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First of all, Eve removed his burnt jacket and threw it away.

Then, he scoured the office for any useful loot he might find.

Bottles of water, protection against heat, protection against toxic gas, anything essential.

Unfortunately for him though, the previous owner of the office turned out to be someone with absolutely no foresight or concern.

The office desk was filled with paperwork and no emergency first aid, a mobile phone used to contact emergency services, flashlight, fire extinguisher or guns which were desperately needed.

He found some tissue papers, sunglasses and a towel in a drawer but had no use for it.

Feeling fatigued, Eve laid back on the door of the room only to get burnt by the heated door knob.

'Tsk, more burns for me.'

'Treatment is going to be expensive.' He thought as he observed the poor state his skin was in.

Eve never actively practiced skincare but if he survived then he had a nagging feeling that he would put on a lot of make up to hide the scars.

He considered an option. 'I think I should just make a run for it.' 

The smoke was filling up the office, making it inhabitable in a few minutes.

He had to act fast.

He took out the towel that has been used to wipe god knows what and dipped it on the water puddle on the ground to wetten it.

Then he tightened it around his nose and mouth to act as a smoke mask.

'It won't help against the smaller smoke particles but it should block out some of the larger ones. Better than nothing.'

He took the tissue papers and also wet them on the puddle which was drastically reducing due to the heat and wrapped it around the hot metal doorknob.

He also used his old jacket and wrapped it around the doorknob.

Then Even twisted it and the door opened up.

Hot air blew on his face along with equally hot ash, causing him to flinch.

The dry air scorched his eyes and the ash blinded it.

'On a second thought, I should get the sunglasses.'

The glasses helped him to shield his eyes for the moment and he dashed through the door and into the burning hall.

'I should go to the 2nd stairs.'

'It is insulated so the heat won't get there and hopefully, there isn't any hideous monsters there either!'

Eve was not religious but he desperately wanted someone to take responsibility for this.

Speaking of responsibility, Eve felt a twinge of relief after remembering that Jonathan was away at his home today.

'I wonder how happy Charlotte would be if she saw my current state.'

'How much happier would she be if I actually died here?

… Enough with unhappy thoughts.'

He ran and ran. He braved through scorching heat and agonizing pain he had never imagined was possible.

On his way, he started seeing half cooked corpses.

Brutally mauled and mutilated corpses just like in the sairs.

Cracks ran deep on the floor as if something incredibly heavy walked on it.

Cracks all over the floor as if someone had sprayed it with thick bullets from on top.

The ceiling started to collapse and Eve had to zigzag to avoid falling debris as if just running wasn't hard enough.

He turned around a turn and caught the sight of the emergency door much to his joy.

His blurry sight shifted to the fire station locker not too far away from the door and Eve got an idea.

'I should grab a first aid and a crowbar or a fire axe. Never know when I might have to fight.'

Eve made the mistake of going towards the fire station first.

The fire in the floor heated the fire extinguisher and caused the pressure to build up within the canister and it kept increasing.

One second, Eve was running at full speed.

The next second, His ears rang and the floor collapsed under the explosion of the canister.

He landed harshly on a piece of concrete, bruising his body even further. A nasty cracking sound had echoed, a painful notice that his left leg was fractured if not broken.

The sound of the explosion had attracted the attention of something without him knowing.

The only silver lining was that the fire did not reach to this floor so he could finally breathe without feeling his lung dying.

Grunts of pain escaped his mouth, giving away his location.

If his tear ducts had been not dried, he would have teared up which would have been a first.

A cry echoed through the darkness once again, and heavy footsteps could be heard approaching.