Night of the Alphas

Chapter 7

My eyelids fluttered open as I drifted back to consciousness. I groaned. You know that feeling when you wake up in the morning after spending the previous day at the gym? Yeah. It was like that, but worse. A few seconds later, I felt someone come over and squeeze me. "You're alive!"

As my eyes came into focus, I saw Miranda sitting next to me, tears filling her eyes and flowing down her cheeks. Well, one of her cheeks, at least. Her right eye was covered in a bizzare-looking green sludge. I looked around and saw that we were in a room, but not like any I had ever seen. The walls were made of dirt and the ceiling was just a bunch of twisted tree roots. There was an exit, but it was covered in vines and ivy. I could hear a creek gurgling outside. The entire room was lit by candles and flashlights hanging from the tree roots. On the far wall, there was a kitchen cabinet stuffed with medical supplies, human anatomy textbooks, and jars filled with strange liquids. The bottom shelf had a few Marvel comics and some sketchbooks.

"Where are we?" I asked groggily.

Just as Miranda was about to answer, two Alphas, one male and one female, walked into the room (Cave? Den? I'm not sure what I should call it). The girl looked like she was in her late teens, and she was absolutely stunning. She had long, beige-blonde hair that went down to her waist. Her heart-shaped face was dotted with just a few freckles across her nose, and she had a lightning bolt mark on her cheek. Her narrow, blueberry-colored eyes were filled with knowledge and wisdom. When she saw me, her eyes widened and gleamed with excitement. "You're alive!" She rushed over to me and examined my torso. I couldn't figure out why until I saw that it was completely bandaged up. "Do you feel okay? Are you uncomfortable?"

"A little," I said as she took a stethoscope out of the cabinet and put it to my chest. "What's happening?"

The male Alpha came up to me and sat at my side. I hadn't really noticed him much until this moment. He looked about my age, and he shared a lot of traits with the girl. I guessed that he was probably her brother. Something about him seemed familiar, I just couldn't put my finger on it. But when our eyes met, I knew exactly what it was.

He was the boy from my dream.

He seemed just as shocked as I was. "It's you," he said slowly. "I knew you looked familiar, I just... I couldn't be sure."

I gulped. "So I'm not crazy. That's good, I guess."

The girl took the stethoscope off my chest. "Everything seems normal. You're pretty lucky to have survived that shooting! If the bullets had been any closer to your lungs, you'd've died."

"I have a few questions," I said. "For starters, where am I and who are you?"

The girl went over to the cabinet and put away her stethoscope. "Sorry, let me explain. I'm Charity, and this," she walked over to the boy and parted his head. "This is my baby brother, Zane."

The boy gently pulled her hand off his head. "Charity, that's the girl! You know, from that dream I told you about."

"Yeah, he's not lying." I looked at Charity and tilted my head slightly. "So, you're his sister-mom?"

Charity looked at me, slightly weirded out. "Um, I guess so, if that's what you'd call it."

"How do you know?" Miranda asked. "And, more importantly, what's a sister-mom?"

"I guess a sister who acts like your mom," Zane said. "If that's what you're talking about, then yes, she is my sister-mom."

Charity cleared her throat. "So, your name's Adrian, right? Miranda was telling us about you. Pretty brave of you to come to Charlotte in the state it's in."