Falling

Chapter 14

The smell of food wafted into the bedroom, and I groggily groaned as I sat up. It was too early for this. Then I realized the smell was meat related and I immediately got off of my bed. I glanced back noticing Luke wasn't there. He most likely was in the bathroom, making breakfast, or hunting with the others.

Shuffling over to the closet, I opened it and walked inside. I grabbed a black t-shirt and a pair of shorts before heading to the bathroom. I knocked a few times to make sure Luke wasn't in there before I snuck in. I quickly changed into my new outfit and brushed my hair and teeth before going to the kitchen.

Standing in the kitchen was James and Luke. They were both busy making food and I couldn't help but smile at them. James was a natural cook and Luke seemed to struggle some, but James was always right there to help when he could. I snickered as an idea came to mind.

Sneaking around the kitchen island, I placed some flour on my hand and snuck up behind Luke. I smeared the flour across his face earning a surprised grunt from him before he turned to see me smiling and trying not to laugh at him.

"Oh yeah?" Luke growled playfully before getting flour all over his hand.

I screeched and bolted for the door, but his arm snaked around my waist, and he pulled me back against his chest as he laughed. His laugh shook his entire body, and I laughed as well until his hand smeared flour over my face, from my left side of my nose to my right cheek.

"If you two are going to play around in the kitchen, get out of the kitchen." James spoke bluntly as he glared down at Luke and me.

We looked more like we had been caught in a deadly match of flour and I laughed harder. This was what it felt like to be happy. This was my happy life and I would die if anything jeopardized it. As I laughed, Luke laughed and soon we were on the ground, gasping for air.

Two sets of running feet came into the kitchen as a frantic Arthur and Logan looked around. They looked completely worried. Arthur was wearing a T-shirt that was torn up and across his cheek was a small open wound. Logan looked worse. He was holding his left arm carefully in his right hand. One of his bones were protruding from his left elbow and I struggled not to retch. His black hair was pulled in a ponytail and his face was riddled in small cuts and scrapes. He had a cut on his lip and his right eye looked like he was getting a black eye. Who the hell would harm them?

"What happened?" Luke and I asked angrily.

"T-They came out of nowhere claiming they required Tiger-human young enough to experiment on...We were with Alex, playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare three in my bedroom when they appeared. We tried to fight them, but if we changed, we'd become easy hits for them. They snapped my arm and took him while Austin was busy helping me up...We were supposed to protect him, and we failed..." Logan explained as tears fell down his eyes.

My stomach dropped and I stood up. They have come back, but not for me. What possible reasoning would they have for kidnapping Alex except to force him through even more experimentations? Alex couldn't handle that! He was only ten when they experimented on him and I swore I wouldn't let them experiment on him ever again!

"We need to go save him!" I yelled.

"April!" Luke called to me as I was almost down the hall.

"What?" I groaned irritated.

"They aren't trying to experiment on anyone anymore. They're hunting us down to kill us. That's how Caleb and Lily died. They got ahold of you, Caleb, and Lily. We barely escaped them after getting you guys back. They had harmed you guys to the point you guys were in a coma-like state and Caleb and Lily died. I couldn't stop their wounds from bleeding!" Luke cried out at me.