No God

The next day was a near repeat of the day before. Avery slept in late, then got up and helped Fry take care of feeding the mutated and feral evolved. After that, the two of them did some cleaning around the house. The change in routine came after dinner when Soren had Avery help him prepare the plates for his former teammates.

"I have a special job for you."

Soren handed Avery two plates and grabbed the other two himself. They made their way downstairs to the dungeon.

"I have some things to do in the lab, so you will be the one standing guard while they eat."

"Me? I-I'm not sure I can…"

Avery put his plates on the bar and looked in the direction of the hallway. Being called a traitor by Saunders had hurt. Avery had been with the team since the beginning. It had been Vaughan and Cruz who put the team together, with Avery being the first team member recruited. Of the original team, it had only been the three left.

"Since it's an order from me you don't get a choice. You'll do fine, just remember what I've told you and don't take any shit from them. If they do give you too much trouble just call for me."

Avery wanted to argue, he was even willing to beg to get out of the job, but in the end, he surrendered knowing that Soren would not change his mind.

"Yes, sir."

"Come."

Avery followed Soren to the hall. Soren pointed to the hook by the first bedroom door that had a keychain with two keys on it.

"That's the keys that unlock the bedrooms. You'll unlock both doors, then head to the kitchen. They get half an hour to eat and another five minutes each in the bathroom. There is a timer on the kitchen counter by the bar that you'll use."

Avery took the keyring off the hook and stared down at it. He had no confidence in himself when it came to his former teammates, or in general for that matter. His confidence had been shattered when he saw his team leader and close friend eaten. Soren had taken his shattered confidence and crushed it further. Facing his former teammates knowing that they viewed him as a traitor took the last traces of confidence he might have had.

"Hey, look at me."

Avery took a deep breath to try and calm his suddenly taut nerves and looked up. Soren's arms were crossed and he was looking at Avery intently.

"Tell me, who is the only person you bow your head to."

"You, sir."

"Who are your equals?"

"The evolved."

"Who is beneath you?"

Avery took another deep breath and looked over at the bedroom door. Soren reached out and forced Avery to look back at him. Soren moved closer, until there was barely any space between them, their eyes locked.

"Tell me. Who is beneath you?"

"H-humans."

"What are humans?"

"Beneath me."

Soren smiled and turned away. "Repeat it, believe it. You aren't one of them anymore." Soren opened the door to the lab and turned to look at Avery. "How you present yourself to the world is a representation of me, don't let me down."

Avery took a moment to get himself under control. His whole body was shaking from Soren's close proximity. Once he stopped shaking he moved to unlock the doors, repeating Soren's words in his head. He did not dare to fail.

Vaughan was the first out and was surprised to see Avery and not one of Soren's people, or Soren himself.

"Wells?"

The rest of the team came out, their attention was drawn to the man standing ahead of them. Avery did not respond, instead, he turned away and moved toward the kitchen. Vaughan shared a look with the rest of his team and walked to the kitchen.

Vaughan had shared with his team what Soren had told him the day before. They were worried about Avery. Whether or not they considered him a traitor he was still a member of their team and a friend.

In the kitchen, everyone but Vaughan sat at the bar. Vaughan walked up to Avery and moved to place a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, how are you…"

Avery stepped away, shrugging Vaughan's hand away before it touched his shoulder.

"Don't touch me. You only have half an hour, I'd suggest you worry about eating. It's not like any of you actually care about me."

Avery picked up the timer on the counter and pushed the start button, it had already been programmed.

"We do care about you, Avery. What Saunders said before, it was spoken without thinking. You know how he gets."

Avery's eyes narrowed and he felt like his ears were burning. He knew how Saunders was, the man spoke what was on his mind without a filter. He may say inappropriate things, but he meant every word he had ever spoken.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not one of you anymore, so you don't need to worry about me."

"Wells…" Vaughan started to speak but was interrupted by Saunders.

"Hey, man, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called you a traitor. I was wrong."

Avery looked at the faces of his former teammates and finally realized what the look on their faces was. Pity.

"So you know? Well, fuck you. You got to remain unconscious while I got to watch my best friend being eaten. I had to help carry Palmer and Decker to the cooler, I've seen where they store the bodies after they process them.

"Soren fucking owns me. Do you understand that? I am willing to do whatever I have to to survive and not end up like the others. So, fuck you and your damn pity."

In his anger, Avery had pulled down the neck of his shirt to reveal the bruises and bite marks around his neck and shoulders. It just so happened to be the side with the bite mark that had almost required stitches.

Vaughan was close enough to see that the marks were not simple bite marks. It looked like an animal had tried to maul Avery.

After Avery was done speaking he grabbed the timer, reprogrammed it, and slammed it on the bar.

"You have ten minutes left. If you aren't finished when the timer goes off then you'll just have to go without."

Vaughan stepped away and sat down to eat his food as quickly as possible. They did not say anything else, though they shared a look. This was not the Wells they knew. He would have never lost his temper before. The man they knew had been calm and always ready with a joke.

The timer had been at twenty-five minutes. Angering Avery had lost them half their time. When the timer went off Avery grabbed the plates and threw them into the sink. He gave them their five minutes of bathroom time.

"I'm sorry."

Saunders said once again as he walked into the bedroom. Avery did not say anything, just shut and locked the door. He made certain that both doors were properly secured before hanging the key back up.

Avery leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to sit on the floor. He found himself staring at his shaking hands, wondering what he was becoming. He had the urge to laugh and was not sure if he would be able to stop if he gave in.

If there was a god out there, would shit like this be allowed to happen?