It seemed that I had found the source of John Doe’s otherworldly physique. A phony miracle supplement that may not be phony at all, if John Doe’s unnatural strength and fortitude was anything to go by. And if the claims of the miracle supplement were true, then it became possible that John Doe himself had been a former resident at Margo’s. It was possible, even likely, that he was in fact Gavrillo Hodzic. The existence of the miracle cure and its possibly gruesome side effects weren’t in question. It was the distribution.

  If you have a cureall that can give someone a working pair of legs and a body made in the image of a greek god, then why wouldn’t you announce it to the world? Something like that should be a headline. In fact, a former resident turned greek god showing up with Michael at the facility would be the best testimonial if they still needed volunteers for a testing phase. But the orderly and the young man never mentioned anyone coming back to testify to the supplement’s effectiveness. They thoroughly believed it was a scam. Either the side effects were more gruesome than could be imagined, or there was something more going on here. Something weirder by far.

  John Doe and I set off for Mars Gym leaving behind my car at the facility for ease of travel. I still wanted John to do the driving, as there was a non zero chance that it could help with his memory. He was still using the hand controls.

  The pristine glass walls of Mars Gym made it look like a crystal palace. All the space of the first floor which wasn’t the locker rooms, pool, or extra curricular side rooms, was wholly visible. The second and third, which were hardly smaller than the first, appeared to be see-through all the way, and seemed to carry additional amenities, along with more fancy equipment.

  I whistled. “Wow,” I said, “fancy.”

  “Damn bro, I must’ve been making .”

  “I mean, I saw some pictures while getting the directions, but this is something else.”

  John Doe and I stepped into the gym where the amazement continued. Mars Gym had a climate control system that was out of this world. Entering was like passing through a force field that excluded the tepid heat of the afternoon from the cool, refreshing air inside.

  Aside from the air conditioning, there was also the sound system. The moment you stepped in your ears were filled with muscle pumping rhythms. They beat clear as crystal in my ears without being overwhelmingly loud. It was like I was wearing headphones that had spatial awareness settings, only they didn’t compromise on sound quality.

  The entrance had a check in counter, and behind the check in counter, was a sporty girl in a tracksuit. The tracksuit was black, with a set of green and red stripes going down the jacket that continued down the pants. “Mars Gym” was written on the breast.

  The sporty girl put on her best customer service smile, and I think she was about to say “welcome to Mars Gym” until her eyes fell on John Doe.

  “Gav!” shouted the sporty girl. “I was wondering when I’d see you again!”

  She did a standing jump over the counter she was manning. It was impressive, but seemed to take little effort from her. When she landed on the other side she walked up to John Doe and wrapped her arms around him.

  “You haven’t been answering any of your calls, you big goof, I was worried.”

  “Uh…” said John Doe, dumbfounded.

  The sporty girl in the tracksuit looked up at John Doe, maybe because he was failing to return her embrace. His arms and body were pulled away from her like she was covered in prickly barbs. Her face, which had lit up upon seeing him, looked hurt.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  “Gav?”

  “Hi,” he managed to say, still struck stupid. Partially, I think, it was because the sporty girl was pretty, pretty. “Sorry, but I…”

  His mouth failed to form words, and when he had gone too long without speaking, she let him go. John Doe, with a face like a burning red tomato, was happy to walk away, finding a spot on the floor that he suddenly found very interesting; conveniently, it was a spot that let him avoid making eye contact with the girl.

  “Sorry,” I interjected, bringing the girl’s sad eyes to me. “He’s suffering from a bad case of memory loss.”

  The girl's face twisted with worry.

  “Oh my god,” she said, her hands rising to cover her dropped jaw.

  “My name’s Fernando Alvarez.” I stuck my hand out to greet her. “I’m helping him retrace his steps. Did you call him Gav? As in Gavrilo?”

  “Lexa,” she said, taking my hand. “And yeah, his name’s Gavrilo. Did he forget his name?”

  I nodded. She looked back to John Doe, who was actually Gavrilo, and her face re-contorted with worry.

  John Doe being Gavrilo Hodzic. It was easier for me to swallow than you would think. In my line of work the unbelievable often became the believable. The impossible turned to the possible. And I’d suspected from the moment I got him behind the wheel. His first instinct was to drive using the hand controls, he never even bothered with the pedals.

  The how of it was still a mystery. How does a man that was born unable to walk get a pair of working legs? Was it Michael’s miracle supplement? And what did Mars Gym have to do with it?

  “I’m glad we found someone that recognized him so quickly. Is he a co-worker or…?”

  “What? Oh, no! He’s uhm…” Now it was her turn to be tomato red. “He’s uhm… he’s a friend. A really good friend.”

  “He doesn’t work here?”

  “No, why?”

  “Just an idea we got after visiting the assisted living facility he used to live at.”

  She cocked her head at that. .

  “Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions about Gav?”

  “No, not at all.”

  Lexa helped me build a time frame. She’d only known Gav about as long as he’d been attending Mars Gym, about two months, which lined up with his leaving the assisted living facility. They’d met during his first week attending the gym, and became very fast “friends”. Lexa kept saying friends, but her retelling of their time together alluded to more.

  During my questioning, I had her pull up Gav’s last check-in at the gym. Considering he showed up at the hospital wearing his workout gear, it was possible that he had been here just before losing his memory, and as it would turn out, yes, his last check-in had been a week ago, the day that he had collapsed in the emergency room. Unfortunately Lexa hadn’t been manning the desk that day, so she hadn’t seen him, and therefore couldn’t say whether anything about him had seemed off.

  “Sorry,” she said.

  “It’s fine, you’re already helping a lot as it is. Do you happen to know who could have been working that day? Is there a schedule you could check?”

  “No need, the only other person that works here is my manager.”

  That was odd.

  “It’s just you two?”

  “Yeah, and I’m only part-time, he mostly runs this place by himself, we don’t even have janitors. I think he only has me because he needs someone to cover the front when he has a day full of meetings.”

  “Huh,” I let out. “I was under the impression another guy named Michael worked here.”

  Lexa shrugged.

  “If he does then he’s not on the schedule. Maybe that’s who my manager is meeting with?”

  “Maybe,” I mused.

  My eye fell on a swiveling camera that was mounted on a far wall of the gym. I noticed another one not too far away, and another in a different corner of the gym. They were everywhere, observing every nook and cranny in the gym. Every other camera was accompanied by a device that looked like an alien speaker system. The speakers were pyramid shaped, pointed at the main floor of the gym, and their pyramids were formed by a single spiraling tube.

  “How long do you guys keep the footage on those cameras?”

  Lexa looked up at the camera that was watching the entrance.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “I could try asking my manager.”

  “I would appreciate that. It wouldn’t hurt to check the footage from the last time Gavrilo was here, see if he was acting strangely.”

  “Good idea,” she said. “I’ll ask my manager about it when he’s done with his meeting. I don’t know when that’ll be though.”

  “That’s fine. Gavrilo and I can– ” I cut myself off, suddenly noticing he wasn’t near the entrance. My head swiveled on my neck, scanning the gym like one of its cameras. “Where is he?”