Chapter 32 – Part 2: The Pack Arrives
The omega on the rink took another step, and the air itself seemed to recoil. Up close, it was worse.
The creature's skin had a grayish, bruised tone, stretched too tightly over swollen muscle. Patches of coarse, dark hair grew in irregular bursts along its arms and spine, as if its body couldn't decide what species it wanted to belong to. Its jaw jutted forward, the bones warped, teeth long and uneven like broken knives shoved into bleeding gums. Threads of saliva hung from its maw, quivering with each ragged breath.
It wasn't alone.
Bruno knew that before anyone else. He didn't need to see them all. He could smell them. He took in another deep breath through his nose, his chest expanding slowly while the world around him dissolved into screams.
The scent hit him hard this time: blood, adrenaline, cheap deodorant, melted ice—and beneath it all, that distinct rot of engineered flesh.
His golden eyes sharpened, focusing not on the creature visible on the rink, but on the invisible line of threats moving closer.
"The smell…" he whispered, his voice scraped raw, almost more growl than speech. "I can smell them."
Cristal turned to him, her own eyes already darkening, gold beginning to burn within them.
"How many?" she asked. She didn't shout. She didn't need to. Her voice cut through the noise like a blade.
Bruno inhaled again, deeper, filtering the chaos, isolating each foul thread of scent.
"Five…" he murmured, then shook his head, jaw tightening. "No. Closer to eight."
His lips curled back in a grimace that looked very much like the beginning of a snarl.
"They're omegas. Impure strain. Weaker than the originals, but… not tame. Biologically engineered trash. Low‑level… and completely out of control."
His eyes flicked toward the ice. "They're heading this way."
Another scream punctured the air—this time, accompanied by a wet tearing sound.
Cristal straightened. The mask of the "cool friend," the approachable girl, the playful classmate—they all fell away in an instant, like a costume stripped from a warrior before battle.
Her posture shifted, shoulders rolling back, her spine lengthening. For a fragment of a second her silhouette seemed to belong more to a statue of some ancient, pitiless queen than a teenage girl.
Her eyes burned gold. Not warm, not gentle—hard, metallic, cutting. Every trace of softness vanished.
Walter and Sarah didn't know what they were seeing. They couldn't have named it, but their bodies knew enough to be afraid. A chill shivered through Sarah's limbs, and Walter felt his throat dry up as if his own body wanted to retreat from whatever Cristal truly was.
She turned toward Titus, who stood frozen halfway between wanting to run and wanting to protect.
"Titus, listen to me," Cristal said, each word firm, precise, carved from ice. "You need to get Walter and Sarah out of here. Immediately. There's no time to explain. They have to leave. This is life or death. Protect them."
The authority in her voice was absolute, like a command written into the bones of the world. It left no room for argument.
And as her words left her lips, the threat fully revealed itself.
At the far end of the rink, between the metal posts and flickering floodlights, shapes moved—fast, unnaturally fluid. One omega dropped from the stands onto the ice with a sickening thud, leaving cracks where it landed. Another leapt over the protective barrier as if it were nothing more than a curb on the sidewalk. A third scrambled along the wall, claws digging into plaster, leaving deep, parallel grooves like a signature of imminent death.
The screams changed pitch. What had been fear became hysteria.
The crowd surged in multiple directions at once. People tried to run for the exits, only to collide with others doing the same. A father shoved his way forward, dragging his son by the arm so hard the boy cried out in pain. A group of teens tripped over a fallen metal bench, tumbling in a knot of limbs and broken phones. An elderly woman collapsed, clutching at her chest, unnoticed as bodies rushed around and over her.
The air turned heavy, humid with breath and sweat and the hot, growing scent of blood.
The first omega hit the crowd.
It threw itself into a cluster of people like a wrecking ball made of teeth and claws. One of its feet slammed down between the shoulder blades of a man who had just fallen face‑down on the polished floor. The man's cheek pressed against the cold surface, his hands scraping uselessly for purchase as he tried to push himself up.
He didn't get the chance.
The creature bent down and sank its teeth into the back of his neck. Bone cracked. Muscle tore. Blood sprayed in a fan across the floor.
The omega pinned him with its leg, using one clawed hand to grip the man's arm. With a brutal, casual motion, it pulled. Flesh stretched, tendons snapped, joints gave way with wet pops—and then the arm ripped free entirely.
The scream that followed didn't sound human either. It was cut short as the omega tossed the limb aside like waste.
Another omega crashed into a group of three youths trying to climb over the rink barrier. The closest boy barely had time to raise his hands before a clawed strike tore across his face, turning features into a red, shredded blur. His body slapped back against the glass and slid down, leaving a thick smear behind.
The second boy didn't even see what hit him—one swipe opened his throat from ear to ear, and the hot arc of blood painted the chest of the third.
In the corner, near one of the supporting columns, a third omega grabbed a man by the collar and lifted him effortlessly off the ground. The man kicked and clawed at the air, hands pounding weakly at the creature's wrist. The omega's other hand, encased in those obscene, bone‑plate claws, closed around his head.
For a second, everything slowed. The man's eyes widened. He realized what was coming.
Then the omega squeezed.
His skull cracked like an egg in a fist. Bone splintered inward. Blood and gray matter erupted between the creature's fingers and dripped down its forearm in thick, gelatinous ropes.
Somewhere nearby, a woman fell onto her back as another omega landed over her, straddling her body. She tried to push it away, palms slapping helplessly at its torso, but its claws dug into her stomach. It didn't just slash—it sank its hand in and pulled.
Her voice broke into broken sobs and strangled cries as hot entrails slid out, steaming in the cold air. Tears blurred her vision as she watched her own life spill out over the ice in shades of red and black.
More omegas moved through the mass like sharks through a school of fish. Claws slashed. Bodies split. Skin opened like wet paper. They swung their arms, and people came apart. Flesh yielded as if it were made of butter. Ribs snapped under blows. Backs opened. Hands flew free from wrists. Fingers scattered across the polished floor like dropped coins.
Hot entrails spilled out, coiling and steaming in the cold as the air filled with the thick copper scent of blood.
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Hook: Although he didn't know it yet, nothing would ever be the same after this…