Page 25 of Monster

Dropping to his knees, he wasn’t sure he could get out with the screams and roars muddling his mind.

And just as suddenly as he got there, he was back.

He had returned to the barn… the only screams he heard were from the beast in the cage.

Above him, Bull stood, one hand on Drake’s shoulder.

“Are you okay?” the rhino asked. “You were screaming. I wasn’t sure what to do.”

He sat up straighter in the chair he was seated in. Not on my knees at all. “I’m fine.” He lifted his stare to the beast… who calmed some and met his stare.

“Did you get any information?”

“I wasn’t in there long.”

“You were gone two hours,” Bull said.

Drake frowned.“It felt as if it were thirty minutes or so…”

“So, you got nothing.”

“It seems like he’s built a world for himself within his mind. There was a shack in the middle of a clearing—and animals filling the woods just outside it.They roared and screamed the whole time… but it was quieter in the shack.” Drake swallowed. “There was a man in the shack.”

“Who?”

“When I asked his name, he became irritated. The shack shook with force, and he demanded I leave.”

Bull stood back, sighing.“So we’re no better than we were two hours ago.”

“I’ll try again tomorrow. I can gain his trust… and not ask his name again.At least, not for a while.”

Bull nodded.“Tomorrow, we move him to the new facility. I could use you here to keep him calmer.”

“Not sure how calm I can keep him, but I’ll try.”

The rhino drew in a deep breath.“Oh-eight-hundred.See you here.”

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