Beast Soul

Lewis pulled up in his driveway, and as soon as he opened the door to his apartment, he pushed his chair and leaned back in it. He had been going through tons of paperwork back in the precinct because of the recent disappearance of the townsfolk, including the youngest son of the Mayor, and by the time he had finished all of them, it had already been night-time. So he figured he'd get a bit of shut eye. Except he couldn't, because right when he was about to sleep, his phone rang and he groaned in annoyance.

He figured it was one of his superiors asking for the paperwork to be sent in. He had heard that the Mayor has been bugging them about any updates on the case. But it wasn't. It was detective Harry Stone asking for him to come down to the 'Red Deer', a local pub near King Street because he had found two dead bodies in the alleyway behind the pub, and he needed some assistance. Apparently, he couldn't find anyone else. 

With a long sigh, he clicked off, grabbed the keys of his dark blue convertible, and left his apartment for the Red Deer.

He found the pub in less than thirty minutes. He parked his convertible in the parking lot of the pub and exited the vehicle and headed for the alleyway.

He could see the silhouette of three men standing in the dark alleyway, one of whom raised his hand up in the air and waved at him, motioning him to come closer. It was, of course, detective Harry Stone. He didn't know the other two.

"Detective!" he said, as a greeting, and Harry nodded his head. He then pointed at the two men standing behind him. "These are Major Erwin Hammond and Sergeant Darius Emmanuel. Military Police. Friends of mine. They were hanging out in the pub when they heard the scream of a woman coming from behind the building. Turns out the scream was from a hooker who had gone out through the backdoor of the pub to light a smoke and accidentally came across the bodies. They immediately called me."

Lewis nodded his head at them, and they waved their hands. 

"I've called the department for backup and the medical examiner, but they've apparently got problems of their own and it will take some time." Harry said, and Lewis tilted his head. "What problems?"

Harry pointed at the bodies on the ground and said, "Same as ours."

"They also found bodies?" Lewis looked surprised. Harry nodded his head. "It's a busy night, unfortunately..."

Lewis said nothing. "Let's look at the bodies." Harry said to him, and he nodded.

The two bodies were just a few metres away from their location. The two victims were both male. Both their bodies were mangled up and were completely covered in blood. Both of their intestines and their chest were torn open, and the flesh on their faces were torn off as though something had bit through them.

"Jesus." Lewis whispered. 

"You can say that again." Harry said.

Lewis knelt down next to the crime scene. He looked at the rib cages of both the victims. They were ripped open, like opening a briefcase. This was most definitely not the work of a human being. "What did this? A tiger?" He looked at Harry and asked.

"No clue. We'll know when we get a detailed report." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm betting that it's a bear attack."

"Bears?" Lewis raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

"Well, we certainly don't have tigers.." Harry replied. 

"Were you able to identify who these people were, Detective?" Lewis asked, and Harry pulled out two driver's licenses from his pocket and held it in front of Lewis's face. "Henry King and Donny Goldberg. One's the Vice Principal of the New World High School. The other is a soccer coach. Same school."

"Well, sh*t..." Lewis murmured. He knew that he was about to get a ton of paperwork to do afterwards. 

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

"Uh, you okay man?" Noah stared down at the groaning Adrian and said with a bitter smile. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

He didn't wish to do another visit to the Principal's office. Noah did want to try fighting Adrian, but he did not wish to risk it for another warning of expulsion. He thought he had punched Adrian lightly, but from the looks of it, the punch wasn't exactly 'light' for Adrian.

"Ugh, what the actual f*ck..." After a few seconds of groaning, Adrian got up from the floor, mumbling to himself. 

"I did warn you…" Billy muttered under his breath, but when his eyes met Adrian's sharp gaze, he immediately turned his head away. 

"Ugh… oh god..." Adrian stared at Noah as he clenched his chest. He could still feel the pain in his chest. He didn't want to believe it, but he had to. It was real. 

Was this guy secretly a martial artist or something? Adrian had no clue as to how someone as small and frail looking like him could land such a heavy punch. It didn't make any sense.

It wasn't as if his punch was relying on speed either. In most cases, when a fighter has a comparatively weak build, they'll most likely try to increase the speed of their punches in order to increase the impact. However, Adrian had gotten a good look at his attack. It certainly didn't seem like it was that fast. It definitely wasn't as fast as his punch. Which meant that he was relying purely on physical strength.

But how can a frail guy like him pull off such a powerful punch? He could understand if he at least had a solid build, but this guy looked like he hadn't exercised once in his life.

'Ugh, nevermind that...' He said to himself as he bit down the pain he was feeling. 'More importantly, I don't think I can't continue fighting.'

Noah's attack had left him feeling sick and nauseous. He didn't show it, but he certainly wasn't capable of continuing the fight. 

"Look, like I said, I do not wish to fight you while we're in school…" Noah said, and Adrian's ears twitched. Perhaps he was offering him a way out? As much as Adrian didn't want to accept Noah's request, right now, he had no other choice if he wanted to save face. 

"So I'm asking again; how about we continue this after school ends?" Noah asked again, and Adrian's gaze brightened. Screw it, he thought to himself. He knew that he would only look like an idiot if he stayed and continued fighting. He didn't care if it looked cowardly. He wanted to leave.

So he nodded his head. "Fine. We'll continue after school ends." He then left the classroom, and Billy, who didn't want to be left alone with Noah, immediately dashed out, following Adrian.

The entire classroom became silent once again. Everyone's eyes were on Noah.. And unlike last time, he wasn't so afraid of their gazes anymore.