Isolated

Soren had, of course, been listening in on the interaction between Avery and his former teammates. Putting them together had been to test how Avery would be on his own.

It had turned out better than expected. Soren had not just been standing by the door listening in, though the door to the lab had been purposely left partially open. He had been getting things ready for his blood to be drawn in the morning.

Soren gave Avery some quiet time, once he heard Avery moving again Soren opened the door.

"Come, I want to walk you through your new morning job."

Avery was caught off guard by Soren's sudden appearance and hesitated a moment before following him into the lab. A chair had been set with its back against the counter opposite the door and there was a silver tray on wheels next to it.

"Every two days, first thing in the morning, my blood is drawn. Jordan will be doing the majority of the work, you will be assisting him and cleaning up afterward."

Soren already had everything out that would be needed in the morning. He went through each item, explaining its name and purpose, and had Avery repeat it back to him. He even walked Avery through the entire procedure and showed him the medical grade refrigerator in the far right corner.

There was already a decent amount of blood stored.

"What is it for?"

Avery's curiosity got the better of him as he stood in front of the freezer. There were two shelves worth of tubes containing blood. Avery stiffened and his breath caught in his throat when he felt Soren's hand on the back of his neck. Did I say something wrong? He was afraid that he was about to be punished for a mistake.

"Each one of those tubes equals one human who will not mutate when exposed to the virus. My blood has the ability to make humans immune to the virus and to force a mutated to evolve. We are putting aside as much as possible.

"My original goal was for the government to take what I gave them and mass-produce a vaccine. Unfortunately, they failed and were distracted by personal goals. This is all we can do, I can't donate any more blood and we don't have the means, or the knowledge, to try and create a vaccine with it."

Avery had a hard time lining up the different persona's that Soren put off. When Soren finally removed his hand Avery let out a sigh of relief. They stayed in the lab a few more minutes before heading out.

Avery collected the plates from the kitchen and carried them upstairs to put in the dishwasher. After everything was put away Soren went outside, taking Avery with him. Soren sat on the stairs to the porch and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, then handed it to Avery who had sat down beside him. Soren pulled out a second cigarette and lit it.

Soren looked up at the sky. He could feel something in the air as if someone was about to spring forth. The air was thick enough he felt like he could reach out and touch it, and that's exactly what he did.

"The air is so thick, something is going to happen soon."

Soren spoke as he reached out to touch the air. Nothing looked out of place; the sky was a grey-blue half-filled with clouds, the air was slowly losing its cool crispness as morning flowed into noon. It was projected to be a warm spring day, the kind that you could go out without a jacket.

When Soren's first cigarette was finished he lit a second one. Avery did not take a second cigarette, he simply sat on the steps staring at the ground. He had decided to count the blades of grass, he was interrupted when Soren started speaking.

"Tomorrow you'll be taking Ethan's place preparing food for the mutated and ferals. He will join you in time to hand over the food since it's not safe for you, but everything else is on you."

Why? Why am I suddenly being given all of these jobs? Avery felt defeated. He had faced his former teammates alone and now he was expected to go to the cooler on his own. He had been slowly numbing himself to the fact that the meat they were handing had once been human. It was an easy feat when others were handling it and he was observing.

No matter how much he did not want to do it, he also knew that he had no choice. Soren had made it clear that his only option was 'yes.' Any other answer would end poorly and Avery had lost his will to fight. After his angry outburst earlier he knew that he was fully committed to his new position in life. As if I have any other option.

"Yes, sir."

Soren smiled, "You're doing well. Before you realize it they will come to their senses and we will have more helpers."

Avery felt dread rather than encouragement over Soren's words.

*******

Three hours later found Avery standing in front of the shed. He had been standing there for a good minute just staring at the unobtrusive building. Every time he thought about going in his heart to race and he would suddenly find it hard to breathe.

"I have to do this."

As much as it bothered him to even be near the cooler, the images that came to mind if he failed in the task were far more frightening. Before his fear would bring back the image of Cruz being eaten. Now, after the first night with Soren, all he could see was himself, missing limbs and watching Soren eating his arm or leg.

When the image filled his mind Avery was covered in a cold sweat and his hands started to shake. Fuck… Avery took a deep breath and walked in. It was not a problem for him to enter the code that opened the door to the cooler.

The cool air that enveloped him as he walked down the stairs only added to his dread. His eyes automatically turned to look at the table as he walked by. There was a faint copper smell in the air that caused his stomach to roll. He had gotten to the point where he would not get sick, though his stomach would still get upset.

It was easier to block things out when he was here with someone else. Now that he was here by himself he had no distractions for his mind. When he opened the door to the freezer and stepped in, the faces of his friends flashed in front of him.

"I'm sorry, guys. I'm nothing before them, before him. Maybe it would be different if I thought someone would come to save me, but I have no one. The others have written me off. Even if they hadn't before, they have now."

Avery spoke, his voice shaky and barely above a whisper, as he approached the shelves in the back.

"I hope that your spirits are in peace and not stuck here like the rest of us. Fuck, if I were stronger I would kill myself. Instead, I'm doing what I have to to survive. Maybe one day you can forgive me."

Avery grabbed three packages from the top left shelf. He took one last glance at the top right shelf then turned around and left.