This is just a short chapter to tide you over. Not much more to say than that I guess. Enjoy!

Scout made his way back to his bedroom, furtively clutching a worn hardback close to his chest.

It was an awkward start, but his trespass into Heavy's room turned out to be strangely enlightening. After Heavy's demonstration it was clear to both men that Scout wasn't prepared to experiment further. Heavy pressed him to take the tome for further study. His only condition was that Scout try not become 'overexcited' and to make sure the book was unsoiled when he returned it, which was just about the most unsettling proviso Scout had ever heard. His inability to read Cyrillic was also a minor handicap, so Scout didn't really understand how he was going to get anything out of it. Nevertheless he accepted the book for fear of offending Heavy.

He walked through the narrow corridor lost in thought. His arm still tingled where Heavy had touched him, and he flexed his fingers remembering how far they had to stretch to envelop the width of Heavy's wrist. Scout pressed the book closer to his chest. He could hear sounds of his teammates echoing down the hall, so he picked up the pace, his instincts telling him he shouldn't been seen with this thing.

He finally reached his bedroom and kicked the door shut behind him, relieved to have made it back unseen. With a sweep of the arm he sent a bundle of desk clutter onto the floor to make room for the book. He dropped it to the table with a thump and stepped back to stare at it.

The cover was illuminated with gilt lettering. A diagram of a human figure, reminiscent of the Vitruvian Man, was inlaid on the cover. The binding was slightly worn with age and from what Scout had seen the interior wasn't in any better shape. It was clear that Heavy wasn't the first owner of this manuscript, which only deepened the mystery.

Scout turned on the rusted desk lamp and pulled his seat closer. He looked down at the book with an odd sense of foreboding. Whatever dark arts Heavy possessed originated from these pages. He flipped it open to a random page, eager to gain some insight. At least expecting to see some bloody pentagrams, he was disappointed to find swaths of unreadable text with sketchy diagrams of human figures inset amongst it. He flipped ahead to find more detailed of images of human anatomy, with several pages dedicated to each section.

He stopped at a page featuring an intricate drawing of a male torso. It was peppered with the same lines and dots on the arm diagram that Heavy had shown him. Scout vaguely remembered what he had said about pressure points. He looked down at his own chest and placed his fingers on the areas that corresponded with the diagram. Nothing happened. Disappointed, he skipped ahead, realising that he probably wouldn't be able to do anything without Heavy's guidance.

Something interesting flashed past as he mindlessly turned pages. He paused, blinked, and hurriedly flipped back to find it. He had unwittingly stumbled across the chapter on female anatomy, complete in every lurid detail. Scout's face broke out into a childish grin. He lingered on them, wondering if Heavy would notice a page missing.

When he turned to the next section, his interest with anatomically accurate women evaporated.

"Hoooly shit…" His jaw dropped in abject shock. "No way. No fucking way!"

He rubbed his eyes, took a deep breath, and looked back at the book to make sure he was seeing correctly.

Page after page had explicit depictions of men and women in a variety of sexual acts. The first few pages started with fairly standard positions, but as the chapter progressed they became more extreme, eventually showcasing feats of flexibility that only the most seasoned contortionist could attempt. Scout tilted his head as he studied one of them, unsure which leg belonged to who. For a young man whose exposure to erotica was limited to the shoebox under his bed, he had hit the jackpot.

Next to every picture were dots and arrows pointing to the various exposed areas with snippets of text next to them. Scout had never wanted to learn Russian as urgently as he did now. Who would have thought that such a conservative nation was responsible for this bible of debauchery?

He leaned closer until his nose was almost pressed against the paper, taking in as much as he could.

Scout's libido had not prepared him for the final chapter. The detailing of sexual positions continued, but there was one small difference.

This only involved men.

Scout's heart rate doubled. Mingling sensations of confusion and intrigue ran through him. He looked at the figures on the page, all engaged in activities that Scout had not thought possible. He was shocked by the shamelessness of it. In moments of curiosity he sometimes wondered about how it worked with guys. He had a vague idea, but no likely way to confirm it. Now here it was, a comprehensive guide that left nothing to the imagination.

A thought struck Scout. This was Heavy's book. Heavy had seen all of these. His hands had touched these pages; he had studied them and committed it to his memory. He knew how to do this. Maybe even put it in practice.

What that man capable of?

With a shuddering breath Scout undid his buckle, his hand slowly worked its way under the elastic of his underwear. His eyes never wavered from the images in front of him.

Three loud knocks rattled the door.

In his surprise, Scout jerked up. He was quick to lose his balance and toppled backwards in his chair.

"What was that noise? Are you alright in there Scout? Should I let myself in?"

"No!" Scout yelled, sprawled out on the floor in a daze. He fumbled as he attempted to re-buckle his pants.

"What is going on?" The voice demanded.

Scout extricated himself from the ground, hopping around to pull his pants back up his hips. He rushed to the door before this chucklehead attempted to break in.

He opened it a fraction to peer out at the man. "What?!"

Medic blinked at him, slightly taken aback by Scout's acerbic greeting. "I am only here to check your condition. It has been days since you last saw me."

"What of it?"

"You are suffering from a debilitating injury, if you have not forgotten."

Scout scratched the back of his head. "Uh yeah, about that… I got over it. Never felt better! So if that's all you wanted then I guess I'll be seeing you round."

Medic slipped his shoe in the door before Scout could properly shut it, much to Scout's irritation.

"It is just highly unusual that you would recover so quickly. These things take months of physical therapy."

"Guess I'm just special, Doc."

Not one to be easy dissuaded, Medic pushed a little further into Scout's room. It was filthy, as usual. He looked around in curiosity before something grabbed his attention.

"Scout, I did not know you read?"

Cold dread stopped Scout's heart. He followed Medic's line of sight to see Heavy's book on the table, open and exposed to the world.

"WHOAH, okay! Doctor's appointment is over!" He grabbed Medic by the shoulders and forcibly pushed him out of the doorway, slamming the door shut with a bang.

"I will find out vhat is going on!" Yelled Medic from the hallway.

Scout leaned against the door, rubbing his temples as he listened to the sound of Medic's departing footsteps. He prayed that Medic was blind enough not to see any detail on those pages. He walked over to the table and looked down at the book, wondering what madness had overcome him before Medic interrupted. He flipped it shut and thought about what he should do with it. Eventually he just pushed it under the bed with the rest of his junk.

It was more trouble than it was worth.