My Hockey Alpha

Nina

I wasn’t entirely sure what happened that night after Matt, Lori, and Jessica came to my rescue. I was too drunk and shaken up from the ordeal, leaving my head feeling foggy and out of whack. All I remembered was going home and getting into bed, and thankfully, I didn’t wake up in the forest again that night.

However, I did wake up unceremoniously to the sound of someone tapping on my window.

As I cracked my tired eyes open, the first thing that came to my attention was a splitting headache from the alcohol. After that, I realized what — or rather, who — was tapping on my window.

Luke.

I groaned when I saw him and slowly sat up. I was, of course, happy to see that my friend had returned from his mission to test out the antidote, but I was so hungover that every movement made me feel like I was going to vomit. In fact, by the time I opened the window and let him in, I could already feel the vomit bubbling up in my throat and just barely made it to the bathroom in time before it spilled out.

When I was finished, I groaned once more and flushed the toilet. I stayed seated where I was on the floor in case I would throw up again, which was bound to happen, and leaned my head back against the wall behind me. A thin coating of sweat had formed on my face, causing my bangs to stick to my forehead uncomfortably.

“Geez,” Luke said, approaching me cautiously with a disgusted look on his face. “You look like shit. What happened?”

“Gee, thanks,” I muttered, shutting my eyes; even the dim glow of my bathroom night light was too bright for my eyes and made my headache even worse. “Drank too much last night.”

I heard Luke sigh, then felt his hand pat my head a few times. When I cracked my eyes open again, I could see him staring down at me with that same grossed-out look on his face. His arm was out straight in front of him as he tried to comfort me by patting my head, as though he didn’t want to get any closer. I didn’t like the sight or smell of vomit, either, so I understood his caution. Being an undead skeleton also meant that he hadn’t experienced normal bodily functions in over a hundred years.

“So… How did it go?” I asked, referencing the test on the antidote.

said. “I was able to cure several people, actually. There were some safe houses with other survivors that were set up in the town I went to, so the people I cured

replied. “I

way back, I saw a couple of packs of them roaming awfully close to Mountainview. It’s only a matter of time before they

nodded, swallowing hard despite the soreness in my throat. “The hockey team is patrolling the outskirts for now,” I said. “But we’ll need to make more of the antidote fast before it gets out of hand again.” I glanced at the digital clock on my bedside table and saw that it was only four o’clock in the morning, and with another groan, I pushed myself to my feet and shuffled past Luke to

doing?” he asked as I began to rifle through my closet for a pair of jeans and a sweater. “You’re not going now,

this antidote ready. If I work fast, I can

over to me. He grabbed my wrist just as I was reaching for my hat and

mix anything if you’re sick like this. One day won’t make

my head. “You don’t get it. I need to do this. It’s the one thing I can’t fail

Luke cocked his head and furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?” he

away. I pulled my wrist away and sat on the edge of my bed, staring down at my feet as I tried to think about how to broach the subject of what happened with Enzo

heaving in my chest and causing me to lose my breath for a moment. “I couldn’t make Enzo remember me. I tried, but… I failed. Selena must have

try again,” Luke

myself from crying. Through my tears, I shot Luke an agitated look, but he only stared back at me unwaveringly with

into fists as I dug my fingernails into my palms. “It’s too late. He

Nina?” he said, sounding annoyed. “You’re giving up that easily? What happened to the stubborn

I whispered, wiping my nose with

tried once, and sure, you failed.

with him before

are for, dummy,” he replied. “While I was gone, I ran into a witch. She was kind of cute, actually… But that’s beside the point. What I’m trying