Alex stood frozen, staring at the figure that had appeared out of nowhere. His heart pounded in his chest, a cold sweat coating his skin. The figure—tall, shadowy, and impossibly still—was not human. It was a holographic stand. Nothing more than a projection.
Adam let out a smirk of disbelief, clearly relieved. "This man is crazy," he muttered under his breath.
Alex exhaled sharply, trying to steady his racing heart. The tension in the room melted away, replaced by awkward laughter. They both chuckled nervously, still shaken by the intensity of the moment.
"This guy's weirder than I thought," Alex said, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.
But his mind was racing. Even though the figure wasn't real, the atmosphere in the room still felt off. Something wasn't right.
As Adam continued to laugh, Alex's gaze fell to a peculiar object sitting on one of the nearby counters—a glass vial filled with a dark, blood-like mixture. The label caught his attention.
Drink and become a hero.
The words danced in his mind, taunting him. He had to admit, he was curious.
"Alex, what are you thinking?" Adam asked, noticing his friend's hesitation.
Without thinking, Alex grabbed the vial. He studied it for a moment. He had been around chemicals long enough to know the potential risks—anything could be inside that vial. But part of him was drawn to the promise on the label. Become a hero.
Alex tilted the vial up to his lips, ignoring the strange twinge of hesitation in his gut. The liquid was thick, almost syrupy, and tasted oddly sweet with an underlying bitterness. He took a long gulp, the liquid sliding down his throat.
Adam's eyes widened in surprise. "What the hell, Alex? You actually drank it?"
Alex wiped his mouth, shrugging. "It's not that bad. Probably just some weird chemical mix… maybe a placebo or something."
Adam raised an eyebrow, his smirk never fading. "You'll be fine, right? You're not gonna turn into a mutant or something?"
Alex grinned back, though there was a growing sense of unease gnawing at his stomach. "We'll see."
The two of them wandered deeper into the lab, looking for anything else that might provide a clue about Mr. Sabastin's experiments. Shelves were lined with more vials and notebooks, some of which contained drawings and notes that were disturbingly cryptic. The equations were far too advanced for the average student to understand, and the symbols were ones Alex had never seen before.
He reached for another notebook, his eyes scanning the pages rapidly. Suddenly, a strange sensation crept over him. It started as a slight tingling in his fingers, but soon spread to his whole body. His heart rate quickened, and his skin flushed hot, then cold.
"Adam," Alex said weakly, his voice barely a whisper. "Something's wrong."
Adam turned, still oblivious to the shift in his friend's demeanor. "What's wrong now? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Alex's breath caught in his throat. His vision blurred for a moment, and his legs wobbled beneath him. He grabbed the edge of the desk to steady himself, his pulse hammering in his ears.
"I... I don't feel right," Alex muttered, his face growing pale.
Adam laughed, thinking his friend was just playing around. "See? I told you not to drink that stuff. Now look at you, 'hero.'" He mimicked air quotes with his fingers, but there was no humor in Alex's face, only a growing panic.
Alex shook his head, trying to dispel the dizziness. "No, seriously. Something's wrong."
Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway. Alex's eyes widened.
"Crap," Adam hissed. "We need to get out of here. Now!"
They both ducked down behind a large stack of boxes in the corner of the room. Adam peeked around the corner just in time to see the security guard pass by the open door. The man was muttering to himself, probably wondering why the chemistry lab was still active at this hour.
The security guard stopped, his flashlight sweeping across the room. He looked briefly at the open door, his eyes narrowing slightly as if something felt off.
"Oh well," he muttered, shrugging it off. "Must be the rats again. Always messing with stuff."
He turned and walked back down the hall, leaving them in silence.
"Close call," Adam whispered, exhaling a sigh of relief.
Alex, however, was still too shaken to relax. His body felt like it was slowly slipping out of his control. Every movement felt unnatural, like he was no longer himself. His skin prickled, his heartbeat was erratic, and a strange, unfamiliar hunger began to gnaw at the back of his mind.
Adam, oblivious to the gravity of the situation, grabbed his friend by the arm. "Come on. Let's get out of here before the janitors start cleaning. We'll figure this out later."
Alex could barely keep up as they slipped through the shadows of the school and out the back door. They made their way across the darkened grounds and back to Adam's house without another word.
By the time they arrived, the night was thick, heavy with silence. The air felt suffocating, and Alex's thoughts were a jumbled mess. He felt like he was losing control. Something was changing inside him, something deep and dark.
"Good night, Alex," Adam said, patting him on the back as they reached the door to his room. "I'll see you tomorrow. Maybe we'll go back to the lab, see what else we missed."
Alex nodded weakly, but he barely heard his friend's words. He barely noticed when Adam went to his bed and started to drift off to sleep. Alex, on the other hand, lay there, staring at the ceiling, wide-eyed.
The nightmares began almost immediately.
In the darkness of his mind, he saw himself—his body twisted, his skin pale, his teeth sharp like knives. He was hunting, hunting for something. Something... alive. His senses were heightened—he could smell the blood, hear the thumping of a heart. It was almost unbearable.
He woke up with a gasp, drenched in sweat, his heart racing. His body was trembling, and his mind was fogged with confusion. He glanced around Adam's room, only to see the faint outline of his friend sleeping soundly in the corner.
But the feeling of hunger was still there. It gnawed at him.
Alex stumbled out of bed, barely able to stand. He couldn't shake the urge to find something, to feed.
His mind was clouded with questions. What had he drunk? What had Sabastin been experimenting with?
And most terrifying of all—what was happening to him?
It was a long night. Alex couldn't sleep. And by morning, when the sunlight finally began to creep through the curtains, he wasn't sure who or what he was anymore.