Beast Soul

New World City Police Station.

"Hah… I still can't believe we weren't able to catch a live beast yet!" Detective Lewis said as he let out a long and heavy sigh and leaned back on his chair with a cup of coffee in his hand. 

"Okay, what on earth are you talking about?" Detective Harry Stone couldn't help but ask as he leaned forward and tilted his head to stare at Lewis with a confused expression on his face. "We're like normal police officers here. One of the supposed experts that the FID sent just got killed by these creatures. How on earth are you planning on capturing one of those creatures?"

"Hey, I'm not saying that we go out and try to hunt down these creatures head on, guns blazing, alright?" Detective Lewis shrugged his shoulders and said in an annoyed tone. He wasn't liking the way Harry interpreted his words. He felt that it made him sound like an idiot. "I was thinking we should try to keep a low profile, find out where these creatures live and sleep. And you know, mostly stick to hunting infants, injured and extremely old and ready to die creatures."

"That's… actually not a bad idea," Detective Harry was about to rebuke him as usual when he thought about what Lewis said, and realized that his words actually made a bit of sense this time. "It's not going to be that easy to find where their nests are, though." Special Agent Alan asked, who was listening in on the conversation between the two detectives, decided to interject, and the other two turned their attention to him. He continued, "Unless they decided to go all rampage mode and start destroying everything, I guess. But most of those maniacal actions take place away from their nests. So opportunities like that are usually very rare."

"That reminds me," Detective Harry's eyes widened all of a sudden. He seemed like he remembered something important. "Did you guys find anything useful in the samples we took from those apartment complexes?" 

"As you already know, there wasn't exactly much of the samples to collect. Well, except for the bat beast's body, I guess. But that was found near the hillside. Other than that, we don't really have materials that we can compare the samples to, so this process of finding out information was always going to be difficult." Special Agent Alan scratched the back of his ears and paused for a few seconds, contemplating on what to say next before opening his mouth once again. "But we did find out that the samples that we recovered were similar to that of egg shells."

"So they were shells of hatched eggs?" Detective Lewis asked with a gaze of intrigue. Although not as overly enthusiastic as his partner, Detective Harry too seemed interested in what Special Agent Alan had to say. "Possibly," Alan replied. "It wasn't exactly the same thing. The materials aren't really the same. But the structure is pretty similar to the eggshells of birds."

"F*ck me! We're dealing with murderous chickens!" Detective Lewis let out a chuckle as he spoke, and Detective Harry shook his head, covering his face with his palms. 

"Forgive my partner's misbehavior, Agent Alan," Harry looked at Special Agent Alan and spoke with an annoyed expression on his face. "He considers himself a comedian at times."

"No, it's- it's alright.." Alan didn't know how to respond to that, and in the end, simply waved his hands dismissively with a faint and confused smile on his face before continuing, "But we did figure out that the insides of a few of the eggshells seemed to be too thin and too soft and nimble than the others. It was also covered in more membranous liquid on the interior walls, something that we didn't find inside the rest of them. It was as though they hadn't matured completely."

"What does that mean, Agent Alan?" Detective Harry asked with a puzzled expression. He didn't understand what the Special Agent was trying to tell him. 

"I think what Agent Alan is trying to say is that some of the creature's escaped from the eggshells without spending the intended time inside of it.." Detective Lewis tried to figure out Agent Alan's words. He then slowed down and turned his gaze towards the Special Agent, asking for his confirmation. "That is what you're saying, right?"

"Yes. You're right, detective." Special Agent Alan nodded his head, and Detective Lewis had a satisfactory smile on his face, as though he had accomplished something amazing. Detective Harry simply shook his head.

"But this also begs the question as to why and how the creatures were able break free from the eggshells without completely spending the intended time inside the eggs." Special Agent Alan continued to speak, and the two detectives once again shifted their attention towards him. "Does this mean that the creatures were able to sense the arrival of a threat while still being inside their eggs? What classifies as a threat, then? And does this imply that the beasts have complete motor movement control even while being inside the egg?"

"I guess we can only figure that out when we do get a live monster egg, huh.." Detective Harry mumbled under his breath before letting out a long and heavy sigh and leaning back on his chair, stretching both his hands up in the air. 

"By the way, Agent Alan," Detective Lewis asked, and Special Agent Alan turned to look at him. "What is the FID planning on doing after, you know, what happened to Agent Edgerton?" 

Detective Harry glanced at Special Agent Alan for a second before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. 

Special Agent Alan nodded his head, but didn't reply immediately. After a few short seconds of contemplation, he opened his mouth to speak. "I've been told that the higher ups have realized the importance and the weight of the situation at hand. They've also promised to issue a special forces strike team in order to help us take control of the situation as well. So, I guess they've finally started listening."

"Well, that's a relief…" Detective Lewis murmured softly under his breath as he let out a sigh. "I guess that makes things a bit easier for us, huh?" He spoke with a smile on his face as he nudged Detective Harry, who groaned in annoyance.

"Let's hope so." Agent Alan replied with a soft chuckle, but his nervous eyes said otherwise. 

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"Ugh…" Noah groaned, squinting his eyes as he felt pain all over his body. 

He wanted to open his eyes, but felt too tired to even do such a simple task. 

What is this feeling? Noah didn't know why, but he felt as though he had gone through the most painful experience of his entire life, and yet he had no memory of it.

Did I lose control of my body yet again? He didn't know, nor did he remember. Has his body been taken over by his doppelganger once more? 

No… Noah's mind became muddled, and his senses were making him feel anxious and afraid. It was as though they were telling him something. 

No, no, this wasn't the doppelganger…. He could feel it. This was something different.

"Hah!" Noah's eyes suddenly opened wide and he let out a loud gasp, making the group of boys that were sitting right next to him flinch. 

"Jesus Christ! That scared the sh*t out of me!" Alphonso sounded like he wanted to scream as he placed his hand on his chest and took a deep breath, and Harold laughed out loud. "I guess even your enhanced senses can't stop you from being a p*ssy, huh?"

"Says the guy who decided to ditch going with us to investigate a potential monster's house!" Alphonso said with a dissatisfied expression on his face.

"F*ck you, dude. I did the right thing. You don't get to call me a p*ssy for doing the right thing!" Harold snorted in response. 

"What the f*ck is going on…" Noah spoke softly as he tried to get up, but right when he raised his neck, a sharp pain passed through his entire body, making him groan loudly before slamming down onto the couch. "Urgh! Gah!"

"You don't have to get up so quickly. Take your time." Max said as he walked up next to Noah and patted him lightly on his shoulder, and Noah glanced across the room that he was in, and realized that they were inside the living room of Mr. Carrick's home. 

"The monster.." Noah whispered softly, and Max knelt down next to him. "Yeah?" He asked, and Noah continued, "What happened to the monster…"

"Don't worry about it." Gerald said from the kitchen as he grabbed a tub of ice cream from the refrigerator and slammed the door before making his way back to the living room. "We beat that thing.." He said as he sat down on one of the beanbags. "Of course, only because you injured the guy!"