Evolution

The alarm on Soren's phone went off and he stood up. He dropped his cigarette on the steps and ground it out before heading back inside. Avery followed reluctantly.

"Grab the pack of cheese in the fridge."

Avery took the cheese out while Soren took the pan out of the oven. Soren had Avery unwrap the cheese while he placed it on the top of the mix of food in the pan.

Once it was covered with cheese Soren placed it back in the oven.

"Go ahead and tell everyone that the food is ready. Start with Ethan, he should still be cleaning the bathroom in the dungeon."

"Yes, sir."

Relief flashed in Avery's eyes as he rushed off to do as ordered. Soren double-checked that the table had been set and placed a couple of pot holders on the center of the table.

By the time everyone came to eat, the food was done and set on the table.

Soren had always dreamed of family dinners at the table. This may not be what it looked like when he was a kid, but it counted. Soren sat at the head of the table; to his right sat Avery, then Jordan, to his left sat Fry then Ethan. Soren waited until they were done eating before giving orders.

"We are going to implement a rotation system for taking food to the two groups in the dungeon. Three times a day we will take food down for the humans. This will also be their chance to stretch and use the bathroom.

"On a separate rotation will be the mutated and feral evolved. They will be given food once a day. Avery and I will take care of the mutated today. Ethan, you get first rotation for the humans. They get what's left of our dinner."

Which was a lot, and was the whole reason Soren had made so much. As a group, they cleared away the table and separated the remaining food into four plates. For drinks, they would be using the bottled water that was already in the dungeon.

Fry helped Ethan carry the food down and Soren had Avery follow him outside. It did not take long for Avery to realize where they were heading. The white shed ahead of them was simple and unassuming, but to Avery, it was a place of horror. He found himself wondering if the bodies of his former teammates were still on the table.

Soren keyed in the code and the floor slid away. Soren led the way down, Avery followed with his hands shoved into the pocket of his pants and his eyes darting around. He caught sight of the table and his face paled; it was empty.

Soren led Avery into the cooler and to the back where two shelves were set against the back wall, isolated from the rest.

"Always take from the upper left. Once one shelf is emptied everything should be rotated to the left. This is how we know what has been here the longest and what's the freshest."

Avery followed the flow from the top left, down, and to the top right shelf. The top two shelves held white paper-wrapped items that held no frost, with paper that looked whiter and cleaner than the others.

"That's…"

Avery pointed at the shelf with a shaky hand.

Soren nodded, "It is what you think it is. There was no reason to waste good meat on the human's need for a burial."

Avery felt the contents of his stomach rise and covered his mouth. Soren pointed where they had come from and Avery made a hasty retreat. Soren picked three packages from the top left shelf and left the cooler. He found Avery outside the shed, on his hands and knees, vomiting.

"You'll have to gain a stronger stomach or this will get old, for both of us."

"Sorry…"

Avery's voice was strained. He sat back, eyes closed, taking shallow breaths to try and quell the nausea. He knew that if he opened his eyes and saw the packages he knew Soren was carrying that he would be caught up in another round of vomiting.

A hand on his face, tilting it to look up, made Avery open his eyes. He was greeted by the sight of Soren's brown eyes.

"Come on, let's go in."

"Y-yes, sir."

Avery's body was still shaky after emptying the contents of his stomach and his movements were slow. Once he was standing he followed Soren inside. Back in the kitchen, Soren placed the packages in the sink and took out three bowls.

"I'll walk you through the process, and let you watch the next couple of times, but I expect you to be able to take over this part after that."

Avery nodded his head, hand over his mouth as he slowed his breathing and tried to control the rising nausea. He did not want anything to do with any of it, but Soren's words made it clear that it was expected of him.

It was clear to Avery that obeying Soren was the biggest key to his survival. It was easy in theory to say it, but when faced with the reality it was hard to remain firm. He had no doubt that if he stopped being useful Soren would be putting him in the cooler.

"Now, pay attention. Running hot water over it will thaw it enough so that you can take off the paper. Once it's unwrapped, just place it in the bowl and put it in the microwave. Always use the defrost setting. You want it warm, not cooked."

Soren spoke as he worked, narrating everything he was doing. Once the chunk of red meat was placed in a bowl, Soren put it in the microwave and showed Avery how to program the microwave then started it.

Soren repeated the process with the other two pieces and before long they were making their way down to the dungeon. Sitting at the kitchen bar in the dungeon was Avery's former, living, teammates. Avery glanced over at them then quickly looked away, lowering his head.

When Soren looked over at them, it was the four mercenaries that looked away. Soren smiled and kept Avery moving.

Avery was caught off guard at the sight of RJ and Madelyn when he walked into the room. They were behaving the same as the mutated was, but looked nothing like it.

"What happened to them?"

Soren opened a small door at the bottom of the cage and slid a bowl in. The mutated immediately went down and started eating. The same scene was repeated with RJ and Madelyn. Soren waited until after they had been given their food before he answered Avery's question.

"Those two, RJ and Madelyn, are a good example of what happens when someone remains a mutated for too long. With Ethan and Fry, I was able to bring them back right away, so they were able to retain who they were.

"These two, on the other hand, spent nearly a week as a mutated. RJ killed and ate his wife right after he changed. I can't guarantee that they'll regain their former selves. If it wasn't for the fact that I needed an example to show the government that the mutated aren't worth saving, I wouldn't have brought them back at all."

Soren laughed, "Saying that I 'bring them back' is a bit of a misnomer. Once the virus enters the human body and mutates it, there is no coming back from that. You can't take a mutated and change them back into a human. It's just not possible.

"Rather, what I'm doing is forcing them to mutate again, or evolve for a better word choice."

Avery had been watching the three of them eat with a strange fascination. It was strange to him, seeing them behave like they were while looking human.

"Is that what you are?" Avery moved his gaze to Soren.

"Yes, and no. I'm something similar, but much more. If you look at the initial stage as a mutated, and the second stage as evolved, then I would be about three stages higher. A super-evolved, or Mutated King."

Jordan had been the one to decide on his evolution title. Soren was stronger, and faster than any mutated or evolved. He also had special abilities that no mutated or evolved had ever had during any of his father's experiments. On top of that, he had an innate ability to subdue and command any mutated or evolved.

"Jordan is actually a separate evolution of a mutated. It's like the branches of a tree with the mutated at the base. If you go this way, you can evolve to look like Jordan. If you go this way, you can look like a human with all the characteristics of a mutated.

"Jordan, like me, is higher than an evolved, though his stage of evolution isn't as high as mine."

"Will they be able to be more like your friends?"

"That's the plan. Making certain they eat regularly will help them to gain control over themselves. The big question is whether they want to live with what they've done once they do gain control."