Hidden deep in the California valley is the Aves Department for the infamous C.R.O.S.S. Laboratories. Offered an internship this esteemed genetic research lab, biology graduate Aurora Hall felt like she was living the dream. However, she soon begins to question the commonality of all the locked doors and vague answers from the shady staff. When she finds an abandoned ID badge with access to the highly restricted Section 3, she can't help but take a look. What she finds makes her question why she was picked as an intern, and she is faced with a choice that threatens to uproot everything she knows about science, humanity, and even love. ▪️▪️▪️ I flattened my palm on the cold glass and held my breath. My heart raced as I watched him tentatively lifting his hand to reach mine. Then I saw it. A flash of white in corner of my vision. Turning my focus away from the man, I focused on the white shape behind him. Craning my neck, I tried to inspect it further but my confusion only grew when I recognized it to be a patch of white feathers. Wait...feathers? He must have noticed my gaze because his lips quirked up into a proud smile and suddenly the patch of white grew into an entire wing. No, not just one, two wings...and they were attached to his back. -Rankings- #1 in Creature 3/03/2021 ❤️ #1 in Beast 1/27/2023 ❤️ #1 in Subject 8/27/2022 ❤️ #1 in Dystopia 3/25/2020 ❤️ #1 in Laboratory 4/27/2021 ❤️ #1 in Science-Fantasy 4/21/2023 ❤️ #2 Young Adult 4/18/2023 #2 Strong-Female-Character 12/20/2021 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED [NEW COVER 4/3/2021] [COMPLETED 4/9/2022] *WATTPAD EXCLUSIVE STORY*

After escaping a stalled elevator into a zombie apocalypse, Emily must learn how to trust people again or risk losing everything in this terrifying world. ***** For Emily, every day of the last two years have been a blur. She keeps her head down, takes her college courses online, and only goes out to work at her mandatory internship. But all that changes on the day the office elevator breaks down, leaving her trapped when the screams begin. And when the doors finally open, revealing a dystopian world ruined by bloody teeth and disease, Emily is launched into a terrifying run for her life, caught between the strangers she's not sure she can trust and the man-eating monsters that hunger for her flesh. Now she must learn not only how to survive in this new and dangerous world, but also how to overcome her own inner demons before they cost her something more precious than her life. [[Wattys' Shortlist]] [[Promoted by AMC]] Content and/or Trigger Warning: The story contains some gore, violence, strong language, and dark themes. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]