Chapter 35: Start

I started to walk toward the city; it was desolate, quiet, and in ruins. Guess this nuclear meltdown thing really destroyed this city. Buildings broken, widows completely shattered, and cars destroyed. It looks like a place from one of my bad dreams. As I walked through the city I noticed a small bug on the ground, but it wasn’t an actual bug. It was like a tiny robot that looked like one, then another one crawled out from a crack in a wall. Then two, five, and more kept popping up and they all started to fly up into the sky. I looked up and saw a swarm of these robot bugs hovering over the sky. *ATTENTION PARTICIPANTS.* A voice uttered from all the bugs, *YOU GATHER TODAY FOR THE CHANCE TO SHOW THE WORLD OF YOUR PRESENCE. THIS EVENT IS CURRENTLY BEING BROADCASTED TO THE ENTIRE WORLD AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE UNTIL THIS EVENT IS OVER. THIS EVENT WILL END WHEN THERE IS ONE AND ONLY ONE VICTOR. ALL FORMS OF COMBAT AND KILLING ARE ACCEPTABLE. THE EVENT WILL BEGIN NOW. MAY THE BEST EXPERIMENT WIN, THAT IS ALL.* After the voice stopped, all the robot bugs scattered back into the city. I continued to stare at the sky, repeating what the voice had said. Only one can win, and anything goes. But… why? I tried to forget and focus back on this final test. First things first, I needed to find where Leona and the twins were. We’re in this together, so we have to stick together. I knew they couldn’t have been far and they were on the right side of the city, so I bolted off hopefully they have the same thoughts as I do.

As I ran through the city ruins, I could catch scents of various different people. There must’ve been a lot of people participating in this, but I’m going to have to ignore them for now and focus on finding the others. I continued to run, but no real sounds came from any direction. Then, out of nowhere, something rammed into me from the left and I went flying back, sliding on the ground. I got back up and looked around for whatever attacked me. There were three scents in the area, but it wasn’t my friends. I could hear what sounded like laughter coming from different directions. “Well, well, well,” A male voice called out from behind me, “Look what we got here.” I turned around to see a dark-skinned man in a black leather jacket and pants walking out of a building. He continued to walk toward me, chucking. I hopped back and hit something, so I turned around to see a dark-skinned woman wearing the same outfit as the man standing behind me. “You lost little boy?” She asked, giggling just as the man was. I jumped back again, both of these people walking next to each other. Then, a second guy came walking out of another building looking exactly like the first two. “Our first catch of the day and it’s some kid.” He said, laughing just like the other two. They looked rather old, so they must’ve been adult experiments. “W-Who are you three?” I asked. “Oh! He’s right, where ARE our manners?” The man on the left said, “My name’s Hyde, this lovely lady is Hydra…” He gestured to the woman who winked at me, “And the guy next to me is Ed.” They all started laughing. “So…what animal do you guys have?” “WOAH WOAH WOAH!” Ed interrupted, “We introduced ourselves, would be rude if you didn’t do the same before further questions, kid.” “Oh, uh sorry. I’m Ferral, now-” “FERRAL!” Hyde shouted, “What a name, can we call you “Ferr” or how about “Al?” “Pretty interesting name, kid,” Hydra added, “You know, I’m pretty feral in bed.” “Yeah, just ask all ZERO guys she’s been with.” Ed responded and he and Hyde burst out laughing. Hydra turned to them and punched them both, “Shut it chowderheads!” She yelled and the three started arguing.

I wasn’t really sure what was happening anymore, so I turned and ran off. “Uh guys,” Ed said, “Did we order our food to go?” “NO.” Hyde and Hydra responded. “Well, there it goes!” “That little shit!” Hyde exclaimed and the three chased after me. As I continued to run, I looked back and the three were right behind me. “YOU’VE GOT SOME NERVE JUST RUNNING OFF ON US!” Hyde shouted. “YOU ASKED WHAT ANIMAL WE HAD, AND WE WERE BLESSED WITH HYENAS!” Ed added. “SO YOU’LL NEVER ESCAPE US!” Hydra said, and they all started laughing. They were right though, hyenas are relentless when it comes to catching prey so it looks like my only option is to fight. I stopped myself, spun around, and kicked Hyde hard in the stomach. He flew back, throwing the other two off guard so I used that to punch Hydra across the face and kicked Ed in the jaw. Hyde growled as he got up, “THAT’S IT! YOU’RE DEAD, KID!” He bolted at me and tried to throw a punch, but I grabbed his arm and flipped him to the ground. The other two charged at me, and I managed to block and dodge both of their attacks. Once Hyde got back up, the three attacked me at once. They were fast and pretty coordinated, I was gonna have to be completely focused for this fight. I blocked one of Ed’s punches, Hydra took the opening and punched me in the ribs then Hyde kicked me in the lower back. Soon I was being beaten by all sides, I could get an opportunity to refocus myself. One of their kicks sent me crashing into a broken car, then Ed bolted toward me and kneed me in the stomach. I groaned and growled, then headbutted him. His nose bled but that didn’t stop him from continuing, soon the other two came to help him and we were back to the three-on-one. But I had time to prepare myself and was able to keep up with their assault.

Hydra punched me so I punched back, Ed kicked me so I kicked back, Hyde bit down on my right arm so I got him off and clamped my teeth into his left shoulder. It was a back-and-forth that became a battle of endurance, and I could feel myself losing steam. I know I can fight for a long period of time, but all those hits they got on me earlier drained some of my strength. But I had to keep fighting, then after we could talk things out. I don’t wanna hurt or fight any of these people, but it feels like I don’t have a choice so I’ll just wear them down. I was knocked back and as they charged at me, someone came from the right and punched Hyde away. The other two stopped to see who came in and attacked. It was Leona! “L-Leona! Man am I happy to see you!” “Looks like you have your hands full,” She said, “Idiot, don’t bite off more than you can chew.” She walked over to me when the other Ed and Hydra went over to Hyde who was groaning as he got up. “Who are these clowns?” Leona asked. “They’re hyena experiments.” I responded. “Ugh, I hate hyenas,” She said, “Annoying bastards.” The three looked at us, locking their eyes. “Huh, is that a lioness experiment?” Ed asked. “I hate lions,” Hyra said. “They’re smelly, hairy…” Hyde started, then the other two joined in, “AND MAN ARE THEY UUUUGLY!” They all started laughing. Leona sighed, “Let’s just get this over with.” She cracked both sides of her neck and got into fighting position. “Yeah,” I said in agreement and got ready too. The hyenas looked at us with surprise for a second, then big grins formed on their faces. “Round two?” They asked, “Come on.”