Fear the Night
Chapter 4-The Explanation

Chapter 4: The Explanation

Mavericklifted the door and let Yukio go in first, followed by Isabella then himself ashe shut the door and called to Yukio, “Just head all the way down the stairs.”

Heheard a gasp and knew exactly who itwas and what she was gasping at, and as he reached Isabella and Yukio at thebottom of the stairs he placed a hand on Isabella’s shoulder and murmured,“Don’t worry. She’s asleep. She won’t wake up for anything. It’s safe.”

“Whatis that?” Yukio asked, pullingIsabella closer as Maverick walked past them and knelt down next to the cage.

“This,my friend, is a Drone,” Maverick replied, pulling at the chain with the dishattached to bring it out of the cell.

“Howdid you capture one?!” Isabellabreathed as Maverick stood and headed to the freezer.

“Oh,it was simple, really,” he shrugged, throwing a piece of meat on the dish witha clang the made Yukio and Isabella jump. “All I did was take a piece of meat, about that size…” He pointed to the piece of meat. “…and left it at thetop step of those stairs, then took a bigger piece of meat and put it in thecage. When she went for the secondpiece, I slammed the cell door shut. Shewasn’t too happy, though.”

“Whywould you want to keep one?” Yukiowondered as Maverick walked into the part of the cave he called his bedroom.

“Observation,”he called back as he rounded the corner with a notebook in his hand. He stood in front of the pair and handed thebook to Yukio. “In this book iseverything she’s been doing since in captivity with me. Her progress.”

Yukiotook the book and flipped through it as Isabella glanced between the sleepingDrone and Maverick. He stared back ather when her gaze landed on him again.

“Howdo you know it’s a girl?” she wondered and Maverick only shrugged.

“Idon’t,” he admitted as she looked back at the Drone. He smirked at her obvious worry and steppednext to her to place his arm around her shoulders.

“RememberI told you they have trouble with doors?” he reminded her, stepping closer tothe bars and she nodded nervously. “Theyhave even more trouble with bars.”

Yukioglanced at the two and couldn’t help smirking. He knew Maverick would likeher, and he had a strong feeling, as soon as he’d laid eyes on Maverick, thatIsabella would like him. Turning his attention back to the notebook,he decided to mind his own business and let them go with the flow.

“Whydo they have more trouble with bars?”Isabella wondered as she and Maverick stood directly in front of the cell.

“Thesame reason you and I do,” he replied. “Bars are metal, harder to break, or even saw through. Not to mention, their intelligence levelisn’t very high. I could give her thekey and she wouldn’t know what it was or what the hell to do with it.”

“Thatwon’t last long,” Yukio observed, making the other two turn their attention tohim as Maverick let go of Isabella. “According to your last entry, she’s been making quite a bit ofprogress.”

“Yes,”Maverick nodded, taking the book back from the other man. “I have a theory that it’s possible forDrones to become human again. That is,if they were to interact with humans more and eat them less.”

“Thisis why the Suits are after you, isn’t it?” Isabella guessed as Maverick went tothe safe in the wall next to the cell. “If they found out you caught one of these, they’ll want to examine itthemselves.”

“Yeah,”Maverick sighed, opening the safe and tossing the notebook in. “But they can’t have her.” He slammed the box shut and turned to his newfriends. “Believe it or not, I’ve grownattached to her. She trusts me in an oddway because I feed her regularly, and let her pretty much do whatever she wantsand get her whatever she wants. I’ve weaned her off of human meat, but shestill craves meat no matter what I do. If those Suits take her, they’ll beat her and dissect her…” He trailed off as he turned to the cell andknelt down to stare at the still sleeping Drone then breathed, “…I won’t letthem hurt her.”

“Well,you can’t run from these Suits forever,” Yukio said, crossing his arms over hischest. “And you certainly can’t live alone anymore. We won’t be able to live up there now that we know all this. We’ll have to move down here with you.”

“Youdon’t need to do that,” Maverick said, shuffling to face them then sat down tolean back on the bars.

“I’mpretty sure we do,” Yukio retorted. “Noway those Suits are gonna give up looking for you. We can take turns heading up to get groceriesand stuff. You won’t have to go up atall between the two of us.”

“Youreally don’t need—”

Maverickwas cut off when two gentle fingertips touched his lips. He’d seen Isabella kneel next to him andthought nothing of it, but now he stared wide, startled eyes at her warm,smiling face.

“Youlook so tired,” she observed, moving her hand away from his face. “Why don’t you just let us help you? You could use the help.”

Maverickstared at her with wide eyes, speechless and before he could start thinkingagain, she leaned forward and left a small kiss on his cheek.

“I’llgo get some things we didn’t use last night, and Yukio will make lunch for allof us before he and I get our things, ok?” she smiled then stood and ran up thestairs.

Maverickwas speechless again as he looked to Yukio who only smirked as he turned to thestairs himself then said, “Yeah, she can do that.”

“D-Dowhat?” Maverick finally sputtered with a slight frown.

“Rendera man speechless,” Yukio replied, heading after Isabella. “Lord knows she’s done it to me more than once.”

Maverickwatched Yukio head up then heard the slam of the door shutting behindthem. He scoffed and leaned on one ofhis knees then glanced at his left arm.

“Ididn’t tell them everything,” he murmured to himself then looked over at thesleeping Drone. “How ‘bout it,babe? I’ll tell them later, huh?”

Noresponse but the steady breathing of the Drone followed his question and hescoffed as he nodded.

“Later,”he said, definitely then leaned on the bars again with a sigh.