It was more than seven hours since Sean "failed" his enhancement, and by now, the truck had offloaded bodies two more times. The sun was high above the sky now, shining bright and a little hot.
He should've been crushed by the weight of so many bodies, or at least, have some body parts broken, dislocated or twisted out of proportions, considering the way the corpses were being dropped off.
But not only was he not crushed, his body was totally fine.
A grey furred dog like mana beast and its pack, were snagging on the bodies.
Although the genetic enhancement might've failed, the corpses were rich with energy and nutrients, due to the beast genes in them... and beasts usually ate other beasts to grow stronger.
Rather than taking them back to their families, not like they knew the family of whoever failed the enhancement, since a majority of those who took these genetic enhancements, did so without their loved ones being privy to it, due to the very high mortality rate.
In the slums, the outer and even the inner sector, it was very easy for a person to suddenly go missing, and quite a good percentage of the missing people, were those who applied for a genetic enhancement.
The corpses of those who failed their genetic enhancements were toxic to ordinary people.
The dense amount of energy created from mana beasts made their body parts ingestible to "normal" humans, lest they blow up. Likewise, a decaying mana beast released a vast amount of toxin, powered by energy, enough to cause a pandemic.
When these beast genes are introduced into a person's body, they likewise fill it with this energy, as that is what makes the body able to undergo such massive changes in under an hour.
Thus, for corpses of those who failed their enhancements, they were thrown to the wild expanse outside the walls of humanity's bastion, into a pit, for beasts to snack on them.
And snack, were these beasts having before one picked up on a faint thud. A familiar but unfamiliar sound, different from the snarls of its brothers, tearing of meats and crushing of bones... different from the soft howling of the wind.
Its ears twitched at the sound, eyes searching for its source.
*Badump!*
The sound came again, stronger this time.
*Badump!* *Badump!* *Badump!*
With each beat, the sound was louder and more powerful, and so it began to dig through the bodies, ripping flesh and limbs, to make way to the pulsating rhythm under the pile of bodies.
After unearthing the source of the sound, it found a human, and... alive?
The sound was a heartbeat!
Threateningly, it bared its bloody fangs, a primal hunger almost overwhelming it, when the human's eyes suddenly snapped open, breathing heavily, and with a... smile.
It's instincts rang warnings bells, and it retreated a step, but the human boy seemed to pay it no mind, smiling for no reason.
It growled, baring its fangs at the boy, its eyes menacing and prepared for a fight... Prepared to kill!
----
Sean's attention was caught by the beast which looked like a really big dog... Something like a grey furred Cane Corso, only more muscular and compact.
His heart couldn't help but leap out of his chest, feeling startled.
What happened? Where was he? What was that... Dream perhaps?
He didn't even know where he was, nor had he gotten his bearings, and now had to... fight a beast?
His skin felt prickly and itchy, and the light of the sun, seemed particularly irritating. It was like rashes kept blooming under his skin for every second he stayed exposed under the sun, and urgently needed a bath.
The next to hit him, was the stench, the place reeked of decay and iron, stuffy and suffocating.
*Growl*
Another growl loud resounded in his ear, but this time it wasn't from the beast, it was from his stomach.
As he laid his eyes on the beast, his throat couldn't help but tighten, and his stomach growled even more fiercely, as if recognizing food.
Sean recoiled at the thought, and even the beast took a step back, when it saw the look in Sean's eyes.
*Growl!*
The beast growled fiercely, part trying to intimidate him, partly caution, and another part as though feeling challenge.
At this point, the four other dogs had been alerted to the noise, and hurried over, when they spotted the human on their tuff.
They growled menacingly, eyes sizing him up. The first one feeling even more reassured now, took a step closer, its hunger pushing past the caution.
Sean sprang to his feet, body completely tensed, causing the dogs too to flinch, and tense up.
Inwardly, he was cursing his situation. Not only did he not know where he was, "actually he did"... bodies around, beasts?... that was too many clues for him not to know he was in the wild expanse.
All that, plus the stench of the bodies, that was more like a nauseating punishment for his sensitive nose, the burning heat of the sun, and now he had to face five mana beasts without a weapon.
Sean had no fighting experience. Though having lived twelve years of age, he had been in his fare share of fights, mostly with his amateurish classmates, and bullies after he got into Wexford, considering his humble background... none of that could compare to the danger he was facing.
He had no way of fighting nor defending himself against these beasts, he also couldn't run because to his front and sides were the beasts, to his back, bodies.
It also didn't help that these beasts were on elevated terrain compared to him that was down. His footing was also poor, as he couldn't move well atop this pile of bodies he was standing on.
Too many problems.
His heart beat against his chest, and he could hear the blood rushing through his veins with striking clarity. His muscled tensed as he passively waited for them to pounce, his tendons contracting well and hard, for an explosive eruption.
It had only been three seconds since the beasts arrived and we're sizing up Sean with snarls and growls, but with the way Sean's mind was running now, it might as well have been thirty seconds.
Unable to fight back the hunger any longer, as Sean's body radiated a vitality that made them all growl hungrily, the first dog finally pounced!
******
So we got to chapter 10, a minor milestone, but one nonetheless. Do hope you've been enjoying the book so far and continue to do so.
It's Sean's first brush with death he can see coming, a death he can look in the eye, and decide if it'll take him, or if he'd spit on it. Well, hopefully he does the latter.
Ahem... Taxes ("cough")