I was frozen stiff, sweating from a struggle that started unconsciously as soon as the alien speakers had started blaring. I wondered when I would enter that trance-like state I had seen the other gym members enter, but it never happened. The smallest of small reliefs washed over me as I realized that although I could not exert control over any of my muscles, neither could the system that was firing cotton pistons into my ear.

  To my left I heard Gav fight his own struggle. He grunted in exertion, fighting the same force I was that wanted to subsume control over our bodies. I wished that I could see how he was faring with my eyes, but my neck rebelled against me, frozen in the same stalemate as the rest of me. Eventually I managed to wrestle control of my vocal chords, and I was able to produce sound.

  “Gav?” I said, the exertion of vocalizing anything drawing another bead of sweat from my forehead.

  Nothing.

  “Gav, buddy?” Two words that time. It was getting easier to speak.

  “I’m good bro, I’m good.”

  “Good,” I grunted.

  I was still doubled over, hands uselessly over my ears as they tried to block out the sound. With a little bit of effort, I was able to wiggle a few fingers. Then, all at once, I was able to right myself, and I found that I had full motor control of my upper body again. I looked to my left to find that Gav had managed the same.

  We each smiled at each other, and a small laugh might have escaped us as we reveled in our minor victory, but that feeling of victory was short lived. The gym had rooms that looked like they were partitioned for sessions with fitness instructors. These rooms lined the whole perimeter of the gym, and they were all bursting open. From them spilled a small legion of gym bros that shared Gav’s out of this world physique. I recognized one of the faces streaming out as Keith’s, that giant we met here earlier.

  “Civilians!” I screamed. “Gav these are normal people.” Bystanders. Regular people that were just caught in the crossfire.

  I don’t know what I had expected coming here, but it hadn’t been a legion of zombified innocents.

  Lexa had said their attendance at the gym had suffered in the past week. At the time I thought they had all gotten lost, suffering amnesia like Gav, but later I figured they had actually gone out like Michael. It was probable that many had gone out like Michael, if they were taking the green stuff, but you also couldn’t check back in if you never checked out in the first place.

  “Nando,” said Gav, strained. “That guy that was speaking, that was Lexa’s manager, right?”

  “Pretty sure,” I said, also straining. I was desperately trying to get my legs to work again.

  “So that means she’s here right?”

  “Right.” , I thought.

  “Cool, you go get her bro, I’ll handle these guys.”

  “What? You versus all of them? There’s no– Gav? Gav!”

  In what appeared to be a herculean display of will, Gav tore away from the invisible chains that were binding us, and stomped forward toward the small legion of toned giants. I cried out to him to stop, but I don’t know why. Even if I could move freely, what was I going to do? Shoot innocent people?

  Gav had seemed to regain complete control of his body. He definitely wasn’t struggling to move like I was. He walked up to the closest meat head and gave it to him on the side of the head, knocking him out instantly. The blow was so quick and decisive that for a moment I wondered if a bullet wound from my gun wouldn’t have been more merciful.

  More gym bros kept coming, but Gav danced around them. Their fists would start flying only to swing at empty air. It wasn’t just that Gav was fast– though he was –it was that they were slow. It was like they were experiencing lag between their thoughts and actions. Think, swing, think, swing, and maybe there was a truth to that. Just because their bodies were following through on the orders issued by the sound system, it didn’t mean that they weren’t still fighting for control. If they were, then maybe there was some kind of lag between the order issued, and the action it commanded. That meant Gav had the advantage.

  There was also the advantage of strength. Now that Gav was standing next to the legion of gym bros, I could see that he was bigger, stronger somehow.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

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  It dawned on me that the others must have been “stabilized” and put back on the old formula. Gav was still running on the formula that ran faster through his body, the formula that had made him unexpectedly bulletproof.

  Gav kept knocking out his fellow muscle bound behemoths, but sooner or later they would surround him, and by then no advantage would be able to contend with sheer numbers. I had to join the fray or reach the back of the gym; the controls to the sound system had to be somewhere in the back, in the same area that I would find Lexa, if she was still alive.

  I lurched forward, nearly tumbling ass over head. The effort of the first step alone made my stomach sick, and the following step wasn’t much easier. I started to wonder how it was possible that Gav seemed to effortlessly move. He had started the same as me, but looking at him go toe to toe with the others, knocking people out left and right, there had to be something that set him apart, and there was.

  This whole time I’d been fighting for control over my body, but not my thoughts. I had no way of knowing how this alien sound system took a person over, but I could think of only one method that would have given Gav a definitive advantage. It had to somehow route through your motor cortex, a piece of the brain that Gav was either partly missing, or that was slightly damaged due to his glioblastoma.

  Gav had every advantage he could ask for, I realized that then. As long as I could do my part in finding Lexa and shutting down this alien sound system, then together we could save everyone here. , I thought, and the thought almost made me chuckle.

  With my newfound faith in Gav, I began to search the perimeter of the gym for a door that looked like it would lead to a backroom. I found one, and started making my way, skirting the edge of the melee that was happening in the center of the gym.

  As I skirted the melee I had to wonder how it was possible they didn’t notice me. Gav must have invited their whole attention, but what about the old man? Surely he was still overseeing the brawl, and if he was, then surely he would be calling attention to me. Maybe something was keeping him busy. . I held onto hope that she might still be alive.

  I kept walking the perimeter toward the door, each step easier than the last but not any easier on my stomach.

  Here and there I would check to see how Gav was doing, and for the most part he was doing fine. He used the exercise equipment to create obstacles and to break up the horde of gym bros when they tried to swarm him. He continued to dance around their feeble attempts at hitting him as he kept bringing them down. A stray shot from one of the gym bros landed on a piece of equipment, denting the metal frame. Even if they weren’t as strong as Gav it looked like all it would take was one well placed shot for them to take him out.

  I continued my slow, desperate, march, and finally reached the door I was aiming for. Somewhat surprisingly it appeared that the door was kept closed using a regular lock. I had to hope that it was anyways, not like the fake one that had held the entrance closed.

  I took out my picks and started working the lock. It took longer than expected to get the thing open. Macro movements like walking had become relatively simple, if nauseating, but fine motor control was still sweat inducing work. Still, I managed to get the lock open with a satisfying .

  A wave of joy washed over me, followed by a much more overwhelming wave of despair. I tried the door, but even though the lock had turned, the door was still not budging.

  I slammed my fist against the door in anger and frustration. Gav had pinned his faith in me and I’d failed him before ever getting a chance to try.

  I searched the melee happening behind me to look for Gav. He was still doing well, and it appeared that every advantage given to him would keep buying him time, time that was going to simply tick away until he fell to the horde because I couldn’t get a goddamn door open.

  My eyes stayed on the melee as I desperately thought of a way to bypass the door, and they spotted someone behind Gav. One of the gym bros, the one I recognized as Keith, had managed to break away from the rest of the horde. He was behind Gav, getting ready to brain him with a bar he’d pulled from a bench press. I tried calling out to Gav but from this distance I couldn’t hope to be heard over the sound of the cotton pounding in our ears.

  Keith approached Gav from behind, and I found that I had to make a decision. I still had my gun. I could stop Keith before he ever reached Gav, but that would mean killing him. Realistically speaking, there’s no such thing as an “incapacitating” shot. All shots could be killing shots.

  Keith continued his approach, and I decided that I had no real choice at all. If it was Gav’s life or Keith’s, I would choose Gav’s every time.

  I raised my gun, and aimed for Keith’s upper arm. The bullet would still shatter and tear through the awesome meat of him, but the worst possible outcome was that I broke open his brachial artery. He would go down, but it wouldn’t be a total death sentence if we could resolve the conflict here fast enough to call an ambulance.

  I fired just as Keith raised the bar to bring it down on Gav’s head.

  The sound of gunfire was enough to raise Gav’s attention. He found me with my gun raised, and he quickly put two and two together, looking behind himself to find Keith. Keith had already dropped the bar, and was stumbling backwards, reeling from the shock. Without a second thought, Gav punched his lights out, and sent him flying to the ground.

  Gav turned back to the horde, but not before sharing a quiet “thank you” that he communicated with a slight nod.

  I wondered if he was able to read the despair that I was still feeling, and as I wondered this I heard a loud whirring, and an even louder . It was coming from somewhere near the door’s handle, and when I tried to open it, the handle turned all the way.

  Somehow the door had unlocked. . It had to be.

  With newfound resolve I took one last look at Gav, and headed through the door.