My Werewolf System

Chapter 1: An Obsession.

“Hey Gary, get your butt over here and check out the highlights from yesterday’s Altered fight!” A boy yelled from his class seat. The sound of the school bell rang out through the halls, signaling it was time for lunch. Immediately opening his drawer from under his desk, the boy pulled out an object. However, it wasn’t a packed lunch like one would expect, instead the boy had taken out a tablet and put it on the table, propping it up, tilting it so he could comfortably watch the video. The immediate destination, PouTube, the number one video sharing platform. Soon there was a crowd of classmates around him. All with their eyes glued to the screen.“If you’re not here in five seconds, I’m starting the video without you,” Tom warned. Looking over at his friend he saw Gary focused on playing with something under his desk.

He could see Gary was moving his knees up and down, and he had made sure to cover his actions from the eyes of others. Tom was starting to think his friend was doing something that could get him in serious trouble. ‘Bro. we’re in the middle of class, come on! At least go to the bathroom if you’re that desperate,’ Tom thought.

“Just give me a sec, okay?!” Gary shouted back. “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?” Underneath his own desk, Gary was staring at his phone. He had received a message and wasn’t sure how to reply. It was already the fifth time he had typed out his response, but ended up deleting it because it seemed insufficient.

[Be there this evening at 6.] The message read.

*Duuuuun nun, dun, dun na na!*

With the sound of the opening theme song playing, Gary understood they had really started without him. He had given up coming up with a proper type of response, and in his haste, he wrote one letter. K.

***

“K? … K?! Who does this kid think he is?!” A man shouted in frustration as he received the message on his end.

***

Meanwhile, Gary had gotten over to the others by shoving his way through the crowd, allowing him to stand directly behind his friend Tom. Just in time, for the fight was about to begin.

Two men stood opposite each other in nothing but tight shorts. Their abs and muscles on full display. Proud of all the hard work they had put in for the fight this day.

In one corner, weighing in at 200 pounds, undefeated for 13 fights in a row, stood Kirk Summerfield. A man with a small goatee beard and black spiked up hair, short on the sides.

His opponent, weighing in at 190 pounds, similarly with a win record of 10 straight wins, was Sam Dillpickle. He was a shorter bald-headed man with a creepy smile.

“Hey, don’t you think these two look a bit like Tom and Gary?” one of the students suddenly mentioned.

“Holy crap, you are right! They totally look like those two!” 

The students in the crowd laughed together at this discovery. Everyone, but Tom and Gary themselves. Unfortunately, it was hard to deny the similarities between the two friends and the fighters.

Although Gary didn’t have facial hair, even though he was sixteen, he never could grow a single hair on his face, body, chest or legs. He was hairless.

It was the genes that some women wished they had. Although he did have hair in one area, he promised and made sure everyone knew that.

It was an incident many of his male classmates wished to forget. Having been teased so much about it, he decided to show everyone proof. Of course, flashing your fellow classmates wasn’t the best way to prove it, and it had cost him a week’s worth of detention.

At least he made sure it was during the males P.E class; otherwise, it could have been worse.

Still, he did have the same hairstyle as the first introduced fighter, only that his hair was green in colour. It wasn’t his natural hair colour, but a decision he had made over the summer. Everyone was initially surprised when he had come to class looking like that, but at the same time it wasn’t that strange for Gary to do something crazy like that. He already had a reputation of always doing crazy, absurd things.

As for Gary’s best friend, Tom, he looked like the spitting image of the other man in the video. His hair wasn’t exactly bald, but he always got a number one when going to the barber.

When Gary asked him about his choice of hairstyle, his friend had explained how it was low maintenance to keep it like that. That was pretty much his motto in life. He liked things like computers, games, TV shows and books. Things that couldn’t talk back to him.

Tom hated interacting with people so much that he refused to go to anything but the self-service scanner at supermarkets. The idea that someone would try to make conversation with him about something he didn’t like was enough to send shivers down his spine.

Given their complete differences in character, it was odd that these two boys had become friends in the first place, but it had somehow worked out.

While their classmates were all busy laughing away, the fight had started.

As soon as the bell had rung, the appearance of both men in the ring had started to slightly change.

“Ladies and Gentleman, it looks like our Altereds are starting off full throttle right from the bat!” the announcer for this match hyped up the crowd.

The most notable changes in Kirk were his grown nails as well as his skin color which had slightly yellowed. Going up and down his arm, black spots started to appear, and small patches of fur showed up on his face

On the other side, Sam’s cheeks had puffed up, and his legs appeared to be slightly webbed after his change.

“As you can see, Kirk is an Altered based on a cheetah-like beast, while his opponent Sam is based on a frog type. It’s going to be an interesting match up if I do say so myself!” The announcer shouted.

The transformations took less than a second, and the first one to make a move was Sam. He whipped out his toad-like tongue and grabbed onto Kirk’s forearm.

The look on Kirk’s face just screamed ‘DISGUSTING!’. He tensed up his arm, making his huge biceps from before grow even larger in size. The veins were visible, practically bulging out, and with a single slash, he managed to cut off the tongue of his opponent.

“Yes!” Gary shouted. “Come on, Kirk!”

Speeding across the small cage, he ran faster than any natural human should be able to. At the same time, Sam had leaped up, jumping higher than any normal person could thanks to his frog powered legs. Alas, it just wasn’t quick enough. Kirk managed to grab him by the leg before he slammed the opponent to the ground.

It didn’t take long for the referee to declare Kirk to be the winner of this match and also the winner of this Altered fighter’s rookie tournament.

What the kids and everyone was watching was known as an Altered match. It was currently the most popular combat sport globally, mostly because they featured a new breed of humans called the Altered, although some argued whether they could even be called humans anymore.

Humans had discovered ancient fossils that belonged to the ancient beasts that used to roam the earth. They were undoubtedly the progenitors of today’s animals, only fiercer, larger and more powerful.

In the end, a scientist had made a major breakthrough and discovered a way to alter humans, which would allow him to inject the fossil’s DNA into a human, thereby creating what people now knew as an Altered.

These ‘special humans’ possessed the ability to shift their appearance, changing parts of their body to mimic the beasts they had been infused with. They were stronger, faster and even aged slower than normal humans. If one was ever struck with a disease, it could change the human composition to the point where it felt like a new body, ridding it of such a thing.

But not everyone could become an Altered. The fossils discovered were limited in number and although every so often new fossils would be unearthed, until science found a way to artificially recreate them they were valued at absurd prices. Only the rich and powerful could afford to turn themselves into an Altered.

Even the contestants they were watching right now, had only received this opportunity because they were sponsored by some big corporations.

Nearly every boy looked up to the Altered. In a way, they were like real-life superheroes. But the two biggest fans in the room were undoubtedly Tom and Gary. They were the ones who had gotten everyone hooked on the sport in the first place.

It was normal for people to wish to one day become an Altered and it was the same for these two. Only the reason for them wanting to become one differed greatly.

“A big round of applause for our winner, Kirk Summerfield!!!” the announcer called out the end of the show.

When a beautiful female came on to the stage to deliver the large check for 10 million dollars, Gary’s eyes practically turned into dollar signs. The young boy was obsessed with money, and watching the Altered fight, especially the large check, he couldn’t think of an easier way to quickly become rich and famous.

Ironically, it would be this obsession with money that would soon enough take him down a dark path. A path which he wouldn’t be able to turn back from.

Chapter 2: The Game Of Rugby

A loud piercing sound entered the ears of the students as the whistle was blown. It served as a reminder to everyone out on the school field that it was time for their daily warm-up, meaning they had to run two big laps around the school field.

School lessons may have ended, but that didn’t mean it was the end of the school day.

Staring off into the distance, Gary watched the large clock placed on the front of the school building. He was squinting hard, trying to make out where the two hands were on the dial, not because the clock was too small, but because his eyesight had gotten terrible.

Still, Gary had always refused to wear glasses. He felt like if he did, it was only admitting to himself that he had bad eyesight. He was afraid that it would only deteriorate quicker if he gave in, and it would prove that he had bad genes. Something Altered , did not have.

After placing his hands by the side of his head, he pulled slightly, narrowing his field of vision, allowing him to focus in. A technique he had learned when trying to see the screen at the back of the class.

‘Three-thirty, I still have a lot of time left.’

“Get a move on, broccoli head, unless you want my size twelve feet in your backside!” Mr Root shouted. He was a large man who towered not only above the students but also all the other adults.

His last name was very fitting for a man like himself. If Gary didn’t know any better, he would have sworn that his teacher’s genes must have been mixed in with some giant ancient tree. He was that large and sturdy.

Not wanting to anger his teacher further, he joined the rest trodding along at the back of the class. There he ran side by side with his friend Tom, who was huffing and panting away.

“Why…do…they…want…to…kill…me?” Each time he uttered a word, he had to take a deep breath before being able to say the next.

“Did you know that it’s easier to breathe if you don’t speak and run at the same time?” Gary pointed out. He was doing just fine and could have passed his friend, yet he still chose to stay at the back.

It was the same every day, and it didn’t go unnoticed by Tom. He was aware that Gary was staying behind because of him.

In the end, Tom decided to give up keeping up with the rest of the class and started to slow down his pace. “That’s better. According to the internet, when you’re jogging, you should jog at a pace where you can still talk to each other.”

“Yeah…but I don’t think they meant this.” The two of them were now moving so slow that they were practically walking. Trying to make their loss of tempo less obvious they were swinging their arms backwards and forwards, imitating those running in front of them.

Unfortunately, this didn’t get past Mr Root, and the rest of the students were now busy waiting for them.

“Just get over here, you vegetables!” he commanded.

Once the students were all lined up Mr Root placed a rugby ball on the ground right in front of himself. Out of the lineup, he selected the largest student named Blake.

He was the pride of their class. The type that was too good to be true and usually only appeared in movies as the main character. However, this wasn’t a movie,and he was right in front of his fellow students.

Blake had golden tanned skin, with wavy brown hair that had just the right amount of curls. To top it off, his body was that of a naturally lean muscle builder, seemingly designed to excel in sports.

“You know, they say ten percent of the boys match with ninety percent of the girls,” Tom whispered to Gary while looking at Blake. “On Binder I mean. Not that I’ve used that app myself. Seriously, what’s the point when I know nobody would swipe for me. That’s why I go on the app,just to swipe the other direction. That way I’ve rejected all of them before they could ever reject me.”

“I thought you just said you didn’t use the app?”

Looking at his buddy, and then looking at himself, Gary was a little disheartened. It wasn’t because someone like Blake must have girls lining up to be his girlfriend. No, it was because people like him were the perfect candidates to be chosen to become an Altered. As long as there were people like Blake in the world, how would he ever get selected?

“I won’t mince words. We all know that Blake here is the best on our team. Too bad for you lot, that there are hundreds of Blakes out there on other teams as well.” Mr Root gave his very ‘motivating’ pep talk… “What this team lacks is a good line of defence. People who can tackle. We’re here to find our tacklers.”

The aim of today’s training was to try to either A) get the ball off of Blake while he was running towards you, stopping him from reaching the white try line, or B) tackle him to the ground.

After watching the first few students attempt and fail, it became clear that it was an impossible task. Eventually, it was time for Gary to have his go at it.

Mr Root didn’t really have any high hopes for Gary, but according to school regulations everyone deserved an equal chance.

The whistle was blown, and Blake started bulldozing his way towards him, gripping onto the ball tightly as if it was a newborn baby.

‘Hey, hey, can’t you go easy on me?’

‘Seeing the tight grip on the ball, my weak small hands aren’t ever going to be able to rip it off him. The only thing I can do then… is go for a tackle.’

Charging forward, Gary summoned the will to face Blake. If there was one strong point making Gary stand out from the rest then it would be his lacking sense of fear, something even Mr Root had to admire.

When they were closing in on each other, Gary bent his knees slightly getting into a lower position. Although it may have looked like he wasn’t paying attention to others, Gary had picked up on multiple details and habits.

‘Whenever, Blake feints, he does so with his right foot first. The extra weight can be seen shifting in his body to that side. The grass field is soft today, and his feet are sinking deeper than usual. All of this is done so he can push himself forward, spinning his body over to the right side.’

Knowing all of this, Gary went along with his feint, aiming to go in for the tackle, but stopped at the last second, and went to his own right. Just like he had predicted, all of these little details had Blake’s plan of spinning around to avoid the tackle, but Gary knew where he would end up.

Going low, he saw the legs and was ready… only to see Blake’s colossal knee slam towards his face and wack him right on the nose, followed by a loud crack that even the onlookers might have heard.

Blood started to pour down in an instant, and Gary laid there on the cold grass field.

‘Sh*t. So what if I’ve figured out where he would go? It’s not like I have the body to do anything about it.’

From the years of watching Altered fights, Gary was great at picking up habits and seeing the way people’s bodies moved before they did. He would see through patterns that maybe even the person themselves wouldn’t realise they have.

Alas, it was all useless.

“Hey man, I’m so sorry. Are you alright? Let me take you to the doctor.” Blake said as he helped Gary off the ground to see if his nose was okay.

Touching his nose lightly, blood started to gush down even more. “I think it’s broken,” Gary said more to himself.

“Oh, man, I’m so sorry. Let me take you to my family’s clinic. I’m gonna tell them what happened, so they won’t charge you.”

The worst thing about Blake in Gary and Tom’s collective minds was that despite being so popular and seemingly having been handed everything in life, he was actually a nice guy. At least in the movies or TV shows, someone who was this perfect would have a bad side and act arrogant, probably even bullying the geek in class, but in real life that wasn’t the case at all.

No one hated Blake, everyone loved his gentle soft side. Including Gary and Tom, who were merely jealous.

“Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t your fault.” Gary muttered under his breath as he walked off to be with Tom on the side. “It was my fault for trying anyway.”

Walking past, Blake had heard Gary’s word. Out of everyone who had tried to tackle him today, Gary was the only one that had managed to predict where he would be going. This classmate of his obviously had talent, and Blake wanted to tell him that, but he had already gone off to the side with Tom, who was accompanying him to the nurse’s office.

“You should have seen your head fly back!” Tom teased his friend, all excited. “You know when you came back from the summer holiday, with your head all dyed green and that? I thought you had changed, but turns out you’re just the same idiot as always.”

Usually, the two would laugh about something like this, but it seemed like today, Gary wasn’t in the mood to be joking around. He didn’t respond at all to his buddy’s little whims.

“Why do they even make us do this sport, anyway? Oh, that’s right, because our country has an obesity crisis. So they made it mandatory for every student to take part in a sports club every day, so we don’t turn out into pigs like most of the adults who came with that stupid idea,” Tom continued, but this didn’t get a response out of Gary either.

“Hey, so how’s your sister doing?” Tom asked, trying to change the subject.

“You can’t date her,” Gary replied instantly, still holding pieces of tissue up his nose.

“What, I didn’t mean it like that. Although she is growing up to be quite the beauty. I can already picture it, in a couple of years, she’ll be embarrassed to be hanging around with her big brother. She won’t be like she is now. You should treasure these days.”

A picture started to form in Tom’s mind, of a slim curvy girl with short brown hair and perfect shaped large eyes. Only his vision was slightly altered in a particular area. Instead of melons, they were the size of watermelons.

“I know,” Gary sighed in defeat, aware that soon enough he might have to fight off his sister’s suitors.

After visiting the nurse’s office to have his nose looked at, she informed him of what he had already guessed himself. His nose was indeed broken. The nurse recommended he visit the hospital if he didn’t want it to remain crooked like that. It was possible to do a surgery to fix it later on as well, but it would be easier to do it before it healed crooked.

That’s when he noticed the time, and Gary rushed out of the room.

“Thank you, I’ll promise to have it looked at!” he called back.

But he wasn’t rushing off to the doctors. Instead, he was running back home.

Leaving school, he rushed outside the gate and started running as fast as possible to get back home. They lived in a small town , so it was quicker for him to run rather than get the bus. Not to mention, there was another reason why he wanted to avoid using the bus. He didn’t really want to spend any money on it, especially since he could be back home within ten minutes if he hurried.

Litter filled the streets of his neighbourhood and there were patches of graffiti near the apartment blocks. He was aware that their area wasn’t the greatest compared to others.

It was by no means the worst place to live in, but it certainly wasn’t the best either. Eventually, he reached an apartment block. The buzzer attached to the side of the door had been broken a long time ago and had never been fixed, allowing anyone to come in as they pleased.

The only thing left was the gruelling task of walking up six flights of stairs. The apartments had no elevator, and their family was ‘lucky’ enough to be placed on the top floor.

Finally reaching the top, he felt like someone was reaching into his stomach and trying to pull out all his organs. He was huffing and panting louder than Tom had been out on the field.

He waited a minute to catch his breath before entering apartment 604.

“Welcome back, Darling.You’re just in time for dinner, although I’m gonna need a couple of minutes. Do you want me to leave it out for you tonight as well?!” His mum shouted from the kitchen.

“Yes, Mum. I’ll be going out with Tom tonight as well,” he shouted back, rushing into his bedroom.

Their apartment was relatively small, only consisting of two bedrooms and a kitchen that simultaneously was the dining area as well as the living room when not in use. It was all his family could afford and since there were only two bedrooms, it meant…

“Gary, what the hell happened to your nose?!” His sister, who had been lying on her bed, noticed her brother’s arrival. She was still in her school uniform and listening to some music on her phone. Just moments ago, she had been singing away until a certain someone had bulldozed into the room. 

“Amy, don’t worry about it, I’ve got to go,” Gary replied, as he quickly changed out of his school uniform and into something else. “And please don’t tell mum.”

That was right, the two of them shared rooms with each other. Even though he was sixteen and she was fifteen, only a year younger than himself. Of course, both of them kept this a secret from their friends. If people found out, they might spread rumours about them being some sort of a freakish family who got up to some strange things.

But it wasn’t like the siblings had much of a choice. Their family situation wasn’t the best, and they both knew that. They had never once complained about their situation to their mother, since the poor woman worked harder than everyone else to raise her teenage children to the best of her ability while working multiple jobs.

After changing clothes, Gary quickly rushed out of the apartment and was heading off. On his way, he would constantly look at his phone to check the time, and it was now five-thirty.

‘I made it, with even some time to spare as well.’

He had arrived outside a well-known nightclub. Above him a sign read ‘Basement’. It was in the town centre, and he wasn’t here to meet Tom. He had lied about that part.

‘I promise I will make our lives better,’ Gary thought as he walked through the doors.

Inside, there was a group of men in suits who greeted him. The only one sitting on one of the sofas was a man with a cigar in his hand at the back. Two more men stood close to him obviously acting as his personal bodyguards.

“I’ve been waiting for you, kid,” the man spoke with a smile as he let out a puff of smoke.

Gary had a deep, dark secret that he had been hiding from everybody. Not just his family, but his closest friends too. There was a reason for sudden change in his appearance over the summer.

Unbeknownst to them all, he had joined a gang.

Chapter 3