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(Curcio)

On the road to delivery, a black figure follows Curcio. When he comes to a lonely ally, a hand covers his mouth and something sharp got insert in his neck. Curcio quickly loses his consciousness.

(End)

(Vivian)

(Opportunity Failed)

Jude taps his fingers on the desk and says: "Well, If you don't want this kind of reward, I will exchange all of it into extra payment. Expect a large amount of cash next month.

You can go now. Oh! And you should be careful these days. The news reports only unpleasant things."

The door behind Vivian suddenly open automatically. A large sqeek is heard.

"Chop chop!" Jude's hand makes a go away gesture.

I gulp and startle at the sudden opening of the door. "Uh- Okay..? How did... Nevermind." I studder but eventually arise from my seat and exit. That was weird, and what was that about the newspaper? I felt uneased and very worried, yet kind of happy about the extra payment. I end up checking the time and seeing if I have time for any work. Maybe the Lions need grooming? Or maybe I could play with the tigers.

Vivian checks the time. It's already eight in the night. The sun is beginning to set down. The animals in UWAS retreat back to the lairs and sleep tightly. Seems like Vivian doesn't have any jobs to do.

She is now free from work. The whole city is her playground. Maybe she can get to know a little bit more about Umbra, so she can prepare for whatever to come. Or she can just go back home, to the apartment in Bilge and rest.

But be warned, Jude did say to be careful.

In the left pocket of Vivian's jeans, there is a car key.

"Hmmm," I thought for a moment, Jude got a bit creepy in there. Instead of going home or taking a night walk, I decide to run the grounds. Make sure all the animals are in their designated homes and that none of them are injured.

Vivian saw something. A figure of darkness, luring in the shadow of the facility. It looks like an animal but it was way more big.

It disappeared right at the moment Vivian had her eyes at it. Everything happened so fast she didn't even sure was it real or was it her imagination. Nonetheless, a chill went down to her spine. A dangerous scent exists in the atmosphere.

What will she do? Get to the bottom of this or let go and walk away, forget everything. Either ways, the price is always fair. So choose wisely.

I let out a yelp after seeing the odd figure. I quietly walk to where the surveillance is, trying not to draw anymore attention to myself. I make sure to step pad first, moving slowly and cautiously looking around in case of spotting that... Thing again.

Vivian cautiously navigates in the long dim hallway. Everything was quiet, only the sound of the electricty travels inside the cable can be heard. For some reasons, the place feels so cold. Like in the middle of the winter.

A human figure appears not so far away from her. A light shines in their hand. It was the familiar night guard, good old Larry, still looking good being in his 40s, with the flash light in his hand which has been use for decades.

Larry spots Vivian and he approachs her.

"Oh, hey!" Larry says. "I thought you've left already. Working extra hours today?"

I startle, then let a sigh of relief that it was only Larry. "Uh, no. I was just leaving but wanted to make sure everything is good before hitting the hay." I look around us cautiously, "By the way, have you seen anything out of the usual? Like maybe one of the lions got loose?" I ask him as calmly as I could.

"That wouldn't be possible. I've just checked. Everything is in order." Larry says. "Did you see something?"

A bunch of keys are dangling on Larry's belt. Those are the keys that can open any door in this facility. Including the surveillance room.

I didn't want to scare him, but I also didn't want his death or injury on my conscience. "I thought I saw something, can you take me to the surveillance room? Maybe I can see if it is nothing or just some teenagers playing tricks." I ask him.

"Sure. I was about to go there." Larry says and leads the way.

It only takes a couple of minutes for the two of them to arrive at the doorstep of the room. Vivian's physique is far from ideal. She begins panting and sweating heavily.

Larry notices it and says: "You know, this is not my business. But you should working out. There is a place called the LDR center located in the Sail District. It's great. You should give it a try."

Larry inserts the key in and opens the door. Inside is a small room with a lot of screens. These screens monitors every rooms and areas in UWAS. Of course, except for restrooms.

Tired, and already heavily breathing I continue walking with Larry. Hearing his advice, I smile with anxiety and reply, "A-ah, thanks. I have been looking.." When I enter the room, the cameras are working and there seems to be nobody in the room from what I could observe. I look at all of the cameras in search of the shadow I had seen.

Vivian inspects the screens. Nothing particular has been found. The place is quiet and peaceful. From one of those screens, she can see the outside of Jude's room. His silhouette beams out by the light, showing him smoking that unique long cigarette again.

While Vivian's notices was taken away, Larry has somehow vanished without making any sound, leaving her all alone to the room and the whole area.

No images of him can be seen on screens.

I feel somewhat calm now that I see there is nothing on the screens. I turn over to Larry, "Looks like I wa-" I pause mid-sentence to find him gone. I am left alone in the room illuminated by computer and TV screens. I turn back to the screens to see if he was anywhere, but I couldn't see him anywhere. I went from feeling calm to practically shaking in my shoes. 'I'm overreacting, he probably just wanted to get on with his job instead of wondering in the affairs of my superstitions.' I thought to myself, still looking at the screens.

UWAS feels so different at night. When the sun is stil hanging, this is the place of nature and caring. But now, it looks so gloomy and somewhat dangerous. On the screens, Vivian can only see one other person in this facility and that is Jude. He is at the other side of the block, back in the office.

The coldness Vivian feels somehow increase massively just by a few seconds.

Should Vivian stay in where she is or should she go to Jude? Does she feel safe knowing that someone just been here a minute ago disappeared? Was it all just her anxiety creates illusion or was it her hunch trying to tell her something?

(Stamina:7/10)

'Think Vivian, think!' My mind was in a race and I felt my chest increase in weight. I needed to clear my head. I take a few deep breaths and calmly turn the light to the room on, sitting down in a chair. I clear my head and close my eyes, if this was a problem, then I needed a plan. The exit was quite the stretch, Jude's office is even farther. With the anxiety, the problem worsens. I get up and with all of my confidence, leave the room. If Larry had left, there had to be a reason. I will not search for him, though. I calmly walk to Jude's office, maybe Larry was there informing Jude of my staying late or the odd thing I saw. Even if not, I needed to talk with him to calm myself. Oddly enough, the presence of another person calms me by a lot.

Right at the moment Vivian walk out of the surveillance room, Larry goes in. Both of them did not expect this to happen. Their heads clash to each other and they fall down to the floor.

"Argh!" Larry grunts in pain. "My nose! My nose! I think it just broke in half."

A few seconds pass and the pain goes away. Larry finally comes to his senses and says: "No, it's not broken. Thank god!"

From the look of it, it wasn't even near the state of bleeding so it couldn't have broken like what he said. But Larry is being known as a drama queen.

I let out a scream and fall to the ground, getting back up to the best of my ability, my fight or flight in action. "Larry! I thought- I mean, where were you? You just left!" I help him up from the ground and give him the chair. "Your nose looks fine, might get bruised. Sorry.."

"Where do you think I went?!" Larry says. "The restrooms is just across the hallway. I've been holding its in for hours...

How about you? Where were you going? You seemed pretty rush. Did you find the thing you saw on the screen?"