Max Aniston inhaled deep, and blew out a fast jet of smoke. He was lying on his back. Next to him sat three boys; Harold, Alphonso and Gerald. They were resting on the incredibly large boulders that popped out from the water right in the middle of the Ingerham River, a few metres away from the Baxdwell Bridge.
"Sh*t!" Max whispered under his breath as he pulled out the blunt from his mouth. "This is pretty good…"
"I know dude." Harold, the young man with the red hair and black striped shirt said as he rolled up his joint, placed it in his mouth and brought the lighter close to its tip, holding his hand over the flames to stop the wind from extinguishing it. "Sh*t's real good..." He said right before he inhaled.
"You guys heard about Madison?" Alphonso, the boy with the black curly hair said as he sat cross legged, holding his half-smoked blunt clumsily in his hand.
The other boys turned to look at him, their gazes now turned curious.
"What're you talking about?" Gerald, the one with the glasses, raised his eyebrows.
Alphonso leaned forward. "Apparently.." He said, and the rest of the group also leaned forward, curious as to what he was talking about. Alphonso opened his mouth. "... She gives people blowj*bs right behind the old storage room in the school."
"...."
A brief period of silence.
"For free?" Max asked.
"That I don't know." Alphonso shook his head.
The boys looked at each other.
"Damn..." Max said as he lay back on the giant boulder, placing the blunt back in his mouth and inhaling.
"Ha ha ha…" For some unknown reason, he felt the urge to laugh. And so he did. He laughed. Alphonso joined him. Soon both Gerald and Harold were laughing, too.
"Goddamn blowj*bs!" Max shrieked loudly while laughing, which sent them off into another storm of hysterical laughter.
"Hah.." Max slowly exhaled, after laughing for god knows how long, and tilted his head towards the side of the river, where the opening to an old but large drainage pipe could be seen.
"What the?" Max furrowed his eyebrows. It was extremely faint, but he felt as though he could hear a thumping sound from inside the drainage pipe.
"Do you guys hear that?" Max turned around to look at his friends, who all stared at him with confused gazes.
"What?" Alphonso asked, and Max pointed at the drainage pipe that was a few metres away from them. "I heard a weird sound coming from inside the drainage pipe."
The group turned their heads to look at where Max was pointing at. The old drainage pipe that led to the underground sewers. Part of the old sewer system that was abandoned after the remodeling of the city. They listened closely, but heard nothing.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Max." Alphonso said. "I'm pretty sure you're just high."
"Maybe it's the sound of Madison giving blowj*bs!" Harold said, which cracked up the whole group. All except for Max. He remained silent, staring at the large drainage pipe with a curious gaze.
"Shh…" He pressed his finger against his lips, and the three boys turned silent, their gaze stuck on Max. "Listen closely.." He said.
Thump! Thump!
It was faint, but they could hear it now. It was a stranger sound, similar to someone slamming on a metal door, and yet sounding like someone's screaming at the same time.
"Wait a minute, I can hear something…" Harold said. Everyone's expression turned serious. They had all heard it too. Then, their gazes shifted to the opening of the drainage pipe.
All of a sudden, Max stood up and skipped over the smaller boulders over to the banks of the river, and began walking towards the spot where the opening of the drainage pipe was located.
"Hey Max! The f*ck?" Alphonso yelled out. "Where the f*ck are you going?"
"I'mma check out the sewers! See where the noise is coming from!" He yelled back, and continued walking towards the drainage pipe.
"Sh*t! That f*cker!" Alphonso slapped his forehead. He turned to Harold. "What're we gonna do?"
"You're not suggesting we go with him, are you?" Gerald asked. His face was troubled. "It's the f*cking sewers. Who the f*ck knows what's down there."
Harold stared at Alphonso, and then turned his head to look at Max, who was walking towards the drainage pipe, and let out a sigh. "Fine," he said quietly as he got up from the boulder, followed by Alphonso.
"Wait, guys.." Gerald watched as the two boys skipped over the boulders and onto the riverside. "... Ugh, for f*ck's sake! Wait up!"
Looking defeated, Gerald shrugged his shoulders and got up from the boulder before rushing towards the rest of the group.
------------ BEAST SOUL ------------
"BS-T, huh.." Noah murmured to himself as he left the police station. He had seen the three letter word on one of the documents that was inside Detective Lewis' drawers.
He pulled out his smartphone and searched the word on his browser, but to no avail. "Yeah, I thought so.." Noah said with a bitter smile on his face. He knew that he most probably wouldn't find anything on the internet, but nevertheless, he still wanted to try. After all, that was one of the only resources that he had access to.
"But still.." Noah turned around and looked at the police station one last time from a distance. "I think I got a few interesting information out of that visit.." He said, as he walked away. Most people would've felt that the visit was pointless, as the only things he learned was a three letter word that he didn't understand, a rough sketch of a creature that he had never seen before, and that they still haven't found the body of Billy Becker.
However, Noah thought the opposite. He thought that the information that he was able to retrieve from his visit to the police station was much more than what he was hoping for. Especially since this was such a bizarre situation, and him being a young boy made it even more difficult because of the lack of access to various resources.
"I wonder where Billy Becker's body went…" He thought to himself. He was almost certain that the wolf creature that had attacked and murdered Billy Becker was killed by Wolfe the dragon. If that's the case, then who - or what - took Billy's corpse?
There was also the chance that the wolf creature escaped the clutches of the dragon and retrieved Billy's body, but that seemed unlikely to Noah.
"There's definitely more creatures roaming around the city.." He mumbled under his breath.
This is bad, he thought to himself. Even though two monsters were killed, and one was under the control of Noah, the number of creatures wasn't decreasing, but instead they only seemed to be increasing.
Noah was concerned. He was concerned for himself. He was concerned for his mother. He was concerned for the citizens.
He stopped in front of the window of a clothing store and turned around to look at himself in the reflection.
"I am a superhero…" He whispered softly.
Ever since he was young, Noah had always loved superhero movies. Even the incredibly cheesy ones. Being a superhero was his dream. And now, he finally could.
"I am a superhero.." He clenched his fists tightly as he repeated the words over and over.
If he wanted to fight against these creatures, then it meant that he had to learn how to fight. He had to learn how to best utilise his newfound abilities and strength. It would be difficult, but he was certain that he had the power to do so.
"Hey, you f*cker!" All of a sudden, a voice echoed in his ears, and Noah turned around, searching for the whereabouts of the speaker.
The voice had come from one of the alleyways nearby.
Noah narrowed his eyes. After a few seconds, he began walking towards the alleyway, and the voices became a lot more clearer.
"P-please.. this is all the money I have.."
"Huh? This is nothing! You piece of sh*t! I told you to bring more money, didn't I?"
Noah frowned. He was familiar with this situation. A bit too familiar.
"These f*ckers…" Noah gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
That's right, he was a superhero.
He looked at the alleyway and scoffed, "I guess now is as good a time as any to be one!"