I was pushed roughly back into the same room where Kris was being held. I stumbled forward a little and almost fell over if Kris didn’t catch me. The door closed and locked loudly.

“Don’t get too comfortable! We’re taking the both of you out to the Looney bin truck in less than five minutes.” The guard’s deep voice sounded behind the door. Then his footsteps faded away as he walked away.

“Are you okay?” Kris helped me straighten up, but I only ended up falling to my knees.

“What do you think.” My voice was dead.

Kris slowly sat down on the bench in front of me. “I told you there is nothing else we can do now.”

“Who is that talking? You or the people working here?” I asked lowly.

“You can’t possibly have a way to save him!” Kris’s voice rose in exasperation.

“No…apparently that’s up to him. But now he’s given up too…”

Kris sighed quietly. “I know you want to help him Jill, but what you said is right; Tao could have escaped anytime while we’ve been here. I know because he’s always like that at my apartment. Even when he’s in his panda form, he’s amazingly good at getting around quickly. But now that we’re here, his mind has changed.”

“They hurt him…” I said quietly.

Kris nodded. “This is the scariest place for him ever since he heard stories about where people like him go that get discovered for something that makes them supernatural. He even said to me one time that until he gets trapped in this kind of place, he’ll try his best to live a somewhat normal life. He’s had his ups and downs, but I think he’s been okay for the most part.”

I swallowed. “He told me to thank you…for being so supportive of him…” I brushed my hand across my nose as it started to run.

Kris was silent for a couple seconds. The sounds of my small cries were the only sounds in the room for a while.

“W-we can’t give up hope…” Even as those words came out of my mouth, they weren’t convincing to anyone. My mind started to fill with despair. I started to wonder if this was really how this story was going to end…if Tao was going to survive much longer…if me and Kris were to lose our minds in the mental hospital…if I would ever hug Tao again…

The door to our cell clicked and creaked open. Multiple guards filed into the room, taking me and Kris by the arms and fastening them securely behind our backs. Neither of us fought back. Neither of us had any kind of strength left. We were escorted out of our holding cell, down several elevator floors, and out onto the main government facility lawn in front of the building. I kept my head down but I could see a medium sized white truck out of my peripheral vision.

“Please don’t take this personally.” A low, familiar sounding voice came from my left. “We are simply looking out for the greater good of the Earth’s population as a whole.”

Not caring about anything else, I flipped him the bird. He didn’t say anything about it.

The people working for the mental hospital were standing out of the truck and gently took my arms and pulled me and Kris into their truck. But before they could close the doors all the way, a scared voice started sounding from the president’s walkie-talkie.

“Sir! The thing! It’s attacking us! I-It’s—OW!” All of the guards surrounding the president turned toward the little device.

“Well subdue it!” The president snarled, bring the device closer to his mouth.

“W-we’re trying, but he’s become strong all of a sudden!”

The president cursed under his breath and turned to the guards surrounding him. “Get back in there and provide backup!”

All of the guards nodded and sprinted back toward the main entrance. The door to the truck was closed firmly but I quickly got closer to the window. I watched in awe as the doors slammed open and Tao ran outside of them, dodging and using some impressive punches and kicks to get past the guards trying to surround him and quickly made his way closer to us.

“Kris, look!” I watched Tao unblinkingly.

“You little freak!” The president made a move to grab Tao but Tao quickly evaded his hands and ducked down to do a spin kick, making the president fall over and land on his back, yelling in pain. Tao’s foot came crashing down on his chest, making his cough violently.

“Don’t call me a freak.” Tao stared down at him hard.

I stumbled a little as the truck moved forward.

“Tao!” Kris’s voice rang loudly next to me.

Tao looked in our direction and started running toward us. Then he jumped onto the back of the truck and hung on tightly. I turned toward the drivers. They were completely oblivious to the fact that there was someone clinging to the back of their truck.

“Tao.” I stared at him through the window with a happily surprised expression on my face.

He stared at me back, smirking very cutely.

Kris sighed and chuckled. “Well how about this.”

“Why isn’t he stopping the car?” I asked quietly.

“He’s probably waiting until we’re far enough away from the facility.”

I nodded and focused back on Tao. He never looked away from me. He slowly rested his forehead against the window glass. I chuckled softly and did the same thing, letting out a soft sigh. I knew you wouldn’t give up.