The school's front yard was filled with students settling down to enter the cafeteria. All dressed up, talking in their designated groups.
In the midst of that crowd, Ethan was sneaking into the school as quickly as possible. When he arrived at the cafeteria, he felt a little more relieved. The first reason was the large number of people around, no one would attack him in a public space. The second reason was the food, he had never been so hungry in his life.
The boy waited in line at the cafeteria to receive scrambled eggs, two toast and a yogurt. He placed them all on his tray and looked for a place to sit.
- Ethan! Here! At a table, he saw Leo alone with his arm raised, beckoning him closer.
He sat in the chair opposite the boy, and began to eat quickly. The boy looked at him eating, with some doubts. He didn't mean to be rude, but his friend's appearance scared him.
Then he noticed the blood-red bandage on his left forearm. Quickly, he held Ethan's left hand close.
"What happened, Ethan? You got hurt badly. Your physique is in a bad shape, I think I'd better go to a hospital," Leo said, with worried eyes, gently touching his friend's wound.
"It's nothing, I just need to eat some." "Telling Leo about everything that happened didn't seem right. Ethan knew that if the wound didn't fester, nothing worse would happen. Had to rely on the regeneration attribute. In addition, he was not financially able to pay for a hospital.
Leo understood that something had gone wrong, Ethan's posture was strange. Not bad posture, but much better than before. His dead eyes show a small glint, as if excited with life.
This made him very happy, but he was worried for his friend.
"You can eat my share too. I had breakfast at home," Leo said as he handed the boy his tray. He always did, but Ethan always denied it. He said he ate enough, even though he knew it was a lie.
- Thank you so much! Ethan pulled the tray closer and started eating with his own.
Leo felt a little warmth in his heart. The small changes made all the difference for someone who had followed Ethan for almost 3 years.
"Ethan, if you need any help, you can count on me. You are my friend! Don't be ashamed to ask. "He said something he always wanted to say.
Thinking about offering help, both financially and emotionally, was always his wish. I had finally found an opportunity. Ethan had never been someone who wanted to be helped.
Ethan looked at his friend and began to reflect. At the present time, he had nowhere to go after school. He urgently needed to get away from his house. One of the ways he thought of it was with Leo's help.
"Can I stay at your place for a few days?" Mine is very bad at the moment and there is no way to stay there. Ethan asked with his mouth full.
The boy couldn't answer, his body stopped. Finally he had a chance to help his best friend. How could he deny it? Her heart beat faster at the moment. He tried hard not to stutter.
— Of course! No problem! When my uncle comes for me, he'll take you. We even have a guest room. You will love! A silly smile appeared on his flushed face.
- Thanks. Ethan felt satisfied. At least he had a place to stay until he got organized.
"Do you know about the runics?" They say they're the kind of people who can break those rocks inside animals. No one is quite sure what they do, but it seems that the US government itself is after these stones. - Leo said, taking a photo on his cell phone, it looked like part of an article in the newspaper.
"My theory was correct, not everyone can use runes. Only the runes. If our country's own government is after these stones, things will get serious. All common ways to get runes will disappear. They must already be picking up from slaughterhouses and farms. Soon they will ban hunting and close some reserves. I need a way to get runes too, I don't think the government will be able to control this and I have no idea what the future will look like."
"I've heard about these runes, it must be something important if even the government is after it. Leo smiled as he spoke, realizing that Ethan was interested in the conversation. - There must be people keeping these runes for sale, if even the government wants it, it must be worth a lot.
- That's true, there must be several people who found and kept it. Ethan was going to continue the subject, but the bell rang.
"Let's go to class, we'll talk more during the break," Leo said, pulling Ethan's hand toward the room.
…
Ethan couldn't sleep in class, he wasn't sleepy after all. He just watched the window. Every now and then, he used analyze on a few things, just to test his skill.
"None of my class is a runic, it seems to be rare to find some. Well, I feel more relieved that way."
He looked to his right and watched Leo paying attention in class, while he gave a huge summary of the subject.
Bored, Ethan looked out the window. His room was on the second floor of the school, with a wide view of everything. When looking at the environment from afar, he got a fright.
A person was approaching the schoolyard, heading towards the reception. The man who was in front of his house followed him to the school.
"How did he find me? Shit! They'll say I'm here."
Desperate, he got up from his desk with his backpack. Not caring about the others, he headed for the door. The teacher looked confused as the student just left the room.
Before leaving, he looked at Leo. The boy had a worried look on his face. Ethan spoke silently so his friend could lip-read.
"Wait for me at the exit." He spoke slowly so that he could understand as he left the room.
Leo just nodded. He couldn't focus on the class anymore, he was afraid Ethan was at risk. He wondered what his friend had done.
Ethan ran through the halls as fast as he could. He tried not to attract any inspectors' attention until he reached the restrooms. He walked through the door quickly, saw several stalls on his left and urinals on his right.
"This isn't the best place to hide, but he's at the entrance. There is no way out of the building. Hiding in the bathroom is the best option."
…
In the classroom, Leo couldn't even write, the only thought was why Ethan was running away.
Half an hour of class passed before there were two knocks on the door. The boy soon thought that his friend had returned to the classroom, but when the door opened, a tall, overweight man was with the school principal.
The fat man was behaving strangely, as if he were on the offensive. Besides having a mean face, he didn't seem like a good person to be friends with.
- Good Morning! We are looking for student Ethan Seith, this man is a friend of yours and needs to get in touch urgently," said the principal, with the friendliest smile possible.
Leo knew this man was the person Ethan was running from. He hung his head in fear.
"What has he gotten himself into? Does it have to do with drugs? I don't know. I need to help Ethan somehow."
"Well, the student has just left the room," said the professor.
'He's sick and he's gone to the doctor, so he left without warning.' You must be on the street by now. - Leo spoke in an attempt to lose the big man.
Ydro was not such an easy man to fool. His executioner's eyes fixed the sight on Leo. "You want to help the dog, don't you? Okay then!"
The tall man put his hand on the headmaster's shoulder.
"Don't worry, I'm leaving. You don't have to take me, I know where the exit is.
The director just nodded, while Ydro left a little earlier.
- Thanks a lot for the help. — The principal spoke to the class with a small bow. As he left the room, he looked for the tall man who had disappeared.
Leo was relieved to see the man leave, he thought he had lost him.
…
Ydro walked the halls, looking for Ethan. When looking for the school, he began to get lost inside the building. He walked for a while not knowing where to go.
"Where would a dog be hiding? I'm sure you're still at school. There is nowhere else he can go. He's running out of ways, and when an animal has nowhere to go, he hides."
The first place he looked was the janitor's room, but he couldn't find anyone. Then to the staff room which had some teachers but no students. He also looked for the gym, but he was in class on the basketball team. No students with the dog descriptions were there.
Then he went towards the restrooms, entered slowly inside the place. At first glance, it looked empty. Ydro looked at the urinals, started to investigate the stalls.
One by one, most were open with only 5 are closed.
The man lowered his head to see if there was anyone, if he didn't, he would just open it aggressively. He did this to everyone. Until you reach the last locked door, the penultimate cabin.
Ydro ducked his head to see if anyone was there. When he didn't see a pair of legs, he slammed the door open. The answer was the same as the others. There was no one in the cabin. But your senses perceive something wrong. He knew someone was there. I felt that instinctive feeling.
As a former fighter, he learned a lot to trust his instincts. Even though everything around him said otherwise, he knew he had something.
The man looked around. He gave a big sigh as he walked to the door. He opened the door and pretended to have left.
The sound of the door closing echoed throughout the bathroom. Ethan, who was controlling his breathing, continued to hang on the door of the last cabin.
Her legs were braced against the door with her back to the wall. His hands were gripping the top of the door, as support for him to stay in that position for a long time.
The pain in his left forearm began to throb. The force exerted was too much for a fresh wound. Blood ran down the cut to her back.
"My plan worked. I managed to distract him with the doors closed so he wouldn't come looking for the last door, but my arm can't take it."
Hearing the sound of the door close, Ethan fell to the floor, clutching his wound.
After waiting a while, he got up to head towards the door. I could go back to the room.
The boy was 3 meters from the door when he noticed a large shadow blocking the light. He turned reflexively. Unresponsive, he was punched in the stomach. It was thrown upward with the pressure of the blow. The tile broke as her back hit the ceiling.
On the floor, several pieces of ceramic fell from all over the bathroom ceiling, like a chain event. Vomit mixed with blood came out of the dog's mouth. Couldn't breathe from the blow. The immense pain in her stomach was making her vision blurry. A great shiver washed over his body. Was this the fear of death?
- Haha ha. I knew the dog of the Seith would find you," Ydro said, laughing, his hand still boiling from the blow. A feeling that only a fighter could distinguish.
He grabbed the dog's hair and lifted it with just one hand. The smile on Ydro's face was that of a snake that would devour its prey. His fist clenched to take another punch at the animal, the pressure of the blow fatal.
"I need to control my emotions, if I weaken I won't make it out alive."
The fear disappeared, with his dead eyes coming into his face. He held the backpack in front of his belly, to soften the blow. Even when defending himself, the blow still made him vomit some blood.
The fighter felt a pain in his right hand. Looking at her, he noticed a cut on his right hand, he had punched a blade hidden in his backpack. The strategy of using the backpack as a distraction to hide the knife generated a puncture that caught between the middle and ring fingers to the end of the palm. As he was holding his fist, the blow caused a lot of bleeding.
Ydro got carried away with the fight. He assumed the dog was just a coward, but his vision changed after that surprise attack.
"Hmm! The boy is smart. It's getting me interested, I love a good street fight."
But the opposite of what Ethan thought happened. The fighter flashed a big smile. His combatant aura increased even more.
"With the cut on your right wrist, your punches will get weaker. So I have a chance."
There was a big difference between those who fight, and those who just defend themselves. This chasm was known to Ethan, but he didn't know how big it was. Just having more strength didn't make you win battles, but your techniques in combat.
Ydro moved his waist by rotating his hip. A perfect hit was created with his technique. The target, the boy's belly, received a punch that used 3x the force of an ordinary human, and as a bonus, boxing knowledge. He didn't have the speed to dodge, let alone reflexes. The thrust was so strong in his belly that the punch almost went through his skin. He flew to the door, which broke under the blow. The wood was everywhere, the latch still stuck in the wall.
Ethan fell to the ground in a daze, he thought he was dead. The figure of the big man heading towards him appeared. He tasted blood in his mouth. Breathing in, the pain intensified.
Ydro walked towards him with a mission accomplished smile. It just needed to take down the prey.
The break bell rang at this moment.
Hundreds of students poured out into the hallway, excited for the break. They ran back and forth like a flock of ants.
Ydro pushed the youths to get to Ethan, but on the ground where the dog was, there was only blood. He had disappeared from her sight.
An angry look appeared on the snake's face and it gave a huge war cry.
— GET READY DOG! I WILL HUNTING YOU! YOU ARE MY PREY!