He'd stretched out, not looking at Alexis, staring at the ceiling and not really seeing it. Instead he saw his cell phone's number pad. A crappy old phone he kept because it was cheap, and he couldn't afford to splurge for a smartphone. Tim's had been a gift from his sister last Christmas, and when Jake needed to check his email Tim was always there, handing it over without a fight. On the ceiling his hallucinated number pad typed in texts he wanted to send, a phone number other than immediate emergency help. He wanted one recognizable face, Tim. Wanted to push back into that car and slam the door and tell the guy to get the hell out of here because he was right, this was serial killer shit. But of course Jake had to live with the consequences. He had to be a complete screwup in the intelligence department. He sighed an closed his eyes, falling into a fitful sleep that didn't take him down all the way.

***

"At this point I'm not sure what to say. The speed of recovery is remarkable. Unheard of, even by me. I couldn't possibly detail what it might be, but it must have something to do with the remarkable body heat Jacob gives off. A body heat that should be feverish, dangerous, but doesn't do much more than give him a slight discomfort in slightly higher temperatures. I do wonder how low I can take his temperature, or how high, before he either begins freezing or develops heat stroke."

Dan put his recorder down an pinched his nose. This one was going to be a tough nut to crack and he could already feel that headache. He wanted to get right back into the tests, but Jacob had to rest for the night. He couldn't get overzealous, not yet, not push the boundaries before the body was accustomed to at least a bit more pain than it dealt with before arriving.

Dan glanced at the time and started slightly. That late already? He needed to rest. Tomorrow was another day of important discoveries and he couldn't be tired. He turned off his computer and got up from his desk. He left his office, turning off the light and locking the door. He walked quietly up the hallway, checking to make sure the doors to outside were all locked tight, before turning around and heading towards his own room. He stopped by Jacob's room and peered in. His pet was curled up with the man and he felt a slight tinge of jealousy. The creature had stopped sleeping with him and sometimes he missed it.

He left the two where they were without making too much noise, going to his room and getting ready for bed. He heard a dragging noise and smiled when his pet entered the room and curled up in his usual spot under the heat lamp. He must have been awake and seen Dan watching them, sensed Dan's worry and jealousy. "Good boy," he said quietly, getting into his own bed and falling asleep easily.

He vaguely felt something shift but turned away from the disturbance and curled himself up. He felt like he were lying under his own personal sun, uncomfortable but unwilling to move because his limbs were dead and he didn't want to open his eyes and see where he was. If he kept them closed hard enough he could see his own apartment's bedroom, small and crappy though it might be, he at least had a somewhat nice double bed and bright window.

But he had to open them. His mouth felt sticky and thick from not having brushed his teeth since yesterday. He got up, sighing, hating this room, only now noticing Alexis had gone. That was what had awakened him, Alexis moving and leaving the room. Digging in his bag, Jake found his toothbrush and the mint, offbrand toothpaste he bought so he could save a few extra cents from the name-brand. Going into the bathroom, he stared himself down in the mirror and went to work, brushing his teeth, tongue, the roof of his mouth. Anywhere that had a bad, metallic, awful taste and that furry feeling on his teeth. He hated that feeling, it made his mouth feel like he'd just eaten a wool sweater. At least it made him feel a bit cleaner.

Sighing, sucking in a breath through his mouth and sighing it out. He hated his stubborn self. If he hadn't been stubborn, he'd be home. Or at a bar talking with Tim. Maybe the latter. He definitely felt like he needed a drink. Or ten. Closing his eyes, he felt his way back to that bed, falling into it and halfheartedly struggling out of his clothes. What did it matter if Dan saw him naked? He probably would tomorrow. Or the next day. Or someday soon.

Dan was awake before his alarm once again. Excitement welled in his chest as he thought about the day's experiments. At first he was a bit annoyed that his plans had changed, but the more he tried to figure out what gave Jacob his super healing powers, the more excited he became thinking about what experiments they would do together. He got out of bed and dressed himself, leaving the room and going to the basement to get his instruments prepared.

Today they would test extreme temperature and how it affected Jacob's body. He hummed to himself as he got everything ready, ignoring the moans and cries from the various failed experiments in their cages. He was finished in no time, rigging up the steel bench to conduct extreme heat and cold with a press of a button. Dan left the basement light on as he went upstairs, finding his pet sniffing about the top of the stairs as if he was curious. He scowled slightly and closed the door, looking down at him.

"Are you hungry? Comon love, I won't forget today," Dan said to his pet, walking up the hall and into the kitchen. The creature followed, hesitating once it slithered past Jacob's bedroom door. "Come on, my pet. I got some meat left for you. Tonight I will get some fresher stuff."

Jake slept lightly, too lightly. When the wind managed to whistle into the room just right he startled and turned over. When the house settled, he jumped and was forced to do a few deep breaths to steady his heart. Eventually from his waist down, Jake was wrapped in a tight cocoon of blanket and feeling exhausted, overheated, cramped, and worn down as if he'd run a ten mile marathon in just two hours. And he was still confused. Mostly, now, he was confused about how he'd get out of here. Dan locked the door at night. It kept him inside. He was probably ready for any attack Jake would come up with. He'd brainwashed poor Alexis.

He was hungry too. Now, after the absolute shock, his body was rebelling. He sat up, feeling empty, but not yet dizzy or weak. It would take a few days for that. He wasn't going to beg, though. He didn't want to show anyone weakness. Definitely not Dan. He'd defy Dan until he couldn't breathe, couldn't fight back, he'd put himself in front of Alexis. If he could get that guy out of here, he would. Where he'd go after that, Jake had no idea. But he'd be out. Out. He wanted out.

He flopped back, kicking that damned sheet off him and glared at the ceiling. Damn that ceiling. He wanted to burrow out of it. Why couldn't he ever get a break? He could hear Dan speaking to Alexis as if he were a simple, stupid, damned animal. It made his blood boil.

Dan got some meat for his pet before starting on breakfast for himself. Jacob wouldn't be allowed to eat until after the experiments, as Dan didn't want to deal with the man being sick all over the place. Instead he made Jacob freshly squeezed orange juice, bringing the glass to the man's room and politely knocking on the door so Jacob knew he was there. He smiled to see Jacob naked, so exposed and helpless looking. "Good morning, Jacob," Dan greeted, placing the glass on the dresser and picking up the uneaten food from last night. "I just squeezed this for you, so mind any pips."

He stayed where he was, lingering awhile longer before leaving to make his breakfast. He passed his pet on his way to the kitchen, who was slowly slithering towards Jacob's room. What was the creature's fascination with their guest? Maybe the man's abnormal body heat attracted him. He sighed and shook his head.

Alexis stopped just short of Jacob's room, hearing the man talking. He was mad, of course. He peeked into the room, his tongue flickering, watching the orange shape that was Jacob move about.

He didn't bother moving when the knock came. But when Dan entered an involuntary growl escaped his throat, something low and animal, like a Doberman or a Mastiff. But he didn't react to the liquid. He didn't like orange juice much. Pulp was enough to make him gag just thinking about it. So when he left, Jake jumped up and folded his arms over his chest, stomping left and right and huffing. "God damn him." He hissed, scrubbing his hands over his face. "Son of a bitch... Like to rip your head off... Shove hot pokers down your throat... Put a stick up your ass and use you as a scarecrow." He snickered at the thought, then his face grew stony again. Turning to the glass, he took it up and stared at it. Oh so much hard work had gone into it and normally Jake would be thankful. But it just seemed to be taunting him. He took it to the window, setting it on the sill and shoving it open. Then he poured it to the ground far below to join the soup he'd tossed out.

Going back to his bag, Jake pulled out his phone and flipped it open. It was nearly out of charge... At least he'd brought his charger with him. Sighing, he brought that out too and plugged it into a socket he found near the bed on the far side, and plugged in his phone. Then he opened it and looked at his messages. He couldn't receive or send any from here. Couldn't call. He typed out a message to Tim, regardless.

Tim... you were right. Fuck, I'm sorry. Help me...

He always wrote correctly. It was a habit of his, and Tim never seemed to manage a full word without text-speak somewhere in his responses. Sighing, Jake saved it to his drafts and flipped the phone closed, letting it slide to the floor were its light remained on, signalling that it was charging.

Alexis sighed and entered the room, rubbing against Jacob's legs and licking him. "Jay," he hissed, smiling slightly. He wanted the man to calm down, though he knew it would be impossible for him, especially now. Dan was singing loudly in the kitchen, frying eggs and bacon for his breakfast. Alexis had already eaten, but he still felt hungry and restless. Maybe he was channelling how Jacob was feeling right then.

"My friend," he said quietly, trying not to think about what would happen to Jacob in only a few minutes. He hissed in a reassuring way, curling around the man's feet and licking him, trying to give him strength.

Jake sat up when he heard a familiar and not unwelcome voice. "Hey, Alexis..." He said with a sigh, and sat up to look at the creature. He was indeed human. Those odd animal attributes didn't matter, really. Small problems that could be made to look normal. If he wanted to. But Jake didn't care. Right now their whole world was here.

"Friend...?" Jake hadn't expected much more than a muted version of his name after Alexis entered. He seemed to like saying it, or he could just be reading far, far too much into simple things. He wanted to, though. He didn't have much now. Especially not much hope. He sighed, reaching down, running his hand over Alexis's hair. "I know what's gonna happen." He said simply. "I know it's gonna be soon." And at that, he felt like he was falling. An awful feeling. A sick feeling, but he had nothing left in him to come up. "I don't want to go back down there..." He pulled back, sighing, the move pulling him back down to lie and stare at the ceiling.

Alexis felt helpless. He couldn't say or do anything to make Jacob feel calm or happy, and there was no way he could stop Dan from preforming his experiments. But why did he care? He had never cared much for the others before Jacob. What had made this man different from those others? He saw Jacob as a friend, someone to comfort, to talk to. When had been the last time he had felt this? When he had first met Dan? Something flashed in his mind and he hissed angrily, his fangs coming out briefly. What had been that sudden image that had made him feel so mad?

Dan smiling and holding him tightly, telling him that he loved him more than anything in the world... A ring on his finger... He glanced at his left hand. No ring there. What on Earth was that about? Jacob looked concerned, so Alexis shrugged slightly, licking his friend's face in reassurance as he heard Dan coming down the hallway.

Once again he was grinding his teeth, a habit he hadn't realized he had until yesterday. He ground them so hard his jaw ached long after he'd forced himself to stop. But now his teeth felt like they were about to fall out of his head, and Alexis was acting odd. Was he thinking something? It didn't matter to Jake right now. He smelled food and it made him feel sick. Worry and food didn't mix with him very well. His nerves would kick back and make him eject what he might try to eat or drink when he was under a high amount of stress. He shifted to pull on some pants, but didn't bother fastening them. At least he was hidden somewhat. Then Alexis was beside him, licking his face, and he managed a little smile that faltered when he heard footfalls outside the room. His stomach lurched and he sat up quickly, feeling as if his intestines would force themselves up his throat if nothing else would offer itself.

Dan paused, staring them both down. "Jacob, come along with me." He held a hand out, and Jake eyed it warily. His jaw was clenched again. But he stood on shaking legs, buttoned his jeans and stepped forward.

"The hell are you about to do to me this time?" He spat. "I don't want to be your friggin' lab rat!" Dan shifted, stiffly bringing out the stun gun and pointing it. Jake stiffened in turn.

"You'll go down there. Or I'll carry you down." Dan was speaking calmly, but it was through his own gritted teeth. Jake couldn't see Alexis but hoped he was staying back.

"Fuck you, man. You're so fucking crazy." Jake's voice wavered even as he insulted the man, but pushed past him anyway, on legs that felt as if their bones had gelled. The stun gun in his back just reiterated the fact that he had absolutely no say in the matter.

Alexis hid when Dan came to take Jacob away, feeling bad that he couldn't stop what was going to happen to his new friend. He watched them leave the room and walk down the stairs, slithering into Jacob's room to hide under the bed. Hopefully he wouldn't hear anything.

Dan smiled slightly and shook his head, forcing the young man down the stairs with the stun gun. "You really ought to mind your language," he scolded, sounding like he was Jacob's father. "This is a professional work place. You don't want me to fire you, do you?" He chuckled slightly. "That gives me an idea, actually.'' Would Jacob burn? Or would he heal in time for no damage to happen to his flesh? He prodded the gun at the man, heading towards the table. "Oh, you will love what I've done this morning. I made a special table for you so we can experiment with temperature and its effect on your body."

Jake was shaking hard, his hands clamped in fists at his sides as he was scolded for his bad language. He would have liked to scream as many profane words in as many languages as he could just to defy Dan a little more, but bit his tongue. He really didn't want to guess what the man had in mind but could only imagine it would put what happened yesterday to shame. When they hit the bottom of the stairs, Dan's words nearly sent Jake to his knees. Temperatures? What did that mean? How would he raise and drop the temperature to the entire room without hurting himself or the other victims in those cages?

Dan laughed, pushing Jake a few steps forward so he could see the item he'd mentioned before. "Look there, Jake. It's a beautiful little creation, isn't it?" Jake gulped, almost choked, and looked the thing up and down. It was a table, a metal table with restraints, and what looked like an iron-reinforced glass case above it with rubber seals and a few gauges. Above it was attached to two very large canisters, one marked "Caution: HOT" and the other marked "Caution: COLD" Jake actually lost his balance this time and fell, but was lifted before he could hit the ground.

"Now, we don't need you getting hurt prematurely." Dan laughed, sliding the stun gun in his belt away from Jake and leading him to the table. "We're going to test your heat and cold tolerance. Then we're going to test your endurance to physical burns." Jake felt his stomach flop, but there wasn't much more than stomach acid to come up now, burning bile that clogged his throat. He swallowed hard, and tried to fight back with a few low moans, to no avail. Dan was just stronger.

Dan hummed to himself as he strapped Jacob into his creation, ignoring the moans and swears the man uttered. Once securely in place, he put the glass case over the man and sealed it. He wondered if it would be hard to breathe for Jacob, but shrugged his shoulders. If he was about to die, he would just cancel the experiment. He didn't want his precious discovery dying so soon.

He didn't bother to tell the man what he was doing, the glass was thick so sound couldn't be heard by both parties. He slowly filled the chamber with cold first, making sure to keep an eye on the temperature as it dropped significantly. Soon Jacob's breath was coming out as mist and his whole body shuddered. Dan noted the reactions and temperature, glad to see it was a lot lower than what a normal person could tolerate. "Your body heat gives you such tolerance to cooler temperatures..." he muttered to himself, slowly turning the cold gas off. He waited for Jacob's body to stop shuddering before turning on the next thing.

He didn't try to fight back like he had yesterday. That stun gun had not only been painful, but humiliating as well. But it probably wouldn't be as painful as what was about to happen. In the chamber the rubber made a perfect seal and as such, created a completely silent environment. He could almost hear the vibrations of Dan's voice against the thick glass, but otherwise only his organs working under his skin were completely available to him, and his blood rushing in his ears. When he muttered, it sounded ridiculously loud. When the hiss of supercold air began, Jake startled hard and pressed against his bindings. It got so cold he actually began to shiver, and when he closed his eyes he could see the frost forming there. It was unnatural. This whole scenario. When he looked at Dan he seemed pleased, and pressed a button, and the cold began to retreat with another series of high hisses. Jake's body immediately began to warm, and the frost that had settled on his skin beaded into water.

"Fuckin' Tim... Why didn't you tie me to the hood of your car like a hunting prize and take me back to town..." Jake's voice was wavering, and he didn't want to admit it was from bone-deep terror. Then Dan pressed another button and pulled something down. And then heat started pouring in and Jake gasped.

"No! No, no, I can't handle the heat, turn it off, get it to stop!" He struggled uselessly against his bindings, sounding like a scared child but not caring. His body was contracting of its own will, the water evaporating from his skin and nearly turning to steam. His tears dried almost immediately, his skin feeling dry, stretched, dehydrated.

"It seems that you can't handle heat over a certain amount that would be normal to people," he commented, making a note of the temperature in his notepad, watching as the man squirmed and screamed in discomfort. "Strange." He shut off the heat before Jacob would die of a heat stroke, and made a few notes as the machine cooled the man down to normal temperature. He carefully opened the seal and looked at Jacob almost lovingly. He stroked the tears off the man's cheeks. "You did good, Jacob. I have enough data here to begin calculating specific experiments."

He put the book down and ran his fingers lightly down Jacob's form, smiling as he did so. "There's just one last thing I want to see..." He ran his hand off Jacob's body and onto a tray that sat nearby, picking up a small blowtorch, which was made to heat puddings. He approached Jacob with it in hand, humming to himself as he turned it on and lowered it to the man's flesh.

Jake twisted his face away from Dan the moment he was touched. His skin still screamed angrily as if he were the one forcing it into these ridiculous extremes. It still worked to regulate the temperature back to his usual, but Jake still felt terribly overheated. He wouldn't have minded the cold again, it had to be better than this. He just needed something to compare this level of discomfort to the previous. When Dan bent over, Jake couldn't see what he was going after until he heard the flame flare to life. His muscles tensed immediately and he tried to put distance between himself and Dan's new weapon of torture. "Ah, no! No, God, no! Get that fucking thing away from me you sick mo---" Jake's screaming protests became wordless howls as his skin began reacting to the fire, blistering, reddening, blackening. And as Dan would move away the flame, the skin would bleed and flake until there was a hair-free patch of new skin where the injury once was, more sensitive.

"Fucking stop! Stop for the l-l..." Jake's throat closed up to where he couldn't speak, could barely breathe. He could feel his skin breaking, bleeding, then healing where the bindings were as his arms and legs twisted to avoid the source of the pain. But he couldn't escape it but for a moment and when it was back against his skin, forcing it to burn, blacken, and regenerate, Jake's ragged voice grew hoarse with the screams, and he was sure he wouldn't be able to speak at all soon.

Dan stopped after a few minutes, feeling stumped. If only he could break the secret of Jacob's amazing healing powers. He thought about all the people that would benefit from the new evolution in human history. "You are so greedy, Jacob. Why are you so mad, so intent on keeping this a secret? Think about how helpful your gift would be to others, if we can just figure out how to manufacture it in a lab..." Dan was mad and punched Jacob in the face. "You are so selfish, it makes me sick. Humans are pathetic creatures that believe in survival of the fittest, instead of sharing their advancements in order to create a better race."

He growled slightly and stared down at Jacob. "I should lock you up with my failures... It might teach you to be grateful for what you are, with what you have... Instead I let you talk with my pet... How do I know what sort of brainwashing things you are saying to the poor thing?" Dan bit his lip and calmed himself down, putting the blowtorch back on the tray. "Jacob... Please promise me that you will be more cooperative."

Jake was pulling a disgusted face at his tormentor. He could vaguely remember the others in the cages. Some crying quietly. Others with voices so ragged they could barely scream their rage. They were still there, but gone when a fist hit him and sent the world into a high ringing fit. "Oh you..." Jake was settling with a hoarse hiss through his teeth. "I don't fucking know what you want from me, I don't have anything for you, I don't know why I heal fast or why I'm so fucking hot all the time, and here you're wanting me to be fucking grateful that you're burning me and freezing me and cutting me up like I'm a goddamn science project? I'll be cooperative when I'm fucking dead you sick freak!" He glared away from Dan, mentally preparing himself for anything to happen. Another slap or punch, another burn, cutting, freezing, bloodletting of some kind, being isolated.

He didn't really want to be in a cage. But Dan wouldn't keep him in it if he wanted to figure out what made Jake's body tick the way it did. At the same time Jake didn't want to be away from the only source of comfort he could find in this madhouse---Alexis.

Dan growled, punching the man in the face again. "Mind your fucking language you ungrateful piece of shit. I'm trying to be nice to you and this is how you repay me? You want me to be mean? I will, I can. I can be a bigger monster than you already think I am." He pulled out his stun gun and shocked Jacob with it. "You want to be hurt? You want to be punished for being so selfish and fucking disgusting? I can do it, I will do it." He shocked Jacob over and over until the man was completely paralysed.

"I think I might just leave you down here," Dan spat at the man, putting the chamber back over him and turning on the heat, but not too hot to make Jacob have a stroke. Just enough to make him uncomfortable. "I'll see you tonight. Maybe then you can think to keep your dirty mouth closed when talking to someone with power over you." Dan then turned on the spot and left the basement, turning off the lights and locking the door so his pet couldn't go down.

He'd gotten what he was looking for, apparently. Jake had just asked for it but this time he wouldn't beg for the pain to go away. His body twitched, jumped, convulsed and reacted without his consent, and this time he was glad that his bladder was empty and that he hadn't eaten in the past two days. He couldn't embarrass himself that way. His painful wrists and ankles twisted and turned, trying to pull away from the stun gun but finding it worthless. Jake's body was overdosed with adrenaline, and his heart felt as if it were threatening to burst open. But somehow it simply didn't---it just beat so hard and fast that he couldn't feel it anymore, couldn't get his breath to speak.

When Dan was gone, the door upstairs closed and locked, he realized that he could actually hear it. Had Dan not put the chamber down enough to seal it off entirely? He could hear things outside the little area, but he felt like he was dying yet again. Like the sun itself had made a decision to ruin him personally. After a time, Jake managed to calm down, and his throat was feeling much better. So he screamed. It was wordless, useless noise, but if he could be heard, he would be. And he'd stay awake all night in hope that Dan would have to listen to his screams.

Dan had come up from the basement without Jacob, and had gone to his office, stomping past Alexis. It had been a long time since the man had been this angry and Alexis hid from him as he passed. But now he wondered where his friend was. He hoped Jacob hadn't died. He cried to himself, curled up on the couch, thinking about how nice Jacob had been to him. He had even made Alexis remember how to talk, remember his own name.

Dan left the office a couple of hours later, and came to the living room, standing still and watching Alexis with a frown on his face. "My love, why do you seem so upset? Everything is alright, I just got a bit mad... You sensed my anger, didn't you?" Dan came closer and put an arm around Alexis in comfort. "You are not in trouble. Everything is OK," he hushed, stroking Alexis' hair. "You really like our guest, don't you? I wonder why... You still love me, right?"

Alexis licked the man's face, glad to see that he had calmed down. But had Alexis ever loved Dan? He wasn't sure. He nudged the man's chest lightly before slithering off the sofa and down the hall to Jacob's room, where he hid under the bed. Dan frowned and sighed, getting up and going to the door to his lab. He could hear the faint screams of Jacob. He must have forgotten to seal the chamber. He opened the door and turned on the lights, walking down the stairs and looking to where Jacob was tied up. "Shush now, you'll damage your throat." He opened the chamber and untied the man, helping him to his feet. "I'm sorry for being so mean. But Jacob, whether you like this or not, you mustn't talk to me like that. Next time you swear at me, I might have to see if you can grow your tongue back." He patted the man's back sympathetically, helping him up the stairs and into his room.

When Dan came back Jake silenced himself and settled with an intense, hard glare. He jerked away where he could but he was weak and in an intense amount of pain still, so he had to swallow his pride and let himself reply with silence when he was led upstairs. When he was let into his room, Dan released him and was watching him, so Jake glared and stumbled away, locking himself in his bathroom and lying on the cool floor. His stomach was flopping again, but nothing would come up except a disgusting taste. He wished he had his phone, but it was too far away to bother going to get. Even useless, he would have loved to type up more help-me texts.

***

Tim had stopped trying to call for the night. It was frustrating getting voicemail time and time again, but also kind of terrifying. He spent his whole break on the phone, sending increasingly urgent and wavering messages and texts to his friend and hoping desperately that he somehow didn't send Jake to his death. People could be real freaks, after all, and all the way out in the sticks just didn't sit well with him. There could be a huge set of catacombs under that little house full of bones or blood or creepy experimental things that would rip out a living man's still-beating heart.

He paced behind the library's front desk, glaring at his phone as if he could will it to ring, then pocketed it furiously. Maybe he could go out sometime soon, tomorrow or the next day, and look for the house again. Maybe he could get a cop to follow him out there. He had reason to assume that Jake was in trouble, after all.

"What's gotten you so frazzled?" Cedric asked Tim, walking into the library and watching the man anxiously pace. "You look like you've seen a murder or something." He smiled, showing off the neat, white teeth of a dentist. He stepped to a side, letting an elderly lady behind him go to the desk to check out a book. His concern for Tim didn't lessen, however. The man really did look worried.

Cedric approached the desk again and lent over it, looking at Tim directly. "Come on, let's go for a walk. We can talk about it then."

Tim gasped, and looked around when he heard the familiar voice. "Lola, you didn't tell me I was off like, ten minutes ago!" He stared accusingly at the woman that manned the desk with him, and she shrugged.

"Head off then, Tim. Or you wanna work over?"

"Hell no." Tim rolled his eyes, going out from behind the counter and immediately to Cedric. "Hell, Ced, I might as well have seen a murder." He muttered, grabbing his coat from the hook near the door. "I haven't heard back from Jake since I let him go to that fucking thing... I dunno, I just... feel like something awful's happening and I can't do a damn thing." He puffed out a breath, shrugging into his coat and regarding Cedric carefully. "I'm freakin' out, man."