. He cleaned his pale white skin and hair, screwing his nose up at the dirt that now ran down into the drain by his feet.

When he was done, he turned the water off and went to a small closet he had noticed nearby. Inside were towels and he used one to dry himself off. He then went back to the closet in the hallway, finding clean clothes and bringing some for Erin. "I never went in this far... I wonder what else is here...?" Maybe a kitchen, though most food would be rotten by now.

He was happy to know that the water still heated. Perhaps whatever power was still running to the generators hadn't been cut off when his lifeline was. He glanced around to Az at his comment, curious. How far did he actually come over his years calling the building home? Considering all that dirt, he had to assume the younger man hadn't even known this was here. He had to at least consider the place had a good amount of power still going here or there, and the power that had cut from his pod had finally run its emergency course, and was through.

When he went off again, perhaps back to the closet, Erin went around to investigate. Eventually he did find a mirror---one wider than it was long, over a series of sinks near where Az had found clean towels. He didn't want to look, but an overwhelming curiosity forced his eyes open. Black hair. It clung to his body, over his shoulders and chest and down his back in long strings drenched in water. And long, thick lashes over eyes that had a strange color. Green, but with a metallic tone against them. His skin didn't look pale and sallow, like he'd been in the dark for years, but had a sunny tan as if he'd come in from a lifetime of work outside.

He tore himself away, grabbing a towel and drying the water from his skin, feeling much better now that his hair and skin was free of that thick, sticky gel. He gladly accepted the clothes offered by Az when he returned, abandoning the towel to slip them on. They were scrubs. Dark blue. And they were a bit tight around his body. "Maybe... I'd think they would have cans. Packages. Things that can last for a very long time in the event of some big... well, event." And it would have to be in the pantry in the cafeteria. Probably near the showers. He nodded to Az, urging him to follow along. It seemed both of them were curious, but Erin felt far more energetic, and was buzzing to get moving.

Az stood still for awhile, gazing at Erin as the man left the room. Cans... Packages...? How had he known that Az was thinking about finding a kitchen? He realized that he was shaking and inhaled deeply, trying to steady himself. Maybe he had said it out loud, though he couldn't remember doing so. "Erm... Yeah..." He followed Erin out of the shower room, again looking into every door they came too.

They found a room with many bunk beds, another reason for Az to be annoyed at himself for not exploring further. He had been sleeping on the floor for all these years when he could have been sleeping in a proper bed. He kept his mouth closed, however, and continued to explore the building with Erin.

It struck him how odd this whole situation was. He was exploring a building he had lived in for 2 years with someone he had recently thought was dead... Just thinking about it made his mind spin. Soon, though, they found a large room with many tables. At the end was another smaller room with cupboards and fridges. Az went there, searching and finding a few cans of food and some things in the freezer that looked edible still.

Erin was quiet while he walked. There was something coming from Az. A strange feeling. Unease? It radiated like heat waves from a fire, and Erin shook his head. Maybe he was imagining that. Unless Az was thinking about food. But then, that just brought up more questions than answers. How had Erin known? That just put him off the point, and made him grimace. He had no idea. He turned his gaze down, though, while Az mostly led the way. He was thinking too much. Thinking about what he saw in the mirror. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Dark skin. He looked to be in his twenties, but just how old? He didn't know his birthday. Where he even came from. He didn't seem to have an accent. And waking up to everything being abandoned was just as confusing. Was he even a real human...?

He stepped into the cafeteria---the mess hall, perhaps they called it before---with Az, curious as to why he ran to the fridge and cupboard across the way. There couldn't be anything in there of value, or edible after so long. They probably kept most of the food in the kitchen. He went around the serving line and though the double doors, into the kitchen. Ovens with dirty vents above them. Metal tables and counters, and a few sinks lined up against the back. A warming lamp gathering dust, and a pair of doors beside that. He went there, bringing them open. Somehow in the darkness, he could see everything so well. To the left, pots and pans, cutlery and towels. And to the right, stacks of cans, bags, bottles and packages, boxes labeled with whatever they had inside.

"Az! I found... well, I found everything!" He pulled several boxes out and onto a nearby table, opening their tops to reveal cans. And another, bottles. Bottles of water and soda, and cans of pasta, ravioli and soup. He went to the pantry again, finding a few knives and can openers. Somehow he was hungry---dying. He could barely open the ravioli before the knife was under the lid, stabbing the topmost one and shoving it into his mouth. It tasted right. Even if the can had passed its expiration date, the processed and canned meat and dough could have been a steak.

Az wasn't very hungry. He had just eaten a meal of fish and bread before he had fallen asleep for the night. But he was pleased to see the supplies, even now. He grinned and watched Erin eat, suddenly realizing that the man probably didn't even know what another human being looked like. His smile faded. Soon the man would want to leave the abandoned building, to search for answers... And how would he see Az then? As a demon...? A freak...? Like everyone else?

Why was he even caring? Perhaps it was the sudden realization that the hing he talked to for so long was now alive, and speaking back. Maybe because he felt as though he was special, being the only person Erin knew. He wanted to care for him and to help him find out who he was. "Hungry...?" He sat on a nearby bench and watched the man closely.

"I... Well... I..." He sighed and shook his head, before a sudden idea struck him. "Erin! There was a room I remember... Where I was sleeping before... Well... There was a big box full of papers. I can't read, but maybe...?" Maybe Erin could?

He doubted he'd eaten anything like canned ravioli before, because the texture and taste was different and odd to him. But at this point it was the best thing he could have found, and he set one empty can aside in favor of another, leaving the box for Az to have if he wanted. He was careful not to let the knife cut his mouth while it was used for a fork, and he was surprised to find he'd eaten that whole can in just a few moments. He nodded to Az's question, smiling a bit sheepishly as his hand moved for a bottle of water. He hadn't had anything real to eat or drink in far too long. How long had it been since Az had found him? Longer than that, no doubt.

After gulping down half the water bottle, he regarded Az carefully. "I can read." He nodded, recalling how effortlessly he'd read the piece of paper on the wall by his pod. "Where are the papers...?" In an office, perhaps. An office near the entrance to the place. He was curious now---what did those papers contain? Secrets about the world he hadn't seen in so long? Secrets about who left this place as if they had simply vanished? "Of course, take me there!" He brought along another water bottle, stepping around the table to join Az.

Az carefully led the eager man back to the office near the front doors of the building. He was afraid that he'd would get lost if he explored to far into the place, but was relieved to find out that this wasn't the case. He found the room where Erin had been asleep in and continued on further. He found the front doors, locked shut with a lock he had bought with what money he got.

He went left, into the office room and pointed out the boxes and cabinets of papers stacked to the roof. "There's quite a lot..." He went back to the table he had been sleeping under and pulled out the box of his belongings. Sunglasses to protect his sensitive pink eyes, a photo of his family and his teddy bear were kept here. He rummaged a bit and found his special skin creme he was given by a kind doctor. As he sat and unscrewed the cap, he looked to Erin again. Maybe his new friend would need to see a doctor?

"Um... When day comes, do you want to go out into the city? I guess I don't need many supplies now we found the kitchen, but... Well... I have a good friend... He's a doctor and maybe... Maybe he can help you...?"

Erin quickly followed along, draining the bottle he brought along without even realizing it. Setting it on a table when they reentered the room he originally woke up in, they had to avoid the spilled gel that had spread over the dirty tiles when they left. When they entered the office, Erin's eyes widened. "Oh, wow..." He moved forward as Az went somewhere else---he didn't see where because he was bent on the filing cabinet and its mound of papers, files, and boxes. Pulling them down, he spread them over the bare desk and flipped manila folders and uncapped boxes. Information on dark matter, and methods to observe it in its actuality and contain it without causing damage. Information on the undead---how to reanimate truly dead tissue, simulate life. Cures for common illnesses and diseases. These looked old, however, and were stamped with green. They had really found a cure for a common cold, a preventer for the flu?

He went around, finding more. Gene splicing. Immortality. He stopped when he saw his name, but then Az spoke. "A doctor...?" He thought. What did he think about doctors? They didn't fill him with a sense of dread, or annoyance, or paranoia. "I wouldn't mind... I mean, I'd like to get out and see what's changed... Maybe it'll help me remember... everything." He chuckled, shaking his head and going back to where he saw his name.

The information was odd, a more specific detailing his regenerative qualities. When he was found, it was in a crater near Alice Springs. Odd machinery was found around what charred remains built of metals that couldn't be identified as resembling anything from Earth. Before they had even made it back to Perth, he had regained half his genetic material and they were forced to induce a medical coma to keep him in stasis. "Wow..." Erin found a chair nearby, sitting slowly.

Az finished rubbing the creme on his sensitive skin and put the little canister away. He continued to watch Erin with interest, wondering what the man had discovered in the pile of papers. "Found something?" he asked, coming closer and peering at the paper Erin held. He recognized some of the words, Erin's name being among them.

He saw some black and white pictures, photos of a crash site and of a blackened corpse. He blinked and gasped, looking away. "That was you...?"

Erin automatically nodded, flipping through other photos. They had used an old camera, that was obvious---something that couldn't leave a footprint to follow if they needed to destroy evidence, but not the proof. "Yeah... I mean, I guess... Look..." He turned a page, to another several pictures and bits and pieces of information. The first picture was inside an aircraft, he could tell by the arrangements, the open cockpit. The main image was of a half-reformed being, a man obviously, with skin and muscle. The hand-written writing detailed the photo:

'Being shown mid-regeneration. Muscle and veins reforming at baffling rates, brain regeneration at 32% --- 6 kilometers out, being begins to twitch, heart reformation complete.'

Erin shook his head. "That's me. Me... Look..." He pointed at the next photo. It was of him, nearly reformed but with knitting skin and muscle, being loaded into the pod he had awakened in. There, he had no hair on his head. It was such a difference now, where his hair swept down his back. "They... put me there. The date... it was six years ago..." What had happened to scare them all away? The papers ended before that could be documented.

Az didn't want to look at the pictures. They looked grizzly and disgusting. He could barely begin to wonder how much pain Erin would have suffered, let alone how he managed to heal himself. Though the strange machinery he was found in intrigued him. "Maybe you are an alien?" he joked halfheartedly, pointing to the strange, almost ship-like metal surrounding him. "Does it say where they took this?"

"Also, do you know where they found you? Maybe there are more clues at the site?" Even though it had been several years, there could be hope of finding something the scientists missed.

Erin looked through more folders, catching his name here and there. "The parts... were kept in Alice Springs." He said. "They were intending to be investigated so their composition could be discovered and then were to be sent here. But there's no documents saying they were even received. Only an incident report about the loads being attacked and then toppled over into a dried lake..." He squinted. What dried-up lake could be between Perth and Alice Springs? There was Lake Amadeus---it was longer than it was wide, perhaps a bridge had been built over it to complete the gap and make ground travel faster.

"Ah... I think... Yeah, they still have the location under wraps. Or, maybe not---these documents are older... What year is it, Az...? These documents read 3020..." No, he didn't know the date today. "Maybe... I could go there... If I remember everything... Or..." Erin shook his had. "If I find one of the scientists that worked here..." He abandoned the papers and strung more out, filing through them quickly. There had to be something. Profiles. It was stupid not to have them on hand.

"3027," Az replied, getting up to gather his belongings. He figured that he might as well take them to the room with the bunks. The building had gone from temporary shelter to his home in less than an hour. The thought made him laugh. "Do you think they'll come back?" It had been half a decade, after all. Perhaps they thought Erin was dead... Or maybe something else happened to these faceless scientists.

"Is there anything about any other things they were doing here?" he asked, holding his blanket and box of belongings. "This place is huge, they can't have built it just for you..."

Seven years. He had been in that tube for seven years. He ran a hand through his hair, testing it. Seven years of growth, right on his head. "Er... No, they won't. It's beyond repair." It looked as if a huge power surge had completely crippled the place's electricity and backup generators, which Erin was sure the place had to have. They had to feel the place was a lost cause, especially with the state of decay the halls were. While the water still heated and ran, and a little electricity flickered here and there, the rest was a lost cause.

Glancing up, Erin gathered as much as he could---which was a surprising amount, several boxes full of paper he had stuffed back in. "Er, no, no... There's a lot here, and more written down. I suppose the scientists here didn't really trust computers, or at least have paper copies of everything just in case a power surge ruined everything." He glanced around the proof they stood among. "Come on, Az... We can get back to that bunk room so there's more room to spread things out. I know there are more... experiments." He lifted the boxes, nodding Az ahead of him. "What do you think went on here...?" He asked suddenly.

Az shrugged. He had seen a few strange things in the different rooms, some weird and terrifying creatures suspended in the same tubes Erin had been. There were also hints of weapons and airplanes in the large hanger outside, though they took everything else with them when they left. The only other people he had seen return were crazy religious types, the sort that whipped him for being a demon.

They would trash the rooms, burn most of the papers and write weird things on the walls. Az would try to chase them out, but most times he just hid and waited for them to leave. He went back to the room with all the beds, carrying his belongings and feeling a bit excited. This place was really going to be his home. He also had a new friend to talk to, even though the man didn't seem to know much about who he was, he seemed very knowledgeable for an amnesiac.

He couldn't help but stare around as if he were a child in a new and exciting place. But in fact he was staring at the writing on the walls. Dark red, dried. Some looked to be spraypaint, and others, blood. Probably animal blood, but it put an odd feeling in his chest when Erin looked on them: "Abomination". "Adore the abomination". "Worship him". What was the 'abomination'? The creatures they were experimenting on? He shook his head as they entered the bunk room, and he started spreading things on the clean section of the floor, near the sitting area. "There are... a lot of experiments detailed here." He said, spreading folders around while Az came in.

A lot were marked with red, stamped, crumpled, torn. Most were yellowed with age. "See... Undead research... Then dark matter. Lycanthropy---that's... werewolves. And... Vampires and vampirism. Demonic entities. Alien lifeforms or beings not of this world. Disease research. And this." He brought out an especially thick folder. "'Life-form .1'." He shook his head. This was all so confusing.