Dan's POV

I stared at the shadow of a person against the wall for a few seconds before feeling the wall next to the doorway for a light switch. After not finding one, I entered the room and continued searching.

"Hello?" Nate called.

The kid against the wall mumbled something. It raised its head a bit, but it fell back down a moment later.

Jason walked to the middle of the room, reached up, and pulled down on something. A single lightbulb in the ceiling lit up the room dimly.

"How'd you see that?" I asked.

"My eyes adjust to light changes quickly," Jason replied, smiling.

Behind Jason, I saw Nate cover his mouth as he stared at the kid. I looked back toward the wall I had been searching for a light switch to find it covered with blood.

I stumbled away from the wall, back toward Jason, and looked at the kid sitting against the far wall. The boy was breathing heavily with his head down and had blood stains covering his body. His clothes were torn open in several places and had blood oozing out from the gaps.

He tried to lift his head again but it fell back down. He coughed up blood and grunted.

"Percy!" Nate and Jason yelled as they ran over to him and knelt down. Phil and I followed closely behind.

Nate lifted Percy's head and moved his blood-covered hair out of his face. Jason looked behind Percy and reported, "He's tied up to this metal bar."

Phil and I untied Percy while Nate and Jason held his head up. He continued to cough while Nate mumbled, "We're going to save you," repeatedly.

Once we had untied Percy, Nate and Jason helped him stand up. He stopped coughing a few minutes later, and murmured, "Hey." Jason grinned while Nate dove into a hug. Nate seemed to be sobbing, but Percy chuckled, "You're as emotional as ever."

Nate pulled away from Percy. "You're just as rude as I remember you."

"You two can joke-bicker later," Jason commented. "Right now, we need to get out of here."

"Are we sneaking out?" Percy questioned.

"Yeah," I replied. "Someone needs to go grab Alex so that we can discuss the escape plan."

"Wait, I have two questions," Percy stated. "One, are you two of the people who were going to foster us?" he directed at me and Phil.

"Yes, and we still plan to," Phil replied. "What's your other question?"

"Did you say Alex was here?"

"Yeah, she's right outside the door," Nate answered.

"Like, her body?" Percy asked.

"Wh–no, she, soul and all, are outside the door. We decided to save her too–"

"I don't think that's Alex," Percy interrupted Jason.

"Why? You haven't even seen her yet," Nate replied.

"The scientists killed her yesterday."

I whirled around to face Phil. "I told you something about her seemed off!"

"Okay, you called it. Whatever," Phil responded. "Shouldn't we get out of here? And how is Alex even here if she died?"

"I bet the voice did something!" Nate exclaimed.

"Let's figure that out later and focus on getting out of here," Jason decided.

"What are we going to do about Alex?" Phil asked.

"We could just ditch her at the exit. That way, it would be a distraction for the guards as well," Percy suggested.

Once everyone agreed, Percy put an arm over Nate and an arm over Jason. The three of them made their way to the door, with Phil leading and me following behind.

Phil got to the door, but before he could walk through it, it slammed closed. "What the heck–"

"You five talk quite loud," a robotic voice interrupted Phil.

"Who are you?!" Nate demanded.

"It's me, Alex. I was supposed to follow you around and gather intel, but Percy sold me out. He shouldn't have been able to talk after all he's been through. You managed to surprise the master."

"Is 'the master' the voice because if so, I called this shit!" I screamed, earning a chorus of 'No one cares' from everyone in the room.

"I can't tell you that, however, I can tell you to watch your back," Alex cooed.

All five of us spun around to find another monster in the room. It resembled the one we had been seeing, but small features, such as body shape, were different.

"Is that what I looked like as a monster?" Percy asked.

"Pretty much," Jason whispered.

The beast swung its arm at us. I dove to the left, barely dodging it. I reached down to my belt loop to grab Kyle, but it wasn't there.

"Dan, use the sword!" Phil yelled as he helped get Nate, Jason, and Percy out of the way.

"Kyle isn't here! Those guards must've taken it from me! I was too worried about everything to even notice!"

"How are we supposed to fight a monster with no weapon?!" Phil shouted from across the room.

I thought for a moment before answering, "I have an idea, but it's extremely dangerous. Especially considering how small this space is–"

"What's your idea?!" Jason screamed.

"Can Percy change into a monster whenever he wants?" I asked.

"I haven't tried, but I could probably figure it out," Percy replied.

"How did it happen before?" Nate questioned.

"Does no one else realize how bad of an idea this is?!" Jason yelled.

Percy ignored Jason. "Before, they injected me with something that was supposed to speed up my heartbeat. Along with that, I had to really focus on doing it."

"Start running around while thinking about it!" Phil decided.

"He can't stand on his own, remember?!" I called as I dodged another attack.

Nate stood with Percy and the two of them began sprinting around the room, slightly limping. Phil and Jason crossed the room and helped me distract the monster.

I saw Nate and Percy disappear behind the beast as I dove away from it. Phil was trying to pry open the door.

I heard Nate scream and something roar from behind the monster. Phil spun around to face us and Jason yelled, "Nate?!"

Nate sprinted around the monster and ran to me and Jason. "It worked!"

Another roar sounded from behind the monster, then the monster turned around. I grabbed Jason and Nate as I backed up to Phil.

"The door won't budge and I don't think Alex is going to let us out. What should we do?" Phil asked.

As I was thinking, I heard a loud crash and turned around to see the monster that looked like Percy punching the other beast. The beast was rammed through the wall.

"I think an exit just opened up," Nate commented.

The beast got back up and charged at Percy. "Okay, how are we going to do this?" Phil questioned.

"Let's just run over there and start climbing through the hole! We can grab Percy on the way out!" I exclaimed.

"Does Percy know how to change back into a person?" Jason asked. After no one replied, he yelled, "I told you this was a bad idea!"

"We'll figure something out! Start going through the hole and pray that it leads to somewhere safe!" I decided.

Phil, Nate, Jason, and I dashed toward the hole. We helped Phil through first, and after he said that he was in a hallway, Nate and I lifted Jason through.

Nate got a running start and dashed up the wall. Phil and Jason grabbed his hands and pulled him through. I grabbed the bottom of the hole and jumped through, but fell on my face after not catching my balance.

Phil giggled, "You haven't gotten more agile?"

"Shut up. At least I got through without any help," I stated matter-of-factly.

"Can you two joke-fight literally at any other time?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, we still have to help Percy," Nate added.

Phil helped me stand up and replied, "How did Percy change back into a human the first time?"

"Didn't a whistle go off?" I asked.

Nate put two of his fingers in his mouth and whistled deafeningly.

"Where'd you learn to do that?" Phil questioned.

Nate shrugged. "I don't remember. Percy probably taught me."

I looked back through the hole to see Percy and the other monster morphing back into humans. "Percy! Come on!" I yelled.

In his human state, Percy ran toward the hole. He dove through without a problem and stuck the landing effortlessly.

"Alright, let's go!" Percy cheered.

"Time to go save everyone else!" Nate exclaimed.

"One down, five to go," Phil whispered to me with a smile.

A/N

Okayyyy

THIS BOOK IS AT 5K READS AND HOLY CRAP

I'll make this short for those of you who aren't super interested, but I AM AMAZED BY THE FACT THAT PEOPLE ENJOY SOMETHING I GOT THE IDEA FOR AT 5 AM WHEN I WAS COMPLETELY SLEEP DEPRIVED AND ACTUALLY THOUGHT I WOULD DIE FROM LACK OF SLEEP

In other words, you nerds rock, and thanksss

Anyways, BUH-BYE BROTATOES!