Out In The Open

Rondur Rainforest.

Raphael Hernandez sat on top of the hood of his truck and smoked a joint as he waited for his partner to arrive after relieving himself.

Tap tap!

The raindrops fell from the sky and landed on the tip of his hat, flicking it forward and onto his hands. Although the weather forecast had predicted a sunny afternoon, it seemed that nature had other plans. 

"Alright, I'm done." Alan Fischer emerged from the bushes, pulling his pants up as he walked towards the truck, and Raphael leapt off from the top of the hood and entered the driver's seat, exhaling a puff of smoke as he did so. Alan pointed to the bushes and asked, "You want to take a piss? I can wait."

Raphael shook his head, and Alan got in and shut the doors of the vehicle. The truck started off with a hum, and soon they were passing through the rainforest, riding on the dirt roads until they reached a gate, the sides of which were enveloped by double layered fences that were extremely high, with spirals of barbed wire at the top.

"Hey," Alan tapped Raphael's shoulder, who looked over to him curiously. Alan pointed his hand to the left of the gate and onto the fence, where a portion of it seemed as though it was pierced through by something sharp and powerful. That portion of the fence had been opened up from the inside, as if whatever pierced the fence was trying to get out from the restricted area.

A uniformed man who was guarding the gate walked up to the truck and asked them for verification cards, and both Raphael and Alan held up their identity cards to the guard. After making sure that they were verified for entry, the guard opened the gate, and the truck started moving once again.

"Just a few minutes now," Alam said, and Raphael nodded his head as he focused on the road, "And we should be reaching the facility soon."

The truck climbed up a hill and reached the other side, and a few metres away, Raphael saw large white buildings, completely surrounded by trees and shrubs.

"Ironhead facility," Alan said as he pointed north. "Apparently, the locals didn't even know that there was a facility this deep in the jungle. They hid it from the public quite well." The truck headed straight towards the building.

As they got closer to the building, both of them could see a bunch of vehicles parked next to it. 

"Local authorities," Alan said, "Probably the ones who alerted us. Let's hope to god that none of them had the idea to call the press yet. We don't want any eyes on this place."

Raphael brought the truck close to the parking space and the sound of the motor died down as they stopped.

Someone came walking up to the truck as both Raphael and Alan stepped out. The man who was wearing the local sheriff's outfit with sunglasses on his face stretched out his hand and said cheerfully, "Hi, I'm Sheriff Roman Harrelson. You must be the guys whom I talked to?"

Alan nodded his head and he accepted his handshake. "Special Agent Alan Fischer, Federal Investigation Department. This is Dr. Raphael Hernandez, an animal biologist. He's here to help me out."

"Mammalogist," Raphael corrected Alan, who shrugged his shoulders in response. 

"Well, whatever it is that you do, I just hope you can tell me what the hell happened here." Sheriff Roman said, and both Raphael and Alan glanced at each other for a second before nodding their heads.

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

"Noah, it's time for school! Get up or you'll be late!"

"Ugh, just a little bit more.." His mother's voice awoke Noah from his deep slumber, and he slowly opened his eyes, and as his gaze was fixed on the ceiling fan, his eyes widened in an instant and he shot up from his bed with a horrified expression on his face!

"MONSTER!!" He yelled out loud, and almost immediately covered his mouth shut using his hands, afraid of making his mother angry.

His eyes then wandered all around the room, and with a look of confusion in his eyes, he scratched his head. "Wait… how did I get home?"

Strangely, Noah couldn't remember walking back to his home. 

He then immediately shook his head, and muttered to himself,  "No, no, no... that's not what's important right now!" He touched his chest and head, making sure that everything was in its place. "How the hell am I still alive?"

Noah didn't remember much from last night, but he did very clearly remember the weird crab-like creature that lunged at his face, and he definitely remembered him falling into the river.

Noah didn't know how to swim either. So how on earth did an unconscious boy who had no idea how to swim get out of the freezing cold Ingerham river and walk himself back home?

"Ahh! My head!" All of a sudden, Noah felt his head hurting, and he clutched his head tightly. The headache was so painful that it almost made him pass out. But after a few seconds, the pain was already long gone.

"Ah! What was that?" Annoyed, Noah rubbed his forehead and his eyes as he got up and stood in front of the mirror in an attempt to see whether he had an injury on his head.

"Wait, did I get taller?" As he looked at his reflection, Noah couldn't help but notice that the clothes he was wearing had gotten shorter and were sticking close to his skin because of how tight they were. 

This was weird because just a day ago, the clothes fit him just fine. In fact, he even remembered them being a bit baggy on him.

"Don't tell me that the creature bit me and gave me superpowers or something?" Noah said sarcastically, as if to ease the situation for his own mind. However, now he couldn't help but think; what if the creature did bite him? What if it's poisonous? Was he going to die?

"Noah! You better be getting ready, young man! Don't make me come up there!"

Noah wanted to know more, but right now, his curiosity had to wait.

"Yeah mom, I'll be there in a second," He said as he looked at his wall clock. He was running late for school.

--------------------

"Dear god," Raphael said. He was staring at the dead creature in front of him with awe.

"I'm not so sure God is who you should be calling for this one, Raph." Alan said as he looked over Raphael's shoulder at the dead animal, and took a puff from his cigarette. "What do you think it is?"

"Are you asking me if I can identify the animal?" Raphael turned his head and asked. "Because if so, then I'm afraid I won't be able to. I have studied countless animals, but I have never seen anything like this before in my life." 

"Are you sure? Because the head looks similar to that of a wolf to me," Alan said as he exhaled out the smoke, causing Sheriff Roman, who was standing next to him, cough repeatedly.

"Most people would assume that," Raphael said, as he pulled open the dead creature's mouth. "But check out the teeth and the jaws. It's completely different to that of wolves. The teeth in the lower jaw fall along the edge or outside the upper jaw when the mouth is closed, which makes the teeth visible. Similar to that of crocodiles."

"I thought you said were a mammalogist," Alan said with a smile as he bent over next to Raphael, who simply looked at him with annoyed expression. 

"So?" Sheriff Roman said and both Alan and Raphael turned their heads. "What do you guys think?"

Alan looked at Raphael, and then back to Sheriff Roman and said, "Show us the bodies."

----------------

"Hoo… I can't believe that I actually reached the school before the bell rang," Noah let out a sigh of relief as he stood in front of the school entrance, and a smile emerged on his face.

For some reason, he was able to run quickly without getting tired, which made it easier for him to reach the school much earlier than he had hoped for.

Perhaps he really had gained superpowers? Happy about his recent achievement, Noah entered the classroom, and suddenly.

"Hey bookworm! Did you do my homework like I told you to?"

Oh no! The previously happy expression on Noah's face completely disappeared, replaced by an expression of fear, as his gaze shifted towards the large figure who was standing in front of him.

Billy Becker. He was known to many as the rising star of the soccer club. However, to Noah, he was his worst nightmare. 

Because this guy was a bully. 

"A-Ah. N-No, Billy. I-I'm extremely sorry, but I..." 

Noah replied, stammering as he spoke, but he was screaming inside.

Of course I couldn't do your homework, you dumb f*ck! I was attacked by a motherf*cking crab while I was trying to jump off a bridge!

"What did you say to me?" 

Noah closed his eyes after hearing his bully's words, preparing his mind for what comes next. 

Zoom!

The sound of Billy's fist moving through the air waz heard, and Noah clenched his fists tightly.

It wasn't the first time he had gotten hit, but he certainly hadn't gotten used to it.

Here it comes, he reminded himself.

This is going to hurt like …

Pop!

…. air?