Chapter I: Dirty Apartments (Arcturus)

  "One too many beers, huh Arcturus?" Keith said, slapping my back.

  "S-sh-ut up, Keith.." I said wiping my mouth. The vomit's taste stained my mouth, an acidic tang. I shuddered and heaved again, clutching the sides of the toilet. Keith just laughed, and watched. 

  "I'll get him back.." I thought, hazily. At long last, at what seemed to be an eternity, I was out of the bathroom.

  "Dude, aren't you going back to the party?"Keith asked. A green bottle of Heineken was held in his hand, the condensation sliding onto his hand. 

  "Nah...I'm hitting the hay for the night.." I slurred. This was enough partying for this boy tonight. Plus a really cute girl was going to come over later anyways. A real hottie, with silky black hair and violet eyes. And Asian, to boot!

 

  I stumbled outside into the cold New York night, the lights of the stars smothered by the blaring of the city lights. My beloved home... and at 12:30 at night, not the safest place to be.

  As my mind filled with images of men in dark coats and switch blades in their hands, my pace quickened. Even though I might be stoned, or not, I didn't want to die so young. 

  At long last, I had reached my apartment. Crappy as it may be, it was still home. I slumped onto the couch, throwing my coat somewhere. I didn't give a damn where it ended up. I was overly tired and too drunk to even care. 

  The doorbell rang, echoing throughout the apartment. I stood and staggered over to answer the door. I didn't bother to check who was there, due to the fact that I had drunk until I was stupid.Maybe it was the girl that I met at the party. I attempted to smooth down my dirty blonde hair, and tug my wrinkled clothes over my lean build. I should work out sometime soon.Oh well... Maybe she thinks that messy guys are sexy? I hope so...

  "Hey, what's up baby-" I said blearily as I opened my door. I stopped as I noticed nobody was there. What the hell, I've been stood up! 

  Suddenly , a strange acidic smell filled the air.I tried to identify what it was. Maybe it's weed?  Pot? No, it's not...

And that was the last thought. I had before I was knocked out, tumbling into a deep, dark, sleep.

  I groaned as I woke up. That was one hell of a hangove-

   And I realised that I wasn't home, in my stinky old apartment. I was in a even worse tenement.

  The walls had yellowed over time with water damage.The floor was not carpeted and was made out of rough cement.A dirty cot was in the corner of the room, covered in a questionable rusty red substance....Definitely not my apartment. Definitely not. 

  Where the hell, in all of fuckety f**k f***s am I?

 

  As I sat up, I spotted another body lying next to the wall, curled up, their brown hair flopping over their face. My spined stiffened. Was.. Was he...dead? I prodded him. He sputtered and sat up quickly.

  I yelped and scrambled backwards, away from the reanimated human. 

   "Arcturuss..." it rasped. How did it know my name?! Wait a sec... K-keith? As I examined his features, I recognized the distinct features of my  ice blue eyed friend...thingy. I dunno, he wasn't my good, good friend. He made fun of me a lot. 

  "Where the hell are we?!" he yelled. I jolted from the sudden bout of shouting.

  "I don't kno-" I started, but was interrupted by my cocky, egotistical idiot of a 'friend'.

  "Is this your lame idea of a practical joke?" he spat."Because it's not funny, you b*****d!"

  "Hey, hey! It wasn't my idea! I wouldn't even want to spend an hour locked up with you, twit!" I said, holding up hands defensively. Keith opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a crackling of the intercom.

  An intercom that I didn't notice before  because I was distracted by Keith's supposedly dead body.

  A smooth voice came on. It was definitely masculine. 

   "All persons in this facility must report to the main room of this building. You have half an hour to find it. Severe consequences will be executed if you do not try. The 30 minutes commence.... Now." the mysterious voice intoned. 

  Keith paled. The coward he was, he may be smarter than me, but he doesn't have the guts to execute the ideas. He has a sharp tongue, but meh... 

  "S-severe consequences?" he said shakily, his ice blue eyes wide with fear. Like I said, a coward.      

  "Calm down, dude. We'll find it." I said confidently. I grabbed his hand and started to stride towards the door. I threw it open with a bang and poked my head outside. The outside was even worse than the room we were already in. There were exposed electrical wires, and leaky pipes. Puddles of yellowish water covered the floor and the side of the walls were covered in mildew and mold. My gym socks were more sanitary than this was. Not that I went to the gym. 

As I cautiously wandered outside, I examined my surroundings. Keith gulped, nervously grabbing my hand. I turned and looked at him, raising an eyebrow teasingly.

  "Kei, the next thing I know, you'll be wetting your expensive designer boxers, which will damage your even more expensive, Gucci jeans-"   

  

  Keith snatched his hand away and glared at me. 

  

  "Shut up, White." he snarled, all traces of fear gone. He stormed ahead of me, ignoring the dangers than could possibly lay ahead. Ooo, touchy. But I followed him any ways. A dead friend isn't a good friend.       

  "Keith? Keeeiiithh?? Kei-Kei? Where are you?" I said, sing songingly. No reply, as expected. Stupid boy. As I continued down the hall, a girlish scream pierced the silence. Keith..!

  I sprinted down the hall, towards the source of the scream. As I turned the corner, I found Keith pinning a platinum blonde girl's arm behind her back. Keith gritted his teeth and smothered the noise with his hand, covering her pink, rosebud mouth. She looked over at me, her doe like green eyes widening in hope. A total bimbo, if you ask me. 

  "Keith, let go of the poor lady. She was probably knocked out and kidnapped here like the rest of us." I sighed, rolling my eyes. Keith let her go, and glared at me. 

  "Ya still mad at me?" I said, and helped the girl up.

  "My jeans are not Gucci; they're Armani, idiot." 

   Was he serious?!  That's what he was mad at me for?! That son of a...

  "Kidding, Arcturus.." he said, grinning. And the weirdest sense of humour, too. 

  "Kelly, are you alright?" 

  An Asiatic girl swept into the hall. Time seemed to stop as I gazed upon her features..

Ebony black hair.... Piercing violet eyes... It was that girl I met at the party! 

  "Hey don't I know-"

   A slap hit my face, leaving a hand print behind. 

   

   "Wait, Chimaera! He saved me!" the blonde girl scrambled up and ran towards her friend(?).