Chapter 41: Explosion of Anger

As the battle against the other lionesses continued, I could feel myself starting to get tired. Even with this new form, whatever weird steroids they took brought them to my strength in an instant. And being outnumbered isn't helping either, I had to finish them off fast. So, gathering whatever strength was left, I blitzed through them and even managed to ram my claws into the lower chin of one of the lionesses. I picked her up and slammed her head first into the ground, cracking her skull open. The others looked at me in shock, but quickly turned into anger as they rushed me again. I smirked, knowing full well I might die but I can still pick off at least one or two of these bitches before that. Just then, something came through between me and the lionesses. We all stopped to see what it was, and I had never been more happy to see these dumbasses than now. It was Ezekiel and Belle who turned around looking at us, their clothes torn and bodied beaten up.

“You would not BELIEVE the shit we've been through,” Ezekiel started, “So there were these mantis guys who were tryin’ to kick our ass, but with the help of this sexy leopard lady we took ‘em down. Belle even got one of their antennas.” I looked at Belle who had a large antenna in her mouth. She spat it out, “I'VE NEVER FELT SO ALIVE!” She exclaimed, jumping up and down.

“What the hell are you two on about?” I asked them with utter confusion on my face. They started walking toward me, not paying attention to the other lionesses to their left. “We'll tell you about it later,” Ezekiel answered, “But what mess have you gotten yourself into, Leona?” “Yeah, I thought you said you'd be fine without us,” Belle added, “Guess not if you're in worse shape than us.”

“Well ignoring that comment, I'm going to need your.....*cough* help.” The two looked at each other, and laughed a little. I growled, then two looked back at me and nodded. “Yes, ma’am!” Ezekiel answered, with a salute. “I actually only need one of you numbnuts, and considering Ezekiel’s the strongest, he'll be the one to stay.” Belle’s face turned into a pout while Ezekiel looked at her and chuckled.

“Belle, you go and find the other idiot.” I told her. She crossed her arms, “Hmph, fine then. Just blame yourselves when you get hurt too bad because you didn't have MY help.” She ran off, leaving Ezekiel and I to face off against the lionesses. “You better not slow me down, lamb-boy.” I scoffed at Ezekiel. “Heh, how can I?” He asked smugly, “When you look like you're on the verge of passing out.”

While Leona and Ezekiel faced off against the lionesses, and Belle went on the search, Ferral continued to roam across the island. Facing off against various foes, and defeating each one that he came across:

As I moved through the city ruins, I continued to my instincts guide me to where I needed to go. This was the way toward my friends, I just knew it! But after running for a while and fighting other people, I got tired so I stopped by what looked like an abandoned library and went inside. There were no scents of any other experiments inside the building, so I went inside with my guard slightly lowered and walked around the mess of destroyed bookshelves and burnt books. I rummaged through a pile and found one that hadden been destroyed, “The

Warrior Of Mevaria” was the title. So I sat on the ground, away from all the doors, and started reading it. I read through ten pages before I caught the scent of someone coming toward the building, so I put the book down and got up to ready myself for the potential fight. It was a man who came running inside, exhausted and out of breath. He fell to his hands and knees and continued panting, trying hard to catch his breath.

“Excuse me,” I called out from across the room, “Are you okay?” The man’s head shot up, “God, please no more.” He said between breaths, “I don't wanna fight anymore…it's all horrible!” I could tell this man wasn't a threat, so I lowered my guard a little then walked toward him.

“I'm not gonna hurt you, mister.” I told him as I walked closer, “Truth is I'm starting to get tired of fighting other people too.” The man squinted his eyes at me, then reached into his back pockets and grabbed out a pair of glasses. He put them on and his face changed after looking at me again.

“Experiment 9230? It IS you!” He got up and grabbed my right hand with his left and started shaking it, “It's a pleasure to finally meet you!” I chuckled awkwardly, “Um, have I met you before?” I asked him, “I would know if I did.” He stopped shaking my hand and pushed up his glasses, “No, we haven't met formally but I've heard quite a bit about you. My name is Doctor Stephen Brown, I'm a…was a scientist among the Organization.” I looked at him with a bit of surprise, “Really? What're you doing here?” I asked.

“Well you see, I was among a group of other scientists who were put through a series of experiments that turned us into modified humans such as yourself and others in your generation.” He started, “Only I and a very small handful of others survived the process. It's a much greater ordeal to modify an adult’s DNA than it is a newborn’s, the bonding process is a lot harder and often leads to catastrophic results on the subject.”

“Is that why all experiments start off as babies?” I questioned and he nodded. “Indeed.” I looked over his shoulder to the front entrance of the library then back at Dr. Brown. “So why are you here? And what were you running from?” He turned his gaze away from me and at his hand, then clenched it. “I'm only here because I was forced to be. When I refused the first time, the higher-ups threatened my family so I had no choice. As for why I took shelter here, there are these two experiments that have been hunting me down.”

“I see…” There was a pause between us, but then I looked at him with a confident expression, “Well don't worry, I'll be here to keep you safe, Dr. Brown.” He looked at me and smiled, “Thank you.”

Afterwards, we sat together and talked about stuff like my name, his family (he has a wife and two daughters), and the discussion I had with Mr. Moleman and the bear girl. “This Moleman’s hypothesis is correct.” Dr. Brown said, “Before I left the Organization, I overheard the higher-ups discussing this plan of artificial natural selection. Having the experiments kill each other off until only the strongest remains.” He grit his teeth, “It sickening! Sending poor souls to fight to the death just for….RESULTS!” He let out a long sign, “Then again, I was unknowingly a part of this operation so I'll have just as much blood on my hands as they do.”

I tried to change the conversation, “You said you knew my mother. Did she ever say anything about me?” He chuckled, “Getting her to talk about something else was much harder to do. It was like how I was when my daughters were first born. I don't know anything about your relationship, but I can tell it was a good one.” I smiled and leaned my head against the wall, “Yeah…”

Just then, I smelled two scents coming toward the building so I got up and tapped Dr. Brown to join me, and the two of us rushed over to see who was coming. We stood at the very edge of the entrance of the library, waiting for those two scents to come. They got closer and closer until two massive men burst through a half crumbled building. Both had this gray rough looking skin, both had large hands and feet. One looks like that of a rhino and the other an elephant. The Rhino-man had a large horn on top of his forehead and smaller one behind it, while the elephant-man had tusks on the sides of his lips, large elephant-like ears and a long trunk.

“Thought you could run from us, old man?” The Rhino-man said. “Heh, and I see you brought another weak pipsqueak for us to squash.” Elephant-man added. I got into fighting position and looked at Dr. Brown, “You wanna start back or join? I'm okay with either.” He transformed and joined next to me. “No, I wanna take these giant bastards too! Besides, I'm a wolverine, and they don't go down easily.” I nodded and we stood side by side while the other two laughed, slamming their fists into the ground getting to charging position.

Then they rushed at us, and we bolted toward them, I went up again the elephant-man and Dr. Brown fought the rhino-man. Elephant-man was strong, but slow so it was easy to dodge his attacks, but doing damage to him wasn't easy either. His body was tough and I knew using my claws was the only way to do real damage….but I wasn't. I knew there had to be another way. I looked over to Mr. Brown was struggling against the rhino-man, even if he was faster I could tell he didn't really know how to fight. I had to help him, so I tried to run away but in that small moment of my guard down, elephant-man used his trunk and wrapped it around my neck. “Where'd you think you're going!” He pulled me toward him and socked my right side as hard as he could, making me cough out bloody. He would do that a few more times before letting me down then kicking me with the bottom of his foot and I flew, smashing into a pile of rubble. I groaned as I got up and out of the rubble only to find Dr. Brown being attacked by both the rhino and elephant man. I watched as the two knocked him around until rhino-man impaled Dr. Brown through the stomach with his horn.

“NOOOOOO!!!” I shouted as I rushed toward the three. Rhino-man pulled Dr. Brown off of his horn and punched him into the library. I changed my direction and came running toward Dr. Brown while the other two laughed. I dropped to my knees beside him, his wound pouring out blood. “Don't worry, it's gonna be okay…..it's gonna be okay.” I told him, my voice shaking and full of panic, “You’re gonna be okay, then I promise you'll see your family again.” I could hear him sniffling, so I looked at his face and he was crying. He looked at me with tears flooding his eyes, “You're…right…I will see them again…” he sobbed more, grabbing my hand, “They're all gone…my wife…my...daughters….the Organization ordered it. The only reason I kept going is because they wouldn't wanted me to.” I felt the tears begin to flood my eyes. “Please…live…please….please…” His head went back to the ground and his body became lifeless.

I got up and went stumbling out of the library clenching my fits and teeth, I looked at the ground with tears running down my cheek. “Darn you!” I shouted at the elephant and rhino-man while still looking at the ground.

“D-Darn…you….you…..YOU BASTARDS!!!!!” I shouted in rage as a bursted toward the two of them, my sights solely on rhino-man. I opened my fists to show my claws and quick as a flash, I slashed his right eye. He yelled in pain, elephant-man didn't know what to do, but I kept attacking the rhino-man, each blow with more force than the last. He tried to throw a punch but I dodged it and slashed his other eye. Now completely blinded, I grabbed him by the horn and threw him through a building window. Then, elephant-man came rushing at me with his tusks but I grabbed them and slowly started stopping him. “HOW COULD YOU ENJOY TAKING THE LIFE OF AN INNOCENT MAN?!?!” I roared at him in our struggle. “What're you talking about?! In the real world, the weak die and the strong survive?” He answered, then I turned to see rhino-man get back up and started rushing, blinding toward us. “Then I guess you know how tos ends for you!” I let go and moved out of the way then elephant-man let out a quick gasp as rhino-man impaled his chest and continued running forward until eventually the crashed into a large two story building and the entire thing came crumbling on top of them.