Another Animal Boy

CHAPTER 5

That same afternoon, Harrison J. Arsenal was down in the underground lab as correctly suspected by Riley.
Harrison was joined by four scientists dressed in white coats.
As also correctly suspected, Ralph Harvey was also down there with him.  Ralph was strapped down to an experimenting table, the straps were holding his wrists and shins down so that he couldn't escape.  Ralph was still fully dressed in his gear from last night when he was taken hostage…black long sleeved t-shirt with white sleeves, Olive Green Cargo trousers, and Pale Grey trainers.
Harrison was looking over Ralph, getting ever more impatient about him not awakening from his sleeping state.

"This is doing my head in.  This boy just won't wake up." Harrison said angrily.

"Would you like me to give him the shot Mr. Arsenal sir?" One of the Scientists questioned.

Before Harrison could answer, Ralph started to slowly awaken on the table.  Ralph opened his eyes, but his vision was blurred for a moment, and he faintly saw the scientists all around him.

"About time you woke up you little termite!"

The insulting dulcet tones of Arsenal caught Ralph's attention immediately.  As Ralph's vision became crystal clear, he stared directly at Harrison.

"You!  Where the devil am I?!" Ralph snapped.

"No good trying to escape, You're our lab rat now!"

Ralph managed to look at himself strapped to the experimenting table, his wrists and shins tied down tightly.
Ralph attempted to struggle out of the straps, using whatever force his body had, but the straps didn't budge.

"You let me out of these straps right now!  Let me out of these straps, do as you're told!"

"Forget it boy, you're not going anywhere until you've accepted what you deserve!"

"You absolute disgrace!"

Harrison grabbed a tazer zapper, and took it straight to Ralph's chest.  The electricity coursing through Ralph only made him struggle much more.

"You kick off kiddo and you'll get another zap!"

"Well zap me then man!  You think I've never been feeling Tazer blasts in my past?!?"

"Enough of this twaddle!  And Don't you dare think that I'm the one who doesn't know what I'm doing, it's only ever going to be you who knows nothing!"

Ralph wasn't having any of the insults, Harrison wasn't accepting any of the resistance.  As Ralph struggled once more, Harrison took a concentrated tazer blast to Ralph's chest and held it there for a few seconds, draining Ralph's energy.
Ralph laid on the table half alive, and could not struggle anymore…but he still breathed in and out deeply.

"Not so determined now are you?" Harrison said evilly.

"You sick and heartless jerk!"

Harrison continued to resist the pleads as the scientist appeared with the syringe in his hands, and started to walk over to Ralph.
Ralph quickly turned around and looked at the syringe…it was filled with blood.
Ralph used whatever was left of his energy and tried one last time to break free of the straps.

"Get that blood away from me!"

"Stop resisting!  There's no escape from what you'll soon become, so don't make it worse!"

"Somebody get me out of here!  You'll never take me alive!"

"It's no use, no-one is listening to you!"


The scientist injected the syringe into Ralph's upper arm.
Ralph screamed out in agony as the scientist quickly installed the contents of the syringe into his arm…The pain signal was too much to bear.  When the syringe came out, Harrison made a final blast with the Tazer upon Riley's bare arm.
The fact that the electricity was made on direct skin contact, caused Ralph to fall unconscious.

"Finally, he's done." Harrison said evilly.

"What do we do now sir?  Do we release our lab rat?" The scientist asked.

"Don't be a fool.  I want to see the after effects."

Harrison and his scientific team were not waiting long.  Ralph's body suddenly jerked awake…his eyes were a moonlit yellow, and his entire body began to tremble vigorously as his skeletal structure began to change in tremendous pain.

"What is this?!?" Ralph called out.

"Just the way I planned it!"

Harrison laughed like a mad scientist as Ralph managed to look at his hand…he saw that the fingers were starting to twist & lengthen, with the nails growing razor sharp.

"What have you done to me you monster!?!"

"I've injected you with Werewolf blood you disgusting little terror!"

Before Ralph could scream back at Harrison, he felt his feet contort within his trainers.  Ralph looked down at his feet as soon as he felt his toes lengthen, and the nails sharpening.
The fact that Ralph didn't wear any socks beneath his trainers, only made the painful rubbing of the inner lining material worse for wear.
Ralph's feet continued to contort in agony, to a point when the trainers spread outwards, and his bare toes were scratching the inner lining.  Eventually, Ralph's now sharp clawed toes broke out of the toecaps, and were still lengthening outwards.
As Riley continued to scream out in agony, he felt and saw brown hair growing all over his body at an alarming rate.  The hair growing on Ralph's chest and stomach was straining against Ralph's favourite T-shirt.  The straining was almost choking Ralph as the cotton material began to puff outwards.  Soon enough the T-shirt had stretched so much that the collar gave way, and began to tear downwards slowly towards his waistline.
Now Ralph's trousers were feeling the same pressure.
From the seams upwards, both legs tore upwards towards Ralph's waistline.  Ralph's face was next, a snout forced its way out, and his ears were becoming furry and pointed just like the rest of him.
As Ralph continued to grow, the straps holding him down strained too, eventually snapping in half and setting Ralph's body free so that he could stand on his two feet.
But what was left of Ralph's clothes were not going to last.
As his transformation began to clear up, Ralph slid his feet firmly against the ground.  The soles of what remained of Ralph's trainers dug into the cold floor, and his growing furry feet broke through the tongues and the laces to set them free.  His trousers quickly followed, as Ralph's legs snapped the belt off of his waist, and the remainder of Ralph's trousers ripped to the ground.
Finally, the sleeves of Ralph's t-shirt were outgrown by the furry arms and ripped off.
Ralph's body was out of control as his werewolf transformation had completed.  Ralph roared out as monster, but Arsenal still didn't show any fear.

"You look nice like this Ralph Harvey.  Now let's get things done." Harrison said.

Ralph didn't listen.
Ralph quickly escaped from the lab and headed straight for the exit, breaking the door down to get out.

"Catch him!!"

Members of Harrison's assault team began to run out of the exit and chase Ralph through the corridors of the underground.
The assault team were armed and loaded with AK47 rifles, and dressed in excessive body armour to protect them from riot police fire.  Ralph continued to dash at high speed through the corridors, looking for each exit to get out.
Upstairs, Gordon Baron was accompanied by two police officers from the Godwind City Police department.
They were all approaching the hatch where Lawrence's previous lab was located, having had suspicions that Arsenal and his team set up camp there with Ralph Harvey.
Gordon heard the screams of Harrison's assault team from down below, as well as the roars of Ralph as a werewolf.
The hatch rumbled, catching everyone's attention.

"What's going on down there?" One of the officers asked Gordon.

Gordon could sense that the hatch was going to break, he alerted the officers.

"Move!"

Gordon and the officers dashed to a side alley just as the hatch blast off its hinges, and Ralph dashed out into the open pursued by Harrison's assault team.
Gordon managed to get a good look at the werewolf, just as it turned the corner of the alleyway.

"A werewolf in daylight?"

The second police officer grabbed his radio.

"It must be Ralph Harvey."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes officer."

The second officer spoke into his receiver.

"Attention all units, we have a werewolf on the loose, suspect believed to be Ralph Harvey who went missing last night!
Send in riot trams with non-lethal weapons only, I repeat non-lethal weapons only, he must be caught alive!"

Harrison Arsenal came up from the hatch just then, Gordon was the first person to see him.

"Arsenal!" He snapped.

Arsenal turned to the officers and Gordon as they walked up to him.

"Officers." Harrison answered calmly.

"Is that monster your work?"

"My team demands revenge after what happened to the Marks Brothers last year, and I'll do anything to get it!"

One of the officers got his cuffs out and arrested Arsenal on the spot.

"Right, based on the answer you've just given, you are under arrest under the suspicion of unauthorized Human Regeneration.
You do not have to say anything, however it may harm your defence if you do not mention one question something which you later rely on in court, anything you do say may be given in evidence do you understand?"

"Yes officer."

"Mr. Baron, may we ask you to continue pursuing the supposed missing suspect on our behalf?"

"Aye aye officers!"

Gordon ran down the alleyway to continue the chase.