The scientist screamed.

"Don't come any closer!"

Isaac ran into the hallway, suddenly unsure of who was in more danger, the scientist or the snowman.

"I’ll shoot," she yelled, her hands shaking. "I’ll shoot you if you don’t stop right now!"

The fear she was feeling turned the tables for X-157. While earlier he was practically shaking in his boots, now he was the fearless one, steadily approaching the frail woman. With every step forward, she backed up further into the bedroom. Isaac followed them, trying to defuse the situation. Somehow. But then he noticed something unusual: there was another room inside the bedroom, a hidden space, almost like a panic room.

The young scientist aimed her gun at X-157, who continued walking toward her with heavy steps, as if he was finally going to satisfy some long-repressed death wish. But X-157 had read the situation perfectly: the gun in her hand was heavy, and her hands were trembling violently. She didn’t seem like the kind of person used to handling weapons.

On the other hand, there was Billy … or some dead alien that looked eerily like him … lying in the bathroom with a bullet hole in his chest. Had she done that? Isaac took a closer look at the gun in her hand. Impossible, he thought. The bullet hole looked like it came from a large-caliber revolver meant for hunting elephants, not from this … What was that thing, anyway? A freaking laser gun?!

"Please, stop!"

"What are you doing?" Isaac shouted. But whom was he talking to?

The next moment, the tall, overweight snowman snatched the gun from the scientist's hands and violently slapped her to the floor.

"Ah!" she screamed, rolling onto her stomach and trying to get back up.

But X-157 pressed the barrel of the strange futuristic gun into her back, pinning her down so she couldn’t rise.

"We’re just here to steal some secret documents from you," Isaac said, trying to sound calm but immediately realizing how ridiculous that sounded. "Once we have them, we’ll leave. No one needs to get hurt."

At least, not anyone else.

But the scientist only panicked more. She scrambled on all fours, trying to escape the broad attacker.

He grabbed her by the collar, yanking her like an unruly dog.

"Ah! Who the hell are you?!"

"Friends of fast money," X-157 replied.

"Enemies of the corporation," Isaac added.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yes, we swear! We want to take down the Thandros Corporation."

Was Thandros really their common enemy?

"Shut up, both of you," X-157 snapped, pressing the gun to the scientist's temple. "Tell us where the damn documents are!"

"Please don’t shoot," she cried. "The data’s on a stick, in the secret room. Over there, on the table, in the basket. The data is stored on it."

Isaac watched the poor woman, completely at the mercy of a violent madman. He knew firsthand what X-157 was capable of when he was driven by rage.

"Get the data, fool," X-157 ordered Isaac.

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"The Thandros Corporation is watching me!" the scientist blurted out. "Thandros controls me. Controls all of us."

Even a little surprised by his own logic, which seemed not entirely driven out by the chaos of the moment, Isaac said, "Why would you want to hand over the data to a nutjob like Pope Zodiac? If he takes power, then…"

"Pope Zodiac?! That madman from the PROMISED LAND? To hell with him! I was expecting someone completely different."

Isaac froze, thinking of the dead man in the bathtub. "You mean... Billy?"

The scientist's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"Did you kill him?"

"What?!"

"He's dead in your shower."

"That wasn't me! And that’s not Billy!"

Isaac hesitated, gritting his teeth. "Then who? And who killed him?"

"The same guys that are after me!" she shouted. "Everyone’s been after me since I stole the documents from the research–" X-157 suddenly yanked the pretty scientist by the collar, dragging her across the floor.

"Ah! Even the media is controlled by Thandros, the education system, the police, everything!"

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

A calm melody that formed an eerie contrast to the utter chaos of the situation.

"They’re here."

"Who? WHO?!"

"The men from Thandros! An army you don’t even know exists, though they’re right under your noses, no, above you! They control everything! For God's sake, you have to get out of here!"

As Isaac stepped into the scientist’s hidden office, he was convinced she was crazy. And yet, her words sent a chill down his spine. He wondered if they really were corporate henchmen outside or if the noise had just brought the police. Neighbors alarmed by the shouting and screams.

"And what about that thing in your bathtub?" X-157 shouted, as Isaac scanned the secret room: a nearly empty wooden shelf, an old chair, and a desk with a fifty-year-old computer on it and a basket holding an ancient USB drive.

"That’s the truth lying there! That creature is the real reason why Thandros built those massive walls around Central Park. They're hiding something inside. Something... terrifying." the scientist said cryptically. "There are more of them. They found me, and they’ll find you too if you don’t leave soon!"

The men outside lost their patience. They gave up ringing the bell and started pounding on the door with their fists.

"Everything I know is in those documents. On the flash drive! In the basket on the desk. It’s all there. Take it and go before they get you!"

"I can’t read, you bitch!" X-157 yelled. "What good are a bunch of worthless documents I’ll never be able to understand? I want answers NOW! What’s in your goddamn shower? An alien? Are you hiding them from us? I’ve always known they’re among us."

"Go!" the scientist shouted in desperation. But X-157 wasn’t in the mood to listen to anything a woman had to say, nor was he about to be intimidated by a bunch of secret agents pounding on the door.

"Don't give me orders!" X-157 bellowed, pressing the gun harder against her skull. In his fury, he accidentally pulled the trigger. Isaac had just grabbed the memory device from the basket and turned around when he saw the tubes of that strange laser gun glowing blue. A blinding flash lit up the room, and in the next moment, the scientist's head exploded like a watermelon.

A sickening splatter echoed from every side as what had once been her head splashed against the walls. A piece of her skull flew to Isaac's feet. He saw it from the corner of his eye, and thought he could still see a tuft of hair clinging to it. With the scientist's memory drive in one hand, Isaac stood frozen in the hidden room, staring at the gore-soaked scene. The bedroom had transformed from an erotic space into a gruesome horror show in less than a second.

The scientist… dead as a doornail.

But there was no time to process it. The men outside were now kicking the door, trying to force their way in. Maybe two or three more solid kicks and the door would give way.

X-157 trudged through the thick, blood-splattered air, stomping toward Isaac, who remained frozen in shock. The maniac left dark, bloody footprints in his wake. A strange odor filled the room, like the smell of burning rubber in an underground subway station.

Isaac stood there, motionless, accepting everything without resistance, even when X-157 grabbed him by the jacket and shoved the gun in his face.

"Give me the damn thing," he growled.

It took Isaac a second to realize he was talking about the USB flash drive.

"Or you'll end up like that bitch on the floor."

Isaac had learned from the scientist’s mistake and knew better than to provoke this ticking time bomb. X-157 had no conscience, and the horror that would have paralyzed most people had only fueled him.

With a resigned motion, Isaac handed him the flash drive. The moment X-157 ripped it from his hand, they both heard the soft creak of the front door opening. Had the men given up on brute force and picked the lock instead?

Footsteps echoed in the hallway, growing louder, closer.

"Thanks, asshole," X-157 sneered. "And don’t worry, I’ll let you live. Only because we need a scapegoat for this bloodbath. You'll spend the rest of your life in prison, ha!"

"You piece of—"

X-157 swung the butt of the gun hard across Isaac’s jaw. His head snapped to the side with a crack of his neck, and a tooth flew out in a high arc. Isaac collapsed to the floor, landing just two meters from the headless body of the scientist.

His final thought: This is where it all ends for me.