[ WP ] A terrifying organism composed of pure fear and horror has escaped from the facility where you go to work as a scientist . The rest of the staff are dead . If it gets out , it will cause mass destruction to the population . You are humankind only hope .

I sprint through the door, turn, and smash a hand into the emergency seal button. The heavy barrier slides shut, and I hear the reassuring *clunk* of a dozen steel bolts sliding into place. Containment Protocol E is now in place. I suspect that it wo n't be any more effective than Protocols A through D. They're all really the same plan, except with progressively fewer people still alive and on the right side of the quarantine. By now, I might be the only one left. 
 
 The creature is Pure Fear. Emotions so powerful, so concentrated, they started to have a physical effect on the world. We do n't know exactly how that works, but that's why the facility was built. We figured out how to condense the tiny fractions of emotion in our minds and ground them in the physical world. Imagine, a psychiatrist who could provide a depressed patient with Pure Joy, or a platoon of soldiers supported by Pure Bravery. There was nearly unlimited potential. 
 
 The problem was the spillover effects. The Pures do strange things to reality in their vicinity. Pure Calm could freeze liquids around it; `` calming'' any motion in the vicinity. Pure Anger would periodically set its containment system on fire; we had to abandon that project. And Pure Fear... Pure Fear was a nightmare. It did things to *flesh, * tormented and twisted its victims. Fear is our sense of danger, and Pure Fear was that danger made manifest. 
 
 For the record, I think trying to produce Pure Fear was a terrible idea. I stuck to safer projects like Confusion. Never understood what that one was doing, but that's sort of the nature of the beast. 
 
 I need to keep running. That barrier wo n't stop it for long. Maybe it'll manifest claws that can shear through steel, or maybe it'll turn into flesh-melting gas that seeps through the door's seals. Maybe it's already in the room and it's just been toying with me and I need to get out of here before it... 
 
 I'm halfway down the next hallway before I get ahold of myself again. I ca n't run away. It *wants* me to be afraid. It wants to drive me into a blind panic. It wants me to run away and not think about what will happen if I let it escape onto the surface. I need to stop it here. Think, man! Think! What's still available in Containment Level 4 that might stop this? 
 
 The handbook says I'm supposed to activate the Emotion Suppressors mounted at strategic choke-points around the containment zone. Those will reverse the condenser effect that holds a Pure together, making it disperse harmlessly into the ether. The mighty Fear reduced to a few wisps of nervousness. 
 
 As if I believed the handbook. We'd tried the Suppressors three times already. The first time, nobody survived to reach the controls. The second time, it went through the air ducts. One hole in the containment system, that's all it took for it to get out. We never even *saw* it, we just heard screams from the security station and knew we had to start running again. 
 
 The third time, it just laughed at the Suppressors. The entire facility was *full* of Fear, it regrew faster than we could hurt it. It seemed to *play* with them, letting ribbons of Fear get shredded off, then molding them into smaller monsters that displayed all the ferocity of their parent. The Pure has grown more cruel and intelligent with every victim; I bet it's already got something special planned for the next fool who runs straight for the security systems. 
 
 My skin's crawling again, just thinking about it. Is this a natural, sensible fear, or is it that creature's influence, telling me it's useless to resist and I should just run away? I think it's sensible. 
 
 I could try to reach the facility's self-destruct. The Pure has taken a lot of punishment, but a kiloton of instant sunshine could still do the job. I think. *I* certainly wo n't survive. Call that a last resort. I'm still holding out hope that there's a way that wo n't... that's it! 
 
 I take off running again. Not a moment too soon, I can hear the disgusting snap and crunch of giant jaws behind me. It must have gotten through the door. Something acidic splatters on the wall beside me as I turn a corner, melting sizzling holes in my lab coat. I see the sign I'm looking for up ahead. *Condenser Lab 4*. The only Condenser still outside of lockdown. 
 
 I slam the door shut and push over a filing cabinet in front of it for a quick barricade. I run for the control console, flipping switches hurriedly. There's one thing that might be able to stop Pure Fear. Pure Hope. 
 
 I just hope I can find enough of it in my heart.
