Vincent was talking to a guy with red hair and blue eyes which I'm assuming is Scott. A boy with red hair and brown eyes was listening. I'm going to guess he's Morgan. I came to a stop beside Vincent. "Hey," I said shyly.
Scott looked at me. "Sapphire?" I nodded and he hugged me. Then he stepped back. "Looks like we all got mom's hair."
Morang hugged me next. "I've been wanting to meet you for a long time."
I smiled. "I wish I could say the same but I only found out about you yesterday." I stepped back and looked at Scott. "You got mom's eyes, I got dad's, and Morgan got mom's sister's eyes."
"Seems like it," Scott agreed.
I turned and looked at the barn. "Shall we go look?"
Scott nodded and we walked over to it. When we were standing in front of the door I felt the memory of the last time I was here slap me in the face. I swallowed hard. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" Vincent asked watching me closely.
"Yes," I replied but I didn't reach for the door handle. Was I read? I thought I was. Am I ready to see the blood stains that I knew were there? Maybe. Was I ready to know that, where those blood stains are, was the last place my parents had been? I hope so. I breathed slowly then ground my teeth together and opened the stupid door.
My eyes instantly landed on the blood stains. I ripped them away and stepped inside as I forced my eyes to look around. Surgical instruments, test tubes, and needles were scattered around. Scott and Vincent start looking in every cage. There was a desk with a computer on it in the corner. I walked over to it while Morgan searched for a light switch. When he found it, he turned it on. I glanced at him then looked at the desktop. I sat in the chair and turned it on. Dad's lock screen was of him, Mom, and me. I stared at it for a few minutes then started trying to figure out what his password was. I tried his birthday and it worked. Scott, Morgan, and Vincent came over. "I wonder why the electricity hasn't been turned off," Scott said.
"We're lucky it wasn't," I said as I clicked on the files. One was called 'Monsters'. Another was called 'Creating'. 'In Progress', 'Training', and 'Antivenoms' were what the others were called. "He was making them and then trying to train them," I muttered.
Morgan nodded. "He made the antivenoms in case he was hit with their poisons too."
"I bet the 'Monsters' file is the list of the monsters he'd already made," Scott said as he read the names of the files over my shoulder.
"'Creating' might be the ones he was planning to make and 'In Progress' might be the ones he was in the middle of making," Vincent said as he too read over my shoulder and thought it out.
I clicked on the 'Monsters' file. "Fangtor, Puffer, Airrenter, Slasher, Steelfang, and FleshEater," I read. "There's like fifty different monsters on this thing."
"I've never heard of most of those," Vincent said. "What's a Slasher? What's a Steelfang?"
I clicked on those names. "'A Slasher has sharp claws, orange eyes, and is covered in red fur. The claws are poisonous too.'"
"Dad probably has to have all the antidotes in the 'Anitvenom' file," Morgan murmured.
I nodded. "I'll print those out after I read Steelfang." They all nodded. "A Steelfang has steel-like teeth, black eyes, claws, and is covered in black fur. It isn't poisonous but is still very deadly.' Even though it has no venom. Huh." I got out of that file and printed out the antidote recipes for all the monsters listed in that file.
"He's made fifty monsters and we only know four of them. That's bad," Scott said.
I stacked the antidote papers. "Yes, but we have these which will help us a lot." I looked toward the barn door and froze. "Guys," I gasped.
The looked. "Crap," Vincent grumbled. "The one monster we don't have antivenom for has to show up. We are seriously screwed."
The Slasher looked at us but didn't attack which made me think there was something wrong.
Then I noticed that the fur on its left hind leg was a darker shade of red than the rest of its fur. Something else was telling me this monster wasn't going to hurt us. "I want to try something," I said suddenly.
"What?" Scott asked.
I stood. "It's hurt and it's not attacking. I want to get closer."
"Did you not hear me?" Vincent asked. "We don't have the antivenom for that thing!"
I glared at him. "Will you shut up? It won't hurt us." I started walking toward it slowly. It stiffened but didn't move. When I was two feet away, I sat down. "I won't hurt you," I said softly. It watched me for a minute then slowly limped toward me. I held out a hand and it pushed its head against it. I watched it retract its claws and it started purring as I ran my fingers through its fur. "You're a handsome boy," I murmured. Then I stopped petting him and dug in a drawer beside me. I pulled out some bandages. "Can I fix your leg?"
It flisked its tail then moved and I quickly cleaned and bandaged the wound. "It's like a cat," Morgan said suddenly."
I nodded and stood. "Dad added stuff to a cat and it created the Slasher." I watched it rub against my legs. "You need a name." I thought for a few minutes. "I suppose Slash is a good name. What do you think?"
He purred.
I smiled. "Then I guess that's settled."
"Wait, you're planning to keep that thing?" Vincent asked.
I looked at him in the eyes. "Yes, and his name is Slash. Please, use it."
Morgan came over and Slash met him at the halfway point. He allowed Morgan to pet him. "Wow," Morgan said. Soon they were all petting him and I could tell he was enjoying it which made me roll my eyes. Once a cat, always a cat.
I texted Everest and her parents to let them know I was bringing home a friend. I told them what we found and what the friend was. Everest texted back that she couldn't wait to see Slash and her parents said that as long as he won't hurt anyone, he could stay at the house. He was going to stay in my room most of the time anyway though I might bring him with me to some places. I slid my phone back into my pocket and grabbed the antidote papers. Then decided to print out all the monster's files too. After I had those in my arms I turned to the others who were still petting Slash. I watched them for about ten minutes then said, "Shall we go?"
They nodded and we left the barn. I opened the back door to Vincent's truck and Slash jumped in. I closed it and looked around one last time. I lived here for five years and never knew what went on in that barn. I knew now and even befriended a monster. I sighed when I realized I had made a decision without even realizing I had. I'll join Dark Savers and help them hunt down dangerous monsters but I won't let them kill all of them because I know that some of them are like Slash. Not evil at all.
I got into the passenger seat and didn't say anything until we were on the highway. "Vincent, I'll join Dark Saver but I won't let anyone kill the ones I know aren't evil."
He nodded. "Eve called a team meeting for tomorrow night. We'll tell her about it then."
"Okay." We stayed silent for the rest of the drive home.