Beast Soul

Sheriff Roman whistled at two men and walked up to them, and in a few minutes, they carried a lifeless body toward Raphael and Alan, or at least what was left of it. Raphael knelt down in front of the body, examining it. "Is this the only body that you've found?" Alan asked Sheriff Roman as he followed the two men to them.

"I'm afraid so, Mr. Fischer," he said while nodding his head, and Alan looked at Raphael, who simply shrugged his shoulders. The raindrops began falling from the leaves and onto Raphael's hat, but he didn't seem bothered by it. He looked at the body with a frown on his face. The corpse's face looked like it was torn and ripped away by something very powerful. It had also torn away his eyelids, nose, jaw, lips, and most of his scalp and had also broken nearly all the bones of his facial structure. Whoever, or whatever the attacker was, it'd rendered the victim blind.

"Do you have a doctor's report, or something similar to that, Sheriff?" Raphael turned his head and asked.

"Well, we haven't the official report yet. But I did send the images to a doctor friend back in Brixley and she sent over a brief report of what she thought. If you want, I can get them for you," he said, and he walked back to his car, grabbed a folder, and handed it over to Raphael, who began carefully reading through it.

"Tell me Sheriff Roman, did you happen to check any water bodies in the vicinity of this building for the remaining corpses?" Alan stood alongside the distressed Sheriff, who shifted his gaze towards him with confusion in his eyes. "Well, the only water body near this place is Minari lake. But that's about four and a half miles away from here. Our search team is still in the middle of covering the three mile radius. Do you think we should be looking in the lake?"

Alan waved his hands dismissively, not giving Sheriff Roman the answer he was looking for, which made him disappointed. But after a few seconds, a frown emerged on his face, and he looked at Alan and asked, "Agent Alan, may I ask what is really going on here?"

"What are you talking about, Sheriff?" Alan looked at the Sheriff with a confused expression, and the Sheriff explained. "Well, you just mentioned water bodies. But none of the evidence that you two have looked through had a connection to water bodies, as of right now at least."

"Well, you're right. We do have more information than you might think." Alan said as he waved his finger in the air. "Although I can't disclose that information to just anyone."

"I just want to know what the hell is going on here." Sheriff Roman, who seemed overwhelmed by the incident, let out a sigh. "I just- I feel like I've seen too much. And the fact that I still have no clue about what's really going on scares me. I mean, I don't know what this facility is for. I don't know what kind of a monster did these terrible things. And I don't know why the Federal Investigation Department would feel the need to send their agents out into a remote jungle just four hours after calling. It- It's just all a bit too much."

Alan looked at the distressed Sheriff and let out a sigh as well. But before he could reply, Raphael interrupted their conversation. "The doctor's report says that the wounds are most likely from a chimpanzee, or a similar creature."

"Oh, does it now?" Alan turned his gaze over to Raphael, and Sheriff Roman tilted his head as well. "What do you think, Raph?"

Instead of answering immediately, Raphael turned around and examined the body yet again. His left arm had been completely torn off, as if it was pulled with incredible force. Which would imply that it had to have opposable thumbs to grip the hand. So a chimpanzee isn't necessarily out of the equation. But what intrigued Raphael the most was the wound on the victim's cheat. He could see depressions of multiple rows of crescent shaped teeth marks on the chest. His chest bones were fractured. Probably because of the bite, Raphael assumed. Raphael also noticed a significant amount of abrasions on the victim's body. 

"A chimpanzee and a shark," Raphael mumbled to himself under his breath, but Alan, who was able to catch his words, widened his eyes in surprise. "What's that? A shark?" Sheriff Roman was surprised as well. "What? Did you say a shark did this?"

"I'm not saying that a shark did all of this," Raphael said with an annoying expression, which caused the two to quiet down. He then mumbled to himself once again, "I'm saying that a shark and a chimpanzee did this together."

Although extremely rare, Raphael had once seen a shark bite victim several years before and could remember the incident in detail. The injuries that he had seen on the victim then were extremely similar to the ones that the corpse in front of him had on his chest. There was a characteristic look to a shark attack.

"A shark and a chimpanzee?" Alan said, and Raphael turned his gaze towards him, staring at him with a serious expression. 

Alan, who understood what Raphael's expression meant, nodded his head and then shifted his gaze onto Sheriff Roman. "Sheriff, how far away are the shores?" Alan snapped his fingers as he spoke, acting worried all of a sudden, and Sherif Roman couldn't help but wonder why. He asked, "From here?" 

"Yes, from here." Alan nodded his head as he rubbed his hands all over his mouth. "I don't want an accurate number. I just need an estimate."

"Well, I'd say the shores are more than fifty miles away. Why? Is there something wrong?" Sheriff Roman asked, but instead of answering his question, Alan turned to Raphael and said, "I'll call my boss and ask for backup right away."

------------ BEAST SOUL ------------

What the hell? 

Noah stared at the fist being retracted after hitting his stomach with confusion in his eyes. The punch that would've usually caused him to fall to his knees didn't hurt at all?!

No, he couldn't even call it a punch. That was more like a flick to him. A simple poke, that's how it felt!

Maybe he didn't put any power into his punch? Noah wondered to himself, although that wouldn't make any sense. Who the hell would throw a punch and not put any power into it?

"The hell, b*tchboy? How the hell are you still standing?" It seems that Billy was also surprised by what just happened, which meant that it most certainly wasn't a mistake on his part.

And because of Billy yelling every single word as loud as he could, it got everyone's attention. As their classmates began looking at the two of them in confusion, Noah was still in a state of shock. 

'Don't tell me that I seriously became a superhuman or something?' As he stared at his stomach in wonder, Noah couldn't help but remember what happened the day before, at the bridge.

Perhaps the mysterious creature really did something to him!

"Trying to stand up to me? You bastard! You're now dead meat!" Angered by the lack of fear on Noah's face, Billy continued cursing at him and immediately threw another punch at him.

Noah watched as his fist moved quickly through the air, approaching his chest, and he thought to himself, 'Should I try and catch it?'