Awakening: The Elder Chronicles, Volume 1 Read online

  "History and philosophy? Hmm. Certainly explains a lot," she said. "I saw you on the first day of the semester. You were sitting at a back table in the dining hall. You had this book in your hands called the book of something or other."

  "Yes, the Book of Enoch. It is an old Hebrew text. It very much influenced the New Testament. It talks about the heavens, angels, and all sorts of interesting ideas found in Hebrew and Christian belief." He paused for a moment. "There are many names used today derived from the names of angels."

  "Really? I may have to borrow it some time." Why did I say that? I don't even belong to a church. She wouldn't really be interested in reading the book, ever. Her old standbys fell into two general categories: textbooks or science fiction novels.

  "With those two degrees, what kind of career do you want once you graduate?"

  "I'm not really sure," he responded. "I think maybe something to do with church history or theology maybe. I'll probably go on for my PhD in theology."

  She laughed. "I'm the complete opposite."

  "Oh really? How so?"

  "I'm a microbiology major with a minor in anthropology. I want to be a genetic researcher," she replied with pride. "I want to chart the human genome, figure out how the people of the world came to be the way they are, learn about how we as a species evolved."

  His eyebrows arched high. "How ambitious." After a moment, he added, "Why genetics? Why not become a doctor or something? Is there some particular draw to genetic research?"

  His voice had a strange tone, but she attributed it to him being a theologian-in-training. In her experience, the "evolution" discussion didn't usually sit well with the devout. "I've always had an interest in science. I guess I'm my father's daughter. He was the division head of a genetic research firm."

  He smirked. "Did he ever find anything interesting?"

  She shrugged. "He was working on some huge project right before he passed away. He swore it would shake the foundations of science. Unfortunately, he was sworn to secrecy, and he never discussed it with me or mom."

  "I'm sorry to hear about your father. I'm sure he would be proud of you following in his footsteps."

  The sincerity behind his words made her well up. It had been a long time since she had talked to anyone about her father or his passing. And she didn't understand why she'd tell this near stranger about it now. He seemed to be safe, trustworthy. Though she didn't know him outside of the few chance encounters on campus, he also seemed very familiar to her. For the next two hours, until the library began to close, they continued to talk, each trying to learn as much as they could about the other.

  Soft footsteps echoed from the hallway outside of the reading room. A head, belonging to one of the library staff, poked into the room. "You gotta wrap it up folks. Library is closing in ten minutes." The staff member emphasized the words "ten minutes."

  Elena glanced at her watch. Could it be midnight already? And she had not finished reviewing her notes for tomorrow's test. Damn, she admonished herself. Next on her list of worries—walking across campus alone at this hour of night. This had to be her least favorite thing. She sighed.

  "Would you like me to escort you back to your building?" Alec asked.

  Relief washed over her. Plus, now she'd have the added benefit of learning more about him. They talked the entire way back about anything and nothing all at once. By the time they reached her dorm, it seemed as though they were old friends.

  "This is me," she said gesturing to her dorm building. "Thanks for walking over here with me." As she peered down and studied her shoes in disbelief, she played the bashful girl.

  "My pleasure," he replied with a slight bow. "My dorm is on the other side of the quad." He nodded toward Davis Hall across the way.

  A light breeze gently tossed her hair about in the dim light of the quad. The late night air carried a faint mist, which partly obscured the other residential buildings from sight. Her body shivered, forgetting she held her jacket.

  It would have been a perfectly romantic moment had the air not carried the faint trace of a fetid odor. It reminded her of road kill; the smell of something dead.

  An odd shuffling sound drifted from over Alec's shoulder. A rather burly, dark-haired student shambled toward them with his eyes fixed on Alec.

  Before she could react, the student engaged them. Without a sound, he balled both of his fists together, raised them above his head, and swung them down onto Alec's back.

  Alec fell to the ground. The attacker spat what appeared to be dirt down at Alec and muttered some unintelligible guttural word. Elena froze with shock as one of the student’s hands shot forward with unimaginable speed and grasped her by the throat. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as he compressed her esophagus. Her heart pounded. Her senses were on overdrive. Something akin to the stench of rotten meat emanated from him.

  Tears welled in her eyes at the foolishness of being out on the campus so late at night. Alec still lay in a heap on the ground. There was nobody to save her. And even as she could feel the student's cold, rough hand squeezing her throat tighter, the idea this stranger attacked Alec and now choked her was baffling. She gawked in disbelief.

  Her attacker stood a few inches shorter than her and wore a blood-stained varsity football jacket embroidered with the name Byron. The sight of his face, though, jolted her out of her paralysis.

  Blackish bruises and dried blood covered his face. Two of his teeth were visible through a hole in what used to be his right cheek. His top and bottom right eyelids were marked by a series of nasty gouges, and his milky left eye contained no pupil.

  She tried to scream. But the crushing power of his hand prevented air from escaping her lips. Acting on sheer reflex, her right knee swung up with all of her might and drove up into his groin. The force or placement of her blow had no visible effect on her attacker. She could swear his face instead contorted into a wicked sneer.

  It had to be a figment of her imagination. Right?

  Her knee lashed out again and again. Bursts of light danced across her eyes. His unrelenting grip blocked the passage of air into her lungs. Her chest burned. As darkness began to overcome her, a blinding flash of white light exploded through her closed eyelids. The last thing she remembered feeling was the sensation of wind whipping through her hair and the hardness of the ground disappearing from beneath her feet. It made her think of floating in space.

  Chapter Four

  Whether the pounding in her head or the burning in her throat, something caused Elena to jolt from the inky blackness of sleep. She whipped around, very much alert, trying to ascertain her whereabouts. Her throat ached to the point she had to force a cough.

  In her mind, the attacker still choked her. She could still feel the force of his powerful hand. But her brain deceived her. She began adjusting to her new surroundings, though despite her eyes being wide open, she could not make out so much as a hint of light in the complete darkness of the room. She coughed again. The lack of any discernible echo suggested the room had to be small.

  Her hand reached out to explore. Below her, she could feel the firm softness of a mattress—above her head, a headboard. Her feet touched no footboard. As she made more observations, it became apparent the mattress edges were close-by. By her estimation, she lay on one of the college's long twin beds. She prayed she had not wound up in the medical center again.

  Her eyes acclimated to the enveloping darkness thanks to a small bit of light filtering into the room from somewhere. Through the gloom were the dark shapes of a dresser, a desk, and a wooden slat-back chair. The institutional furniture and cramped surroundings confirmed she was in a campus dorm room.

  Sitting upright, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. However, a second before sliding off the mattress, her motion halted, held by a firm but soft hand with a familiar voice.

  "I wouldn't do that if I were you," the voice cautioned. "You are sitting on the top bunk about to make a grave and painful mistake."

&nbs
p; The tension washed from her body—Alec.

  "Where am I? What am I doing here?"

  "You are in my dorm room. I brought you here." He sounded cool and calm.

  "It really happened?"

  Silence.

  "What happened to the guy who was choking me?"

  "Cover your eyes for a minute," he said. "I am going to turn the light on. It's still the middle of the night."

  Even through her shielded eyes, the bright-white light stung. Air hissed through her clenched teeth.

  "I fell pretty hard when the guy attacked me," Alec explained. "But I managed to get back up. The next thing I knew, I saw him with his hands at your throat. I don't know how, but I managed to pull the maniac off of you. I think somebody must have seen what happened and called the police because they showed up pretty quickly and had their hands full trying to subdue the guy. While the police were busy, I helped you up. However, I think he managed to run off because I saw several of the police officers tearing off after something."

  "Why am I here and not at the police station, or in the health center?"

  Her eyes grew accustomed to the light. He sat on his desk across the room with his feet resting on the seat of his desk chair with a surprised expression on his face when she asked the question.

  "You mean you don't remember?" he asked in shock. "I mean, I guess it makes sense if you don't. You went through one hell of a traumatic event. But..."

  "Remember what?" she asked, becoming perturbed by the apparent black hole in her memory. Yet something tugged at the back of her mind.

  Alec sighed. "You were adamant you did not want to go with the police. And since they were swarming the outside of your dorm, you asked me to bring you back to my room." He shrugged. "So I did."

  Elena sat in silence for a few moments trying to comprehend the meaning of his words.

  "Since you obviously don't remember much of what happened," he added, "I need to say you don't have to worry. You slept up there; I slept on the floor. Nothing happened." He held up three fingers on his right hand. "Scout's honor."

  The mutilated face of her attacker came into mind. With a sharp gasp, she muttered, "He seemed like he was dead."

  Alec shook his head, turning to face her. "What?"

  "I said, it seemed like the guy was dead or something. He had all of these cuts and scratches on his face. And I could see his teeth through a hole in his cheek. By the smell of him, I could swear he was a walking corpse or something."

  "Really?" Alec scoffed. "Zombies on a college campus? Now there's a scandal." He chuckled. "I think the more likely explanation is maybe he was deranged from a bad concussion or something, or some kind of steroid freak. All I can say is he was strong. He actually lifted you off the ground with his one hand. He was probably roid-raging and got scratched up on his way back to the dorms from the gym."

  "Maybe," Elena conceded. But she couldn't help the strong feeling of doubt in the back of her mind. The guy looked dead. Something else struck her.

  "I remember the sensation of flying," she blurted.

  Alec gazed deep into her eyes. "You were being strangled by a deranged madman," he replied. "Oxygen wasn't getting to your brain. He was holding you at least six inches off the ground. Of course you felt like you were flying. You were probably high as a kite from the oxygen deprivation before you passed out."

  After a moment's pause, he continued, "Speaking of deprivation, you should probably get some sleep. You have a lab tomorrow, right? In spite of what happened, you still need to get good grades. Get some rest."

  As an afterthought he added, "You are more than welcome to sleep here. My roommate goes home quite frequently, so there should be no problems. Or, if you prefer, I could escort you back to your dorm."

  "No," she replied while shaking her head. "I don't want to go back to my dorm. The maniac could still be out there."

  She took Alec's advice and stretched back out in the bunk bed. Laying her head on his pillows, it surprised her how clean and fresh they smelled. As her eyelids drooped, the conversation replayed in her mind. Despite the assertion of her attacker being some hopped-up steroid-junkie, she decided to check into the guy. Perhaps an early trip to the library would give her some useful information.

  Below her, Alec moved about tidying-up the already spotless room. He must have some secret store of energy keeping him moving despite the late hour. Somehow, even with the sound of his rustling about, she managed to drift into the world of dream.

  j

  The place always made her feel uneasy for some reason. Clad with perforated steel panels, the ceiling reminded her of a sieve; the walls were painted in a strange grayish-white color, which oddly absorbed and reflected the overhead fluorescent light. The floor above all, she remembered, disturbed her. The poured concrete surface, painted with a textured multi-color paint, had a central floor drain. However tacky the decoration, it could not hide the floor's multitude of blood stains.

  A shiver ran down her spine.

  Her father had brought her here as part of bring your daughter to work day. She'd always had a strong fascination with what he did. Her interest likely stemmed more from curiosity about why his job could keep him away from her and her mother. She had never really had any kind of interest in bioresearch or genetics.

  "What do you think, honey?" her father asked. The sound of his voice washed over her. Even in her dreams it occurred to her she missed his voice. In fact, she hadn't even realized how much until now. She fought hard to push back the upwelling emotions. In her rational mind, she knew this was a dream. But in her heart, she welcomed the chance to see him again.

  "It's okay, I guess," she replied. "What is all of this stuff?"

  He turned to her, and smiled. She always loved his smile. It made her feel warm, loved, at home. "Do you want the geeky explanation," he asked, "or the simple one?"

  She peered back up at him and returned the smile.

  "Okay," he responded. He ushered her into the center of room with a gentle but firm hand against her back. "This is the genetics research lab," he explained. "This is where I conduct my experiments." He paused. "Would you like to see how a DNA test is done?"

  "Sure." She tried hard not to sound so excited.

  "Okay," he said. His warm smile helped to quell her uneasiness. Putting his hand on her shoulder, he squeezed it in the way dads always did. The simple gesture did the trick, making her feel a little more relaxed. "I think the best way to do this," he told her, "is to take a sample from you."

  Any sense of calm she'd had disappeared. Her eyes filled with panic, and she cringed away from him a little. Her throat let out a soft mewl.

  He understood her unease. "Hold on," he told her. "All we are going to do is something called a finger-stick test." He picked up a small device from the counter top. It reminded her of a strange pen. "This will pinch a little bit." In a few seconds, the pen stuck her finger, and a small drop of blood welled up on her fingertip. He dropped the blood onto a microscope slide and slipped the slide into a small machine.

  Chapter Five

  Despite her mind-numbing grogginess upon waking the next morning, she was in a very good mood. She scanned her surroundings, pleased to find herself still in Alec's dorm room. It wasn't a dream. However, this meant some weirdo really had attacked her last night. Elena decided for the time being to ignore this unpleasant part of the story.

  She stretched her arms over her head and struck the wall. It stood a lot closer than she had realized. The arrangement of Alec's bunk bed almost mirrored her own.

  As she brought her arms down, her eyes caught sight of something, which made her jump. In an instant, any sense of safety and comfort disappeared. Her watch served as a cruel reminder her microbiology lab would start in about twelve minutes.

  "Oh no!" Her legs swung over the side of the bed.

  "Caref—" began Alec. His words died in a flurry of expletives from Elena's mouth. Her arms moved with purpose as she gathered her things and snat
ched a pen off his desk before bolting for the door. Alec glided into her path.

  "Wait, don't go. You can make up the lab." His offer was tempting.

  Soaking in his features, his words crept into her mind. What did he say? Skip a lab? He didn't skip his exam after she’d fallen. Her knees buckled a little drinking in the intricate patterns in his eyes. Perhaps she could reschedule.

  No! She had to get to the lab. It was thirty percent of her grade, an automatic point deduction for a reschedule. She couldn't make it up.

  A slight feint to the left slipped her past him. But he stopped her again.

  "Please?" he asked, batting his eyes at her.

  She responded with a stare.

  Sighing, he stepped to one side. "Okay," he said. "If you won't indulge me with your presence, then how about you meet up with me after the lab? I'll wait for you at the student center."

  She melted, unable to resist his smile. Alec did not have any classes in the morning and could meet her anytime. Without hesitation, she kissed him on the cheek before running out the door. Alec never had the opportunity to ask if he could escort her to class.

  Mornings like this made her appreciate she kept up with her morning jogs. It made the fact she needed to run all the way across campus a little more bearable. Emerging from the tunnel connecting the dorm side of the campus to the academic side of the campus, she froze in her tracks. Blocking her dead in the center of her path stood somebody who resembled Alec. Her breath caught in her chest. No, it was Alec. But how did he make it here before her?

  The expression on his face was unsettling. Her skin crawled.

  "You can't go to your lab. You're in terrible danger." Was this some kind of sick joke?

  A million questions ran through her brain. "What do you mean, danger? Wait, how did you get here before me?" She wanted to pinch herself and make sure this was not some kind of twisted dream.

  He reached out his hand to her. "You have to come with me. I can protect you."