Useful

Five minutes later everyone was gathered in the living room of the dungeon. Soren was sitting on a stool at the bar checking his phone for social media posts about the tornado. Avery was standing to his left watching Ethan and Jordan make breakfast. Jordan had gone upstairs to grab food to cook, unconcerned about the potential coming storm. Fry was sitting to Soren's right, glancing from the two in the kitchen to the posts that Soren was looking at.

Suddenly Fry let out a gasp, "Where was that at?"

"KC, Missouri side." Soren delved deeper into the picture that had been posted; a building destroyed by a tornado that had touched down.

"It touched down about twenty minutes ago, quickly gaining in strength. The damn thing was headed this way."

"What was that?" Soren suddenly looked up and turned his head toward the hall.

Jordan and Ethan stopped moving and everyone held their breath. They were all waiting for sounds of destruction from above, even though they most likely would be unable to hear anything two levels down. What they did hear was almost as shocking.

"Hello?"

A woman's voice called out. The voice was hoarse and barely loud enough to hear, but it was clearly a woman's voice.

Soren stood, "Avery, you're with me. Everyone else, stay here."

Soren headed straight for the second room on the right, next to the lab. It was the only place that could produce a woman's voice. When Soren opened the door movement could be heard within.

The mutated, on the far right, was casually sitting on the floor of the cage eyeing Soren and Avery. The center cage showed RJ sitting on the floor, hugging his knees with a vacant look in his eyes. To the left Madelyn was standing near the back of the cage, her eyes were wide and she quickly hugged herself when Soren walked in, trying to cover up what her torn clothes could no longer cover.

"Madelyn Holcomb, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"W-who are you?"

Soren smiled and walked up to the cage. Madelyn took a step back and hit her back against the wall.

"I'm Soren. How much do you remember?"

Madelyn closed her eyes and dropped her head as if she were looking at the floor. After a moment she picked up her head and opened her eyes to look at Soren. She bit her lower lip and glanced at Avery, then at RJ next to her before returning her attention to Soren.

"I… I think I remember most. Did I… Did I hurt Logan? Dr. Reynalds?"

"Nothing that would kill him."

Soren moved his attention to RJ, crouching down in front of his cage.

"RJ, are you with us?"

The man before Soren moved his head and blinked, his eyes slowly focusing on Soren.

"Yes…"

"Good. I need to know, are you good or do you want to join Emily?"

RJ tilted his head and blinked several times, tears suddenly appeared in his eyes and trailed downward unhindered.

"Emily… What did I do?"

RJ started to rock back and forth, repeating Emily's name as the tears flowed. Soren tried two more times to get his attention or any sign of coherent thought for that matter. He failed both times.

With a sigh, Soren stood and moved to the side. "Avery."

Avery, who had been standing near the door, stepped forward, toward RJ's cage. Without a word Avery drew his gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger. The entire dungeon was filled with the sound of a gunshot. The sound was shocking for those in the room; the mutated hissed and tried to get away from the sound while Madelyn cried out.

The four in the two rooms opposite of them rushed out of bed, on full alert. Fry, Ethan, and Jordan barely acknowledged the sound, only looking toward the hall. Avery did not react to what he had done, he simply put away his gun and stepped back.

Soren and Avery were lucky enough to be standing far enough away. The Mutated and Madelyn were not so lucky. The bullet had entered RJ's forehead, nearly in the center of his eyes, and burst out the back. The bullet had left a mark on the concrete wall and had blown out blood and brain matter when it exited the head.

The wall behind him was colored with blood and brain matter. The two on either side were in a similar state; Madelyn had the most since she was closer and had been standing, the mutated had been crouched low and as far away as it could be and, therefore, had the least amount on it.

"W-why did you do that?"

If Madelyn had not been wide-eyed and scared before that, she was now after witnessing how easily they killed RJ. She had not been close with him, but they had worked together a few times.

"He was too traumatized by what he did and was useless to me. You seem to be in a much better state."

Soren smiled, trying to come across as friendly, but it had the opposite effect.

"What did he do?"

"He killed and ate his wife. From what I gathered from the local news article it looked like they were relaxing for the evening when he mutated. They were most likely sitting together, watching a movie or tv show.

"The article said that she died quickly. I would say that she was the luckier of the two."

Madelyn shook her head as she struggled to breathe. Images of what she had done to Logan flashed in her mind. So did the memory of her fighting Soren. She could remember the thoughts she'd had, how everyone had looked like food. How hungry she had been. How hungry she still was.

"No… What happened to us?"

Soren sent out a mental command to Fry and Ethan then glanced at his phone. There had not been anything new mentioned about the weather outside and the tornado warning was still in effect. He could not decide if they would stay where they were or treat the tornado warning like a true Missourian and step outside.

"The lab explosion where you worked released a virus that can mutate humans into feral creatures that hunger for human flesh. You were lucky enough to be my live example of why mutated should be killed instead of brought back. RJ certainly personified that example.

"You, on the other hand, have done well to retain your will and not completely lose your mind."

It was then that Ethan and Fry appeared. When Fry caught sight of RJ she immediately looked away.

"Fry, I want you to take Madelyn to the bathroom so that she can get cleaned up. While she's there, quickly go upstairs and grab her a change of clothes and the food thawing in the fridge. She gets RJ's portion.

"Ethan, once Madelyn is out I want you to bring the humans out to clean up this mess. Do what you can with the body. The moment it's clear, have them take it out and burn it. I want it burned until there is nothing left."

Ethan nodded, "Sure thing, boss."

Without being asked, Avery grabbed the keys and walked over to Madelyn's cage. Avery unlocked the door then stepped back. Fry stepped in, taking Avery's spot at the cage door. She opened it up and offered a hand to Madelyn. Madelyn only hesitated a moment before taking the offered hand. At this moment she felt safer going with Fry than staying near Soren.

When Fry and Madelyn left, Ethan left to do his part.

"There was a time when Jordan and I had to clean up such messes."

Soren spoke as memories from the past pushed their way forward. Too many times they had been left to clean up one of his father's failed experiments. Sometimes they were successful experiments that had outlived their usefulness.

When Vaughan and his men stepped into the room they immediately took in the state of the room. It did not take long for what had happened to become clear.

"The closet there has all the supplies you'll need to clean up, including bags large enough for the body."

Soren pointed to the far right, near the door, where a large black closet stood. He gave them no chance to speak before walking out of the room, Avery close behind him. Vaughan and the others watched them leave but did not dare say anything.