Beast Soul

"I don't know about that slow breathing technique, guys…" Noah said with a hint of cautiousness and he tapped the shoulder of Harold, who turned around to look at him, raising his eyebrows with a confused expression on his face. "I think we might have company…" Noah pointed to a spot in the neighborhood a few meters away from them as soon as he finished speaking, and Harold and Gerald turned to look at the direction that he was pointing at.

Far away, a small group of people were running in their direction while yelling out incoherent words, and everyone's eyes widened with shock and surprise for a split second before Gerald whispered softly, "Run."

Whoosh!

The whole group leapt up from their resting position and ran like crazy.

"They're running away! Quick! Get them!" The group of people who were dashing in their direction yelled out loudly before they increased their speed in an attempt to capture the intruders who had invaded their neighborhood.

However, they were soon left surprised as they saw the group of intruders rushing away with superhuman speed, which made them confused. They stared at the disappearing backs of the intruders with expressions of awe and shock on their faces, and they stopped in their tracks, having given up the chase which they now considered to be an impossible task for them.

"What the hell? How on earth are they so fast?" A middle aged man with a long brown beard and a purple hat on his head said as he breathed in and out, his eyes squinting in the direction the intruders escaped to. "Are they athletes or something? Because that was one hell of a dash! They could compete for the Olympics with that kind of speed!"

"Stop admiring the athletic skills of the intruders, Jason!" Another middle aged man sporting a long and white mustache and a bandana on his head spoke with an annoyed expression on his face. He slapped the other man, Jason, on his shoulder, and Jason tilted his head and looked at him with an angry and frustrated look on his face. He clearly didn't like the other man slapping him. 

"Don't touch me, Kevin. I thought I told you that multiple times.." He spoke with an intense tone, as he walked up to Kevin, standing right in front of him, breathing loudly as he continued, "Or did your ears stop working, huh?"

"Oh, would you look at that? Little baby Jason, getting all angry…" Kevin tilted his head and stared at Jason's face as he spoke in a condescending manner. The two men were now so incredibly close to each other that they could feel each other's breath on their faces. "You know what? I did hear you telling me to stop touching you.." Kevin let out a disdainful chuckle before poking Jason's chest with his index finger. "It's just that I don't care about the opinions of a little baby b*tch!"

"Alright, you son of a b*tch! I've had it with your wisecracking mouth!" Jason gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he roared loudly, getting ready for a fight, when all of a sudden..

"That's enough!" A loud voice interrupted the conversation between the two men, who both turned their heads to see who had spoken right as they were about to fight.

The man who spoke wore a long gray coat with a cowboy hat on his head. He also had a partially gray mustache which was long and curly and a goatee. 

"I can't believe that you two are fighting right after you let the intruders get away from you! A bunch of shameless idiots!" The man spat angrily, and both Jason and Kevin lowered their heads, looking right at the ground as they whispered softly in unison. "We apologize for our mistake, Gavin!" 

"I don't need your stinking forced apology! Keep it to yourself!" Gavin waved his arm in the air as he stared at the two men with disgust and anger in his eyes, and then shook his head disappointedly. "We have to head back to the house!" Gavin spoke as he turned around, and both Kevin and Jason turned to glance at each other with confused expressions on their faces. "There's a problem that we have to deal with!" Gavin tilted his head to the side as he spoke, and the two men nodded their heads in response before following him. 

"You all! Continue with the search for the intruders!" Gavin turned his head to look at a younger man who was standing right next to him, and tossed him an old sword, which the man caught with almost no effort. "They might still be in the forest! Just because they're fast doesn't mean that they're unreachable!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" The man yelled out, right after which he turned to the others and ordered them to head towards the forest.

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Chief Henry slowly got up from the ground, and while leaning on the wall right behind him, he began to move in the direction that they came. "Ah, screw it!" Peter decided to do the same thing, and so did Linda, who saw the two men heading back the way they came. 

"Hah!" Chief Henry jumped towards the opening to the area with the eggs, and leaned to the wall once again. 

Peter was about to follow Chief Henry and head out of the egg room when all of a sudden, the roof above them began to crack, and large pieces of rock and dirt particles fell down, making Peter scream right before trying to jump out of the way!

BOOM!

Another loud explosion took place, as countless rocks dropped down from above the roof and crash landed on the ground, blocking the pathway that Peter and the rest wanted to take to get out of the caverns. 

"Peter!" Chief Henry, who had already made it to the other side, screamed out loud, but the rocks were still falling down and didn't look like it was about to stop anytime soon, so the Chief reluctantly took a few steps back, afraid of being crushed to death by a rock. 

"F*ck! F*ck! What the f*ck do I do now?" Chief Henry gritted his teeth as he stared at the blocked passageway right in front of him. He wasn't sure whether or not Peter was still alive, and he didn't know if the roof may collapse again, so he didn't think heading over to the boulder covered blockade was a good idea.

"I guess there's only one thing that I can do now…" Chief Henry then reluctantly turned his head back and looked at the route that they had taken to get to here. He knew that the only option he had was to head back up to the outside and ask for help from the others who were standing guard above.

"Damn it! To think that a bunch of kids would be the reason for the destruction of our sacred place!" He slammed his foot in the ground as he muttered to himself, angry at the fact that he underestimated the situation and took his time with the preparations simply because of the identity of the intruders being teenagers. And now, he was suffering the consequences of his ignorance.

"Calm down.. calm down…" The Chief told himself as he tried to calm himself down. He breathed in and out slowly and calmly for a few seconds before walking back the way they had come, trying to get back to the top and out of Mr. Carrick's house before the cavern completely collapses on top of him.

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Moonside neighborhood entrance gate.

Just outside of the entrance gate to the neighborhood were a row of police cars which were all lined up one after the other in an orderly manner, and the two detectives, Lewis and Harry, were standing outside of the vehicle, talking to the security guard who manages the gate as Special Agent Alan and Commander Niko Larsen scanned the surroundings. 

"A pretty dense forested area for a neighborhood, is it not?" Commander Larsen turned to look at Special Agent Alan and asked with a smile on his face, and Alan shrugged his shoulders. "Unique... But I wouldn't say that it's a bad thing."

"I wouldn't either," Larsen took a cigarette stick and placed it in between his lips as he finished speaking and then lit it. 

He then squinted his eyes as he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and let out a large puff of smoke before continuing, "However, it does intrigue me as to how the Malkalians came to successfully integrate a dense forest into their neighborhood when none of the other neighborhoods were allowed to."

He placed the cigarette in between his lips again before speaking, "Can't help but wonder if there's something suspicious going on.."

"The security said that we can head inside!" Detective Harry turned around and yelled out to Commander Larsen and Agent Alan, who looked at each other before entering their vehicles.