Avery

Agent Issac rushed over to the house right after texting Soren, calling in backup on his way. Not that he trusted they would come in time. Whoever had arranged for the attack in the first place would know when it was going down and make certain that backup would come too late.

Keeping them safe would be all on him, and only if he made it in time. When he turned on the gravel road and saw the black van he knew that he was too late and hoped that they had chosen to hide in the hidden lower level. To keep himself from being discovered he parked his car by the van and ran the rest of the way.

He was grateful for the fact that he exercised regularly. After running for five minutes he was breathing heavily and sweating but not worn out. He was caught off guard by what he saw when he stepped into the clearing. There were two piles of bodies; the largest pile was being guarded by Jordan, the second pile was about three feet to the side.

The scene that had him feeling sick to his stomach and questioning his life choices was ten feet in front of Jordan, and about the same distance from where he stood. Tactical gear lay to the side as if tossed in a hurry and Soren was elbow deep in the corpse of a man. The entire upper body closely resembled the corpses they had come across two days ago.

Agent Issac gave a wide berth as he walked around Soren and moved to stand by Jordan. His eyes did not leave Soren as his brain tried to make sense of what was going on. Soren looked up just then, his mouth covered with blood. He made a point of holding up what appeared to be the dead man's heart and took a bite.

Agent Issac decided it was best to not watch anymore and looked away. He caught the wide eyes of one of the men laying on the ground. He was locked onto the sight of Soren eating his team leader the same way that Agent Issac had been. Issac did not stop until he was looking at Jordan.

It seemed funny to Agent Issac that of the two of them, the one that looked human was the one eating someone. There was irony in that.

"I have backup coming. We should have at least twenty minutes before they make an appearance, that should give you guys time to clean up. I'm going to hide the van. It's best to pretend that they never made it here."

Jordan nodded his head in confirmation. Agent Issac almost wished that Jordan could verbally communicate with him. Hearing another voice might have helped his slowly unraveling sanity. Who in their right might would just stand here while that's going on? He could not help but doubt himself.

Out of all the available options, not the least of which was to shoot Soren, Agent Issac walked away from the scene, pulled straight out of a nightmare, and returned to the vehicles. He moved the van and stashed it where no one would be able to find it. Then he leaned against his car and waited for his backup.

*******

After Agent Issac left Soren turned his full attention on the body. After eating all the internal organs he closed his eyes and knelt on the ground as if in a trance. Images flashed in his mind, things seen through another's eyes. Unfamiliar faces mixed in with a vaguely familiar one. After a minute had passed he stood up.

~Send them out.~

A moment later the front door opened, Fry and Ethan stepped out and slowly made their way toward Soren. The eyes of both were bright red, where Soren's eyes had become a dark red. Hunger filled them and they were barely able to restrain themselves. They came to a stop a foot away from the dead body.

Soren walked around them and placed a hand on the shoulder of both of them as he leaned his head forward, between them, and spoke.

"Go, eat."

A low growl could be heard as they covered the short distance and dropped to their knees. It took no extra effort to get them to start eating. Soren smiled at the sight then turned away, walking to Jordan.

As he came closer the man that had been lying there watching everything sat up and moved back. His eyes were wide and his face was deathly pale. When Soren turned to look at him he cried out and the air was suddenly filled with the scent of ammonia.

~Agent Issac gave us twenty minutes, we're down to seventeen.~

~That should be enough. Pull them away when we're down to five minutes.~

Soren moved to crouch down in front of the human. He tried to back away further but his back was up against his unconscious comrades. Soren held up two fingers.

"You have two options; become food, or work for me."

The man kept looking from the hand covered in blood to Soren's mouth covered in blood. His pupils were dilated, eyes glossy. Soren moved his hand to try and get the man's attention.

"Focus. Live or die, which is it?"

He blinked three times before nodding, "L-live."

"Good choice."

He placed his hand on the man's shoulder and stood, forcing the man to stand as well. The man's breathing increased and his face was covered with a sheen of sweat.

"Your first job is to help move everyone. We have fifteen minutes to make it look like none of you were here."

Soren smiled and grabbed one of the unconscious men, throwing him over the other's shoulder. He picked up two himself, carrying them over either shoulder.

"Follow me."

The man nodded his head repeatedly and glanced at Jordan before following Soren inside. Soren led him to the lower level and the room with the three cages. He dropped the two he had into the first cage and locked it, then opened the second one and directed the human to deposit his comrade in it. He locked that one and opened the third cage.

The cages were floor to ceiling and built into the wall furthest from the door. Each one was five foot by five foot, taking up the whole back wall, and was bolted into the concrete floor. There was nothing else in the room.

"What's your name?"

"A-Avery."

They went back up and outside, grabbing the last unconscious human, and placed them in the third cage. Soren locked it and double checked each lock before they went back up. The last two bodies were Avery's dead comrades. Soren did not have any pity for Avery as he tossed the dead man across his shoulders.

Soren, carrying the other dead body, led Avery to the shed at the back of the house and into the cooler. He dropped his body on the table at the back of the cooler then took the body that Avery was carrying and laid it on the table as well.

Avery's attention was caught by all the knives, and saws hanging on the wall. He felt his stomach revolt and raised his hand to cover his mouth.

"Outside."

He turned and ran outside, going down just outside the door and emptying the contents of his stomach. He did not stop until long after his dry heaving had caused his body to feel bruised and his breathing shallow.

The sound of the shed door closing made him jump and fall back on his ass. He barely missed falling into his own vomit.

"Come on."

Avery struggled to stand and staggered as he followed Soren. His mind was screaming at him, telling him to run instead of following orders. Screaming at him to fight back. The more logical side reminded him that running would mean he'd end up as food like his dead friends.

~I'm going to clean up. The rest is up to you.~

Soren stopped by Jordan on his way inside and headed upstairs, Avery following him every step of the way. In his room, he grabbed a clean change of clothes then stepped into the master bathroom. Soren pointed to the floor by the bathtub and turned to look at Avery.

"Sit. I'm going to take a shower and you're not allowed to move."

Avery did as ordered and dropped down on the floor like his legs had given out. Soren locked the door then proceeded to strip. He tossed his bloody clothes into the trash can and climbed into the shower, leaving the door partially opened as he began to scrub off the blood.

The master bathroom was the size of two regular bathrooms. It had a large bathtub, fully outfitted with water jet options. Next to it was the shower with a frosted glass wall and door set in the corner, the shower was large enough for two people to stand shoulder to shoulder. Across from the shower was the toilet. Opposite of that was a double sink with a mirror that took up the length of the sink and counter space and nearly reached the ceiling.

Soren showered as quickly as possible and stepped out to dry off and dress. His attention returned once again to Avery who was staring off into space with a blank expression.

"You might as well strip and clean up. I'd rather not have you smelling of piss and vomit. Make sure you throw your clothes away, except for the vest. Put that in the bathtub."

Soren walked out of the bathroom and grabbed another set of clothes. Avery was in the shower with the water on when he returned with clean clothes. He set the clothes on the toilet and moved to stand by the sink. He took a cigarette from the pack that he had placed on the counter and lit it as he waited.