| Ephemeral |

twenty-six

Alex

I walked into my room quickly to grab the note to show Theo and Grayson. My plan is coming together in my head perfectly. Getting Ethan back 101.

I glanced over at my window, it was half open? I walked over to it and shut it slowly. I know for a fact I didn't open it. 

I felt my head get slammed into the glass of the window and everything got blurry for a second. I fell to the floor do to the imbalance from the trauma but quickly regained focus.

I looked up to see a guy, he looked crazy. I stood up quickly and tried throwing a punch, but he grabbed my hand quickly, almost impossibly quick. 

He twisted it sharply causing me to yell in pain at the cracking noise it made. The crazed man grabbed me by my throat and pressed me against the wall aggressively. My body started rising from the floor, my feet no longer touching. 

I tapped his arms helplessly trying to free myself. In the corner of my eye, I saw Grayson fly around the corner with widened eyes.

He grabbed the guy and tried to pull him off, but the man shoved him back, sending him into my nightstand. 

"Theo!" Grayson yelled in a strained voice in an attempt for some assistance. With my good hand I grabbed my pocket knife and stabbed the guy on his side, he moved away from me for a split second, but it seemed like the wound did nothing to him. 

I dropped the knife and began trying to run, but he caught the back of my hair and swung me backward, knocking ever but of air from my lungs when I hit the floor.

I heard a loud pop echo throughout my room, causing my ears to ring. I saw the psychotic human drop beside me.

Theo was standing there with a gun in his hand, bits of smoke escaping the top. "What in the blue hell just happened in here?" He asked loudly, looking between me and Grayson's body that was covered in broken wood.

I dropped my head back onto the floor and let out a breath.

-

"How did he get in?" Grayson asked as he held a large icepack to his back. "The window I'm assuming," I responded, recalling when I saw it cracked.

"How the hell did that son of a bitch climb almost three stories?" Theo squinted at the idea, causing me to shrug.

"Something was wrong with him, it was like he had rabies or something. Or maybe a drug, heroin, crack?" I started throwing out ideas on how he could possibly take a knife wound so well... and his strength? 

"Yeah, I'm curious about how the hell he managed to throw me like a damn rag doll across the room!" Grayson half yelled, holding the ice pack up for emphasis. 

"Larce had to have sent him, he did attack Alex first after all?" Theo suggested, causing me to roll my eyes. "When the hell will that man leave alone!" I yelled in annoyance. 

"Wait, wait," Theo spoke, deep in thought. "Back when I was Larce's right-hand man he always talked about this serum he dreamt of making. It was like a super-soldier serum," Theo continued, making my mouth slightly fall open at the thought of it.