Alex, Yvonne, Louis, and Christopher stood around the dead body. Mouths opened wide.
"See, what did I tell you?" Yvonne asked.
Alex couldn't take his eyes off the super soldier. "Frankenstein's monster was a vast understatement, Yvonne."
Yvonne gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "Wait, guys! Shit, shit, shit! Did we just kill an innocent victim?"
Louis and Christopher shook their heads simultaneously. Unamused, Louis glared at the woman. "He tried to kill you, Yvonne."
Yvonne backed away from the circle they formed around the corpse. "No, guys. Think about it. Ethan went missing. I mean, we don't know how he became…" She pointed to the body. "Like that."
Alex tried to reason with Yvonne. "You have no idea what happened between his disappearance and what occurred tonight."
Christopher tapped his finger to his chin. "Yes, he very well could have sought this out. In my opinion, it looks like he took body modification to an extreme level."
Yvonne was wrapped in her emotions. "Body modifications? Are you kidding me? You think he chose to do that to himself?"
Christopher shrugged with indifference. "You would be surprised by the crazy things people do to their bodies. Do you know how many people come into the hospital with foreign objects stuck up their–"
Alex stopped Christopher mid-sentence. "Don't want to know."
Yvonne took a slight step back. "Okay, I know our lives were at stake, but there was that news report, and I can't help but think this guy has a whole entire family looking for him. Are we going to let them just wonder where he is for the next two decades? Leaving them with the hope he'll come back? I can't live with that."
Alex wrapped his arm around Yvonne. He looked her directly in the eyes. "But that's not for you to worry about. I'll make sure to take care of it."
Yvonne wiped a tear off her cheek. "Okay. That makes me feel a little better."
Stepping away from her, Alex addressed everyone in the room. "Everyone, we have no idea what we're dealing with here. It sounds like he wasn't the last of these super soldiers, and it also sounds like there's another one lurking around this forest."
Christopher raised an eyebrow. "I can perform an autopsy on the body. It'll help us get to the bottom of what's going on. Sure, it'll be a little makeshift, but I'll be as thorough as I can be."
Her face twisted into a pinched, displeased expression. "We're cutting him open?"
With a curt nod, Christopher leaned down toward the body. "Yes. It's the best way for me to get a look at him."
Trying to decide his course of action, Christopher rubbed the back of his neck. "I could use a scalpel."
Alex pursed his lips together. "Hm, would you settle for a butter knife?"
Squeezing her eyes shut, Yvonne rubbed her forehead. "Oh, my god. We're about to desecrate a human corpse."
"Technically, he isn't a human. He's a super soldier or whatever," Christopher said.
Yvonne's hands slid down her face. "Well, will you at least try not to maim him?"
Christopher looked at the gash on his head. "No more than he already has been."
His comment garnered a chuckle from Louis. "Maybe we should examine what he's got going on externally before we cut him open."
Christopher lifted the arm of the corpse so that it was at his eye level. "On his left arm, there are scars covering his epidermis, but he still has some stitches that remain. The stitches are deep. They look like they go past the hypodermis into the muscle tissue. Let's see. His deltoid is definitely enlarged." He massaged the shoulder muscle. "That's at least triple the size of the average deltoid. That follows suit for the rest of his arm muscles. Let's see his flexors."
As Christopher continued his examination, Alex searched around the kitchen, gathering a variety of mason jars, cups and steak knives. "Okay, Chris, what do you think? Will this do the trick?"
While Christopher did not stop examining the shape of the corpse's toe, he did raise an eyebrow. "Do you have surgical gloves?"
Alex set down the materials next to Christopher. "I'm afraid I don't. I wasn't prepared to do a DIY autopsy in my garage. Could you settle for gardening gloves?"
With a roll of his eyes, Christopher carefully released the foot and grabbed a knife. "I think I will pass."
As soon as the blade of the knife hit Ethan's skin, BAM! Yvonne collapsed onto the ground. Immediately, Alex rushed to her side. Christopher continued his work.
Alex held Yvonne in his arms. He fanned her face. He noticed her eyes flutter. Relief washed over him. "Alright, Yvonne."
Gradually, she stirred in his arm. When her eyes opened, she was confused. "What is going on?"
Alex stroked the side of her cheek. "You fainted when Christopher cut open the corpse of the super soldier who tried to kill you."
Yvonne sighed. "I think I'll just go back to fainting."
Christopher, who had been giving Louis instructions on what to do with the body, interrupted the conversation. "You should probably take Yvonne out of here and get her some water. She probably needs a little sugar in her system and maybe something light to eat."
Alex ushered Yvonne toward the backyard. While leaving, she threw her head back in a dramatic fashion. "Can I have wine instead?"
Christopher didn't even bother to respond as the pair left the room. He carefully cut further into the corpse. What Louis and Christopher saw next shocked them.
Blood poured out of Ethan's chest cavity, but it wasn't normal blood. The blood was sparkling, glittery, just glistening in his body. Christopher wiped some on his finger and held it up to the light. "What in the Edward Cullen is this? Give me something to put this blood in."
Louis handed the doctor a glass, and he filled it with the corpse's glittery blood. Christoper squinted at the bottle, trying to make sense of what he was staring at. "Maybe if we cut open the hump on his back, we'll find a piñata."
Staring blankly at the corpse, Louis was at a loss for words. Christopher's curiosity got the better of him. "I can't resist. I have to get a look at his heart."
With precise, fast-paced movements, he ripped out the heart. Nearly unrecognizable, the organ had been completely altered. It had the texture of rich soil. "Hard to tell whether or not this happened after we killed him."
Louis nearly vomited at the sight. He tried to keep his composure. "Does that matter?"
Christopher carefully secured the heart in a jar. "It does to me. All of his organs seem to look like this, but his muscular cells are well-constructed. All of this doesn't answer anything. It just poses more questions. Do you think we have the time to construct a lab in Alex's basement?"
Louis's eyes narrowed. "Don't be ridiculous."
The doctor folded his hands in his lap. "I do think his corpse needs to be studied in a legitimate fashion. Are you sure you've never seen anything like this? This isn't some kind of demon thing?"
Louis shook his head. "If it was, do you think I would have wasted all this time?"
Christopher let out a heavy sigh. "I have a private floor in the hospital. I think we have to take him there to conduct a more comprehensive examination."
With a crisp nod, Louis rose to his feet. "Sounds like a plan."
Christopher's face scrunched together. His nose wrinkled as he waved his hand in front of his nose. "Jesus, he's starting to smell."
***
After her fainting episode, Alex took Yvonne to sit outside on the back patio. Alex returned with a glass of water and a package of Oreos. "Look what I've got!"
Yvonne's eyes lit up. "Doubled-stuffed?"
Turning around, Alex held an unopened package of double-stuffed Oreos. "Of course, they're double-stuffed. I'm not a madman."
Yvonne reached for the package and yanked it out of Alex's hand. "Don't mind if I do."
Alex took a seat next to Yvonne. He draped his arm along the back of her chair. He watched as she stuffed her face full of her favorite, chocolatey sweets.
Alex flashed Yvonne a wistful smile. "I missed hanging out, just the two of us."
Yvonne nodded, absent-mindedly toying with the collar of the oversized shirt Alex had lent her. "Me too."
Alex moved his thumb alongside Yvonne's shoulder. He drew tiny circles on her back. "It's nice to feel close to you again."
While goosebumps formed on Yvonne's skin, Louis and Christopher burst through the back door, cutting the tension. Yvonne jumped up. "What happened?"
Alex pinched his nose. "You smell awful."
Christopher sniffed himself. "Yeah, I guess we do. Well, the autopsy was interesting. I'm not really sure it provided any concrete evidence so much as it just raised more and more questions."
Alex crossed his legs. "What kind of questions? How'd he get so many broken bones? We know the answer to that one."
Christopher held up his blood stained hands. "More like why did he have sparkling, glittery blood coupled with a few pairs of black, dead, mushy organs? The construction of his muscular system was unlike anything I've ever seen. I'm going to need to examine him much more. And I think I need to get him to the hospital."
Alex nodded in agreement. "Understood."
The four sat in bitter silence, processing everything they had been through. Yvonne stared in front of her, trying to figure out exactly what everything meant. "I mean, I guess having glitter in your veins makes you think you're an invincible God."
Christophe's shoulders tensed. "I don't know how I'd deal with an outbreak of super soldiers unless you have some kind of miracle drug, Ambrose."
Considering Christopher's remark, Alex reclined back in his chair. "I actually think it could be a drug that's causing this. Think of someone like Riley. He'd have no problem injecting people with a serum that tears them apart, and he would certainly have no problem stitching them back together again."
Yvonne fiddled with a fingernail she had broken at some point during the night. "I thought so too, but it can't be. Riley's company is going under. They're wrapped up in this huge scandal now. When would he have had the time to breed an army of creatures?"
Alex bit the inside of his cheek. "I don't know. I mean, I'm not saying Riley definitely was the one who puppeteered this whole event. He's not the only murderous bastard who exists in the world."
Still trying to piece together what seemed to be an impossible puzzle, Yvonne drummed her fingers on the arm of her chair. "Wait for a second! Okay, so these guys went missing, right? What if they're actually, like, werewolves? By day, they're these normal guys, but at night, they turn into these beasts who hunt others to try to get them to join their pack! That's how Ethan went missing."
Christopher huffed at Yvonne. "So, you're suggesting that Ethan was turned into a human version of a werewolf?"
Yvonne nodded with sheer confidence. "Exactly. That's why no one has noticed any super soldiers running amok yet. They only turn at night. What else have we got?"
Circling his hand in the air, Christopher tried to come up with a reasonable hypothesis. "It could be some form of radiation treatment gone wrong. I mean, I've never seen radiation treatment go that wrong."
Eventually, after Louis listened to everyone's thoughts, soaking it all in like a sponge, he spoke up. "I think the answer is clear. We know exactly what this is."
Yvonne peered up at him. "What, Louis?"
Louis closed his eyes as if in preparation for the response from his peers. "It's obviously the government."
The others groaned. Then, simultaneously, they all shouted at him. "Not again, Louis."
Dead serious, he shook his pointer finger at the other three. "Now, you have to hear me out. This has been the government since the beginning. Who has outright denied the Demon Sect existed? The government. And still, who has tried multiple times to blame the Demon Sect for worldwide tragedies? Yes, that's right, the U.S. government. Do I need to remind you all of a little event that happened in a little town called Roswell?"
Yvonne glared at him, shaking her head. "You do not need to remind us."
Louis reminded them. "That's where it all began. The day that unidentified, flying object crash-landed on U.S. soil, everything changed. Truman was an absolute menace. Not only is there proof that there were extraterrestrials on that aircraft, but there is proof that the government stole them and harvested their blood. That's why the FBI has so much power, and that's how we landed on the moon."
Yvonne rested her head on her hands. She attempted to keep her eyes open. "So the moon landing was real?"
Louis raised his hand to his chest as if he was shocked. "Of course, the moon landing was real, Yvonne. Who would lie about something like that?"
Christopher dismissively waved his hand in their direction. "Okay, Louis, get back to the point. "
Louis aggressively put his hands in his pockets. "George W. Bush created the super soldier serum."
Christopher rolled his eyes. "If it was during the Bush administration, then the serum was probably created by Dick Cheney."
Louis looked at Chris, relieved. "Exactly. You know, Dick Cheney was actually a part of the Demon Sect."
Alex nodded. "Of course, he was, Louis." He glanced around the room, taking in the sight of his exhausted friends looking a bit worse for wear. "Okay, so our best theory so far is werewolf men. Gang, looks like our well has run dry. I say we retire to the living room and try to relax."
The group moseyed back into the house.
When Yvonne and Christopher walked into the living room, Louis was already lying on the couch. After waltzing over, Christopher slapped Louis on the head. "Move over, you bum."
As the friends settled in, a sense of normalcy washed over them. Sure, there was a corpse in the middle of the floor, but at least they knew they were out of harm's way.
Yvonne found herself drifting off to sleep while the men conversed amongst themselves. As her eyelids slowly came to a close, a loud bang outside woke her up.
In a flash, Alex stood up, ready to fight. "Not again."
Louis and Christopher followed suit, assuming their own battle stances.
The front door of the living room flew open. Yvonne screamed as she saw a tall, dark figure standing in the porch light. She knew exactly who it was. Her whole body convulsed. She was barely able to find her voice inside her chest. "It's… it's her. She's come back to get me. I knew she was behind all of this."
The figure slowly made its way into the room, its long dark hair flowing in the wind of the night. She stepped through the door into the living room.
Yvonne screamed in complete terror. She shook as she attempted to pick up the fire extinguisher.
Alex threw down his hands and rushed to the door.
Yvonne watched as he wrapped the woman in his arms. "Debbie! What are you doing here?!"