Alex turned his head to look over his shoulder. Every time something was at the front door in the last twenty-four hours, it meant trouble.
He jogged through the house and into the living room. A tall, lanky man, dressed all in black, stood at the threshold of the door.
All it took was a glance for Alex to know that he could send the scrawny guy into orbit with only a flick of his pinky finger.
The young man's darting eyes settled on Alex. "Oh, thank god. You're not one of them. Help me! Please?"
Alex kept a reasonable distance between himself and the mysterious man. "Who are you?"
The man shuddered. His hands shook with obvious apprehension. "It doesn't matter. Do you live here? Have you seen anything strange?"
"Depends on what you mean by strange," Alex said. "If you count a giant discount version of the Incredible Hulk strange, then yes. We have seen some strange things."
The man stood, unmoving. "Oh god, it was one of them! Wasn't it?"
Alex ignored the man's hysterical rant. Instead, he stepped into the doorway. There was no way he was letting another crazed man inside of the house. "What do you want?"
The man refused to look Alex in the eye and started to pick at his thick black sweater. "I, uh… Wait, are you Alex Ambrose?"
Alex cracked his knuckles and lowered his brow. "I believe that I asked you a question first, kid. So, I'm going to ask you one last time. What. Do. You. Want?"
"Look, this is urgent. I, um," the man stumbled on his words as he checked the woods behind them. In a panic, he reached down, fumbling in his pockets, but before he could find anything, Alex shoved him against the wall with one arm pinned behind his back.
"Who sent you?" Alex asked through gritted teeth.
The man shouted in pain, but he didn't put up any fight. "Ah! Ah! No one! No one sent me!"
Alex twisted his arm, earning another yelp from the man. "Who knows you're here?"
Tears pricked the man's eyes. "No one! I ran away. I'm in grave danger."
Alex scoffed. "How did you find this address?"
The man's voice grew more shrill by the minute. "I followed the super soldiers, and then I found this house. But, please, you don't understand. I need to talk to Alex Ambrose. I have information about the super soldiers."
Alex leaned in until he was breathing down the man's neck. "And what if I don't believe you?"
The man shoved his free arm into his coat pocket. "That isn't an option." He pulled out a USB drive. "You need this. It's the evidence!"
Alex grabbed the drive out of the man's hand. He threw it over his shoulder. "Evidence shmevidence."
In one fell swoop, Alex grabbed both of the man's arms and held them behind his back. "I'm not going to play games here. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't feed you to the wolves."
The man's body stiffened. "Please, please! I escaped! They were going to turn me into one of those things! The super soldiers"
Alex heard footsteps behind him. It was Yvonne and Debbie. Yvonne picked up the USB drive from the living room floor. The man continued with his pleas. "They were going to kill me!"
Her eyes flickered between the USB drive and the man. "They? Who are they?"
The man shook his head. "I have no clue who they were, but they caught me and others. They told us they were going to inject us with a serum."
Alex slightly loosened his grip on the man, causing him to exhale an audible sigh of relief. "I made it out. With that."
The man turned his head as far as he could, catching a glimpse of the girls in his peripheral vision. "I downloaded all the information I could off of one of their servers, and I saved it to that drive. I'm not sure what it is, but I know it's something."
Before Alex could respond, Christopher and Louis stormed into the living room.
Christopher rubbed his temples. "Okay, who are we beating up now?" The young man being restrained by Alex visibly recoiled at Christopher's question.
"We're not beating up anybody." Yvonne said as she walked over to Christopher and handed him the USB. "This guy was taken hostage and almost turned into a super soldier. He brought us evidence, and we're going to repay by kindly releasing him from any karate stronghold we put him in."
Louis shrugged. "So, what, he's like a spy?"
Yvonne raised her hands into the air. "Whatever he is, he's our only source of information, and Alex is about to snap him in half."
With a grunt, Alex reluctantly released the man, causing him to fall to his knees. Debbie immediately rushed to him. "It's alright. Come on. You should take a seat."
The man shook his head. "No, I need to get out of here. I need to find Alex Ambrose."
Debbie lifted her head and nodded toward Alex. "Well, honey, you already did."
After the tension in the room cooled down, Debbie sat next to the man on the couch. Alex and Yvonne blocked the front door, while Christopher and Louis paced back and forth.
Debbie continued to rub the man's shoulder, attempting to be a calming presence. "So, are you sure you can't tell us your name?"
The man hesitated. "My name is Ron. You can call me Ron."
Debbie extended her dainty little hand. "I'm Debbie. I'm sorry about what happened to you, but I'm happy you came here."
Yvonne and Louis simultaneously rolled their eyes. Louis grunted. "Can we stop with all the small talk? We've got some shit to get to the bottom of. Did you see anyone get turned into a super soldier?"
It was clear the memory of the situation pained Ron. "Well, you'd see people before and after, and that told you all you needed to know. But, when you first arrive, you're taken into a briefing room. A doctor of sorts comes in and tells you what is going to happen. Then, you're starved and beaten until they decide to turn you."
Christopher nodded. "Do you have any idea of what they were going to inject you with?"
Ron raised his eyebrow. "No clue, but whatever it was would alter our DNA and brain waves."
Louis crossed his arms. "Huh, so why was everyone scarred?"
"Your bones and muscles would grow so large, they would break through your skin. Then they'd patch you up like Raggedy Ann," Ron explained.
This grabbed Christopher's attention. "Fascinating. What would they use to patch people up?"
Ron put down his glass of water. "The skin of the people who couldn't survive the transition."
Christopher brought his hand to his chin, completely intrigued. "Seriously? Whoever was doing this must have a really excellent skin grafting technique. What about the glitter blood?"
Ron raised his eyebrows at the thought. "You don't want to know."
A chill went down Yvonne's spine as she recalled that fate could have been her own. "How did you end up breaking out of there?"
Ron leaned back into the couch. "I got lucky. When they were moving me from my holding facility, I made a run for it. I snuck down a corridor and hid in a lab coat. I pretended to be a doctor. That's when I heard about Alex and got the USB. Then I ran for my life."
Alex paid close attention to Ron as he spoke. "Who did you meet down there? Remember any names?"
Ron shook his head. "I remember faces. I was chained up there for a while. I could recognize anyone who walked through the facility, but I don't know a single name."
Yvonne jumped up. "Wait one hot second!" She ran to Ron and grabbed his face. "Look at the girl next to you." She turned his head to look at Debbie, then turned him back to her. "SHE is a part of this, isn't she? She's one of the evil people, right?"
Ron removed Yvonne's hands from his face. He turned to Debbie. "This woman right here?"
Yvonne eagerly nodded. "Yes! I knew it!"
Ron grabbed Debbie's hands. "This woman is the most kind, generous and sweet woman I've ever met." He looked at Yvonne. "No, of course, she wasn't there."
While Yvonne's whole face dropped, Debbie smiled warmly at Ron. "Aw, thank you, Ron."
"Hey, Ron," Alex said, shifting everyone's attention toward him. "Get your meaty little paws off Debbie before I shove you up against the wall again."
Ron quickly let go of Debbie's hands and, just for good measure, scooted away from her on the couch.
"I hate to interrupt whatever weird moment this is, but what's on the USB drive, Ron?" Christopher asked.
Ron ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know. I didn't take the time to look for myself, and, to be honest with you, I don't think I want to know. I've already spent too much of my precious life worrying about super soldiers, and I think I'm over it."
Debbie supportively leaned toward Ron. "I get it. I can't imagine what you've been through. You deserve to move past this."
Yvonne dropped her shoulders and sighed. "For once, I agree with Saint Debbie. You deserve to go live your life on your own terms."
Alex widened his stance, blocking the doorway entirely. He glared at Ron. "Are you guys out of your mind? He isn't going anywhere."
The remark had turned Alex's friends against him. Christopher, Louis, Yvonne, and Debbie stared at him with expressions that ranged from contemptuous to confused.
In addition, Ron was not too pleased to hear about his extended stay. "What do you mean I'm not going anywhere?"
Alex crossed his arms. "You're a total stranger. Do you think I'm going to believe some sob story you could have rehearsed on your way here?"
Ron refused to back down. "Are you guys going to let him do this? You're going to be complicit while he kidnaps me?"
The idea of aiding and abetting a kidnapping did not appeal to Yvonne. "Hey, no one is kidnapping anyone. At the very least, we'll just hold you here against your will."
"That's the definition of kidnapping!" Ron shouted.
Christopher stepped in, making a futile attempt to settle the dispute. "Hey, one of the guest rooms has a waterbed. It feels like you're sleeping on the ocean."
Ron threw his hands up in the air. "I get seasick!"
Debbie furrowed her wrinkle-free brow. "Enough, everyone! He's not staying here, and that's that. I believe what he says. Why would he come here and give us damning evidence?"
Alex pinched his lips together. It was as if steam was emanating from his ears. "I can't even believe we're entertaining the idea of letting him go. Right after we get brutally attacked, a random stranger shows up on my doorstep, breaks down my door, and claims he has the solution to all of our problems."
Debbie nodded. "It's truly a miracle."
In a fury, Alex raised his hands to his head. "No, Debbie, it isn't a miracle. It's a stupid ploy that you're all falling for."
Christopher cleared his throat, passively bringing the attention to himself. "We have already killed someone in the last twenty-four hours. We don't need to add abduction to our list of crimes."
Yvonne walked into the center of the room. "Gentlemen and Debbie, I really would not like to go to prison any time soon. I think murdering Ethan can be justified as self-defense, but Christopher is right. Abducting Ron is going to be a really hard sell."
Yvonne turned to face Alex. "I know you don't want him to hurt us, and you don't want to let him go and let all hell break loose. But there are so many people missing, and we have the chance to let one of them return home, and I think we would be shitty people if we made him stay here with us."
Alex groaned. "Fine, but I let him go and he runs back to tell his little super soldier army where I live, I'm going to say I told you so. I'm going to say I told you so so many times."
Everyone looked at each other. The group all shrugged simultaneously.
"I can live with that," Yvonne said.
Christopher nodded. "Yeah, me too."
"I really don't care about what anyone says because I'm very secure in who I am," Debbie added.
An angry sigh escaped from Alex's lips. "Ron, you're free to go."
And, with that, Ron disappeared into the forest.
Everyone sat in silence, mainly because they all were reaching the point of exhaustion. Alex, however, stomped over to Christopher and grabbed the USB drive out of his hands. "Now, before we crack this little puppy open. I think everyone here owes someone an apology."
Christopher rubbed his temples. "Ron already left, so it's a little late for you to offer him an apology."
Alex rolled his eyes. "You all owe Debbie a big apology. You all thought she was guilty despite my constant protests, and now Ron proved that you were all wrong."
Debbie sat on the couch, batting her eyelashes over her big doe eyes. "It's okay, Alex. I've already forgiven them."
Christopher stood up first. "Alex is right, Debbie. I owe you an apology. You've been extremely helpful since you've been here, and I was, admittedly, a little taken back when you first got here."
Debbie stood up and glided over to Christopher. She gave him a big hug. When she pulled away, he looked stunned. "Oh, my god. That was the most amazing hug I've ever received. It was warm and cozy, but not overbearing."
Debbie smiled, nodding at Christopher as if she knew exactly what he was talking about.
With that, Louis stood up. "Okay, I want in on that. Debbie, I'm really sorry that I thought you were kind of creepy. You're a nice lady."
"Oh, Louis. You don't have to say that." Debbie opened her arms and embraced him.
When she let go, his face portrayed the same sort of awe that Christopher's had. "Oh, wow. You smell like fresh strawberries and vanilla frosting."
Debbie flashed her classic, warmhearted smile as she flipped her hair. "Oh, yes. That's what the nurse said the second I emerged from my mother's womb. It's my natural scent."
Louis nodded, dumbfounded. As he walked away, everyone's eyes went to Yvonne. She didn't move from the couch. She wasn't willing to forgive Debbie, but she was able to play nice. "Debbie, I guess you weren't trying to murder me after all. Congrats on not being a murderer and smelling like fucking fruit."
Everyone in the room fell silent. Alex's eyes went wide with nervous anticipation. Debbie lunged toward Yvonne… and wrapped her arms around her. "Thank you so much, Yvonne. That means so much to me!"