A New Experience

While Jordan finished eating Soren led Agent Issac to the lab. The hall was set up with two rooms on either side. To the left were Jordan and Soren's rooms, to the right was the lab and the room used to hold experiment subjects.

Ethan and Fry followed them, though they skipped entering the lab first and went to check out the room next to it.

"This is where my father spent most of his time. Jordan said that he hasn't been home for two weeks. I'm not sure what's up with that because that would mean that he left a week before the explosion."

Agent Issac looked around the lab. It had been kept clean and was well organized, with only a hint of clutter.

"Maybe he had some things to do before the explosion. I'll look around and see what I can find."

~He took all of the viruses while he was here. I doubt he left anything that would be of use.~

Jordan had come to lean against the door frame, watching Soren and Agent Issac.

"It looks like he cleared out anything related to the virus. It's still good to double-check in case he missed something."

"When exactly did your father leave?"

Soren grabbed a piece of paper and pen and took it to Jordan who wrote down the date.

~Are you sure?~

~That's the day my favorite show airs new episodes. I remember it because I was anxiously waiting for the episode because the week before it had stopped on a cliffhanger.~

Soren cocked his head to the side and thought of a few things to say before settling with shaking his head and stepping away. He gave the paper to Agent Issac who scanned it then looked over at Jordan.

"Are you absolutely certain?"

Jordan nodded his head and Agent Issac massaged his forehead.

"This was exactly a week before the explosion."

"I'll leave you to look around."

Agent Issac nodded and began searching the room.

~Want to check out your room?~

~No. I want to chill and eat a little. Being here has got me on edge.~

They returned to the kitchen. Soren planned to finish off the chicken liver and pig's blood.

Agent Issac found a laptop when he was halfway through searching the room. Instead of continuing the search, he decided to sit at the counter and power on the laptop. He found a collection of folders titled 'Subject 1', 'Subject 2', and all the way up to 'Subject 200.' Within each folder was a collection of videos averaging an hour each.

He opened the folder titled 'Subject 1' and opened it. Issac clicked on a random video and waited for it to load.

The scene in the video was in the lab where he was. There was an older gentleman wearing a lab coat. Sitting on a chair in front of him was a young boy around four or five.

"Can't we skip today? I-I really don't feel well enough."

"Nonsense. You're perfectly fine, we can't skip your treatment or we'll have to start over again. Do you want to do that?"

"No. Why do we have to do it at all?"

The boy's voice was low and thick with unshed tears. The doctor picked up a syringe from the counter and held it up.

"I've told you before, it's important for you to become stronger and this is the only way."

The sound of steps behind him caused Agent Issac to turn around. Ethan and Fry had walked into the room. They had been drawn from the room next door by the sounds of the video playing. Seeing who was behind him, Agent Issac turned back to the video, watching as the needle was injected into the child.

"The doctor is Dr. Valle. It's hard to say for sure, but I'm assuming that the child is Soren."

Agent Issac's voice was without emotions as he spoke to the other two. All three of them were glued to the video. After being given the shot young Soren bent over and began screaming. In between his screams the child could be heard begging for help. His body appeared to shift as if it were trying to become a mutated.

An arm suddenly appeared and stopped the video. Agent Issac sat back in the chair and looked over at Soren.

"I'd rather you not watch that."

"Understood."

Agent Issac closed the laptop and pushed it away. Ethan and Fry moved towards the door.

"W-we were just passing by, boss. Just going to chill in the living room."

Ethan practically ran out, while Fry was slower with her exit. She looked like she was struggling between giving him his space and wanting to talk. Since it was clear he did not want to talk about it, she could only give him his space.

"Your blood is the cure, isn't it?"

Agent Issac tapped the laptop as he spoke and turned to look up at Soren. Soren leaned against the counter and crossed his arms.

"Will you say anything?"

"They have more than enough to create a vaccine to stop the virus from spreading. If they can't succeed with what they have, having a little more won't make a difference."

Agent Issac stood and stretched, "I'm off to check-in and give my report. I'm going to leave you guys here. I'm sure it'll be more comfortable than staying at Monarch."

"You sure you want to just leave us unsupervised?"

"Where are you going to go? I've found you twice already, I'm not worried about locating you a third time."

Agent Issac walked to the door, pausing for a moment to place a hand on Jordan's shoulder. The look in his eyes was complicated and he did his best to hide it with a friendly smile.

"It was good to meet you, Jordan."

Then he walked away.

~I can see why you like him.~

Jordan said after Agent Issac had left. Soren put the laptop up and the two of them made their way to the living room where the others said they would be.

~Want to come with me to check the cooler?~

~Go outside? Hell, yes, it's been forever since I've been outside the dungeon.~

Seventeen years, give or take. Soren thought to himself as he remembered the day that his father brought Jordan home. Every moment of Soren's life had been watched and he was rarely ever allowed to leave the house. Jordan was never allowed to leave the dungeon.

When they walked into the living room they saw Ethan and Fry sitting on the couch looking over a smartphone.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Suits left us a phone. He said that it was so he could check up on us."

Fry said as she snatched the phone from Ethan and tossed it to Soren. Soren caught it with ease and looked through the contacts. There was only one number saved; Agent Issac.

"Jordan and I are going to check on something. I figured if you guys wanted you can claim a room upstairs. Except for the master bedroom, that one is mine."

"Nice. Are we staying here, boss?"

"Yes, Agent Issac agreed to it. Unless you'd rather stay with the suits."

"No!"

Both spoke at the same time. Their reasons were different, but the outcome was the same. Neither of them trusted the suits.

All four of them left the lower level, going their separate ways on the main floor. Soren and Jordan went out the back door and headed towards a medium sized metal shed located about fifty feet from the house.

~You should pick a room upstairs. You don't have to be locked away anymore.~

~It doesn't seem real…~

Jordan was looking around, taking in the sights, the feel of the sun on his face. It had been too long since he had been out. Long enough that he had forgotten what it felt like. Soren had to stop just short of the shed when Jordan went down on his knees and began to run his hand along the grass. He laid down and rolled onto his back, eyes closed and a stupid grin on his face.