Help

It was late morning by the time everyone was up and moving. Madelyn had already been set up in the lab and Jordan was with Ethan, waiting for the mercenaries to finish their breakfast so that they could put them to work.

Outside, Fry was taking some supplies to the van. Soren and Issac were standing by Issac's car, Avery was standing to the side. The car was different from the one that Issac had driven as an agent. When he had decided to come to Soren he had switched out vehicles.

"Keep this close. I don't think I need to explain what will happen if you lose it.

"Eat a little every day for a week. A full seven days. After that, switching it to once a week should be ok. What's in here should last you almost a month."

Soren handed a medium-sized cooler to Issac.

"I feel like this is beyond awkward."

Issac accepted the cooler and secured it in the back seat.

"If anyone asks you can always tell them what it is."

Issac looked at Soren with a blank expression. He did not know how to respond. There was no way he would tell anyone what was really in the cooler. He felt weird enough knowing what it was and that he would be eating it.

Soren laughed, "Relax, it's not like you're transporting drugs across the state line. But, do guard it. You don't know what might happen if someone comes across you that's hungry and wants your food."

"The answer to that is to tell them what's in the cooler?"

Issac suddenly felt like he had stepped into a trap the moment the words left his lips.

"Yes. Then you can ask if they want to help replenish your supply."

"I'll text you with updates."

Issac opened the driver's door and started to get in.

"Hey, good luck."

Soren held out his hand. Issac turned back and the two clasped the other's forearm. They released and Issac got into his car and drove away. Soren turned away and walked to the van. Soren took the driver's seat of the van, Fry the passenger. Avery was relegated to the back. The back of the van had been set up in a way that a bench ran along one side with harnesses to secure the passengers.

"There is a duffle bag back there for you."

Soren spoke after Avery had shut the side door. Avery moved to the bench and saw a black duffle bag sitting on the floor. He waited until he was secured and they were moving before he picked up the bag and examined its contents.

In the bag was another gun and holster, as well as magazine clips. Avery immediately started to put the holster on.

"I want you well-armed while we're out. I'm not certain what we will encounter. It could be that nothing significant has changed, or that everything has."

"I will do my best."

Avery meant every word of it. He would do his best because it was all he had to give. Once the holster was in place he took magazines from the bag and stored them in a pocket of each holster. He placed a magazine in the gun that he was already wearing, then inspected the second gun before putting a magazine in it and placing it in the second holster.

He felt a little more serene having his guns back. For someone who had been trained as a sniper and then spent years as a mercenary using said skills being without a weapon was like walking around naked.

It was quiet when they drove into town. There were a few cars parked on the side of the road. Culton was a medium-sized town with a decent amount of traffic. There were peak hours during the day when more cars would be on the road. While they had arrived in between peak hours, there still should have been some traffic on the road.

Soren suddenly stopped and pulled into the parking lot of a building. It advertised itself as a 'Small World Daycare Center.' The sign had children holding hands around the world. From where they had parked they could see a fenced-in backyard that held playground equipment.

"Why did we stop here?" Fry asked, looking around. She could not see any movement. There were three cars parked to the side.

"I sensed something."

To be exact, Soren had sensed several mutated within the building. Soren unbuckled and stepped out, Avery followed his lead. Fry hesitated a moment before following. Avery drew a gun and held it at the ready.

There was the sound of movement as Soren opened the door and stepped to the side. A moment later a mutated walked into the room. The mutated had brown hair that was tied back and was wearing a pink dress with a daisy pattern that nearly fell to the floor. It was a strange scene seeing something that had the appearance of a mummy, with pointed teeth, red eyes, and claws on its fingers dressed as an average person.

Avery pointed the gun forward and pulled the trigger. Blood and brain matter splattered as a hole appeared on the head of the mutated. It collapsed with a thud.

The room they had walked into looked like a reception area with chairs. The room still looked well kept, the only thing that had been disturbed had been the door that led to the rest of the building. It was a steel door with a window that looked into the room where the children were taken care of.

This particular mutated had not been able to move since the doors had been closed. It had not eaten yet. What awaited them on the other side was the stuff of nightmares. Once again, Soren was the first through the door. The smell of blood and ammonia hit them the moment the door was opened.

The room had two small tables with chairs that surrounded it. There was a shelf to the right, against the wall by the door, that held personal items and labels with the names of children. Shoes lined the floor in front of the shelf. Toys were scattered across the floor, a rocking chair had been knocked over.

Amidst the scattered toys were the bodies of three young children. It was clear that someone within the building had mutated. The bodies of the children had been torn up, body parts were missing. Blood was splattered all along the walls and ceiling, there was a large pool of blood that had soaked into the carpet.

Fry let out a choked cry and looked away. She had the urge to vomit but swallowed it back. She knew that the only thing they could do now was kill the mutated. Nothing could be done to bring the dead back to life.

Soren continued to move forward. Bloody footprints left a trail that moved down the hall. This was Soren's guide. Once he stepped into the hall there was a room to his left. Soren turned to look and saw what had been the nursery where the babies had been kept.

There were six cribs, three on either side of the room leaving a walkway between them. In two of the cribs, blood covered the inside and dripped onto the floor. What was left within the cribs was not identifiable. Soren stepped in long enough to grab the door handle and shut the door.

"You don't want to look in there."

Fry, who was far enough back that she had been unable to see into the room, nodded her head. She appreciated not seeing what was in the room. Avery had seen it, or enough of it to understand what had happened.

A little further down and to the right was the kitchen. It looked as if it had escaped the massacre and was spotlessly clean. A little past that the body of a child lay in the hallway. It had been disemboweled. The pool of blood the body had left on the carpet squished as they walked by.

The hallway came to an end in a large room that held a large tv mounted on the wall. There was a couch and pillows scattered on the floor. It looked like a fun place to sit with your friends and watch a movie. There was blood splattered on the pillows and a mutated was crouched amidst them as it held a small figure. It was in the middle of eating and barely acknowledged their presence.

Avery stepped forward and fired his gun and the mutated collapsed, dead. Once again they were left with a strange sight. The mutated was wearing a casual men's suit that was covered in blood. It had once been an ordinary person that had cared for the very lives it had devoured.

Suddenly there was a shout and everyone turned to the left. There was a door that bore the marks of the mutated claws as if it had been trying to break in.

"Hello? Help!"

A woman's voice cried out, followed by the sounds of children.