Beast Evolution

The bell rang and students filled the hallway, rushing to go home or maybe to their friend's place. Everything was perfect except a young skinny figure running toward the door at full speed.

"Excuse me, excuse me," the figure shouted as he tried to squeeze himself past the large crowd.

"What is wrong with you, Ray?" a student yelled at the person that just bumped into him.

Standing back up, Ray quickly apologized to the student he had accidentally bumped into.

Two students immediately stood out as other students cleared the way for them.

Ray also spotted them.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath as he continued running as fast as he could.

"He should keep on running," Steve chuckled to himself. Steve was one of the students chasing Ray.

"Why do they keep on beating him?" a female student asked.

"Shush! don't let them hear you, or you're next," another student told her, hoping they weren't heard.

Ray left the hallway and ran toward the school gate but as soon as he got out of the school gate, hoping that at least today he could escape.

*Thwack!*

A fist hit Ray's mouth as he got out. He fell to the floor immediately and held his face as his attacker dragged him to an alley beside the school.

"So you thought you could run away?" Steve sighed as he landed a kick right in Ray's gut.

"Argh!"

Ray screamed as the kick landed right in his abdomen. The other two students laughed at Ray writhing in pain.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Ray asked as he slowly tried to stand up.

"Why do you ask? We don't need a reason to beat you up," Steve declared,

"Blame your bad luck for getting into this school when you have no family to protect you."

Ray has lived in an orphanage since he was a child; his mother and father died in a car accident, leaving him with no one to care for him.

"He is standing up. Wow, look at his face. Does he want to beat us up?" Steve said to his goons.

*Thwack!*

Another kick landed on Ray. This made him buckle down and collapse, causing him to cough up blood.

Steve landed kick after kick on Ray, and he ended up coughing out more blood.

"Aish. Be careful, dude. Don't kill him or something," one of his goons chimed in.

"He wouldn't die. His only redeeming quality is that he is quite durable," Steve said, and his goons all burst into laughter.

Ray didn't have a choice but to stand up.

"Are you feeling pain anywhere?" Steve asked in a sarcastic tone.

Ray looked at Steve with the eyes of a killer.

"Wow! You scared me a bit, but do you think your eyes will save you?" Steve said.

Ray already spotted a stone beside where he fell last time and picked it up. He was now timing when he was going to hit Steve with it.

Steve held Ray by his collar and was ready to hit him in the stomach again when suddenly something hit his face making him fall to the ground.

"Argh!" Steve shouted as Ray ran toward the other end of the alley leading to a main road.

"Get him," Steve shouted as his two other friends chased after Ray. Steve also joined the chase when he discovered blood trickling down his face.

"When I get that bitch, he will pay for doing this to my face" Steve swore inwardly,

"Why did I do that? I should have just allowed him to beat me and get tired, as it has always been."

Instead, Ray was now in a life-and-death situation as Steve's friends were seconds away from catching him.

Ray ran at full speed despite his bleeds and a ruptured stomach. Finally reaching the alley's end, Ray dashed into the main road without looking at any approaching vehicles.

Ray was hit by an incoming truck that was moving at full speed.

His body was sent flying a few meters from where he was hit. Ray's mangled body rolled on the floor as he felt the light fading from his eyes.

'So this is my end.' Ray thought.

"I thought I could make a difference even without my parents, but I was wrong." That was the last thing Ray thought as people gathered around his lifeless body.

"Where is that bitch?" Steve shouted as he arrived at the main road,

"He is dead. He is definitely dead," One of Steve's goons said as he ran back into the alley.

"Shit. I didn't know that this could happen." Steve said as the two of them also ran back into the alley to use the other exit.

*

*

*

Ray felt a throbbing pain in his head like he had just head-bumped a wall.

"Damn! that hurt!" Ray said. Gradually, the pain started subsided, and he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"Huh? Where am I? Ray thought as his eyes began to clear, and he found himself focusing on his environment.

The walls were made of some sort of icy crystal that emitted little light into the surroundings, but that was enough to see that he was in an unfamiliar place. The air felt heavy in his lungs. The scent of wet earth filled the cave as Ray struggled to stand upright.

'Cave?' Ray thought as he looked around the cave and saw three large eggs that were recently hatched. He could tell because of the liquid substance dripping out of them.

"What kind of bird is that?" Ray muttered.

When he finally stood upright, he set his eyes on his foot.

"Argh!" Ray jumped up and landed on his butt.

"What is this? Why is my foot furry?" Then he looked at his hand and saw that they were cat-like hands that were also furry.

"What am I?" he asked.

Ray heard a loud sound that shook the ground.

'What just happened?' Ray immediately looked around, and the only thing he found was a weirdly shaped crystal that looked like a knife. He quickly picked it up and awaited whatever was coming.