Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Extortion
"Wait! Isn’t that Noah? It is you isn’t it? What happened to you?"
Noah’s body tensed at the sound of the familiar voice , his pupils hurriedly searched for the source, hoping it wasn’t her.
But alas, it was Regina, the girl who triggered his parents abusive change when he was a child. The very sa person who he was sure was the orchestrator behind the "thugs" unrevoked appearances.
Regina happened to catch the mont Noah’s body language changed, and a sinister smile crept across her lips. Despite the two threatening creatures at his side and his new imposing presence, she grew confident in her ability to still manipulate him, a reminder of the power she held over him in the past and present.
"Why do you need to know?" In spite of her confidence, she was mistaken. He had to hold back the urge, and that urge was to strangle her then and there. Every encounter when a "gang" would "randomly" show up, his hatred for the woman grew. But he needed to control himself; he had recently taken a life, one who probably didn’t deserve it. He refused to believe he was becoming a cold-blooded killer. At least he hoped he wasn’t.
To avoid dealing with Regina, he directed his attention towards the others who were closely observing their interaction.
"So you probably got your answer now, right? How about you worry about the situation behind you, or do we still have a problem?" Noah questioned them in a way that made it appear as if he was in a hurry.
"! What? You still hav-"
"Elroy, enough!" Lucas interrupted, aiming to redirect everyone’s attention to the threat at hand. "It’s true, we need to focus on the zombies behind us. I don’t think anything we put in front of the door will hold ’it’ back, and we still have to worry about the zombies alongside it. Barricade the door, and then we can make our way to the gymnasium. With more people, I’m sure we can take that thing out."
"Sigh...fine, Lucas..."
As the others scrambled to find objects to barricade the door, the sound of banging grew louder from the other side. Amidst the chaos, two figures remained still, their attention fixed on Noah. One was Lucas, who had questioned Noah, while the other was Regina.
But Noah wasn’t paying attention to her, or at least he wasn’t trying to, but the irritating stare she was giving him was starting to grate on his nerves, making it impossible to have cordial conversation.
"Well? What else do you want?" He snapped, his patience wearing thin.
"What? Why does it sound like you’re trying to pick a fight with us?" Lucas shot back. "You should’ve heard us just now, but there are tons of zombies trying to get through at this very mont! and then there’s another..."
His expression turned solemn as he thought about the monster approaching.
"We need your help; you’re in the sa situation as us, so why don’t you fight with us? You seem to be pretty confident in yourself, but believe ... what’s out there isn’t sothing you alone can handle. Trust , you’re not the only one confident in themselves."
With that said, a fierce glint illuminated in his eyes that turned golden, while his pupils elongated into long vertical slits. Simultaneously, his hair, including the strands visible on his arms, began to sprout, thickening until it fully covered his skin, creating a wild, primal aura around him, before his transformation could go any further he reverted back to its original state.
’Oh!’ The show of ’strength’ surprised Noah, which clearly showed on his face. The expression Noah showed satisfied Lucas, thinking he got his point across until he heard Noah reply.
"But I don’t need you, honestly, you have so gall, bringing them here and then saying that crap to . The only reason I’m in the sa position as you is because you put
in it. Just hurry up and finish what you need to do and go on, I was fine before your group barged in."
"....." The silence that followed was thick with tension, leaving both Lucas and Regina at a loss for words. Regina’s eyes narrowed as she struggled to process Noah’s unexpected response, for she was still unable to adjust to Noah’s newfound assertiveness.
"Lucas! We did what we could! We think that should be enough to buy ti. Let’s head over with everyone else." urged one of Lucas’s companions, breaking the uncomfortable silence and redirecting their focus.
Lucas turned to see Leroy returning, his gaze sweeping over the barricade they had hastily constructed. It seed sturdy enough to withstand the onslaught, at least for the ti being. Although doubts lingered in his mind towards the runners, especially regarding the monstrosity that was behind the attack.
His eyes briefly glazed over when he thought about the identity of the monster. However, the increasing banging noise snapped him back to the present.
"Co on everyone, we don’t have much ti!" Lucas directed everyone to the back, but not without giving Noah one last look and parting words.
"Pride kills, but I’ll be sure to rember your na." His words caused Noah to laugh, though not for the reasons they suspected.
Confusion clouded the group as they encountered the foreign substance blocking the doorway. "Wh-what? What is this? This is the way to get to the other side right?"
"Urgh! I think it’s webs! Look! weapon is stuck, I can’t get it out."
"Webs?" The word hung in the air, realization dawning on the group.
Lucas turned, suspicion in his eyes, eliciting everyone else to follow his line of sight as they looked to the most likely source behind the webs. All gazes settled on Noah, watching them while he smiled in amusent.
"Did you do this?" LeRoy spoke out loudly, his clear frustration unrestrained. At this point, even if Noah said he didn’t do it, Lucas wouldn’t believe it. Though whether or not Lucas believed him didn’t matter to Noah. He considered himself a lot of things, but being a liar wasn’t one of them.
"Yeah it was , what can I say? You guys just ca at a bad ti-"
"Well take them down then! Or should we make you?" Lucas interrupted, his eyes blazing with a declaration for violence.
"Yeah! We don’t want to die with you!"
The rest of the group started to chant loudly. Soon the smile Noah wore turned into laughter, leaving the group confused and angry.
"I don’t think this is funny..." Lucas spoke up, his expression showing his annoyance and sothing darker, his eyes slowly flickering back to their primal form from earlier.
"You act like we really need you, but rember this mont, you’ll definitely regret this soon...ugh!" Lucas grunted softly, his body began to go through a frightened transformation. Starting with his body hair that started to spread throughout his body, the parts that were uncovered sprouted more hair. His muscle mass began to grow while his face gradually started to change features. The mouth and nose stretched out from his face to form a snout, while his hair quickly erged from his skin, covering the rest.
Noah watched as the change unfolded, noting the speed with which Lucas adapted to his werewolf form compared to Derrick’s. This man clearly was used to using the skill. If Lucas was average height before, standing around 5’11
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