Hellcyon Days Ch. 01

Entering the university gym, Alex's hopes for a quick and uneventful morning were quickly dashed as he immediately noticed Brandon Miller and his bunch of cronies. Since the prestigious university Alex attended opened many of their clubs to the public (though this was mostly meant for alumni), many of its clubs and societies had a much larger membership than the university cohort would imply. This had the unfortunate side effect of a few undesirables; Brandon and his group were a gang of 'tough guys', large stereotypical bruisers who thought of the club and by extension, the gym as their turf. Upon him joining the MMA club, they had immediately taken upon themselves to 'educate' the new kid as to their positions in life.

Alex had never possessed a bulky physique; he was more inclined toward the lean body shape of his father, combined with his penchant for baggy clothing, often made bullies underestimate him. Everyone who met him seemed to assume that under his bulky attire lay an embarrassingly scrawny body, and in the case of martial arts clubs, often believed that he joined simply to prevent bullying by learning how to defend himself. They were only partially right; Alex did wear baggy clothing to hide his build, though not because he was embarrassed of it but simply to avoid any attention it might draw. Of course, he had joined the martial arts clubs to learn how to defend himself as well as occupy his time productively; you never knew when you had to defend those closest to you after all.

As a result, on his first day, when Brandon and his lackeys moved to surround Alex, he hadn't been worried. Similar situations had been replicated often enough throughout his school years and this had been simply another in a long line.

"Hey Ghost-boy... I think you're lost. This isn't the loser club." The heavy-browed leader of the gang sneered, as his lackeys laughed in the background, "You don't belong here, so hurry up and fuck off."

Shaking his head inwardly, Alex tried to attract the attention of the proprietors of the gym, to no avail. Failing that, Alex raised his gaze to the brown-haired lout blocking his way, he knew how to handle the type, "I didn't know gyms were letting gorillas in nowadays, I guess they're more open-minded than I believed."

There was a moment of complete stupefaction as the gang of thugs took in the casual insult. No one had reacted like this before and they were completely at a loss. Confused, they looked to their leader for direction, to see a look of utter rage erupt over his brutish visage just as Alex's eyes captured his own. Brandon froze, his mud-brown orbs locking with unsettling amethyst. What seemed like minutes, passed in a fleeting moment as Brandon stood there sweating, before averting his gaze and letting Alex past, to the increased confusion of his flunkies.

Unfortunately, that was simply the first of many conflicts. From that first meeting, Brandon nursed a grudge against Alex and in the intervening months, he and his cronies engaged in an uncharacteristically passive aggressive war against Alex. Occupying exercise machines and taking the weights and dumbbells whenever Alex entered the gym, they tried their best to inhibit his training. For some reason though, none of them attempted to start anything physical, which was one boon Alex appreciated. It appeared that their first meeting had them sufficiently cowed, with Alex's subsequent display of prowess in spars cementing the matter.

Regrettably, that winter day would be the end of the precarious truce between Alex and the Brandon group.

Just standing at the entrance, Alex instantly knew that something had changed, the balance had shifted and the dam was close to bursting. Brandon and his group had immediately started glowering at Alex upon his arrival and even from 20 meters away; Alex could sense the imminent violence.

Scanning his surrounding for an advantageous position, Alex quickly moved to the weight machines; he had been taught that the key to fighting when outnumbered was to restrict the number of opponents able to approach at any one time. Inwardly, Alex knew that he could have escaped, he should have retreated from such overwhelming numbers, all he had to do was run back out the double-glass doors. But something within him rebelled at the thought, he wouldn't let anyone trample over him, never had, never will.

Moving between the bench press machines, time appeared to slow as adrenaline surged through his system. His opponents seemed to move as if through molasses as Alex waited for the gang to approach. Brandon waved his lackeys forward and as one, they charged with rabid snarls on their faces. Alex was momentarily taken aback, he hadn't expected such bestial behavior, and it was slightly unsettling. Shaking off any unease, he leapt forward just before the first of the cronies could reach him, snapping a kick at the snarling visage before him. Impacting off the chin of the first fighter, Alex propelled himself backwards between the exercise machines before the allies of the now unconscious thug could grab him. Ducking under a punch, Alex quickly stepped into the guard of the offending fighter and smashed a fist into his side. As the combatant collapsed in agony from the kidney shot, Alex quickly retreated while dodging and countering the flurry of blows aimed at him.

This trend continued for more than a minute, Alex retreating between machines, using them to block off the majority of the rabid group, while systematically taking them down with debilitating hits as quickly as possible. Somehow though, unless he actually knocked them out, the members of the mob kept getting back up from what should have been excruciating pain.

Finally, knocking out the last fighter, Alex looked up to see Brandon approach him with a manic gleam in his eye. As he stepped over the half dozen or so of his cronies, he didn't even spare a glance at his fallen comrades, before picking a fallen barbell off the floor. Seeing this, Alex's eyes widened, Brandon had definitely raised the stakes.

The barbell alone weighed about 20 kilograms and certainly counted as a lethal weapon, a solid blow from the iron staff had the potential to cause grave injury or even death. Alex felt a distinct chill go down his spine, even with his many fights; this was his first encounter with a possible life or death situation. What worried him more wasn't the fact that he was afraid, that was normal, it was the fact that his body was bursting with energy at the prospect of a death match.

With a quick glance about, Alex swiftly surveyed his immediate surroundings, noting the absence of any potential weapons. This meant that Brandon retained the advantage his weapon brought, that of range and destructive capability. On the bright side, as long as he stayed among the exercise machines, Brandon would be unable to use his staff to its full potential, as he would be restricted to jabs without the more destructive swings. Had he been able to swing the barbell with impunity, Alex would have had much greater difficulty deflecting and dodging the heavy blows.

As Brandon stalked forward, Alex took on a side stance in order to minimize his profile and targetable area. His hope was to either grasp the barbell during Brandon's jabs or deflect the staff before grappling with Brandon. Brandon may have been physically larger than him, but Alex didn't lose out in strength and certainly not in skill. Brandon began carefully probing Alex's defenses with light and quick jabs, which Alex reflexively deflected and dodged.

Seconds passed into minutes as their stalemate continued, Brandon unable to land a decisive strike and Alex stuck out of range to initiate his own. It was with split second timing that disaster struck, as Alex stepped backwards to avoid one of Brandon's more vicious strikes, one of the prone semi-conscious cronies managed to snag the cuff of Alex's baggy pants, making him lose his balance for an instant.

Brandon immediately took advantage of the mishap, rushing forward with a maniacal cry while thrusting the iron barbell brutally into Alex's torso. Had he maintained his balance, Alex could have eliminated any potential damage by dodging or deflecting the blow, but he was off-balance so the savage lunge impacted him straight on and there was little he could do besides attempt to minimize the damage.

Falling over backward while desperately clasping the iron staff, a flare of pain went through Alex's body as Brandon attempted to grind the barbell into his torso. With little leverage and Brandon standing hunched over his supine body, Alex knew he was in a predicament. With a strength he didn't know he had, Alex managed to wrestle the barbell off his body and into the ground, over the burning pain radiating from his ribs. Immediately after, Alex snapped a kick upwards between Brandon's wide-spread legs impacting with an audible crunch. With an agonized scream, Brandon collapsed at Alex's feet, clutching his ravaged gonads.

As Alex lay on his back, exhausted by the fight, he heard rapidly approaching sirens, before a pair of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and a small army of police officers burst through the gym doors, the gym staff who had been standing along the sidelines, quickly rushed forward to greet the emergency personnel and talk in muffled tones while gesturing towards our supine figures.

The rest of the time was occupied by a rush of questions from both the police officers and EMTs, before Alex was loaded up onto the first ambulance and rushed to the hospital. There he was examined by a balding but springy doctor, who sent him off for an X-ray before surprisingly concluding that he had only suffered a few bruised ribs, along with a few other minor bruises and scrapes. The kind demeanoured doctor was shocked to hear about the incident surrounding his injuries and was especially surprised to hear that Alex had taken on more than half a dozen thugs without sustaining serious injury.

The visit would have been quite pleasant for Alex had the doctor not mentioned his unique eyes and his wish to study them. Upon hearing that, Alex quickly excused himself before grabbing his prescription for some painkillers and receiving a warning to abstain from strenuous activity.

Immediately outside the examination room, Alex was greeted by the sight of a tall Amazonian police woman who was clearly waiting for him. Closing the distance between them, he had to look up to meet her piercing ocean blue eyes, which peered unerringly into his own lavender orbs. She had striking features bearing a stern expression, with medium-length dark brown hair that was braided and draped forward over her shoulder. Her physique was well-muscled yet undeniably feminine, framed by a generous bust and constricted by her blue police officer's uniform. Even clad in drab utilitarian police attire, she was a statuesque beauty.

"Are you Alexander Lee? My name is Officer Julia Smith and I'm here to follow-up on your case."

Giving her a terse nod, the Amazonian woman gestured for Alex to follow her. "The witnesses concur with your story and judging from the injuries sustained, no charges should be brought against you. Do you however, wish to press charges against your assailants?" Pondering for a moment as they walked towards the pharmacy, Alex asked, "Do you think that anything will come of my pressing charges?"

With an audible sigh, Officer Julia said, "You seem like a decent enough kid, so off the record, I don't think anything will happen, though it can't hurt to at least file a report to document the assault. This kid Brandon Miller and his group have pretty powerful parents, and there have been other cases which have been swept under the rug. I don't want to influence your decision, but chances are that any charges you press will disappear."

Nodding slowly to himself, Alex gave Officer Julia one of his all-too-rare genuine smiles as he thanked her. "Let me think about it for a while, before I confirm any further action. Is there anything further you require me for?"

Shaking her head, the dark haired officer patted Alex lightly on the shoulder before heading in the direction of the hospital entrance. Only once she was out of sight, did a massive blush cover her beautiful features as she thought to herself, 'Damn that boy has got one heartbreaker smile, those eyes were mesmerizing enough without that smile.' Musing quietly to herself once her blush became manageable; she hoped to get another chance to speak to him if he decided to come to the station.

Unknowing of the gorgeous police officer's thoughts about him, Alex continued onto the pharmacy to collect his medications. Having already spent more than an hour just waiting for the doctor, Alex was again forced to wait to collect his painkillers, before going off to pay for his visit. Fortunately his scholarship included medical coverage, so he didn't need to inform his aunts about the hospital visit, which would have needlessly worried them. Thankfully, when the police had asked for his guardians' contact details to notify them about the incident, he had given his father's phone number, which they had been unable to get through. Given that he wasn't seriously injured, no further attempt was made to inform his guardians.

It never occurred to Alex that the hospital seemed more full than usual, or that his visit had lasted a lot longer than normal due to the longer waiting times, not many seemed to notice the increase in frequency of fights and injuries occurring worldwide and even those dismissed it as post-disaster hysteria.

How wrong they were.

-----

It was late afternoon when Alex finally exited the hospital, since his apartment was much closer by than the university club offices, he decided to forego his last few errands in favor of returning home to rest. He still had his aunts' gifts with him, miraculously unscathed in the earlier melee and subsequent hospital visit, so his only essential chore had already been completed.

Strolling back in the cool afternoon air, Alex couldn't help but feel a prickling sensation along his neck despite the innocuous atmosphere. Feeling uncomfortably exposed without knowing why, Alex picked up the pace and quickly reached his apartment. Inside, he caught a group of his female neighbors just leaving. He wasn't close to any of them but he couldn't help but feel some responsibility to impart his misgivings.

"Hey Emily, erm... I know this sounds a bit weird, but I'd advise you to stay home tonight." He told the extremely cute ginger, only to receive a quizzical look in reply.

"We're just going to the university 'Disaster' celebration...you want to come with?"

"No... thanks for the invitation but I've got a really bad feeling about tonight," Alex replied, surprised to receive an invitation from the girl. The girls of his apartment building tended to avoid him and this was the first time he'd been invited. The four girls exchanged uneasy glances with each other, something about the earnestness with which he spoke and the glimmer in his pale purple eyes really unsettled them.

The bleach blond of the group just sneered at Alex, an ugly expression marring her usually quite pretty features. "Superstitious and a shut-in? No wonder you never seem to have any friends. Come on girls, we just survived disaster so let's party and prove that we're alive!"

Her sentiment wasn't shared by two of the other girls, Emily shared a look with the beautiful black haired Latino of the group before saying, "Rachel, I think you and Pat can go ahead. Leira and I forgot about an errand we have to do."

"What? Don't tell me you've let this emo get to you? Whatever, your loss, you'll be missing out on a great party." With a last disgruntled look at Alex, the two blondes stomped off down the stairs.

Feeling like he had absolved himself of responsibility, Alex nodded to his apartment mates, before unlocking his apartment door and entering his apartment. He never saw the intense looks the pixie-haired redhead and the curvaceous Hispanic were giving him, as he locked the door behind him.

Laying his gifts carefully on the table, he looked around his painfully neat room before plopping down on his bed. His eventful excursion had exhausted him and he was ready for a long nap. Setting his alarm for half an hour before his bus ride, he closed his eyes and was instantly claimed by sleep.

-----

He awoke to terrified screams and the sounds of wood splintering. As adrenaline jolted through his system, Alex was jolted awake. He wasn't usually a morning person, but his numerous camping trips and some unorthodox martial arts training, had trained him to be instantly awake at any sign of danger.

Scanning the room for threats, he tried to pinpoint the source of the noise which had awoken him. Another terrified scream pierced the air, sounding like it came from the room opposite his, Emily's apartment. Rushing to the door in spite of any potential danger, Alex snatched up his camping/hunting knife, a full ten inches long and sharp enough to shave with. Bursting out of his apartment to the sound of smashing wood, Alex was greeted by a horrendous sight.

Something was hunched before the door of Emily's apartment and had just finished breaking down the solid oak door. The creature was covered in a fine down of fur, matted with blood and clad in the ripped vestige of a red satin dress. Spinning around, the beast revealed itself to be a full 7 feet tall, even hunched over, and looked somewhat like an anthromorphic wolf though with a disquietingly feminine face and figure, framed by an enormous heaving bosom. Blood dripped from its claws and Emily's shivering form, holding a splintered and bloodied broom, could be glimpsed behind the macabre figure. With a snarl, the humanoid beast leapt toward Alex and only his honed reflexes saved him from getting decapitated by a swipe from the monster's over-sized claws. Instinctively whipping his hunting knife across the beast's arm while dodging, caused the beast to leap backwards at the sudden pain. Both figures' gaze were drawn to the thin line of blood welling from the cut and just for a moment, Alex hoped that the creature would be discouraged from attacking, before the beast pounced forward once again. A startling quick streak of brown and blond fur impacted Alex's left shoulder, unfortunately the same side as his injured ribs, as he desperately dodged aside.

Alex suppressed a grimace of pain, the narrow corridor of the apartment restricted the amount of space he had to dodge, and Emily was clearly frozen in terror and thus of no help. Spinning to reduce the force of impact, Alex was able to escape the rush of the monster, which promptly smashed into the wall, creating a sizable dent in the concrete surface.

While the beast seemed dazed from its impact with the wall, Alex dived forward to drive his knife deep into the neck of the creature, focusing all of his body weight and strength into the savage blow. Faster than he could believe, the beast spun around and backhanded Alex with much of its considerable strength, sending him flying through the doorway into Emily's apartment, fortuitously landing him on the futon laid out on the floor. Unfortunately, the blow itself had cracked his previously bruised ribs as well as fractured much of his left shoulder, rendering half of his upper body useless.

Emily was finally knocked out of her reverie by the passage of the flying missile that was her neighbor, narrowly missing her. Swiftly backpedalling towards the once again supine Alex, she quickly looked him over while throwing glances over her shoulder at the twitching prone bestial figure. After backhanding Alex, it had collapsed on the floor surrounded by a rapidly expanding pool of blood.

Helping Alex sit up and then supporting him as he stood, they ambled together towards the beastly presence, before stopping a good distance away. Up close and no longer fearing for his life, the feminine features of the beast seemed to taunt him with recognition before he placed them. The beast had a startling resemblance to the bleached blond Rachel, if she grew a few feet and put on a few hundred pounds of muscle along with fur, claws and fangs.