Untitled Monster Project Ch. 4 (Original Sci-Fi) (Patreon)

(Every character depicted in the story below is a consenting legal adult over the age of 18)

A/N: A bad guy perspective~

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“Where the hell are Steven and Kyle? Don’t tell me they got lost…”

Graham almost bites out a response about how little he cares about those two idiots but just barely manages to hold his tongue. He knows full well that if he did snap, he would come off looking worse from the exchange and he’s spent his entire life very, very aware of things like image and perception and reputation.

Those things were the lifeblood of people like them. The peons slaving away in the dirt almost certainly thought it was their money that made them powerful, but in reality, at a certain level money stopped mattering as much. They were wealthy because they were wealthy… and so was everyone else around them.

In such a situation, no amount of wealth would really protect one’s reputation. You could buy off poor people with ease, but you couldn’t buy off your peers. Not without spending things worth actual value anyways.

That makes this current situation all the more frustrating though. This little hunting trip was supposed to go perfectly. Graham had planned everything to a tee, or so he’d thought. And yet, everything seemed to be going off the rails.

It should have all been relatively simple. Pick up an inmate in the private prison his family owned, get them injected with the right serum to mutate them into a half-human, half-prey animal… and then hunt the results of that mutation until the damn thing was dead and they were triumphant.

The exact type of prey animal that the prisoner was supposed to mutate into wasn’t something Graham had cared to know. They were already making the whole hunt so much easier with high powered rifles and an entire fucking base camp filled with other tech, so adding a little mystery to things never hurt anyone.

… Or so he’d thought. Only, when they’d finally happened upon what could only be the transformation site a couple hours ago, they’d run into tracks that Graham had never seen before. If he didn’t know any better, he would say their prey had claws… that definitely wasn’t supposed to happen.

More annoyingly, the damn thing had gotten so confused that it had wandered in circles, making it all the more difficult to follow its tracks and hunt it down. In the end, after shutting down the naysayers, Graham had done what he did best… he’d taken charge, split everyone into groups, and continued the hunt.

It would have been extremely irritating if one of the other groups had caught their quarry first, so Graham had made sure to stack his group with those he knew he could rely on the most and even made it a four man squad for good measure.

… But it hadn’t mattered. They were all back at camp now for lunch and not a single one of the groups had seen even a glimpse of the mutation they were supposed to be hunting. Everyone had followed a trail, only for it to ultimately fade away and prove to be a dead end. Even his group had struck out.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the smallest hunting group hadn’t shown back up for lunch. Steven and Kyle, two pains in his ass that he’d been all too happy to send off on their own, were still out there somewhere. He wasn’t sure why. They’d all agreed to come back to base camp around this time for a midday meal, after all.

Had the two idiots really gotten lost out there? Graham didn’t want to believe it, but he also wouldn’t put it past either of them. The problem was, while he was all too happy to shun them and show them they were on his shit list… he also couldn’t let anything happen to them.

This whole outing was supposed to be about him developing closer relationships with all of the other heirs. Not to mention the careful and subtle manipulation of having him in charge and that in turn reflecting in their lives outside of this trip.

He was supposed to be the one true authority, but of course idiots like Steven and Kyle just had to question him. Like he didn’t know what was going on. Like they seriously thought that the mutation could prove some sort of threat to any of them.

It was fucking prey. And this entire island was cleansed of natural animal life to boot. There was no danger here. That was the whole damn point!

… None of them understood how hard he had it. Even Graham’s so-called peers didn’t have a clue how difficult life was for him. He was just as far above all of them as they were above the peons scrambling in the dirt, but of course they didn’t see it that way. They didn’t comprehend the sheer disparity between him and them.

Ultimately though, he recognized that he had to take back control of this situation. Even if it meant doing the one thing he hadn’t wanted to do… cheat. Sure, he knew this whole hunting trip was nothing but a masquerade to allow him to network with his peers, but as easy as the hunt was going to be, Graham had still wanted to do it fair and square. Or rather, as fair and square as possible.

But even though it was only a few hours into day one, he could already tell there would just be more cases of insubordination if he didn’t close out this damn hunt by the end of the day. He could even wind up with a full blown mutiny on his hand, especially if Steven and Kyle showed back up.

Graham couldn’t let that happen. And so, while the others are talking and eating and arguing about where their missing ‘friends’ are, he reaches under the table and presses a button on the inside of his watch. A moment later and a small map shows up in the corner of his vision for only him to see.

On that map, off to the corner, is a red blinking light… as the tracker embedded in the now mutated prisoner activates and begins broadcasting his real-time location.

With a grunt, Graham pushes away from the table and stands up, grabbing his rifle from where he’d sat it down next to himself.

“Enough. Forget those two losers. We’ll fish them out of whatever hole they’ve fallen into after we’ve finished the hunt. For now, let’s get back to it and catch ourselves a fucking monster.”

There’s some visible uncertainty on a few of the faces at the table at that, but Graham isn’t quite done yet.

“We’ll be moving as one group this time. Ten sets of eyes will help us find our quarry all the faster. And when we do… well, whoever manages to put a bullet in it first gets one favor from me.”

That gets their attention. After all, as previously mentioned wealth was rather meaningless at their level. They were all fucking rich at the end of the day. But favors? Now that was a currency with some oomph behind it. The nine other men all rise from their seats as well, grabbing their weapons and grinning hungrily.

Graham just grins back. Not like any of them were going to get the chance to shoot their prey before he could. After all, he was the only one of them who was going to know exactly where said prey was.

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Kal had a problem. Admittedly, he had a lot of problems at this point, too many to count. But this one was a relatively new problem… namely, he was getting hungry. It made sense. He’d basically been going all night and now more than half of the day. Moving fast, skulking through the treetops, killing unsuspecting bluebloods dead.

He’d worked up an appetite to say the least and the first beginnings of true hunger had presented themselves back after he’d taken that second one’s head clean off his shoulders.

It wasn’t until another hour or two later that he’d really started to feel it though. At which point, he’d started looking for a quick bite to eat only to come to some stark realizations.

Number One, he was an obligate carnivore in this new body. Every plant that he tried not only tasted disgusting but ultimately seemed to provide nothing in the way of nutrients for him. He’d spit it all out, in the end. At one point Kal had even found berries, only to find himself barely able to swallow them. They’d come back up within moments of him doing so too.

Number Two… there were no other animals on this island. Even the fucking insects had somehow been scoured clean. It was the sort of thing only bluebloods could possibly get away with. Take an entire fucking tropical island in the middle of the goddamn ocean and terraform it to your exact specifications. The sheer amount of money it would have cost would have been mind boggling if Kal didn’t have more important things to think about.

Unfortunately, with no other sources of meat around him, he was really only left with one option… and so he’d backtracked yet again, retracing his steps to where he’d killed Steven and the other one. Their bodies remained where he’d left them, aka under some brush that he’d covered them in to make at least a token effort of hiding them from anyone that might have come looking for them.

Even if they were bluebloods, or perhaps especially because they were bluebloods, Kal didn’t necessarily want to eat either of them. Sure, he might have lost his physical humanity, but he’d kept his mind. Taking this step… and yet, he could tell that this new body of his required a lot of calories to keep going like it was. He couldn’t afford to be weak, not if he was going to take the fight to the rest of his hunters and kill all of them too.

It was just like back in prison. Even if he hadn’t had much reason to live after his incarceration, Kal had found himself doing what he needed to do not to die all the same. That involved building himself up, using what little time he was afforded in the yard with the gym equipment and then continuing to exercise even once he was put back in his cell.

He’d eaten as much food as he could get his hands on each day, using the calories to bulk up. Before prison, he’d been underfed and scrawny. The perfect sort of target for the hardened criminals he’d been thrown into holding with. But after his first year, that had no longer been the case.

Now… well, now he had a body with more power than he knew what to do with, but that power came at the cost of obvious energy requirements he would have to fulfill. And so, even if he didn’t want to do it… down the hatch both Steven and the other blueblood went. What parts of them he could stomach, anyways. Turned out to be most of them though, in the end.

Even afterwards, he still wasn’t full, but at least he was feeling a lot better. Which is good, because no sooner has he finished cleaning up the remains of his meal then suddenly Kal hears the sound of his hunters on approach. All four of his eyes narrow as he immediately straightens up. They must have finally noticed that two of their number were missing and come to find them.

Unfortunately, Kal quickly counts out the footsteps and voices he’s hearing and realizes it’s all ten of them. That’s frustrating, because he’d definitely prefer to keep picking them off in small groups. Well, no matter. So long as he stays hidden, he can just wait until they get antsy and split up again.

At the same time, he can’t quite bring himself to leave. Instead, he moves in closer to shadow the group, wanting to hear what they’re saying.

“Hey, isn’t this the direction Steve and Kyle went in?”

“Was it? You know what… I think you’re right…”

“It doesn’t matter. If we run across them, fine. But remember, we’re out here hunting our target.”

That last comment definitely comes from Graham. Kal’s eyes narrow as he remains in his hiding spot, up in the boughs of one of the larger trees in the area. Just like with the other two, none of the ten bluebloods actually seem like they’re going to bother looking up.

Still, from the sound of things they actually weren’t out here in this section of the forest looking for their missing members. That was a bit strange, wasn’t it? If they were all hunting him still, wouldn’t they have picked a different path? What would have brought them in this particular direction instead of any other?

As they pass by, Kal slowly begins to move to follow them, curious to learn more from their conversation. Hell, he could probably learn the things he’d wanted to learn from the interrogation just by listening in on them.

Only… that doesn’t happen. Because no sooner has the group passed by him then Graham suddenly whips around and brings his rifle to bear… pointed directly up at Kal despite his hiding place.

In an instant the blueblood pulls the trigger, shooting Kal right in the center of his mass.

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A/N: Dun dun duuuun! Also the vote from yesterday was WAY TOO CLOSE! So we're doing one final vote of the two front runners in hopes that I get more of a majority consensus on what the title should be lmao.

Please continue to give me feedback and let me know if you’re enjoying the fic via comments and likes! They keep me fueled!

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Google Doc Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a6w-DWjukRxl_S2y-y-Y0_J9RQ4YVnUD4A6UlT4GKkI/edit?tab=t.0