Lucas jolted awake to the sound of crunching.
Slow, wet, deliberate.
He didn't move at first, just listened. His back ached. His ribs still screamed from the last beating. The rotten tree trunk he slept in offered no comfort.
Crunch. Crack. Slurp.
Something out there was eating.
He slowly peeked out of the hollowed bark.
Three creatures hunched over a pile of bones. Thin, pale skin clung to their jagged skeletons. Long claws dug deep into half-eaten flesh. Not human. Not an animal. Something worse.
Then a twig cracked under his knee.
Three heads snapped up.
Their red eyes locked onto him.
A long, still silence.
Then they pounced.
He turned and ran.
No scream. No breath wasted. Just instinct.
Behind him came claws slashing into stone. Bark exploded. A hiss, too close. One of them leapt onto a rooftop and dropped in front of him.
Lucas darted to the side.
Another one clipped his back, ripping fabric and skin.
He didn't stop.
Blood poured down his side as he vaulted over a rusted pipe, ducked into an old drain, and slid down a collapsed tunnel.
The creatures skidded to a halt. Hissed again.
And backed away.
Lucas coughed, spat blood, and curled up.
Still alive... barely.
He pressed his back to the wall, hands shaking.
He stayed there. For what felt like hours.
When his body could move again, he crawled deeper.
Eventually, he surfaced in one of the Mid-Ward alleys.
Cleaner. Richer. More dangerous.
He knew he didn't belong here.
But he was starving.
So when he saw a bread stall left unattended near the market's edge, he lunged.
He grabbed one roll and ran.
"THIEF!" someone screamed.
A baton slammed across his back. He hit the ground. Boots stomped down. Voices yelled. He didn't remember how many hits.
He woke up in a cage.
Iron bars. Too small for even a dog.
A speaker boomed somewhere nearby:
"Today's civic lesson: know your place!"
Lucas's head throbbed.
Children were caged beside him. All dirty. All scared.
A metal gate creaked.
A guard yanked Lucas by the arm and dragged him out.
He was thrown into a pit.
Above, dozens of clean, well-dressed people jeered and laughed.
A loudspeaker voice rang out again:
"Let's see how our street pest performs in the arena!"
The opposite gate opened.
Out crawled a creature, the same kind that chased him before, only smaller.
Younger.
But still hungry.
Lucas's heart pounded.
He looked around, no weapons.
Just rock and dirt.
The crowd chanted.
The beast circled.
Then lunged.
Lucas dove aside, grabbing a piece of jagged stone.
It scratched him. He didn't care.
He turned as the creature struck again and jammed the rock into its shoulder.
It shrieked.
The crowd howled with laughter.
The beast retaliated with a claw swipe to the ribs. Lucas flew back, coughing blood.
He staggered to his feet.
It pounced again he dodged left.
But he was too slow.
The creature grabbed his leg and bit down.
Hard.
Lucas screamed.
The world blurred.
He kicked, punched, and did everything he could to make it stop.
The beast climbed on him.
Its claws pierced his chest.
Then its jaws closed around his throat.
The pain wasn't sudden.
It was slow.
Burning.
He felt everything, the tearing, the ripping, the warm spray of his blood filling the pit.
The crowd cheered.
Some even clapped.
And Lucas… couldn't fight anymore.
The last thing he heard was the beast gnawing through his voice box, and then everything went black.
He had died again.