Sian opened it and raised her brows at their cargo.

“Fluids and Nutrition droplets,” Rio said. Sian sweated as her eyes bulged at the implication of what would require Kayden to need that level of care. Osco put the kits on the bed as Sian grabbed the pole and the tubing.

“We’re going to fashion him some fluids and nutrition droplets because chances are is he’s not going to last the night without them before going berserk. Let alone the rest of the week you poor sods have here,” Osco said as he sorted through the kits and opened two. He sterilized Kayden’s arm before taking out an Obliturium needle and finding the vein. He connected the tube to two I.V. bags and set them on the pole before adjusting them.

“When these get empty, replace them. It’ll take four hours before they do,” Osco said. Rio and Sian nodded.

“The clear one is for fluids while the pink one is nutrition. He needs a steady supply of both until he turns the corner and can eat on his own,” Osco said as he finished.

“How…did you know Kayden?” Rio asked curiously. Osco eyed his worn-out friend and faintly smiled.

“Let’s just say he helped get me from a dark place,” Osco said before turning away. He lowered his gaze as he reached into his pocket and held out a business card.

“If he doesn’t turn the corner, do call me and I’ll take care of the rest,” Osco said quietly. Sian and Rio gulped as they eyed it before Sian took it.

“I pray that will not happen, but I know his eulogy plan,” Osco said before leaving. Rio and Sian held their breath before turning to face Kayden to see him lying still and looking awful.

“We have four days left before the week is up. I don’t honestly know what we’re going to do, Rio,” Sian said. Rio gulped and lowered his gaze.

“It can’t be over like this, Sian,” Rio said as if holding onto his hope. Sian felt uneased and saw it on Rio’s face. She forced her fears down and just smiled and nodded.

“It can’t be, you’re right,” she said.

Late that night, Kayden’s bags were getting low after their second change, but he was barely any better regardless that the black veins stopped spreading. Rio was changing his bags when he suddenly noticed blood dripping down Kayden’s nose. He jolted and immediately grabbed the nearest tissue and dabbed each nostril. He vividly remembered him having the sign right on the precipice of going berserk. He started to bead sweat on his brow as he imagined being held in a room with a berserking Cyril. He immediately roused Sian.

“What is it?” she asked.

“His nose is bleeding,” Rio said. Sian’s eyes bulged as she rushed out of the bed. She scoured Kayden’s pockets before finding his wallet.

“Go find a vending machine and buy as much of the biggest portions you can find,” Sian said as she shoved the wallet into his hands. He went right out the door and outside. He ran around the building and looked for any kind of vending machine before finding one in a dimly lit corner of the motel. He approached the vending machine and scoured it to find all kinds of terrible-looking high-calorie snacks. Jackpot. He spent several minutes trial and erroring cards until he found one that worked before he proceeded to empty six slots of snacks until he was thoroughly sated. He took an armful of snacks with him back toward the room and entered without noticing two men closely behind him. He entered the room with an exhaustive sigh and put the wallet and the armful of snacks on the end of Kayden’s bed.

“Well, the next time he wakes up, he’ll be filling his stomach. Here’s hoping he’ll keep it down at this point,” Sian said grimly. Suddenly three loud knocks came at the door. They both jolted and eyed each other.

“That can’t be Osco, can it?” Rio asked. Sian gulped and grabbed the pistol. They cautiously walked to the door until they saw it bulge in the center the moment they heard an impact. They leaped out of the way the moment one man barreled through the door. Sian didn’t wait to start shooting and opened fire and pegged the man in the calf, but he merely staggered and came in. The man behind her towered over them even while masked as a human—it was the rogues that came to finish the job. They were wearing Guardian uniforms. The man who was shot staggered after them as they leapt over the beds and ran throughout the room. Sian hurried and shoved the gun in Rio’s hands before flipping up the wall and over the incoming rogue. She did a spinning kick that pegged him in the back of the head and sent him forward. Rio opened fire on the other rogue who was shot in the shoulder and in the thigh.

“Frack!” the rogue cried out. Rio was backed into the bathroom up against the wall and sweated as he reloaded his cartridge. He trembled as he knew he had to make his shots count. Sian performed acrobatic kicks and strikes that looked like she was dancing with a staggering drunk who moved sloppily. She landed several blows, but he just kept coming. She sweated the moment he grabbed her and pinned her down. He raised his fist and did a straight cross to her that made her spasm as she tried to roll away.

“This is too easy. I don’t even need to use my gun on you guys,” he said with an insidious grin as he reached out for her and tried to pin her. She wriggled and reached with her hands and jabbed him right in the eyes to buy an opening as he cried out and hunched forward holding his face. Sian slid out from under him and jumped to her feet with agility before rushing the Cyril headed for the bathroom. She leaped on his back and put him in a headlock, making him stagger and flail. She held on as well as she could until he gripped her and flung her into the bathroom. She was bruised and bleeding out her lip as she tried to get back to her feet.

“Aim well, Rio,” Sian said. Rio gulped and nodded before waiting for the first rogue to enter the bathroom. One of the rogues who had been jabbed now only had one eye and looked pissed. He came rushing the door first. Rio waited until the last minute before opening fire one shot after another. He nailed him right in the face three times just as the rogue came sliding to a dead halt. The other rogue growled and grabbed his own pistol and shot Rio in the leg. He cried out as he staggered back as Sian stood before him.

“Aim again!” Sian exclaimed. Rio aimed and shot until the gun overheated and burned his hands.

“Crap!” Rio cried out as he panicked and dropped the hot gun. Suddenly, the rogue was yanked flying back and into the rest of the room. They suddenly saw Kayden stagger over him and start to throw a beatdown. Sian and Rio gasped as they crawled over the dead rogue and saw Kayden wailing on the guy with his fists in a way they’d never seen him do before. He looked primal and fierce but distracted in his movements.

“Kayden!” they both exclaimed together. Kayden flinched before he turned around to look at them. He had an eeriness in his black sclera and white pupils as he huffed a frosty breath. He staggered to his feet and started marching with an unnatural gait toward them.

“Oh shit!” Rio exclaimed first before grabbing Sian and rushing with her into the bathroom before shutting the door.

“He’s berserk or something!” Rio panicked. Sian helped him hold the door shut and waited for them to be knocked forward. But nothing happened. They stood there with their hearts racing as they tried to think of what to do next. They suddenly heard a thud. They eyed each other and quickly opened the door to find Kayden face-first on the floor.

“Is he dead?” Rio asked with tears in his eyes as he staggered over. Sian checked his pulse.

“It’s still beating,” she said uneasily. They both looked at the broken-up room and the two rogue bodies.

“We can’t stay here, Rio. Someone will have likely called the police. God help us if we’re mixed up at this level because we can’t hold them off,” Sian said warily.

“Where do we go?” Rio asked.

“We’ll have to look into asking Osco for help. He’s the only one we know that could,” Sian said.

“What about the guy who lent you the car?” Rio asked.

“He was paid and only let me take it with a GPS in it so he can get it himself if I don’t return it,” Sian said. Rio sweated. They both took a moment to let everything settle before Sian took out her mobile.

“Osco? We ran into a little problem…” Sian said.

Before they knew it, they were in the Osco’s ‘older’ car with him in the driver’s seat, Sian in the passenger, and Kayden and Rio in the back. Rio had his arms full of the snacks from the vending machine and looked terribly uneasy.

“Fu—Frack! I can’t believe you got me to put a berserking Cyril in my damn car!” Osco panicked for a moment.

“I’m sorry, we…we don’t have any other options. And…Kayden could still make it,” Sian said anxiously. Osco wore a sour expression as he found himself hating the task all the more. He grumbled and turned on the radio before changing the station so he couldn’t hear himself think about how much of a bad plan he was part of. He thought Kayden was thoroughly out for a while based on his inability to feed for so long.

“Damnit. We’ll lay low at a safe house for a while and I’ll hook his ass up to more fluids and droplets. The steady intake ought to be useful to him by now,” Osco said as he tried to wrestle with his frowning expression. Sian eyed him and faintly smiled.

“Thank you for helping, all the same. You didn’t have to…but know that you saved our lives,” Sian said. Osco eyed her warily before lowering his gaze.

“Back about two hundred years ago, I was scrounging around as a thief. I stole what to get by because I was abandoned as a child on a nowhere-poor-ass colony. I tried to take from a Guardian—one Guardian in particular, and as soon as he caught me, I was scared shitless,” Osco started. Kayden slowly lifted his head as he breathed out frosty vapor. Rio sweated as he eyed him and saw Kayden look his way with the eerie eyes of white irises on black sclera. Immediately Rio stopped what he was thinking and wrestled open one of the snacks. He handed an exposed cupcake to the crazed man. Kayden just snatched it out of his hand before shoving it in his mouth.

“He didn’t wring me out or beat me like everyone else did. Instead, he took me in, fed me, clothed me. He took me to Earth and said I could fit in here as long as I could blend in,” Osco said. Meanwhile, Kayden was shoving snack after snack in his mouth as Rio struggled to hand him one after another.

“He gave me an artifact he had been saving. I still have it,” Osco said as he showed his ear that had a familiar piercing. Sian blinked in surprise to see it all while Rio was carefully handing all the snacks to Kayden in the backseat apparently quietly enough for them not to notice since they were caught in the moment.

“I’ve never met such a nice and reliable guy before. He set me up with an Agent to train me to work as one, and I never looked back. I just never had the time to properly thank him after all those years since showing him I did become an Agent. I told him if he ever needed something to look me up,” Osco said as he reminisced. He wore a content smile and eyed the review mirror only to see Kayden’s crazed eyes looking back at him.

“F*ck!” he cried out as he swerved the car and pulled over. In the jerking motion, Kayden slowly passed out. Osco turned to look back at him and just stared.

“Why the shit didn’t you tell me he woke up?!” Osco demanded.

“I fed him a whole ton of snacks. It was an opportunity to do it before panicking, right?” Rio asked optimistically. Osco and Sian looked weary after realizing they were in a confined space with a berserking Cyril.

“Damnit, we need to get to that safe house,” Osco griped before putting the car back in gear.