Beast Soul

"...F*ck! Was I too loud?" Clarice was afraid. She was also frustrated with herself. She had to learn to control her emotions, or else she might end up getting caught.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Just when she had hoped that no one could've heard that, a set of noises which resembled something being bashed open was heard from inside the apartment, making Clarice almost scream out loudly in fear. "...What the f*ck was that?" Clarice mumbled to herself as she looked in the direction from where the noise had come from, which was what appeared to be a small storage room of sorts, present in the corner of the apartment.

"Weird," Clarice whispered softly under her breath and narrowed her eyes as she slowly moved towards the storage room.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

She took short steps, in order to make sure that she wasn't being too loud, and reached the entrance of the storage room, and began inspecting it's exterior.

"What's that weird smell?" Clarice's nose started twitching and her facial expression immediately turned from surprise to disgust within seconds. She didn't know what was inside of the room, but she did know that it smelled like something rotten.

"Oh god…" Clarice couldn't handle the awful smell and immediately moved away from the door, heading over to the kitchen in order to continue looking for the 'package'.

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"Ugh…" Noah sat down on his bed, and immediately leaned back and fell onto the bed while letting out a long and heavy sigh.

It had been an extremely exhausting day for him, especially after fighting the bullies, taking on the spider monster and then finally dealing with the group of boys afterwards. All while losing control of his body every now and then. 

"This is all draining a lot of my energy." Noah couldn't help but sigh and rub his eyes. He was extremely tired from everything. 

But at the end of the day, he really was proud of what he achieved. He did, in fact, beat the bullies, defeat the spider creature, albeit with a little help from Wolfe the dragon, and he did instruct the group of boys on what to expect after being 'transformed'.

"I can't believe I was able to instruct them in such a calm manner…." Even Noah himself couldn't believe how he conducted himself in front of the group of boys. He was way too calm and collected when he stood in front of them, and sounded extremely confident.

In fact, he sounded a bit too confident. More confident than Noah could ever be, or so he thought. 

"It is strange how easily I was able to achieve the level of confidence that I portrayed in front of those boys.." Noah narrowed his eyes as he thought to himself. 

Ever since he was attacked by that squid creature and was transformed into the mutant that he was now, he couldn't help but feel like he was changing a bit too quickly. On one hand, he was happy that his overall skills were quickly improving, but on the other hand, he felt as though the changes were too quick. 

He felt as though the improvement rate was way too quick to be called human, and was giving him the feeling of losing his own identity. As though he was gradually becoming someone else. 

"Someone else, huh.." Noah immediately remembered the doppelganger Noah, and the conversation that he had with him inside the void. He remembered that the doppelganger did say something about a merge, which made him worry. 

What if this wasn't a case of him receiving superpowers like in movies and comic books? What if this whole process was his mind slowly being taken by the creature that attacked him?

"I still have to do something about me blacking out all the damn time..." Noah wanted to find a solution to him losing consciousness and letting the other Noah take control of his body, but even after thinking hard and long, he couldn't find a good solution.

"Maybe I should go to a hypnotist or something…" Noah furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't know if that would really work, but he was definitely willing to try. At this point, he really had no other choice but to try anything and everything.

"I really wouldn't recommend doing that." All of a sudden, a voice echoed in his eyes, which caught Noah off guard, and in a panic, he jumped up from the bed and slammed his head on the wall by accident.

BAM!

"What the- Ouch!' Noah rubbed the back of his head, and the voice continued to speak, "You really should be careful with your body. Remember, you're not the same Noah anymore. Your senses and your muscles have been enhanced."

"Who the f*ck!" Noah looked around, only to immediately realize that the voice sounded identical to his own, and it was coming from inside his head. He widened his eyes in surprise, and replied in his mind, 'How the hell are you able to talk with me? I thought you couldn't come out when I'm awake?'

'That was when I was still in the infant stage,' The doppelganger's voice replied, sounding a bit too clinical and cold, which made Noah flinch in fear. The voice ignored the fearful Noah and continued, 'It's different now. Although I do not think I can maintain talking like this for too long.'

'Well then don't do it.' Noah replied. He was really being honest. He really didn't want to have a conversation with his doppelganger who was inside his mind. 'It's as simple as that.'

'I'm afraid I can't do that, Noah,' The doppelganger responded, the coldness in his voice still present as he spoke. 'You have to understand that the merge is inevitable. You and I are destined to become the same.'

'If a merge is inevitable, then why even bother talking to me?' Noah snorted in response. He wasn't planning on believing a single word that his doppelganger was saying.

'I am only trying to make you understand that there is no need to fight the change.' The doppelganger's voice was now sounding weaker. It seemed that he was at his limit. 'Fighting the inevitable will only prolong it, which will hurt both you and me. The present you is not ready for the changes that are going to happen to this world.'

Noah couldn't help but gulp down his saliva as he listened to the doppelganger's voice. He waited for him to continue, but the doppelganger didn't respond, which made Noah think that he had reached his limit.

'Prolonging the inevitable?' Noah raised his hand up to his face and stared at his palms. The doppelganger did fight better than him, Noah thought to himself.

'Maybe he really can help people more than I ever could,' Noah thought for a brief second, before shaking his head almost instantly. 

'No, no, no. He's not me. He's not even human.' Noah reminded himself of what the doppelganger was. A monster. 'There's no telling what he'll do once he gets control of my body.'

He clenched his fist tightly. 'I have to do everything in my power to make sure that he doesn't win.' He said to himself.

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"Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!" Clarice muttered under her breath, trying her very best to not say anything loud as she tried to contain her anger.

She had searched every nook and cranny of Marty's apartment. She was sure of it. And yet there was no sign of any 'packages'. 

"For f*ck's sake Marty, where the hell do you hide your sh*t?" Clarice said in a sarcastic tone. She wasn't happy in the least. 

Thud!

As she was moving around, her hands touched a plastic jar which was right next to her and pushed it down onto the floor, making a loud noise and causing her to flinch.

"F*ck!" She cursed under her breath. Luckily the jar was plastic, so it didn't break, and the noise wasn't too loud either. Clarice looked at her hands and realized that they were trembling. 

She needed her fix, and she needed it now.

"Where else could he have kept it?" Clarice ran her fingers through her hair and then rubbed her runny nose as her gaze slowly shifted to the storage room once again.

"He couldn't have kept it inside there, right?" She said to herself, but her eyes were still glued to the door. 

After all, she had searched through the entire room and still came up completely empty. If there were any 'packages' that Marty had hidden inside the room, then that was the only place where it had to be hidden.

"F*ck… I guess I'm going inside that stinking place.." Clarice said with a disgusted expression.

She used his fingers to clinch her nose and headed over to the storage room. 

Before turning the knob, Clarice stopped and took a deep breath.. She decided to hold her breath and opened the door, entering the dark and dusty room.