"The real reason you can't find him is you don't have the guts! You just tiptoe around like a coward!" Tyson expressed thick with agitation.
"Don't start again, Tyson! We've already had this conversation!"
There was fury in Drayton's voice which countered his son's. "I can't just go breaking into every government run facility until we find him! Nor can I just blow up buildings and kill people without any reprimand to our name! You are out of line!"
"You're so worried about your damn reputation. It means nothing when the world goes to shit, which is where its currently going, in case you hadn't noticed!" Tyson snapped back to his father.
The way Drayton's eyes narrowed angrily at his child was chilling.
"It means everything. And you're damn lucky Gates either hasn't caught on or, given the circumstances, hasn't risked pushing us for conviction!"
Drayton cornering the group, and asking what had happened to Officer Scotts in the early hours of the morning, had morphed instead into an argument with Tyson.
Allegedly the policeman was okay, but had awoken with quite the headache and an impressive swollen lump to go along with it.
Having been ushered back into the building by some of Drayton's personnel; Sara, Ashlee, Tyson and Twister sat around the pushed-together tables in the kitchen for a scolding/ breakfast combination.
The quiet lady from the earlier meeting, who Drayton had referred to as 'Lillian', had her hair up neatly in a high bun and was cooking something particularly aromatic over the stove. But what the teenagers had been served and expected to eat was clearly not her chef masterpiece. What had was warm long-life milk, a homebrand wheat cereal, and glasses of tap water.
The group had agreed to keep the experience with Aleron and Ashton a secret between them for now. But with Tyson purposely misdirecting the conversation and putting himself in the line of fire for a verbal bashing, Sara felt awful.
Ashlee appeared equally uncomfortable and she remained silent with downcast eyes. Sara had the feeling she was also reeling from the fact that her friend had been keeping secrets from her. Oh the irony.
Clyde, who had arrived along with Drayton, was not intervening either. He kept his mouth shut and scrolled silently on his touchscreen phone to dissociate himself. Every so often he peeked a quick glance at the exceptionally vocal argument.
The only one that seemed outwardly unfazed by the yelling match unfolding was Twister. His own spat outside had apparently worn him out too much to bother him. He lay with his head resting on the table and his eyes closed, leaving Sara horrified by his zero reaction to the verbal violence.
Tyson clicked his tongue. The spite was still heavy in his tone. "So, you're just giving up?"
"I never said that. Hopefully we will eventually find the other taudog brother again. But right now, I'm focusing on protecting the one I have."
"Ha. Coz you did such a good job finding them the first time around -"
Sara thought the tension may painfully drag on longer still, until a figure walking past the open doorway caught Drayton's attention.
"Greg!"
The man that was Greg backtracked and popped his head into the kitchen area. He had dusty brown, short hair and neat stubble that sculpted his cheeks and chin.
"Oh. Hello. Didn't see you there," he fibbed. "I was just on my way to-"
"In here," Drayton ordered firmly.
"But Norman wanted me to-"
"He can wait. I want you to look at the taudog kid. He looks like shit."
Greg nervously walked through the door. He was packed like a third-world mule, loaded up with multiple bags of various shapes and sizes. He took in each of the teenagers sitting around the glum breakfast setup, but lingered his sight on Twister the longest.
"Sir," he addressed Drayton while untangling himself from multiple straps. "You know I mostly specialise in dead bodies these days. I've been a forensic pathologist for a while now."
"Well, right now you're specialising in an alive body. I want to start heading out by tomorrow morning. Get the boy looking a tad less like one of your cadavers, will you?"
Greg's lips grew tight, but he nodded. "Yes sir."
"Once you've looked him over, come find me. We have much to discuss."
Drayton's attention went back to Tyson who was seething, pouting at his soggy cereal and sitting with his arms folded.
"Get over yourself, Tyson. You'll do as you're told. We are heading back to the estate this evening."
Tyson glared facetiously at his brother. "Thanks for the backup, Daddy's Little Princess," he sneered.
Clyde rolled his eyes and followed his father out the door.
"Well, that was tense." Greg's mood switched as Drayton and Clyde vacated the room.
He unloaded and stacked the collection of bags he had weighing him down and let out a sigh of relief once he was free.
"Nice to see you again, Lill." Greg gave Lillian a friendly wave and she smiled politely as she stirred her concoction. He dragged a chair over to sit next to Twister.
Twister's head rose slowly in the man's direction. His expression was certainly not a pleasant one, but Greg did not appear particularly fazed.
"Oh wow, you do look like shit!" Greg scooted his chair to a closer position to look the taudog up and down.
"Don't even think about biting me," Greg said randomly with a confident smile. And before Twister could react, Greg was pulling on his face.
He hooked a finger in the corner of Twister's mouth and tugged his cheek back revealing his clenched teeth. His back molars were exaggeratedly large and craggily shaped. Sara had always assumed his teeth shrunk back down to usual human size when he de-transformed; They looked normal from the front, albeit his canines had a point to them. But Twister's rear chompers were definitely bigger than typical human teeth. There had to be less amount in there too to be able to fit them.
Greg tutted at Twister's very pale gums before he released him, leaving Twister looking aghast and violated.
No one was unsurprised by the sudden and daring exploit. But Twister recovered quickly from his shock and his piercing blue eyes confidently sparkled with impending murder.
Sara was onto him, however. Before Twister could motion his intention, she launched herself at him. She grabbed him into a tight bear hug. A fizzle danced across Sara's skin where she touched him and Twister instantly halted.
"Don't even think about it," Sara hissed. She'd had enough drama today and she wasn't about to let Twister cause anymore.
Twister eventually recovered from his stun and nudged Sara off of him with a scowl. Sara elbowed him back with a frown, attempting to match his poopy mood.
Greg placed his elbows against the table and intertwined his fingers together like he was about to break some important news.
"He's extremely dehydrated and fatigued", Greg revealed as the results of his observation.
"That's it...?" Sara asked stunned by the extremely brief exclamation. "Nothing else is wrong with him?"
"Oh. I dunno." Greg replied to Sara. "But taudogs are resilient. He'll probably bounce back after a good drink and feed. I expect it'll be a pretty darn quick recovery with his mate here to resonate with too."
Both Twister and Sara gave the man offended stares, repulsed by his blasé use of the word 'mate'.
Tyson spat out a mouthful of cereal across the table, covering his mouth to hold back laughing and prevent a further milk flood. Greg also found the reaction of the duo comedic and a booming laugh escaped him.
Lillian shook her head at Greg's long-winded laughter while she leaned over the table to place a steaming bowl in front of Twister.
"Here you are." Lillian grinned pleasantly. "Be careful, it's hot."
The food that Twister stared at with displeasure looked to be some kind of soup. The brown appearance looked bland, but the smell was temptingly appetising.
"Norman tells me this is what you usually ate... In your previous home." Lillian paused briefly to find a gentle enough description. "I improvised a little to give it more flavour and used better quality ingredients. But I'm certain you'll be able to eat this. I'm sure it'll taste much better hot too."
"I don't want it," Twister mumbled miserably. He was looking into the bowl, but not really. His thoughts presumably wafting elsewhere.
Sara thought she saw an expression of dread wash over his face, but when she looked harder it was deadpan.
Lillian folded her arms. The way she kept her pleasant gaze, but dominant body language was unnerving. She forced a small metal spoon into Twister's hand.
"You have anaemia, so you're going to eat it. I have three stubborn kids under ten. So I'm very patient, young man. I'll stand here, and I'm not leaving, until you finish every last drop." The woman said firmly. "Take tiny sips if you're nauseous."
Twister was confused but also fully ready to challenge Lillian on that. Sara pinched at his arm. It instantly caused him to snap his sour expression back to her instead.
"Please eat it."
Sara's voice came out quieter than she intended and she could not hide the worry in it. She had not seen Twister eat a single thing since they'd met. And it had been days.
"You are the girl that's paired up with him, aren't you?" Greg asked Sara, amusement still glimmered in his eyes.
"Apparently," Sara responded dryly, giving Twister a side eye. "So... Just being near him will make him feel better, right?"
Twister met Sara's look of contempt with an unamused scowl.
"Yep. From what I've heard. Will be even better if there's a physical connection though." Greg answered.
Twister's hands suddenly jammed on the table, causing Sara and Ashlee to jump.
"No." He said angrily.
"No?" Sara repeated.
"No!" Twister said firmly.
Sara was confused, but didn't press him. Angrily ignoring the people around him, Twister focused on the sustenance in front of him.
Tentatively he inspected his eating utensil. Then he dipped his incorrectly held spoon into the thick broth. He nibbled on the end of it just the tiniest bit.
"I can stand here all day," Lillian informed him. She didn't react to his obvious agitation and continued to stare down at him.
Sara sighed and leaned back into her seat to get comfortable. She was anticipating a lengthy stay.
Tyson sniggered in the background while he picked at the heavily graffitied bindings of his cast. Ashlee shook her head at him. When she noticed Twister glaring at him she ushered Tyson out of his seat.
"We'll see you a bit later, Sara." Ashlee's mouth etched her friend a silent good luck as they left the kitchen.
Sara watched Twister bring small, shaking spoonfuls to his mouth. He winced swallowing every single portion.
"Are sure you feel okay, Twister? You got shot with that horrible pink stuff."
"I am used to 'Langaden'." Was his answer.
"You know what that pink stuff is?"
Twister didn't use his lips, but rather raked his teeth against the spoon. There was a metallic clatter everytime he bit down. When the utensil came away this time, there was still a trail of broth dripping down toward the handle. He watched it absentmindedly as he spoke.
"They would talk in front of me sometimes. It was like they thought I couldn't hear them, or understand them if I was in a cage or strapped to a table."
Sara felt a shiver of horror, knowing exactly who he meant when her referred to 'they'. She hoped that Twister wouldn't go into too much into detail of exactly what Gates team did to him back in the laboratory. She wasn't sure she could handle it.
"Langaden is what they all called it. At first, only Gates would inject it. It felt different, smelled different, it burned more, each time he came. My body wouldn't recover as fast and the pain lasted longer. And then he authorised other people to use it too."
"People like Mr Shale?" Sara's voice came out in a whispering tremble before she could stop herself.
Twister didn't answer. His eyes remained vacant as he stared into his bowl.
"Sometimes they would put it in my food... And I knew that something unpleasant was coming. They were going to do something... I wouldn't eat it. But they were patient. Sometimes, they were patient."
Lillian's face turned as pale as Twister's and she covered her mouth with her hand. She didn't badger him to eat again after that.
"Are you talking about the drug that Norman would like me to look at?" Greg asked.
Sara nodded.
"Tell me, Taudog," Greg's face turned serious. "Was 'Langaden' made specifically to manage you? Or was it made for another reason, and its effects just so happened to conveniently take you down?"
"I wasn't the only one Gates was using it on. He was using it on other shapeshifters. And he was using it on humans too."
Greg sighed at Twister's answer.
"That's what I was afraid of." He muttered darkly.