Fifteen stories underground, Alex stood at the edge of a super soldier precipice. Ten beasts lined the long, narrow hallway. They pounded their fists together and stomped their feet. It was about to turn into an all-out brawl.
It came as no particular surprise to Alex. He had figured once he finally reached the facility where Riley held Yvonne, Debbie, Louis and Christopher hostage, he would encounter multitudes of super soldiers guarding the fortress. Alex was confident that he was ready for the fight. After all, he had already taken down every soldier, cyborg and hybrid he had faced up to this point. What's another ten or fifty soldiers?
"Let me guess," Alex said with a sly smirk. "You were born to kill me. It's your only purpose."
The hulking, overgrown men growled at him. They took no time to repeat the monologue with which they had been indoctrinated. Two super soldiers charged at Alex with the full force of a football team. Both of the combatants reached for him at the same time from opposite directions, and when they did, Alex ducked out of the way. BOOM! They smacked into one other with a discordant crunch. Each stumbled backward, off balance, giving Alex the opportunity to strike. He grabbed both of them by their straggly hair and clunked their heads together as if they were cymbals. The super soldiers dropped to the floor with a loud thud.
Alex had not a moment to spare. Another super soldier had already picked up the pursuit. Alex turned around and nailed the beast with a spinning hook kick. The super soldier toppled to the ground.
The tally so far was Alex, three, and super soldiers, zero.
Alex used the creature's lifeless body as a ramp. He ran up its back, using it as a springboard to jump off, hurling himself toward yet another deformed beast that had gotten in on the chase.
This super soldier came prepared. He snatched Alex out of the air and pinned his prey to the ground. Then, the soldier pulled out a Bowie knife from behind his back. He snickered as he raised the blade to Alex's throat. Upon seeing the knife, Alex used his well-honed thigh muscles to kick the beast off of him. When Alex managed to get back on his feet, he ripped the knife from the scarred creature's massive hand. In one swift motion, he slit the super soldier's throat.
Alex didn't move his head. He didn't even look up. He just acted out of instinct and threw the knife at another soldier sprinting toward him. Call it a marksman's ability. The knife struck the soldier in the jugular. Blood spewed everywhere as the creature cried in pain.
Alex's reign of terror was nowhere near its end. He pushed forward, ripping the Bowie knife out of the fallen super soldier's neck. It wasn't long before the weapon came in handy. This time, the blade helped Alex take out three more super soldiers. This group was stabbed in the chest.
Only three super soldiers remained. Problem was, one of them posed the biggest threat of all. That final super soldier stood at the end of the hallway, wielding a giant flamethrower. The heat of the flames scorched Alex where he stood. Game on.
Alex knew he had only one chance to defeat the flame-throwing attacker without being burnt to a crisp. He collared one of the remaining super soldiers and used it as a semi-human shield. The beast went up in flames, turning to ash.
The shield had done its job. It gave Alex a chance to slide across the floor, ducking underneath the flames and the burning flesh to take this fire-breathing dragon by surprise. He shot up behind the flame-throwing super soldier and took out the dragon's knees. Alex flipped the creature on its back. The flamethrower fell to the floor, its fire extinguished by Alex's heroics in the hallway.
As Alex stomped on the face of the creature, low, guttural sounds emanated from its throat.
The last super soldier watched the other that was laying on the ground. Alex purposefully wiped from his shoe the super soldier's blood that had gotten onto the ground. The move did not escape the final super soldier who was left. Trembling with fear, the last soldier standing knew he didn't stand a chance.
Alex retrieved the flamethrower. He raised his eyebrow and smiled menacingly at the last living super soldier who stood in his way. "Hasta la vista, baby."
With the roar of flames, the deformed creature melted into a pile of super soldier goo.
Until now, Alex had never realized how handy flamethrowers could be. After tossing the machine to the ground, he rushed to the huge metal doors.
There were no handles. He tried to pull at the partition in the middle of the doors, but he had no luck. The doors wouldn't budge.
A light at the very top of the door turned on. It flashed red. A female, robot voice greeted him. "Hello, Alex Ambrose. Congratulations on remaining alive. At least up to this point. Please say the password."
Alex bit his bottom lip. "Password. God, let's see. What was his silly little nursery rhyme? Go down the hall. What came after hall? This is ridiculous."
"Ridiculous is not the password. Please provide the password. If you take too long, you will be obliterated." The robot voice reminded him.
Alex put his hands on his hips and tapped his foot. "Uh, let's see. Naysmith. The password is Naysmith."
"No," the voice replied.
Alex rolled his eyes. "Let's try 'The French Revolution?' He seems to be obsessed with that."
"Again, you are wrong, and you're very stupid. This is your last guess. If you do not state the correct password, I will release a deadly toxin into the air, and you will die."
Outraged, Alex dropped his head into his hands. He kicked the wall to the side of the door. "Shit, what was the rhyme? Fourteen plus one is fun. Run and done or whatever. Reach the hall, you'll have it all. Then, what did he say? Don't budge?" He looked up at the flashing light. "Is that it? Budge?"
As soon as he said budge, the light turned green. "Congratulations, Alex Ambrose. You survived. So far."
The massive metal door parted, and as soon as there was a small opening, Alex weaseled his way through it.
Debbie, Yvonne, Louis and Christopher were locked up in the dark and chained to the wall.
Debbie lifted her head when she saw the light spill in from the door. She braced herself, expecting their visitor to be Riley or another cyborg. She was never more grateful to be wrong. Their savior had arrived. "Alex! It's Alex! Oh, my god!"
It was a miracle. Yvonne couldn't contain her joy. "Alex! You're not the security guard, and most importantly, you're back!"
Christopher shook the chains that constrained him. "Hurry up! Get us out of here!"
When Alex entered the room, the lights turned on automatically. He peered up at the ceiling. "Why does Riley keep doing that?"
Louis shot Alex a dirty look. "Who cares about the lights? Come on, man. We have to run. If I'm chained up for another minute, I'm going to lose my mind."
Alex pointed up. "You know he's watching us, right? He'll know if I let you guys out."
The four hostages had become all too familiar with Riley watching their every move. Yvonne scowled. "I don't care what that disgusting man knows! Kiss my ass, Naysmith! We can handle ourselves. You gotta get us out, Alex. Then we can take it from there."
Alex glanced around the room. It was a metallic fortress. There wasn't much decoration, just a giant wall that his friends were attached to and what looked like a smoke machine by the door.
He noticed the wall behind him was filled with a huge panel of buttons and switches. Alex pointed at it. "Hey, what are those?"
Yvonne attempted to shrug, but the way she was chained to the wall allowed very limited mobility. "No idea."
Alex studied the wall. He figured it was worth a shot. He ran his hand over the switches. There were thousands. "One of these has to release the cuffs around your wrists and ankles. Should we try it?"
Debbie leaned her head forward. "I don't think we have many other options, Lexiboo."
"Yeah, Lexiboo," Yvonne said. "Flip a freaking switch, and let's skedaddle."
Alex tried the switch that was the closest to him. It was black and sleek.
At first, nothing happened.
"Try another!" Yvonne yelled, and when she did, a huge, rotating blade dropped down from the ceiling, threatening to chop Debbie, and only Debbie, into pieces.
Everyone screamed, but no one as loud as Debbie. She shrieked in sheer, abject terror. "Ah! Oh, my god! Flip it again, Alex!"
Alex punched the switch, and the spinning motion stopped. The blade retracted into the ceiling.
Alex grimaced. "Well, that was a close call. What do you think? Should I keep trying more switches?"
"NO!" Debbie screamed.
Yvonne, Louis and Christopher all shrugged and nodded their heads simultaneously. "Yeah."
Debbie whipped her head toward them. "Are you kidding me? I almost got sawed in half!"
Louis clicked his tongue. "Yeah, but we really don't have any other options. Hit it again, Ambrose."
With Louis's permission, Alex pressed a huge red button. It began to flash. "Hopefully, this will do the trick."
The ground underneath the hostages started to rumble. With a loud crack, two panels of the floor beneath the four prisoners parted, revealing a pool of water.
Yvonne looked down. What she saw nearly made her heart stop. The giant shark swam underneath them.
"Oh, my god! Alex! No, no, no! Press it again!" Yvonne shrieked
Alex, unable to see what was going on, stepped forward. "What?"
The shark jumped out of the water, chomping its jaws while it was airborne. Louis was lucky the fish didn't bite his foot clean off.
He yelped like a little girl. "OH, MY GOD!"
Alex smashed the button until the floor returned to normal.
They took a moment to catch their breath.
Yvonne could not remove her eyes from the floor. Fear paralyzed her. "Okay, I think we should just stay here forever. It's not so bad. They'll just turn us into super soldiers. Maybe I could live with that."
"I can't!" Debbie bellowed. "They have terrible skin!"
Alex took a deep breath. He glanced over his shoulder. "Let's try one more."
The dark cloud of a brooding scowl appeared on Louis's face. "Over my dead body."
Against everyone's wishes, Alex flipped another, plain-looking switch. "Well, I guess it may be."
The hostages grimaced in anticipation. The sound of gears grinding together echoed throughout the cavernous room.
With no warning, the clasps around the hostages' wrists and ankles snapped off. The restraints fell to the floor. And Alex's friends were free.
Alex rushed to them. He wrapped them all in his arms. "I was worried I was never going to see you again."
Christopher and Louis let go, but Yvonne and Debbie lingered. Yvonne's voice trembled. "I knew you'd be back. I knew he couldn't keep you from us."
Alex pulled away, touching both women on the shoulder. "Don't speak too soon. I have no clue what's going to happen."
"Wait!" Yvonne said while looking around the room. She ran to a corner. "I thought I saw… this!"
She held up a fire extinguisher and showed it off to the crew. "Debbie and I could do some damage with this. We can stay and help you fight Riley."
Over the days that passed, Alex had to watch as friends suffered, all because he had a vicious rivalry with a madman. He was done putting his friends in danger. "No. You all have to go, now. I can't ask you to risk your lives. The four of you should get out of here together. Gary is waiting outside. Get to him. He'll protect you."
Christopher pulled everyone in for one last group hug. "Hey, we're all going to get out of this. Alex Ambrose is the man with the plan, and he's going to save us all." He patted Alex on the shoulder. "We'll see you on the other side."
Christopher, Louis and Yvonne with her fire extinguisher ran out of the torture chamber. Debbie lingered behind.
She kissed Alex, passionately. When she pulled away, she held his face in her hands. "Riley said you wouldn't come. I didn't believe that for a second. You would never forget about me. You'd never hurt me. That's why I love you, Alex Ambrose."
Alex grabbed her hands in his. "I love you too, Debbie Clifton. You go ahead with the others. They're going to need you."
Debbie followed the others out of the room.
Alex watched her as she left. Guilt washed over him. I know I'm going to break her heart when the truth comes out. I just hope she'll forgive me. It's all in the name of saving the world, he thought.
Meanwhile, Yvonne, Christopher, Louis and Debbie ran down the hallway of dead super soldiers.
Louis sniffed the air. "It smells like burnt chicken. Does anyone know how to get out of here?"
Yvonne led the group with her fire extinguisher. "We have to find the staircase. I think it's over here!"
Yvonne was right. The group followed her to the staircase, but Todrick Dangles stood at the bottom, clipboard in hand, as if he had been waiting for them. "Oh, you four didn't think you were leaving, did you?"
Yvonne lifted the fire extinguisher and held it menacingly in front of her. "Move Dangles, or your ass is grass."
The assistant grinned from ear to ear. "You really think you can win against Mr. Naysmith? You're absolute fools. Give up, now. Maybe he'll spare you in the end."
Before Yvonne crashed the fire extinguisher over the tiny man's head, a tiny meow interrupted the interaction. Everyone turned around.
Budge the cat raced down the hallway toward Dangles.
Debbie put her hands on her knees. "Here, kitty-kitty!"
Dangles furrowed his brow. "Budge, you slow down this instant!"
Budge jumped, leaping toward Dangles. He dug his tiny claws into the assistant's shoulder. Then he scratched him across the face, clawing his eye out.
Dangles collapsed, wailing in agony. "You stupid, impudent cat! I will have Mr. Naysmith put you down!"
Yvonne, Debbie, Christopher and Louis hopped over Dangles. Before leaving, Yvonne and Debbie turned back to the kitty who had come to their rescue.
"Thank you, Budge!" Yvonne said.
As the two women continued up the stairs, Debbie called back to the cat. "I promise, one day we'll come back for you! Or Alex will save you! Until then, Budge!"
"Okay," Yvonne said as they ran up the steps. "We just have to run out of here and then we should be good."
The four managed to make it out of the building, seeing daylight for the first time in hours. Debbie dropped to the ground. "Oh, thank god. This was the worst day of my life."
Yvonne threw the fire extinguisher to the side, and she wrapped her arms around Gary. "Super soldier horse! I never thought I'd be so happy to see you!"
Louis and Christopher high-fived. Then Christopher turned back to the building. "Well, now we just have to hope Alex makes it out alive."
***
Alex stood in the torture chamber, alone.
The lights in the room went off. He couldn't see a thing.
He heard Riley, whose voice was closer than it had been before. "Finally, I have you exactly where I want you."