Chuck’s heart was racing as he drove away from Kristy’s house. He had to act natural as he drove around in this car, in this persona. As long as he didn’t act out, that stupid FBI agent wouldn’t be able to trace anything back to him. He took in a deep, shuddering breath and plastered on a fake, normal looking smile. Not too happy since his daughter was still missing, but also polite and friendly. It was a well practiced smile that was easy to slip on. He might not be able to transform as a hypnosite yet, but he made his human flesh work well enough for now.

  Outside, he was a perfectly well-to-do citizen, but inside, Chuck was grinning like a hungry cat that cornered a juicy mouse.

  Sure, there was an FBI agent he needed to deal with, but as long as Chuck stayed in character while out in public, that agent wouldn’t pose a threat.

  The exciting part was that CX21 was still alive, but more than that; Oh, so much more than that, he knew where to find CX21 now. The color of the blood had been a dead giveaway. There was no way a few bullets would be enough to kill CX21 if he was developed enough to escape a human on foot.

  This changed everything. His bright, shining hope had returned to him and from the sounds of it, CX221 was still outperforming all prior predictions.

  Chuck barely held back a groan of delight behind his plastic smile. Things were working out so nicely. He couldn’t wait to tell Merrin when he returned. Chuck fought with his own urges and managed to drive at a reasonable speed until he made it back to his fake home. He was feeling so ready to go out and reclaim CX21, but with the FBI sniffing around, he needed to drop this car off first. It was too easy to trace back to him.

  Later that night, Chuck had one of the Gilbert pick him up in a remote location and they headed back to near the woods outside of Kristy’s house. Chuck had the Gilbert park far enough away to not warrant suspicion and he walked the rest of the way through the woods.

  It was getting dark by the time Chuck made it to the proper portion of the woods. With luck, CX21 would be recovering in his chrysalis form, which reflected light extremely well. Chuck waited until the full cover of dark to comb the area. He pulled a simple flashlight from the bag he’d prepared for capturing Chuck. Also inside the back was a length of paracord rope, cloth, chloroform, and night vision goggles.

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  The goggles would be less useful than a conventional flashlight for finding CX21 since a hypnosite’s heat signature was similar to most plants, but it would help to tell the difference between a real squirrel and a hypnosite one because of that difference from a real animal.

  The paracord rope was prepared with slip knots pre-tied to subdue a hypnosite that changed to a smaller form after being tied up.

  Chuck felt a thrill as he scanned the night with his flashlight, looking for any signs of silvery green reflection. In his heart, he knew it was only a matter of time before he found CX21 and he would not waste any time after that.

  Hours later, the search was beginning to feel hopeless. There were no clear signs of CX21 anywhere. Either he was hiding somewhere in his chrysalis form or his creature form was smart enough to keep camouflaged. In some ways, that made Chuck feel excitement at the progress of CX21, but mostly he felt frustration at not getting what he wanted. If he could find CX21, then his experimentation could begin in earnest. Part of him considered letting Merrin free so she could use her life sense ability to find CX21, but he was not yet that desperate.

  Chuck thought back to the frozen specimen he’d kept secret even from Merrin and steeled himself. Soon, he would unlock all of its secrets and he would attain everlasting life. That was only the beginning, but what a wonderful beginning it was. If it meant letting Merrin free again to obtain his goals, he would choose that, but at this point, he couldn’t be certain she would aid him or become a barrier out of jealousy the way she had last time.

  Scanning through the dark forest, Chuck cursed at the Gilbert’ lack of life sense. The addictive drug serum he fed them had diluted their abilities a little too well in some ways. If he couldn’t find CX21, then he wasn’t sure if he would survive another three months.

  Just as Chuck’s worries started to rise, he heard a feminine voice calling out in the distance of the dark. He flicked off his flashlight in the fear of it being that damned FBI agent.

  There was a light in the distance, coming from the same source of the voice. Chuck’s heart was pumping in overdrive and he hugged close to a tree to reduce his likelihood of being seen. Getting caught out here would be impossible to explain away. He needed to leave before he was found.

  Just before Chuck was going to turn tail and run, the voice came close enough for Chuck to hear what it was saying and a Devilish grin grew on his face.

  “Frankenbuuuug,” The voice called out.