Beast Soul

Moonside Neighborhood.

A few hours earlier.

An old man was sitting in his lawn chair on his porch. He was wearing a white t-shirt and blue and white striped shorts, with a pair of sunglasses placed on top of his straw hat.

The old man seemed to be around the age of sixty, and was mostly bald, except for a few patches of hair near the back of his ears.

Although considered part of the Moonside neighborhood, the old man's house was located far away from the rest of the houses, up above Horrington Hill, giving the old man a complete view of the neighborhood from a reasonable height. 

"Oh? What's this?" Suddenly, the old man raised his sunglasses and squinted his eyes at one of the houses. Although he was old, the old man considered his eyesight to still be top-notch. That's why he was able to spot the small group of people who were hiding behind the bushes, seemingly trying to spy on one of the houses in the neighborhood, with such ease. 

"Robbers?" The old man raised his eyebrows before leaning down to his left side where a small red box was present and grabbed a long spyglass out from it, placing it close to his right eye as he squinted, looking through the lens to find out more about this suspicious group of people.

"They're children?" The old man sounded surprised. He hadn't expected the suspicious group of people to be composed of three young boys who were barely above eighteen years of age. 

What were they upto?

The old man looked through the spyglass once again, trying to find out what these boys were planning on doing.

"Are they planning on breaking into Carrick's home?" The old man seemed nervous as he finished his words, and a bead of sweat slowly dripped down from the side of his forehead down to his cheeks. 

The boys certainly were looking straight at Carrick's house, and the old man's worries grew. 

"Sh*t!" The old man clicked his tongue and stomped his foot on the floor before leaping up from his chair and walking into his house, searching for his phone.

"Where on earth did I keep that thing?" The man mumbled under his breath as he started rummaging through the table before moving towards the couch. 

He planted his hand underneath the couch cushions and pulled out an old phone with physical buttons on its front. He dialed a number into it and then placed it close to his ears, tapping his finger on his waist in a rhythmic manner as he waited for the caller tune to end and the phone to be picked up.

"Come on.. come on.." The old man mumbled under his breath as he waited for the other party to pick up the phone. But unfortunately for him, the person on the other end didn't pick up his call, and the old man was left with a bitter taste in his mouth.

"F*cking hell. What the f*ck are you doing, Carrick?" The old man screamed loudly as he raised his hand up into the air, holding the phone tightly. He looked like he was about to throw the phone down and smash it on the ground, but in the end, he decided not to, and lowered his hands.

He then dialed another number, and placed the phone near his ears once again. 

The phone rang for a few seconds before the other party picked up. "What's the matter? Why did you call me?" The man on the other line spoke softly, and the old man replied, "Someone's trying to break into Carrick's house."

There was silence for a few seconds. And then, the man spoke. "Who are they?" 

"Just some kids." The old man responded immediately without wasting any time.

"Kids?" There was confusion in the man's voice. It seems that he wasn't expecting that answer from the old man, and was caught off guard.

"Yes, kids. There's like three of them." The old man picked up a single candy that had been sitting on top of the table as he spoke, and stared at it.

"Did you call Carrrick and inform him about this situation?" The man kept asking questions, and the old man kept on replying, as though he had gone through the same procedure countless times before. "Yes, but he didn't answer."

"What's the situation right now?" The man asked, and the old man walked outside, grabbed the spyglass that was placed on the lawn chair and brought it close to his eye. 

Through the spyglass, the old man could see the boys entering the house through one of the windows. "They've entered the house." He whispered softly into the phone, and the other line went silent.

"Henry?" The old man spoke once again, and the person on the other line, Henry, replied. "Come on over to my house, Peter. Quickly."

With that, Henry had hung up the call, and the old man, Peter, stared at his phone for a few seconds before he bit his lips and put on his slippers, as he slowly made his way down the dirt road that led to the rest of the neighborhood.

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

"The monster.." Noah whispered softly. "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!"

"I did?" Noah mumbled under his breath, clearly confused about what Gerald just said to him. He had no recollection of seriously injuring the monster. He remembered fighting the creature, sure.. But to seriously injure it to the point that amateurs like these four were able to take him down? 

'What on earth is happening to me?' Noah thought to himself as he patted his forehead.

Gerald, who saw the confused and exhausted expression on Noah's face, contemplated his words for a few seconds before opening his mouth to speak. "You know, you really don't have to push yourself now. You're injured. Don't think about too much stuff right now. Get some rest, and you can think later."

He then turned to look at Alphonso, who immediately nodded his head upon understanding what Gerald wanted to say. "Ye- yeah... Noah, just don't worry about anything right now. Your health is what matters more."

"Hah, I guess you guys are right…" Noah began breathing loudly and he laid back onto the couch once again, slowly closing his eyes as he attempted to drift back into sleep.

Gerald then turned his gaze towards Max, who was staring at the curtains that covered the window with a serious expression on his face, and he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

"What's the problem, Max? Is there something wrong?" Gerald asked Max, who immediately turned around to face him. Gerald's words also made both Alphonso and Harold shift their attention towards him. 

"I don't know. But I do feel a bit uneasy.." Max replied with a soft and low voice. His words made Gerald, Alphonso and Harold look at each other. By now, they all knew that they couldn't ignore the feelings of uneasiness anymore. After all, they all are superhumans who have enhanced abilities. Almost anything they feel has to be taken seriously and cannot be ignored without looking into it first.

"What kind of uneasiness?" Gerald moved closer to Max as he started to ask questions, and Alphonso and Harold turned towards the windows, slowly moving towards their sides and glancing through the small openings of the curtains; to catch a glimpse of the situation outside.

"It's.. it's not something similar to the feeling you get when you face a monster.." Max started explaining his words, although he found it quite difficult to put into words what he was feeling. "It's more of a.. more of a normal threat. Well, normal for superhumans like us."

"Uh, guys…" Alphonso whispered softly and motioned his hands to Gerald and Max, who tilted their heads in his direction. 

"There might be a bit of a problem." Harold completed his words as he pointed at the window, and both Gerald and Max walked towards the spot where Harold was standing.

The two boys looked through the small opening of the curtain, and their eyes widened with shock. Outside the fence were about thirty or so people who were all standing in front of the entrance gate with serious expressions. The group of people consisted of old and middle-aged men and women, and from the looks of it, they all seemed to be part of the neighborhood.

"What is up with these people? Why are they standing right outside someone else's house?" Alphonso squinted his eyes as he scanned the crowd.

"Did you guys make sure that you weren't being monitored while you were breaking into the house?" Noah spoke from the couch with a weak voice, and everyone's attention turned to him. "I meant using your enhanced abilities." He clarified.

"I couldn't find anyone nearby. But then again, my senses aren't exactly that powerful either. So I could've only ended up covering a short distance of the surroundings." Max replied with a soft voice. 

The others couldn't even reply, as they all had only recently awakened their powers. 

"Well, I guess we have to figure out a way to get out of this situation..." Noah clicked his tongue as he began to think.