Maria started her day like any other, brushing her teeth and putting on her uniform. Suddenly, the alarms blared, and an announcement crackled to life: "Attention all personnel in the research department. Miss Rose has requested all of you gather in the common area. Please proceed there as quickly as possible."

  Maria put on her uniform and made her way through the corridors. She was earlier than most. When everyone had gathered, Miss Rose began, "Thank you all for assembling. We have no time, so I'll get straight to the point. Last night, one of our employees, and one of your co-workers, died in her room. She was killed last night. Nancy Gonzales."

  Maria could feel the heavy atmosphere, the tension palpable in the whispers. Her friends were speechless; some even started crying.

  Miss Rose continued, "There is no evidence that anyone entered the facility. While we can't rule out the possibility, we believe one of our employees killed her. The killer entered the facility through the vent above the bedroom. We have sent engineers to upgrade the ventilation covers, ensuring no one can get in through them."

  "Bad news," he thought. "That makes things complicated. I have to find another way in."

  He kept thinking while Maria worked on the brain eaters, trying to find anything. He looked all around for anything that could help, then an idea came to his mind.

  “for today I have to check the vents, if possible, I need to draw their attention elsewhere.”

  At the end of the day, he went back to his room. Looking at the new vent, he could see it had been reinforced from the inside. But that made it vulnerable from the inside. He took a screwdriver and moved forward. While trying to open the lower screws, a faint glow at the corner of his eye drew his attention. Looking inside the vent, he could see a round glass object there.

  “is that a camera?” he thought. "Damn. Well, I suppose we have to go with Plan B."

  He could make his way through the hallway, but not tonight , he had a new plan for tomorrow.

  Maria was working when someone bumped into her from behind. When she looked back, she saw one of the employees had stumbled behind her.

  "Are you okay?" Maria said, panicky.

  "Yeah, I'm fine. I fell over your feet," he said.

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  "Sorry, I was just stretching my feet when you went behind me." She pulled his hand to help him up..

  "No problem," he said, fixing his clothing.

  "Do you want me to get you to the infirmary?" Putting her hand on the man's shoulder, Maria asked,

  "No need, I’m not badly hurt."

  "Okay, sorry again."

  "No problem." Saying that, he went back to his work.

  Maria went to the toilet and came back to find her brain eaters had disappeared. Asking around, she couldn't find them. She had no other choice but to make a report on what happened.

  Miss Rose was checking on what others were doing when Maria approached her, who reported what happened.

  "This is a serious issue. We have to make a report to the higher-ups."

  "Can we not?" I’m sure the mistake I made before is going to make higherups throw me out, please I beg you”

  “nothing can be …, alright what do you want to do now?” rose says sighing

  “I can watch the cameras and report back to you”

  “ok, I send a message to the camera rooms, you have one hour to do your job and get the worms back, if not you will be reported”

  “Thanks for this chance miss rose”

  Getting to the camera rooms, a familiar person opened the doors for her.

  “Gabriel?” she said surprised “what are you doing here?”

  "I volunteered for this job. The pay was too good to pass up."

  "I see. Hey, can you get me a room and help me find something on the cameras?"

  "Miss Rose told me everything. Rebeca is going to help you; she's in that room," pointing toward an open door.

  maria went inside and closed the door.

  “Hi Rebeca, I’m maria can you find the person who stole my worms?”

  "Let me check the cameras," Rebeca said, looking for Maria's camera feed.

  Maria looked around and asked

  “is this room sound proof?” maria asked

  "Pretty much. The sound is still heard outside, but everyone has headphones on because everyone makes noise. Even if you scream, no one will notice. Why did you ask?"

  "I thought the walls seemed designed that way, but damn, that's scary."

  While Rebeca was searching for Maria's camera, she felt a sharp, almost electric sting on her neck. She instinctively brought a hand up, but dismissed it, attributing the sensation to her constant neck pain from the demanding working environment.

  “Damn, where is it, …., found it”

  Finding her camera, she started to fast-forward but didn't find anyone from the moment Maria went to the bathroom until she got out. She slowed the cameras, but nothing. She looked through it a few times, but there was just nothing. Then she backed up a bit more, looking back at the time Maria helped the man. She rewound that and slowed it down. Rebeca leaned closer to the screen, her eyes widening. She saw Maria's hand move with an almost deliberate grace, sweeping a few of the brain eaters onto the man's shoulder. It was a subtle, almost imperceptible action, but in hindsight, it was undeniably suspicious.

  Rebeca turned back fast, but Maria was not there. Turning around with the chair, her foot hit something. It was Maria, lying there, looking at her and crying. Rebeca tried to get up but couldn't. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. Her lungs burned, her throat felt impossibly tight, as if something was physically constricting it. She couldn't comprehend what had happened. Feeling a pain in her neck again, a monster started to emerge from her back. Looking at her in the face while her tears started to fall, the monster started to eat her neck. She was watching her own death.