Rise of the Feline Society Chapter 5 - The News Report
William's eyelids began to flutter open. He slowly lifted his head up.
"That dream was really weird," he said as he rubbed his eyes.
He stiffed a yawn before looking around at his surroundings. He was in a dirty alleyway with dumpsters, trash on the ground, and a dead rat next to him. He lifted his hand to cover his face because of the rising sun. He looked around more before his brain fully clicked.
Why am I in an alleyway?
That was the thought going through his head as he looked at his clothes. Well… clothes wouldn't be the word that William would use. He what looked like a two-strap rag on his upper section and just his ripped-up underwear and jeans which barely covered his midsection. He jumped to his feet now realizing his current situation.
"Why am I practically naked?" William yelped quickly covering his mouth afraid if anyone could hear him.
What happened? I practically have no clothes.
He closed his eyes thinking about what event could have possibly have happened to get into this situation.
I went to school, then went to the Shadowfire gang for a job. I got a briefcase then went to the park where I… got… ambushed. The package. What was it?
William's heart started to beat faster as he kept thinking on.
The skin latched onto me then I… blacked out. Could it be some type of new way to make an Animorph? Wait no, what exactly attached to me. Was it really a…
He didn't finish his thought as he heard a buzzing sound. William looked down and saw that it was a cellphone. His cellphone. He leaned over picking it up and looked at its contents.
"You have 30 missed calls from Amos Vance," the notification screen read.
Oh no William thought.
He also noticed that he got several texts from Amos to which he started to read.
"You little sh*t," the first message read. "How dare you steal from ME!"
William's heart began to beat faster.
"You have until sunset to return the package and I'll let you off with a heavy beating. It's better than getting your family evolved, isn't it, WILLIAM!"
Good thing I placed in a fake address and last name William thought but stopped when he realized what the problem was. Where was the package. According to what he could remember he was the package. His heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to burst out of him.
"BPM: 145," A robotic male voice in his head said. "BPM: 146."
"Agh!" William yelled his fear as he fell on his butt in fear.
A what looked like a system screen popped up withing his vision. William started to swat and shake his head but no matter what it stayed within his vision. A notification was displayed.
"Congratulations!" The male voice said. "You are now a Felkin. A Felkin is a catlike Animorph. You have been chosen to become something greater than yourself or you stole this skin in which case you can go and f*ck yourself."
William was completely taken aback by what was happening but the voice kept going leaving him behind.
"You are the first Animorph to also be equipped with a system-based interface courtesy of me, the man who gave this to you. That is all I have to say. Good luck and have fun!" The male voice said ending there and the screen closed.
William just laid upright on the ground shocked before he shouted. "What was that!"
"Hey will you shut up!" I male voice said in the building next to him shouted. "It's 7am and I'm trying to sleep."
William froze before it clicked. "Oh crap, it's 7am. My school starts in an hour and I'm about an hour walk from here."
He was about to bolt out of the alleyway before he remembered that he practically wasn't wearing anything.
Right, I need clothes he concluded.
He looked around and noticed a pile of clothes by the dumpster. He walked over grabbing what he needed and proceeded to put them on. He remembered that he had a grand in his pocket which he pulled out placing it in his new pants pocket. After he was done, he looked at himself.
These closes looked to be in good condition. Why were they by the dumpster?
He brushed the thought aside as he placed hiss cellphone is his pocket exiting the alleyway and started to walk south toward his school. He started to pick up the pace feeling his heartbeat getting faster and faster which was normal in his current situation.
"BPM 149." The male voice in his head said. "BPM 152. Your heart beat has reached a threshold. Threshold skill activated; Agile Reflexes: Minus 5 energy. Temporary boosts dodge chance and speed for a short time, allowing the cat to evade attacks effortlessly. This skill lasts for 5 minutes. If activated through threshold, this skill takes no energy." The male voice announced. "Since the skill Agile Reflexes has been activated through threshold no energy will be taken."
Immediately William could feel energy flow through his body and the speed that he was at increased.
"Whoa," William muttered. "This feels great."
He decided to go into a full-on sprint funning faster than he ever did. William had never felt the thrill of running but today he did. He placed his arms out feeling the slight breeze that went past him. This continued for 5 minutes before the skill ended. The energy dispersed and he was running just slightly faster than his normal speed. He decided to stop running and continued walking. He noticed a small flashing red light at the corner of his vision. He thought about selecting it and it opened displaying what said a Status Page at the top of his screen.
The robotic male voice began to speak. "Host Name: William Carter. Species: Felkin. Title: None. Rank: None. HP: 50 of 50. Energy: 90 of 100. Strength 6. Speed: 7. Dexterity: 3. Endurance: 4. Exp 0/100."
William stared blankly at the status page trying to comprehend what he was reading. To him it looked like a video game he used to play for a while.
Could this be real William thought. Am I dreaming?
"Warning," the male robotic voice began. "As a Felkin your body has evolved to something extraordinary. 5 energy will be deducted throughout every hour to maintain your bodily functions. Consuming only meat will restore it. Consuming seafood will buff your speed by 10%."
He looked at his energy pool. It said he had 90 out of 100. He started to calculate what he would have. If he didn't use his new skill Agile Reflexes he would arrive at school with around 80 energy. His school ended at three o'clock so he would have 45 energy remaining. He would not be able to reach midnight before his energy hit zero and did not want to find out what would happen if he reached that point.
"O crap," William said out loud. "Meat is expensive. Sure, I have $1,000 but that was supposed to be for my family."
William continued to think as he kept on walking toward his school.
I don't have the Shadowfire income and a regular job won't provide enough money.
The system interrupted his thoughts. "As a Felkin you are have a sense of protecting. In a world of gangs someone is always in trouble. New daily quest received: Help someone out from danger. Reward: 5 exp. This quests resets at midnight each day."
"Wow," William muttered. "This is like a video game."
William began to get excited thinking of all of the possibilities. Was he really an Animorph now. He just unlocked new possibilities that he could use to help his family. Maybe his goal of becoming rich was closer than he thought it was going to be.
William happy thoughts were interrupted when he noticed a TV store. It wasn't the store that interrupted his happiness but what was being displayed. All of the TVs were showing a news report which had the caption "A Mass Murderer Animorph is on the lose!"
He immediately paused and ran up to the window where the tv was displaying the news report and thankfully the audio was being played with it. On the middle of the screen there was a Female with long black hair that was doing the report.
"Breaking news," The reporter began. "At around 10pm last time, what appeared to be an illegal exchange of products between gangs went down at the new construction site at the main park. It ended horrifically as what appeared to be a one-sided massacre had occurred. One of the dealers apparently killed four of the men. Investigators described the four men as being mauled to death with huge claws. There was another man at the scene but the investigators determined that one of the four that was killed had killed their own member minutes before being mauled. The investigators were able to find blood of the suspected killer along with a small patch of orange fur. Police are not able to identify the killer because their blood is not in the system. Apparently this Animorph is unregistered which is a recuring problem from the illegal manufacturing and selling of the Animorph serums. The police are also advising that residents remain on high alert and stay indoors to avoid any unwanted encounters with the unregistered Animorph. This is Nora Birch wishing everyone living in the city of Emberlyn a safe day."
William stepped back in horror from the news report. His emotions were running wild as he was thinking of what the report was stating. Four people were murdered William was thinking. Did…did I do…that. His brain was going haywire at the thought that he had killed a person, four no doubt. William began to panic. He just wanted to get out of there and fast.
"BPM 145," the robotic male voice of the system said. "BPM 149. BPM 150. Your heartbeat has reached the threshold of 150. Skill activated Agile Reflexes: Temporary boosts dodge chance and speed for a short time, allowing the cat to evade attacks effortlessly. This skill lasts for 5 minutes."
William took off running. He just wanted to get away. Get away from all the troubles his life had. He just wanted to forget and live like he used too, free from this overwhelming worry. This anxiety tearing at him from the inside. The only place that William could feel normal just like any other kid was his school. A safe place where he could just be himself, a normal high school student, and that was his school, Evergreen High School.
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The Author that brought you "Life as a Vampire God" I now present to you the Sci-Fi series "Rise of the Feline Society."
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