Chapter 1 What is Going On?

Seth quickly woke with a sudden jolt. It wasn't from anything in particular. Hardly anything to be overly concerned over. As far as he was aware, he was only waking up from a good night of rest. And wide awake he was, which felt odd to him. It didn't matter how well he slept, he'd always be slightly groggy, or even just a little slow to fully become alert. Waking up shouldn't have been so simple, nor as quick and full, of which Seth merely chalked up to an extraordinarily good morning. From his simple bed in his modest, well kept, clean room, Seth rose to a sitting position and stretched out his upper body in the cool darkness. Seth recalls his encounter with a few men just yesterday who attacked him in in an alley, he had been slightly bruised and beaten before his best friend Michael, arrived to save him. He knew he'd feel the aftermath of that encounter for a while, but yesterday's antics seemingly were nonexistent. His mind may remember, but his body didn't, in fact as he felt himself over, he felt as if there was no bruising whatsoever. Not a shred of evidence he was even involved in a scuffle. It was a good thing his family hadn't taken note of his injuries, he'd come home while his parents were out and his sister was deep in her own homework. It was Monday now. Alas, he was still curious about his seemingly nonexistent injuries.

Seth was very keen and observant of everything around him, to a very precise degree. He was aware of his injuries yesterday, but not of how they were now no longer present. Despite how odd it was, it didn't strike him too suspicious.

So he shrugs to himself and continues his morning routine as normal, washing his face, tidying up his medium length, scruffy black hair and dressing himself for the day ahead in jeans and a crisp, black, button-up shirt. But, once again, he noticed something a bit off, this time with his clothing. They fit very snug on him as opposed to before. Seth was never physically impressive, all of his friends knew that. Average height, average build. He wasn't taking any awards home with him, but somehow, it felt like his own clothes were fitting him less loosely than before. Once again, Seth shrugs it off, concluding that this morning was one of those moments when the mind suddenly realizes how much had changed over the years. After all, Seth was already 19, living comfortable in his hometown and wasn't exactly experiencing another phase of puberty. He knew he grew all he could. The only thing he was concerned about was to keep acquiring information.

It was well past sunrise now, and his home was very much active with his mother and father preparing for work themselves in their room. His younger sister, a freshman in high school, Terra, with her long brown hair done in a single braid, was already eating breakfast at the table.

"Morning Seth!" Terra calls out to him after consuming a forkful of eggs.

"Hey lil' sis. You almost ready?" Seth asks as he continues over to the pantry.

Terra gives a smile and a nod as Seth grabs a couple of granola bars for his own breakfast from the pantry. Seth chomps down on his breakfast just as Terra calls to him, letting him know she was ready to leave. Seth, seeing his parents preoccupied elsewhere in their home, calls out to them, letting them know they were leaving. Terra runs over to them in their room and gives them a goodbye kiss before she leaves out the door with Seth. Outside, Terra is quick to run over to Seth's car, a deep blue, perfectly well kept '69 Mustang. Seth grins at Terra's impatience as she eagerly waits for him to unlock the doors.

After Seth drops off Terra at her school, he drives off to his normal morning hangout spot at the city college some miles away. However, he doesn't leave the parking lot, but instead, remains near his car, leaning on the trunk. He'd parked it near the motorcycle's parking, as one of them belonged to someone he was very close with. It wasn't out of the ordinary for Seth to come to the college like this, it was his typical meetup with his friend, Liz, just before lunch.

As much as he loved to be on high alert, Seth found himself deep in thought as he reflected on the small discoveries he made earlier in the morning. He'd been so unaware that he didn't notice Liz sneaking up behind him, climbing ever so stealthily from the roof of his car.

"Hey!" Liz shouts as she jumps onto Seth's back, immediately wrapping her arms around his body.

Initially, Liz expected Seth to fall flat onto the pavement, but to her pleasant shock, he not only managed to remain standing, but managed to easily keep his footing despite her inherent momentum.

"Gah, Liz…" Seth begrudgingly greets Liz on his back.

Liz giggles in return, not giving an ounce of pity towards Seth's plight of having to carry her on his back, albeit without much effort. Liz eventually jumps off and the pair lean right on the trunk of Seth's car.

"Nice catch, Seth, didn't think you'd keep on your feet, honestly."

"Yeah, real nice way to treat the guy who spared you a lot of trouble by the way."

Liz playfully punches Seth, despite the mention of the "trouble" that was almost close to impacting her life socially. Something Seth had intervened with and stopped, albeit at a price. Hence his beating the day before.

"Oh c'mon, that's like the norm from you. If anything, would you have expected me to not jump you? Honestly I'm more shocked you even let me sneak up on you like that, you're usually more alert than that!"

"You just got lucky is all!" Seth shoves Liz back lightly. "How's the day going otherwise?"

Liz lets out a agonized groan as she slumps on the trunk.

"God, it's so freaking boring! The teachers practically put me to sleep half the time!"

Seth chuckles, amused at Liz's disdain for her professors.

"For someone who's got a scholarship lined up for a real nice university, you really don't like taking education all that seriously, do you?"

"Hey, lay off me!" Liz rises up, pointing her finger at Seth aggressively. "I can bitch, moan and groan all I want! I don't slack off like some of the other guys do!"

The back and forth continues on until eventually they decided on a restaurant of which Seth drove the both of them in his car. The restaurant wasn't anything special in particular, but it did go well out of the way from the college Liz was at, it was in a downtown area and very lively for lunch hours. Liz and Seth continued their back and forth antics sitting across from each other at their table, regarding school and Seth's own methods for his earlier mentioned intervention.

"Seriously, Seth, I can't begin to imagine what that girl would to me if you hadn't socially destroyed her," Liz remarks while grabbing a quick sip of her soda.

"Honestly though, I could have done without having to call on Michael to bail me out when her brother and his friends ganged up on me," Seth recounts with a groan. "It freaking hurt when I got beat up."

"Coulda fooled me! You look good otherwise!" Liz said trying to cheer up Seth.

"Yeah, I bet."

"Hey, mind if I tell you something in confidence?" Liz suddenly springs on Seth.

Seth raises an eye at Liz, very skeptical about what she had to tell him. Liz didn't often confide in Seth, despite their long friendship spanning all they way into their early elementary school years. If there was anyone for her to confide in, it would have been Christie, Seth's ex-girlfriend. Which also sent up a red flag for Seth. It could have been a varied number of subjects that she couldn't even tell Christie. So Seth decided to take a preemptive approach to the question.

"What, is it the fact you like me that much?" Seth shot at her, prodding at a small but somewhat known fact Liz had a crush on Seth for a while.

Liz immediately blushes and furrows her brow in frustration.

"Sh-shut up! The hell are you even trying to- No! That's- Argh! I'm being serious here, Seth!" Liz flounders, trying to maintain a level head.

Liz's glare at Seth clued him in that she wasn't trying to play around anymore. Seth recognizes her fervent desire to tell him something of great importance and leans towards her, lending her his full, undivided attention.

"I've had… Some strange experiences today…" Liz said hushed, as to keep her story from leaking beyond their table.

"What kind of... 'experiences?'"

"For starters… This morning, when I was showering, I found a scar on my body that I didn't know about."

"What, did you cut yourself and forgot about it?"

Liz gives Seth a very unamused glare accompanied with an agitated growl.

"Sorry, sorry, just a slip of the tongue…"

Liz sighs at Seth before continuing.

"It wasn't a cut or anything like that, this was a lot bigger and not on my arms or fingers… Here lmee show you what I mean," Liz reaches for her phone and after a bit of fiddling, presents Seth with a blown-up picture of her aforementioned scar on her skin, although all that was shown was very hard to gauge just how big or where it was. All that could be gathered was it was a vertically shaped scar that looked like it had cleanly healed over without any form of stitching involved.

"Uh… I'm going to guess this was somewhere not as noticeable…?" Seth fields his question openly, not sure where exactly this scar was. "Not exactly sure what this is-"

"Its on my chest."

Seth widens his eyes in shock. Liz sits back in her seat and gestures with her hands where and just how big the scar was. To Seth's horror, it was placed cleanly between her breasts and just right over her heart, stretching from the middle of the solar plexus, right down to the belly button.

"What the hell…"

"That's not all," Liz warned Seth before continuing. "When I was driving to school today, everything felt way too slow, like everything was slow. Super slow. Slow enough to the point I could actively see wheels on cars move like mere inches. That was when I focused enough though…"

"Uh… What?"

"I'm saying, the world around me slowed down, but I didn't, I could move my bike exactly how I wanted as fast as I wanted. I was practically weaving through traffic like it was an obstacle course."

Seth continued giving a very confused and very unsure face of confoundment, he wasn't sure how to make heads or tails of Liz's "experience" or if she was screwing with him. Even with the scar picture, he wasn't entirely sure there was any merit to what she was telling him. But she had been telling him all this with such a very clear and honest expression. Of all his friends, Seth could easily tell when Liz was lying, and this once, he was skeptical if she was somehow telling the truth.

Liz on the other hand, realizing Seth was struggling to comprehend her story gave a quick sigh as she shook her head in frustration.

"Hold on, I can show you what I mean…"

With a swift, almost instantaneous movement, her arm swung up and had something small pinched in between her fingers, which happened to be a lowly fly that'd been conveniently buzzing by their table.

Seth looked in awe at Liz, performing what he could only describe as some Hong Kong movie magic with delicate and precise martial skills.

"What the… You just… That thing is still alive!?" Seth said under breath, now realizing Liz was telling no lies whatsoever. "You… Saw it?"

Liz nods as she flicks her wrist downwards, sending the fly into the ground, becoming nothing more than a small smear. Seth couldn't help but stare at the fly's remains, impressed at Liz's display of skill and prowess at fly catching.

"I could see its movements like it was all in slow motion. Except I wasn't moving in slow motion."

"Then that scar is also real…"

"That's what I'm saying! I don't know how to explain this! I figured you, out of all of us could maybe figure something out, seeing you're the one with their head screwed on the most stable!"

"This isn't something I'm… I mean… I don't know how to explain what you're going through…. Or have gone through for that matter…" Seth leans back into his seat, trying to come up with possible hypotheses in regards to Liz's newfound ability and apparent, inexplicable scar.

Something like that had to have been the result of something vicious, something that would-no. Something that definitely was lethal. But he couldn't tell her that bit, it'd only scare her, and perhaps cause her undue anxiety.

But that all lead to something even he could no longer ignore. And upon realizing that Seth was thinking of something other than her, Liz suddenly becomes worried.

"Seth? Did something happen to you, too?"

"Something… Yeah… This morning when I woke up, I didn't feel tired at all, in fact I felt like… Like I was already wide awake and perfectly capable of moving around as if I had rested perfectly… It's hard to explain, but then there's my clothes…"

Seth raises his arm to display for Liz.

"Did you notice how I don't look as scrawny as before?"

"Now that you mention it… Yeah, you do look a little more filled out. And you were definitely a lot stronger than I remember."

Their interaction at the college parking lot reminded Liz just how different Seth was in comparison to how he was the day before. He was definitely not known for possessing a very strong body, not that he ever worked out, but looking at him now, he looked as if he'd been just that, but to have the physique he has now, it would have taken him months and a perfectly executed routine to achieve. Something was definitely amiss.

"You've not told anyone else right? About your 'experiences?'"

"No, you're the first."

"Then this stays between us. No one else."

"Not even Christie?" Liz asks, raising an eyebrow at Seth doubtfully.

Despite Christie being Liz's main confidant, and being Seth's ex, she was a good friend to both respectively. Often being the open ear for both to vent their own troubles.

"She won't be told a thing. I promise." Seth proclaims sternly.

"Same… Do you think… Someone did this to me?" Liz asks anxiously.

"Overnight? Unless your parents had a hand in it, I sincerely doubt it… But it could have some merit to it, minus your parents of course… Can't see either your mom or old man doing something that scummy."

Liz nods, she couldn't fathom that her own parents would somehow, without her consent, have someone perform some unspeakable acts to their own daughter.

Seth takes a quick look at his own phone, and lets Liz know it was time to start leaving, while also deciding to pay for their meal. He promises Liz that he'd start looking into possible ideas to what may be happening to her while he figures out his own situation. While she agreed, both of them remained silent on the matter as Seth drove back to the college for her to be dropped off for her afternoon classes.

After quick goodbyes, Seth drove off towards his little sister's school to pick her up. But trailing right behind his car was a large, white SUV with tinted windows.