52 Bad Vibes

When I feel the air around me growing colder, I quickly stand up and walk out to the others. Troy was on the ground with a bloody lip and his hair sticking up in different directions as Thane stands over him and says "If you even look at him for longer than ten seconds, I will personally throw your ass to the Ragers."

My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline as I come to a stop behind Thane. I awkwardly clear my throat and say "It's not that serious. He was just looking for a pervert and even though selling my pictures while dressed as a chick was...well... a douche move... It's not like he was trying to hurt me, right?"

I give Troy a pointed look that has him blinking in surprise. He suddenly starts nodding his head as he says "It's true! I won't touch any of his stuff anymore and you already took all the pictures! I don't have anything else, I swear! You can all search my stuff."

Thane's eyes narrow on him before he says "He may be nice enough to let this go but I'm not. Give me a reason to throw you out, please." After glaring at Troy, Thane starts to walk back into the base but I quickly reach out and grab his arm.

He comes to a stop and looks to me with a frown before I give him a look and slightly shake my head. I quickly slap an awkward smile onto my face as I turn to the others and say "Let's all stay out here for a minute and stretch! Fresh air will do all of us some good, right?"

I turn and look back up to Thane with that same awkward smile plastered on my face, instantly causing Thane's eyes to sharpen. He doesn't look towards the base at all. He just turns back to the others and says "Fresh air sounds like a good idea."

Titus's face crumples up in confusion and goes to walk back in but when Thane makes eye contact, he pauses. Thane lifts his arms to "stretch" but he secretly sends a few hand signals to Titus causing the old man's eyes to harden.

He slowly lifts his head and says "Fresh air... yup. Everyone is to breathe in this air before heading back in for the night." Conner starts taking deep breaths as Cruz narrows his eyes on Thane but does the same.

Troy's confusion doesn't ease as he slowly stands up and starts taking deep breaths. I try not to laugh at the idiot as Thane steps closer to me and says "That's not how to properly stretch. Let me show you or you'll end up hurting yourself."

Thane steps up behind me, causing the monkey to jump down and fuss. Thane glances at the monkey before sliding his arms over mine from behind. I stiffen as Thane leans down to my ear and whispers "What is it?"

I swallow hard and try to ignore the way his voice sounds next to my ear before softly saying "Someone or something's in there. I think it has the ability to camouflage itself." Thane's jaw clenches as he says "Stay here with the others."

As he goes to step back, I quickly grab his arms and say "Don't! You don't have a weapon on you and there's no way to tell what this thing is capable of." Thane flicks my forehead before smirking at me and saying "Keep stretching. I need to grab a few things and I'll be right back."

My heart races as he gives Titus a look and walks back to the base. Titus clears his throat and yells "What are you doing boy! Wasn't this your idea? Stretch!" I bite my lip and start doing some light stretches as the little monkey chases a butterfly around the bushes.

Everyone knows something's wrong but no one says a word as we all stretch like idiots. I keep glancing towards the base as I say "Maybe I should go help him. I am thirsty..." Titus looks like he wants to say no but I can see the concern in his eyes.

I nod to him and quickly glance back to the monkey. He was still trying to catch the butterfly so I turn around and start heading back to the base but when I hear something, I turn back around and find all of them on the ground!

As soon as I open my mouth to cry out, my world goes dark.

~~~~~~~~

THANE

After grabbing a pair of heat signature glasses, he quickly grabs his gun and slips a blade onto his thigh holster. He carefully and quickly starts clearing the base but when he doesn't see anyone or anything, he frowns with confusion.

Suddenly, he gets a bad feeling... He quickly runs back to the door and what he finds has his heart nearly stopping. Everyone's here except for Valerie! He quickly runs over and feels for a pulse on Titus but when he feels one, he releases a breath of relief before looking for any signs of the intruder.

The monkey! He quickly starts searching for the little thing but it too can't be found. Thane grits his teeth and quickly runs to the border of the base but when he still doesn't see anything or anyone, he curses and feels like breaking something.

When he hears voices, he quickly runs back over to see the others slowly waking up and asking "What the hell happened?" Thane's anger builds until the air around them starts to grow colder and colder. When the others notice, they all turn to him with confusion and ask "What happened?"

Thane struggles to control his emotions as he grits out "Someone took Valen..." The others only realize now that Valen is missing. Titus curses and struggles to stand with his bad leg as he asks "Did you see who they were or where they went?"

Thane glares at the old man and says "If I had... I wouldn't be standing here."