Chapter 7: The Date II

After the match, Ferral went and took a shower and got dressed. Walking out of his room, he heard loud crashing and angry grunts coming from Leona’s room. As he made his way toward the living room, he stopped to talk to Savannah who was lying on the couch. “What the hell’s up with Leona?” He asked. She picked her head up, “Hm? Oh, she’s probably butthurt that she lost.” Ferral sighed, “Great, now I’m never gonna hear the end of that. This is why I never bother going all out in a sparring match.” He walked to the kitchen to grab his keys before leaving. As he did, Loni came walking in and saw how Ferral was dressed. “Ooooh, you’re looking pretty dapper, Ferral. What’s the occasion?” “Nothing, just going out to have lunch at Chester’s Diner.” She raised an eyebrow and grinned, “Then you would be in more casual wear. Who’s joining ya?” He knew he couldn’t lie, one trait all these lionesses shared was persistence. “Just meeting with a friend.” Loni smiled, then inhaled deeply, “FERRAL’S GOING ON A DATE!!!!!” She shouted, startling Ferral. Then, Zuri and Venus came bursting out of their shared room and Savannah popped up from the couch. They all crowded around him. “I knew this day would happen!” Zuri cheered. “Is she pretty! I hope she’s pretty!” Savannah added. “This woman better treat you right, Ferral. I can’t just hand you over to anyone.” Venus remarked. “Or HE! We don’t judge.” Loni added. As they continued to berate him with questions and comments, Ferral finally grew tired and smacked them all behind the head.

“If you all MUST know, I will tell you,” Ferral said, “Only because I know this will continue to eat you four up inside and you’ll never leave me alone.” They got closer to him, “Yes, I am meeting with a girl. A VERY attractive girl who is smart and kind. However, this is NOT a date, but simply a light meet-up. It’s completely platonic. Got it?” They looked at each other and started to giggle. “What? What’s so funny?” “Oh please, Ferral,” Venus started, “You can’t fool us, we know you probably trip all over yourself when this woman walks past you.” “Yeah, just from the way you describe her, it’s obvious you got it bad.” Zuri added. “It might be a regular meeting, but we know you want it to be so much more.” Savannah finished. Ferral’s right eye twitched, what they said wasn’t completely untrue, but he wasn’t going to let them know. He scoffed, “Whatever,” he pushed past them and headed for the door, “Try not to burn the place down while I’m gone.” He closed the door behind him and took a deep breath. “This is going to go well,” He exhaled, “Yeah, everything will be fine.” He hopped on his bike and went off.

He got there a few minutes early and decided to go in to find a table. When he entered, a young man shouted from the kitchen. “Hey! Get the hell out of here! We don’t serve you fr-” Before he could finish, an older man smacked across the head. “That is not a polite way to act. Ferral is also one of our most loyal and respected customers, so shut it!” He came out of the kitchen to greet Ferral, “Sorry about that, son. New guy. You want your usual spot?” “Not this time Mr. Clark, I was hoping I could get a booth. I’m meeting with someone, a girl.” “Oooh, I see. You little dog you. Say less, kid, I know a great spot.” He led Ferral to a booth right next to one large window of the diner. “You wanna order now or wait for the little lady?” Mr. Clark asked. “I’ll wait. But, could you tell her I’m here? She’s got white hair.” “Sure thing, kiddo.” Mr. Clark walked back toward the kitchen, leaving Ferral to wait. This was the same diner Ferral’s foster mother took him to the first time he ever came up to the outside world, and he’d been coming here ever since. He was friends with a lot of more long-time workers like Mr. Clark. Despite some not agreeing with what he was, they knew Ferral wasn’t a bad person, so they got along. One of the very few places anymore where Ferral was wanted. After a few minutes, he heard Mr. Clark talking to someone, so he lifted his head to he it was Everett. He was pointing in Ferral’s direction, she smiled and nodded, saying “Thank you.” As she got closer, Ferral became flustered, but shook away the feeling, he knew he needed to act casual.

“Wow, what a nice place. I’ve never been here before.” She said as she sat down. “I come here all the time, it’s great.” Ferral replied. As the two looked at the menu, an older woman came walking over to their table. “Well hi there,” The woman greeted with a southern drawl, “What can I get y’all? Wait, don’t tell me Ferral, the usual?” He chuckled, “You bet.” “Sure thing and you there miss?” Everett combed through the menu for a few seconds extra before giving her answer. “I’ll have the double cheeseburger, a small salad, a some water.” “Yep yep, I’ll those orders real quick.” The two thanked the woman as she took their menus and walked off. “You have a usual, huh? Guess you must come here pretty often.” She joked. “Yeah, ever since I first came to this city, this has been my go-to.” They chatted for a couple of minutes before their food arrived, the lady rolling a cart over. Everett gasped, “I don’t think we ordered all this food.” She looked at the cart, filled with various plates of burgers, fries, onion rings, and glasses filled with cola. “Well here’s your burger, salad, and water. You got the rest, right Ferral?” He smiled and nodded, “Uh-huh thanks, Mrs. Carol.” She walked off, leaving the cart with all the remaining food. Everett looked at Ferral stunned, “Y-You’re gonna eat…..all that?” He looked at her as he went to grab his food, “Well yeah, an experiment’s metabolism burns twice as fast as the average person, but mine burns four times faster and……” He stopped, realizing what just happened. “Ah…” He sighed, slamming his head on the table. “You’re…..one of….them?” Everett cautiously asked. “Mmm-hm.” He muttered.

“That’s….that’s….INCREDIBLE!” Her eyes lit up, causing Ferral to pick up his head. “It is?” “Of course! I never really thought I’d get the chance to talk to one of you guys! I feel honored!” Ferral stared at her, confused, “You mean you aren’t disgusted?” “Why would I ever?! I think you’re amazing, you’re sheer existence is a miracle and completely changes the way we see human evolution.” “Oh, well sorry. My experiences with people knowing I’m an experiment are….divisive.” “Oh fooey on them, they’re just the ones that aren’t used to new situations.” Ferral sighed with relief, he knew she was perfect. “How does it feel?” Everett asked, “How can you hide your animalistic features? What’s it like when you regrow them?” “Well, it’s hard to explain how I can hide it, but it’s something we're all taught when we’re young. Although I had to learn it on my own. As for HOW it feels. It’s kinda like having growing pains, but you can feel them more and your body heats up a little inside. It’s all one sharp pain, but you get this rush of adrenaline afterward.” She stared at him in awe, causing his face to fluster. “We can talk about it more later, the food’s getting cold.” “Hmm? Oh! Right, these questions must be weird for you to answer.”

After they ate, the two headed to the park. As they walked, Ferral continued to answer Everett’s questions. “In my current state, I can lift about 500 lbs,” Ferral said as the two sat by the lake, “Transformed, I can lift one ton. And awakened, it becomes two tons.” “Awakened? What’s that?” She asked. “It’s a form that experiments can take when they’ve undergone extreme training and feel absolute rage or hate. It’s an evolution of the regular form.” “Wow, that’s amazing. Rage and hate, huh? Those are terrible emotions to feel, how did you get yours?” Ferral lowered his head, the painful memories of what happened during that event started to flood back in. “I-I’m sorry! If it’s too personal, you don’t have to answer.” “Well…it is too personal. But I can tell you this, it cost me my left arm and right eye.” He took off the glove from his arm and showed her the metal prosthetic, then pointed at his blue eye. “Woah, I just assumed you had heterochromia and I never really saw your arms.” Ferral chuckled, “Doctors said it would’ve been better if I chose a plastic arm and a different color eye. But I didn’t because I thought this would be cooler.” He laughed, making Everett giggle. He looked at her for a second, not thinking before he spoke. “You wanna fight?” He slammed his hand over her mouth and she looked at him puzzled. “Fight? Like, a sparring match?” “NO NO NO! That was stupid! Just an old habit of mine that just kind of slipped out.” He chucked nervously. “I do practice self-defense. Also karate and kyusho jitsu, but my father doesn’t know about those.” “So….what’re you saying?” She got up off the ground, “I’m game if you are.” Ferral couldn’t respond at first, but he grinned and got up after putting back on his glove. The two got into fighting stances and had a few light back-and-forths. Ferral didn’t think too much of it, her technique was flawless, she’s clearly been doing this for a while. During one of their clashes, while Ferral was distracted, Everett actually landed a solid blow against his cheek. It sent him back a bit and on the ground, he lay there rubbing his cheek. That punch hurt more than he thought. Way more. She was strong, stronger than the average person. But she wasn’t an experiment, she couldn’t have been. She didn’t look like one. Ferral wanted to think about it more but chose to write it off and got up to continue their spar.

While the two sparred, a man in a full cowboy outfit watched them from afar. He smirked as his forked tongue flicked in the air, “Awww, now ain’t that precious. Almost makes me hate to break it up so soon.” “Then don’t.” A man in a black trenchcoat said, the hood covering his eyes. “You sure, boss? He’s literally right there.” “No, let him enjoy his time. After all, young love is only something that comes once in a lifetime. Besides, I’ve been having the feeling he’ll come to us before we come to him.”