GLASS BACK [COMPLETED]

13

Henric turned around and raised his hands. "Who are you and why are you pointing a gun at me?"

The man was wearing a bulletproof vest over a black suit and breathing heavily. His hair was unkempt and his face was sweaty.

"I'm David. David Jones. You don't look like an escapee. You look.... Domesticated."

"What are you talking about?" Henric demanded.

David squinted at him. "McCathey?"

"Yes! That's me! My name is Henric!"

"Oh Thank God." David lowered his gun. "Your father told us you'd be coming. Give me a second." He pulled out his phone and began to type in a number.

"Yeah, hello? I found one of them. No, the younger. Haven't seen the other one yet, but it that's not the point. Why would he know where the real one is?"

Real one? He knows I'm not real. Wait, of course he does, I have on the damn bracelet. Why is he looking for both of us? Dad didn't tell either of us the other one existed.

Henric looked around the room. There were no other ways to exit and this guy, David was blocking his path. Something about this guy felt off, Henric didn't trust him at all. He slowly tried to move forward but David raised his gun again. "Don't move kid."

"Why are you looking for both of us?"

David stared at him, shocked, and hung up the phone.

"Both of us?" he echoed. "So you already know."

He started walking towards Henric, gun still raised. "Let me see the bracelet."

David almost touched Henric's wrist when two arms wrapped around his waist and flipped him backwards. It was Rick, face bloody and bruised but still alive.

"Get the gun kid. Get the gun!" Rick demanded as he pounded David into the floor, holding him in place. Henric hurriedly picked it up and aimed it at David.

"I'm gonna shoot on the count of five, okay?" he said, sounding braver than he felt.

"Whoa! No! Just hold, Jesus!" Rick finally tired out David and they both laid there, panting.

"Okay, kid. Give me the gun." Rick held out his hand but Henric tossed it, much to Rick's horror.

"Holy shit! Did my Dad teach you anything about gun safety?!"

"It's still on safety, I know that much!" Henric snapped.

Still panting, Rick got to his feet with a bloody smirk on his face.

"After waking up abandoned, I told myself if I lived I would kill everyone in this facility. Knowing some of you have a hit on me already makes that a lot easier."

David eyed him cautiously and wiped the blood from his nose.

"What are you waiting for, an invitation? I got a meeting with Stan Lee in thirty minutes."

"You seem a little too eager to die. Are you a clone too?" Rick asked him.

"No, you idiot," David showed his wrists, revealing only a smartwatch. "Though I do hate that I share a name with your father."

"So you knew him?" Rick held the gun so close David almost went cross-eyed.

"Unfortunately, yes. I was stationed by his side, along with another guard after the chaos."

"What chaos?" Henric asked him.

David looked at him then back at the gun in his face.

"I'm not explaining all this crap."

Rock cocked the gun. "You will if you don't want a slow death. He's got a mallet." Rick motioned to Henric. "And you've got ten fingers, ten toes, and i'm pretty sure a very sensitive little-"

"Okay, smartass. Who taught you torture?" said David sarcastically. Henric pulled out the mallet and tapped it in his hand.

"I'm sure you know how the labs operate, being the son of McCathey." Rick nodded but Henric didn't move.

"Go on."

"Tacarria sent something to Bickerstaff which they didn't want, so they sent it here, Lavaunzier. The only problem is, we don't have anything here to contain it. We accepted it because they told us it was alive. But it's not alive, It's.... w-we don't fucking know. We don't know if they found it or if they made it or-"

David's phone rang, silencing him. He glanced at his pocket but dared not to move.

"Give it to me. Now."

David pulled out the phone slowly and held it up for Rick, who promptly snatched it and read the screen.

"Caller ID says unknown. Figures." He answered the call and put it on speaker.

"Speak and I'll shoot a hole in your hand big enough to put your foot through it." Rick whispered.

"Jones? What the hell's going on? Say something, damn it. Did you get the kids?" Everyone stayed silent, eyeing each other quietly.

"Did something get you?" the voice asked again.

"Yeah, we did. The kids." said Rick grinning. "Tell me where my dad is and I'll let him live."

Rick didn't know what he expected to hear after that, but it definitely wasn't laughter.

"Live?" said the voice incredulously. "We're going to kill all three of you."

"Wait a second-" David started.

"Oh you're there with them? Good. We have your location. Get religion, if you haven't already."

The call ended and Rick smashed the phone on the floor. "Damn it!" he shouted. "Why was I so stupid?!"

"We need to go right? Like, right now?" Henric asked looking anxious.

"Yeah obviously. We're going back to Dad's lab, like my original plan. We should be safe there, unless of course, he's the one orchestrating this." Rick said those words but Henric shook his head.

"You, target practice, lead the way. I'm sure you know the route."

David got to his feet with his arms raised, walking a steady pace with Rick closely behind him.

"Since you two seem to have all this figured out, how long have you been fending for yourselves in here, and how many escapees have you encountered?

"What do you mean by fending for ourselves? And what's an escapee?" asked Henric.

"How do you not know? This little menagerie has fallen apart. Almost everything they've created is free and pissed off, and the smarter things are waiting. They're waiting for us."