Lord Of Beasts

It took them the better part of an hour to reach the compound.

The atmosphere inside the two trucks was noticeably different from their previous journey together.

No one was laughing or joking now.

The only sound inside the lead vehicle came from the steady rumble of the engine beneath them and the occasional directions mumbled by the thoroughly terrified hostage sitting behind the wheel.

”Left here.”

”Then we follow this path.”

His voice shook every time he spoke.

Every few seconds, his eyes flickered nervously towards Ethan, who remained slouched comfortably in the passenger seat with his arms folded, seemingly paying almost no attention whatsoever.

That alone somehow made him even more frightening.

Kaela, meanwhile, had claimed the passenger seat of Mark’s truck.

She’d spent the first ten minutes swinging her legs out of the open window before eventually growing bored. Very bored. Her attention naturally shifted toward the hostage in the other vehicle.

She leaned out of the second truck’s window.

”So... You got a girlfriend?”

The young man remained silent, almost as if distracted.

”What?”

”Too racist for women too?”

Kaela clicked her tongue dramatically.

”Tough crowd.”

A few minutes later, she noticed something.

”Oi!”

The hostage froze.

His thumb had been subtly moving beneath the dashboard, hidden from everyone else’s view.

Or so he’d thought.

Kaela grinned.

”You sneaky little shit.”

Before he could react-

Crack!

She reached clean through the open driver’s window, snatched the phone from his hand, and casually crushed it into a pile of twisted plastic and shattered glass.

The remains fell into his lap.

”Really?”

The young man swallowed.

”Was worth a shot.”

She laughed before flicking the broken phone out of the moving truck entirely.

Somewhere behind them, the man’s mangled crew disappeared in the distance. Thankfully, the Association employee had been considerably more thorough. He’d already confiscated every firearm, knife, radio, and phone from the unconscious gang members Ethan and Kaela had defeated.

But it wasn’t that Ethan and Kaela hadn’t considered doing so.

They simply didn’t care to, since it didn’t matter to them who they warned. It ultimately wouldn’t change the result, and if anything, would make things more interesting.

Although Kaela couldn’t help but stop his blatant attempt at using his phone while driving.

’It was too obvious.’

The Association worker, on the other hand, thought almost exclusively about paperwork. He’d quietly muttered something about preserving evidence and being on the safe side before loading everything into the back of Darren’s house.

Not that the men themselves could have done much anyway.

Every single one remained exactly where Ethan had left them, broken, cursing, and still writhing in agony with two shattered legs apiece.

”You try something else, I’ll cut your fucking head off,” the blue-eyed man growled before climbing into the back of the car.

After that, he somehow managed to fall asleep instantly. His head rested comfortably against Elara’s shoulder, one arm folded lazily across his chest as the truck bounced over uneven country roads.

His breathing remained slow and steady.

’Any time I can get some sleep... I’ll take it.’

Years inside Monster Manor had permanently altered his relationship with rest, and that was only worsened by his time in the Tower Of Beasts. Real sleep wasn’t something you took for granted; you stole it whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Elara didn’t move an inch.

She simply smiled softly to herself, resting her head on top of his own.

Meanwhile, the man from the Aryan Brotherhood was driving as carefully as he could, not daring to ruin their moment in fear of his life. Ethan’s words didn’t feel like an empty threat after what he had witnessed, and the quiet Blood Demon was even scarier.

As for Mark, he couldn’t be more awake and tense, his hands tightly gripping the steering wheel as endless countryside rolled past outside the windscreen. His stomach felt increasingly knotted as things settled in.

They’d just taken down armed gang members, broken their legs, then kidnapped one of them. And now they were driving directly towards what sounded like a heavily armed criminal compound.

’This is all crazy.’

Beside him, Kaela seemed to exist in an entirely different reality. She kicked her boots up onto the dashboard before poking Mark in the shoulder.

”You nervous?”

”No.”

”What a big liar.”

She laughed before poking him again.

”Relax. If things go wrong...”

She pointed lazily towards Ethan.

”We’ll just throw Beast Man at the problem.”

Without even opening his eyes, Ethan called out from the adjacent vehicle.

”I heard that.”

Kaela grinned.

”That was the whole point.”

Eventually, the dusty roads gave way to something far more sophisticated.

The hostage swallowed nervously.

”We’re close.”

Ethan finally opened one eye.

”So, this is it?”

”Yeah...”

Several minutes later, the trucks crested a low hill.

Everyone immediately fell silent.

”Huh.”

That single word escaped Ethan before he could stop himself.

This wasn’t what he’d expected.

Not even remotely.

’I thought there’d just be trucks, some shacks, and maybe a few fat hookers wandering around.’

Instead, what spread out before them looked disturbingly organised. Tall chain-link fencing surrounded the entire compound, watchtowers overlooked every approach, and floodlights had been installed along reinforced concrete walls, despite it still being daytime.

Several warehouse-sized buildings dominated the centre of the complex, while dozens of pickup trucks and military-style vehicles sat neatly parked in designated rows.

It looked almost like a small military base.

The only things separating it from a legitimate installation were the Confederate flags, the Brotherhood symbols, and the heavily armed men patrolling the perimeter.

Mark stared through the windscreen.

”Damn...”

Kaela slowly lowered her feet from the dashboard.

”Fuck yeah.”

But despite her excitement, her expression was uncharacteristically serious. It was the same with Elara and Ethan, who all had a similar feeling.

It was faint, yet unmistakable.

Something about this place made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

It wasn’t the armed guards, the walls, or even the dozens of men walking around inside. There was something sinister and familiar to the Enforcers, which Elara had also picked up on.

”You feel that too?”

Kaela nodded.

”Yup.”

Beside him, Elara was intrigued.

”That mana...”

It felt wrong, unnatural, and corrupt somehow.

Ethan’s smile slowly returned.

’This has to be linked to that drug Greg was raving on about.’

He paused.

’Somehow these racist fucks are connected to the cult. They’re both stupid, so it makes sense that they get along.’

His excitement visibly grew.

He was sure he was about to have some fun and get one step closer to uncovering more about the drugs and those behind their creation.

’I guess I deserved some luck after Talon’s failed evolutions.’