Three Hearts Left Intact

Chapter 18: Formation

Quietly the three men in the room gathered around still slightly shaken up from the outburst. Zander looked down at the floor the entire time not wanting to look at Alex. Meanwhile the other two men, began writing down ideas on a piece of paper.

While they were all about the same age, Zander was always looked at like a little brother to both men. His carefree and calm nature always placed him as the youngster of the group. Alex knew Zander felt bad for rating him out when the man in front of them refused to offer any suggestions to the plan. "Hey Z," he finally called out to him.

Nervously Zander's eyes lifted off the floor meeting four eyes staring at him. "Don't beat yourself up about earlier," Alex comforted him knowing he needed some reassurance. Giving a sad smile Zander nodded his head getting more engaged with the two men's conversations.

Working together they sorted out most of the minor details in getting a small group together. Noting down Alex's, Zander's, and Nina's strengths the two men stared at Mallix seeing what he was going to put himself down for. He shrugged his shoulders looking lost for help.

"I don't have a strength," he said defeatedly looking towards his buddies for some advice. Sharing a look of confusion Alex and Zander broke out into laughter at the statement. "What's so funny?" Mallix asked.

"How do you not know what your strength is? I thought it was obvious." Zander slapped his arm playfully causing a small grunt. Their were still some bruises on his side from when Nina slapped him with her crutches earlier.

Scrunching his nose Zander laughed softly, "sorry. I forgot." He admitted sitting back in his seat.

"I don't have anything. Alex, you're so well versed in the Cave and how the system works. Z, you're great a sneaking people in and out of places or sneaking things in or out of places. And Nina, she's great at making realistic looking disguises. Meanwhile I'm just me, I don't have anything special we could use in a situation like this."

"M, you've got plenty of talents. You're dad made you take those MMA and kickboxing classes when you were younger all the way until we started college. James and you had to study different languages since your dads company worked internationally. And not to mention you have a way with words." Alex joined in.

Mallix nodded to himself realizing the strength to Alex's words. "I guess so," he shrugged.

Getting back on task the three men looked at their paper seeing they had four slots filled in with different roles, but they still lacked another area. They couldn't quite put their finger on it, but it was there. Almost like a grey area between their formation of the group and the completion of their team.

Calling it for a night the three men were sat talking freely amongst one another. Deciding to watch the news for tonight, Zander went to grab the tv remote. Just as he went to grab it, the loud rustling of the wind from the window next to him caught his attention.

Looking out of it he could see the nighttime sky pouring down rain as huge gusts of wind slammed into the window. He wanted to walk away but there was something about tonight that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Looking closer into the night, he could see the silhouette of a person standing near the glistening lake.  

"Um...guys" he called out catching Mallix and Alex off guard. His worried tone made the two men scurry over to him quickly. Pointing out the window the two men quickly saw the dark figure standing in the tree line near the lake.

"Who is that?" Alex asked getting closer to the window.

"No idea, Z warn Nina and lock yourselves in her room. Alex lets go see what this guy wants." Mallix ordered.

"But I want to help too!" Zander puffed his toned chest. He really did want to join his friends in confronting the masked figure, but more importantly he didn't want to be in the same room as Nina. But Mallix already had his mind set.

"You are helping, someone has to tell Nina what's going on. Besides if the worst case happens, at least you'll be there to protect her. Now go." He explained grabbing an umbrella with Alex and walking out the door, slamming it in Zander's face.

Slightly irritated Zander did as he was asked and ran to Nina's door. He knocked on it once waiting for Nina's response, from within it he could hear a soft sob. Gulping he knocked again, this time turning her doorknob with it. He was surprised when he found it unlocked.

"Nina, I'm coming in." He announced before peering into the room. Inside he could see Nina was laying on her bed face down into her pillows. Shutting the door behind him and locking it, alerted Nina. Even more so when he walked to the back of her room shutting the blinds and curtains. She looked up wiping away the tears on her face.

"What's going on?" She mumbled out seeing the panicked expression on Zander's face. He took a seat next to her on the bed explaining the entire situation out to her. Her face fell pale as she grabbed her cutches and laid them besides her. An easy weapon. Similarly to how Mallix and Alex, Nina also saw Zander as just a younger brother. She knew he was quite capable of protecting himself, but after all the mess he had to deal with, she had grown to have quite the eye out for him.

They sat in eerie silence waiting to hear if there would be any ruckus from outside. The anticipation of waiting was killing them. They just wanted to know whether everything would be alright or not. It seemed like minutes turned to hours as they sat whispering to one another.

"Who do you think it was?" Nina quietly asked.

"No idea, but they looked dangerous." Zander confessed, "I mean who just creepily stands out by the trees in front of a lake in the middle of a storm. Like why?!" His face was lost.

"I hope the guys are alright," Nina closed her eyes tightly putting her hands to her heart.

"They'll be fine, I know it." Zander said aloud, but inside he was still just was worried as Nina. But he didn't want her to see that.
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Let me know who you think was out there. Thanks Lexx signing off