The voice she heard was unfamiliar to her.

Yet she felt no fear.

"What do you mean?" She called out, she couldn't make out anyone near her, not due to her fading sight, there was literally no one there.

"I can feel it, the infection has reached my brain, and will soon reach my heart."

"Listen Closely." the voice spoke. It was faint, less like a whisper and more like the wind, yet, it was loud, not like howl, but like a cacophony of voices.

Her thoughts hung on its every word.

"I Know A Way For You To Come Out Of This."

"A Way For You To Stay Yourself."

Though she was losing the feeling in her limbs, her body screamed to move.

"How!?" she yelled. It was strained, she let out a small cough.

"Calm Down."

"Struggling Will Only Speed Up The Infection."

She tried to look for the voice, but it was as though it was all around her.

"Pay Attention."

"Focus On Your Body For A Moment."

There were no other choices for her at this moment, all she could do was its instruction.

"Take A Deep Breath."

"Close. Your. Eyes."

She could feel the air travel from her nose to her lungs, she shut her eyes.

And began to see inside her own body.

A large mass of red expanded along her frame.

Through the bones, along her muscles, past her organs and veins.

It was so close to taking her lungs at this point.

Crawling up them like webs.

Panic filled her thoughts as she saw what was ravaging her being.

"Now, Imagine A Path."

"What?" She didn't really understand what it meant.

"Imagine A Path."

Time was running out, and she didn't want to waste anymore of it by arguing.

In her mind she built a path, straight down past her left lung.

The red seemed to be pulled along it.

"Good, Good."

"Now Draw The Path Around Your Heart."

"Wait, what?" The thought surprised her.

"If that touches my heart I'm done for, why would I want to do that?"

"Do Not Lose Focus, You Will Lose Yourself Just As Well If That Happens."

"You Cannot Dispel The Infection, It Has Already Taken Too Much."

"Trust Me."

She sighed.

"Okay."

"Now, Draw The Path Around Your Heart."

Her mind was racing, she could see it in how her path quivered as she guided it.

"Keep It Steady, One Wrong Move..." The voice stopped mid sentence, It didn't need to finish.

Her breath began to shake as the path curved around, the Infection trailing right behind it.

Though with a steady determination, she finally connected it.

A deep exhale as her body began to relax.

SHNIK!

Suddenly, a sharp pain could be felt in her chest.

She looked deep within.

Within the circle, the infection branched, connecting to her heart four times, taking the form of an X.

"What the fuck?!"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

She could feel something change as, she spoke.

"Now, This Might Be A Little Strange."

"I'd fuckin say so!" she yelled.

"What did you do?"

"I Stopped It In The Only Way I Could."

As soon as it spoke, she felt a change in her sight.

She could see a red aura floating around her body, and in certain parts of the warehouse.

She could see the scent of blood lingering in the air, like a trail of metal and fluid that hovered in the air.

At least that was how it was colored.

She looked down at her chest where the large gash once stood.

It had vanished, leaving only a tear in her shirt and safety jacket, her tawny skin peaking through.

"WHAT IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW?"

"WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"You Are Now A Seer, I Assume That Is What They Have Dubbed The Sighted Have They Not?"

She stood to her tallest height, lost in thought.

"I'm....."

There was no time to think on what she had become, A loud crash was heard in farther down in the warehouse.

"You Need To Leave, Now."

"Wait, Who are you?" she called out, she needed to know who she was speaking to.

"You Will Know Soon Enough, Just As You Will Meet Others Who Have Heard My Call."

"I Will Call To You Again Soon, But First You Must Leave."

"Wait! Hold on!"

But there was no answer.

"Shit!"

She looked around, the warehouse was completely trashed.

Through her sight she could see glints of red moving in the distance.

As well as the mass of red light coming from the crates of Scarna Berry juice.

Or what she thought was juice judging from how it splattered when it was shot earlier.

Her mind was racing with thoughts as to why they were smuggling those crates in.

If it were for study, they would be brought though officially wouldn't they?

She would have to come back to that later, for now she had to go.

From the sounds that were made here, someone would have noticed, and the ASDC would have been called.

They aren't too kind to mutants, that includes Seers.

She clambered over the toppled shelves, trying her best not to catch the attention of the mutants who were now back to wandering the building, most likely looking for her once again.

She could their footsteps, she could see the sounds each of them had made.

It was a strange feeling to her, It kept her attention elsewhere.

She tripped on a shelf as she was climbing over, causing her to tumble to the ground.

A slight daze as she got back up, only to notice that the red lights were now storming towards her direction.

"Oh fuck."

She began to run again, this time with a speed she had never known before.

Her strides seemed longer and with each step she seemed to move faster.

A group of shelves blocked her path, but a nagging feeling at the back of her mind called to her to jump, to leap over what was in her way.

She hesitated to trust what it was saying but there was no room for error.

She gripped one of the shelves in her hands, and using her legs and the strength from her arms to pull herself up, she leaped over the pile.

Her eyes held wide in surprise as she turned to see what she had done.

The mutants were in full view, reaching for her desperately, one had begun to climb while another ran to look for another path.

The third however just stared, with a sort of hungering scowl.

She once again turned to run.

She could try and fight them, but she wasn't confident, she didn't have a weapon nor any combat skill to speak of.

So, on she went.

She could hear one of them behind her.

Glancing around, she found a box, picking it up as she ran.

With a quick turn she through it behind her, catching the mutant in the face.

The impact knocked it on it's back.

She kept running forward, only glancing back once.

It seemed to struggle as it tried to stand, unlike the last time she hit one of them.

Something seemed different.

CRASH!

She was immediately knocked into one one of the standing shelves.

One of the mutants had her pinned to it.

Its body covered in red, bumps coated it like scales.

She could see its Scarna infested breath.

A deep red like everything else.

Foul, like rancid meat.

Yet she smelled something else, a sweetness under its bloated skin.

It opened its mouth wide, as though it had unhinged its jaw.

But before it could sink in its teeth, she dug her boot into its chest.

Sending it flying into a shelf across from her.

She quickly got up from where she found herself, and stared at the mutant.

Its chest was caved in, it looked crumpled, and weirdly soft, like if someone tried to hold together shattered glass with tape.

That sweet smell was filling her nose now, and all she could see were trails of red floating through the air.

Not the deep red that was seen as it breathed, but a brighter, almost living red.

It didn't heal, not like she had seen when she had watched that man get rained down on by gunfire.

Not that he was a man anymore.

The mutant was dead, as dead as a doornail.

Alma had to tear herself away from the body as the smell wafted towards her.

It was an unnatural craving, almost intoxicating.

Her mouth began to water.

She quickly moved away from the body, despite the strange hunger she felt.

"I'm almost there."

Her movements were were smooth and almost silent, not to those looking from the outside, but more to herself.

She felt as though she were running along the air, as though there was no awkwardness in each stride.

The halls were silent, there were no others aside from her and the two mutants on her trail.

The sunlight was peeking through the worn windows.

And while the workers would usually take their time, the sounds from earlier surely would have woken them up by now.

She needed to get away.

Soon she found the exit, a lone heavy steel door.

She turned to see if she was still being followed, yet there was no one there.

Did they give up?

No that couldn't be it.

No time to think on it however, she could hear the sirens, see their ringing echoing through the streets.

A sharp bluish white which contrasted the red that seemed to peek through the building, the aura and smell of the Scarna juice stashed in those crates.

She bolted away from the commotion, heading deep into the depths of the city.

She remembered the streets well, though she was carefully moving though alleyways to avoid being spotted.

While she looked like any other person, she could feel within her that wasn't the same, at the molecular level.

One wrong move and she could infect or kill someone.

Not only would that bring unnecessary attention to herself, but put many other people in danger.

She needed to stay out of the range of physical touch and sight.

Finding a place to hide was paramount.

Through the alleyways, where many tended to skulk, scents and sounds crowded her sight along with her other senses.

even the smells from the main road crept over, her nose seemed more sensitive than it once was.

It had gotten to the point where she didn't notice the mass of red that seemed to be following her.

It had seemed to move closer as she was frantically looking for safe haven.

It began to reach for her as it crept closer.

It touched her shoulder, pulling her in its direction.

As she turned around to face what was pulling her, she could see that it's face was coated in a red aura.

It was the first man that had turned when she had been caught.

His body was more red mass than normal flesh at this point, in all honesty he looked more like raspberry than a person.

He carried a knife in one hand, it was large and weighty looking, the kind you'd use if you were in an actual knife fight.

Her confidence was a bit higher after her last encounter with one of these things, before it could get swing in she tried to kick it away.

It had jumped back from the kick however, a smile crept on to its face.

It lunged forward, slashing at her with its knife.

It was fast, almost like a blur, though she was slightly faster, quickly stepping backwards as the blade was an inch away from her eyes.

An arc of red aura trailed as the blade sliced the air, she could see it coiling around the blade, blazing like a massive flame.

It was burning a lot stronger than the aura around the rest of him, to the point that she was sure other people would see it.

It rushed her again, this time with more ferocity, a flurry of random swipes, each getting faster than the other.

It was moving like mad, a hungering look etched on what should have been its face.

It was hard for her to keep up, the movements of the knife were just slow enough to see yet her body had trouble keeping up.

She tripped, raising her hand to defend against the oncoming slash.

"Agh!"

A large gash was seen on the palm of her hand.

She could feel something festering.

She held her hand as looked up at the man turned mutant.

The could smell the scent of her own blood, the bright, living red that wafted in front of her eyes.

Coming off of the blade separate from the red aura that coated it, as well as the wound on her hand.

It stood over her, drooling like a beast standing over its prey.

It raised the knife over it's head readying to thrust downwards onto her when..

KRAK!

Red bullet flew through the air, striking the mutant in the hand, the knife clattered to the ground.

It stumbled back, holding it's hand in pain.

From its twisted maw, it let out an distorted howl.

With a swiftness unknown to her, she grabbed the knife and dug it into the underside of the mutant's jaw.

She quickly let go of it, causing the body it was just embedded in to fall to the ground.

She looked at her hands for a moment, they were shaking.

She could see the red aura from the mutant fade as its body lay lifeless, same with the aura on the blade from when she held it in her hands.

"You might want to hold on to that."

She turned to where the sudden voice called.

A familiar looking person stood on the rooftop above.

"Ander?" she called confused.