The Collective

Chapter Seventeen

     "Alex? Come on. Open your eyes. Come on, Alex." Ethan's voice washed over me.

     I sighed happily. He was home. It'd been so long. I missed him. Wait. I was mad at him. He wasn't supposed to come back, and then he just showed up out of the blue and made a big mess.

     It didn't matter. I'd never been so tired in my life, and I was cold. Why was it so cold?

     "Alex? Hey, wake up."

     Why was he yelling? Always, with the yelling. Actually, Ethan never yelled. I only remembered him yelling once before, and that was just not a good day. "'S fine." My fingers curled into my palms. It was so cold...

     "There she is."

     I could hear him smiling.  I winced against the flickering lights, stretching. I froze. Something sharp dug into my wrists. And my feet. They couldn't move. I couldn't move. I couldn't... move.

     I snapped to attention. One side of my world was completely covered in red. The other took in the plastic digging into my wrists, the bare lightbulb swinging back and forth on a thin wire, and Ethan, watching me. The parts of his chest I could see were mottled yellow and green, with some purple thrown in at random. It was like a bad impressionist painting.

     I pulled against the bonds, ignoring the plastic digging into my skin. I pulled harder, laughing. "I can't move. Why can't I... move?" I screamed, kept screaming.

     "Alex! Hey, stop. Okay? Stop. Please. There's no point, okay? Stay still, breathe. Conserve your energy." Ethan soothed.

     There's no point? How would he know? He was still here.

     And, that's how he knew. Because he was still here.

     I closed my eyes. I took a shaky breath, in and out. I rolled out my shoulders, forced the tension away. I cleared my throat. My fingernails pressed into my palms. I concentrated on the way they felt, digging into my skin.

     "Alex, don't go to sleep, okay? I think you have a concussion." Ethan's voice rose.

     "I'm fine. I'm awake." To some degree. My head wouldn't stop pounding. And the light wasn't helping. It couldn't decide if it wanted to be on or off.

     "What do you remember?" He shifted his weight, wincing.

     I dug around in my head. How did I get here? I saw Sam and Sarah. I shook the image away. I glanced at Ethan, convinced he knew what I did.

     He waited for me to continue, giving no indication that he knew.

     I cleared my throat. I kept my voice flat. "Max came. He hit me with something. His gun? Or a bat?" I tried to shake the blood out of my eye. It made it worse.

     "His gun, I would think." Ethan closed his eyes, blowing a breath through his teeth. "If it was a bat, we wouldn't be talking." He tried to laugh, but it turned into a wince.

     The light flashed off. The door screeched open, cold air rushing in. I twisted around, head pounding. I jerked on my hands, my feet. Nothing moved. Blood poured over my hands.

     "Alex, calm down."

     I couldn't. My attention snapped onto him for half a second. "Stop calling me that." Alex died a long time ago. I didn't want to see her ever again. She was the reason we were in this mess.

     Ethan froze, staring at me.

     The intruder clapped. "Annie! Beautiful. I love that fire. Hold onto that." Max came to a halt behind Ethan's chair. He dragged his fingers along Ethan's shoulders. "Lover boy here wouldn't shut-up about his precious Alex." He stopped in front of Ethan. He punched him, catching him, preventing him from doubling-over. He leaned in close, whispering in his ear. "She's here." He stood up, shoving him back. "And, now that she is, you haven't said a word."