His ears were ringing. His head felt like it had been split in half, his exposed brain then attacked mercilessly with claws and teeth. Even now he still felt a great throbbing pain that came in steady beats. Thud, thud thud, he cringed every time.

His vision wasn’t much better. Fog made up the great part of his world, insanity took over what remained. He could see things spilled over the floor. Broken things. Things that shouldn’t be on the ground. He saw a pencil only a few feet away. A massive pencil, colored a bright yellow, it's pink eraser barely even rubbed down. His only thought, that should really be on a desk…

A scream brought his senses back to reality. He sat upright quickly, his muscles struggling to act. “Maxi!” he screamed before he knew better.

The girl was at the other side of the room, on her knees, struggling against two dark figures that Theo could not recognize, nor make out any features. Their clothes were dark, black, only they didn’t flow like they should have. It was like watching smoke cling to a person’s body, wrapping around it, yet not truly tethered. It didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense.

The rest of the room was a mess, two of the bookcases cracked and on the ground, their contents spilled all over. Maxi’s boxes had been overturned, tiny baubles of gold, silver and chrome spilling out in every direction, flowing under and around the bigger pieces of debris. Glass jars had smashed coating the bare parts of the ground with sharp shards.

He could hear other sounds. Screams, cries… but not that of Maxi. “Maxi!” he called again, his attention returning to her. One of the figures hit her, the girl’s cheek opening up, blood flowing from the wound. They said something he couldn’t make out, she spit in the person’s face, he hit her again, harder. Theo wanted to puke.

A boot landed only a few paces to his side, the thick sole creating a shockwave as it landed, forcing Theo back to the floor. The boy quickly rolled, looking up at the third thing, catching only the slightest glance at its face. It looked pale.

The third person walked the last few steps to Maxi’s computer, its fingers working quickly at the keyboard. At the other side of the room, the two were taking turns screaming at Maxi. She looked in pain. No, that wasn’t right. Her fists were balled, her jaw clenched. She was angry.

“Hey,” the third figure shouted.

“What? Find something?”

“Yeah. Lizard girl was doing some research.”

Maxi tried to struggle free from their grasp. She didn’t get far before she was pushed back down. “Fuck you!” she still managed to scream.

“The fuck did you find?” the second called.

“She has an alpha.” The only sound was the endless ringing.

“No,” the first said, turning back to Maxi. “There’s no way a low class grunt got her hands on an alpha. Re-read it, T’leigh.”

Theo didn’t know what type of a name that was, and he didn’t care. Things were clearly not going the way they were supposed to, and in his state that was a very bad thing. A two inch freshman wouldn’t be able to do anything if they found him.

For a moment he considered Maxi, knew that he should help, but knew that he couldn’t. His best chance for survival would be to hide. Hide and pray that nothing further happened. Pray that they wouldn’t do anything more to Maxi.

Even as he told himself that it was his only option, as he rationalized the situation, he couldn’t help his stomach from churning. What a hero, rushing for cover when someone needed help. Well, this world wasn’t made for heros. That was just a fairytale.

“It says an alpha. Even has a couple measurements.”

“Wait, a couple? She wasn’t done with it?” The third figure shook its head in answer. “So she still had it.” Theo didn’t like the pleasure in its voice. It turned back to Maxi. “Listen, we both know how this is going to end up. We find what we are looking for, then we leave. The only variable is how much of a cunt you plan to be. Tell us where the alpha is and I won’t hit you anymore.”

Theo wanted her to tell them. He wanted nothing more than to hear Maxi open her mouth and tell them everything they wanted to know, to have her out of harm's way. “Please,” he whispered silently, crawling under something chrome, one end broken off in thousands of sharp edges. “Please.”

“Fucking die.” Theo cringed at the sound of a slap.

“Fine. You want to be a bitch, be a bitch.” The first figure had lost any hint of kindness in his tone. “At least stay still so I don’t have to kill you.” Theo didn’t hear any complaints. “You two, start searching.”

“Fine,” he heard one answer.

“Whatever,” the second said.

He didn’t have any more time. Theo hastily searched for a place to hide, one where he would be concealed from whoever these giants were, and from whatever they were searching for. The only thing he saw was a glass bottle, shards that once made up its neck scattered all around. Not ideal, but the tinted glass would at least hide him.

His tiny legs took him to the bottle within a few steps. The ledge was sharp, jagged. He could only hope that his small size would somehow help. “Shit,” he whispered as he grabbed onto the ledge and started pulling. He felt the glass digging into his skin, though it had yet to split.

“Find anything?” he heard someone call. It sounded like the first one.

“Not shit,” one answered, followed by the loud sound of something metallic falling back to the floor. Theo pulled himself the last few inches, forcing his body into the narrow opening. He slid forward into the dark inside of the bottle, a burning sensation suddenly gnawing at his hand.

He hit his head when he fell, barely managed to stiffen a curse. He reached a hand to his neck, when he brought it back it was bloody. But, no, it was a cut on his palm. That was it, just a long, deep cut with crimson blood oozing out at a steady pace. It wasn’t his head. “Shit,” he whispered again, a tear forcing itself on his eye as he squeezed his hand into a fist.

It wasn’t the pain that did it. Perhaps the pressure of the situation had grown too much, maybe it was Maxi, maybe he just didn’t want to die like this. Maybe it was the head wound, maybe he was losing more blood than he thought. Maybe he was going to die. He couldn’t think right, couldn’t understand what was going on. This didn’t make sense.

“Find anything?” he heard from outside.

“No,” was the answer. Theo moved a bit closer to the jagged end of the bottle, peeking his head into the light so he could see. The figures were still searching, one was rather close. Theo gulped, for his mouth was terribly dry. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to be back home, in his own bed, at his own size, drinking a cold soda.

The figure turned around, seemed to take a few steps away. Maybe they weren’t going to find him. Maybe it was going to be alright. Then he heard a sound somewhere close by. What was it? High pitched, like a cracking. Like a glass breaking. Like someone stepping on a shard… and was that panting?

Theo gulped again, moving back into the shadows of the bottle, his heart thumping so fiercely he thought they might hear it. He wanted it to just stop. But what was that panting? Was it the alpha they were looking for? What the hell was it anyway? Something alien. Something horrible. He didn’t want to meet the alpha. He didn’t want-

Two hands appeared over the edge of the glass, one curling over the bloody spot Theo had so recently left. The figure pulled itself up, a horrified face coming into view first, then a bare chest. He didn’t look like Theo expected. He looked like a normal person. Brown hair, a young face. What was he doing here?

The kid paused when he saw Theo, his eyes opening wider than they had. “Hey, can-” he started to say.

“Ah, look what I found!” someone bellowed. Theo saw a shadow on the glass grow larger, heavy boots echoing off the ground, coming closer. He turned back to the kid, frantically trying to pull himself the last few feet up, his stomach sliding over the razored edge, gashes of blood already cutting across his otherwise smooth skin. Then something came down behind, a hand. It grabbed the boy by the legs. It started pulling up.

Theo could only cringe. Cringe and shake. Shake and watch as the boy desperately tried to hold onto the glass, as more blood spewed out, as he cries of, “Help!” echoed through the chamber like a wraith's howls. He just sat there, starring.

“Is this it?” T’leigh asked, holding the boy up to the others. He was upside down, still fighting against his captors even despite the fall that would await him if he managed to succeed.

“Shit. You, girl, is that the one we're looking for?” There wasn’t an answer. He hit Maxi again. “You fucking answer when I ask you something. Is that it?”

“Eat shit.”

Laughter. “You just have to be a cunt.”

“What should I do?” the other asked again, still holding the boy.

“Rip his legs off.” His tone was solid, without any emotion.

“But wouldn't that…”
“No, it won't. Well, not if he's the alpha.”  

“And if he isn’t?”

The figure gave an annoyed grunt. “If he isn’t then you can fuck his dead body for all I care. He isn’t worth anything. Now rip.”

Theo watched as the dark figure, the one with the kid, smiled. Instantly his stomach churned in a way he hadn’t known it could, everything he had eaten threatening to erupt from his mouth in a geyser of filth and disgust. He wanted to look away, knew that he should look away. The kid was screaming. Not even begging for help, just screaming, as the giant wrapped his fist around his upper half. Even though the boy was gone from sight, his screams lingered on.

Theo saw muscles tighten, saw the giant’s hands strein, then saw them violently pull apart. The screams stopped, replaced by the sickening sound of the kid’s organs slumping out of his body, dangling down from his waist, slipping to the ground far below.

“The results?” the first figure asked, seemingly without a care. Hell, he even seemed happy.

The other opened his hands, palm up, observing the carnage. The boy was in two halves, his legs and waste in one hand, his upper body in the other. Long, coiled ropes of organs glistened in the low light, blood continued to pool over his black gloves. “It doesn't look alive.”

The first shrugged. “Then it wasn’t what we were looking for. Toss it.”

“Fine.” He casually threw the body parts into the air. They hit the ground moments later, the sound of his body cracking when it hit the pavement enough to finally make Theo puke.