The glass sliced clean through Harrow's cheek.
Or what used to be a cheek.
The beaker shattered on contact, fragments embedding deep into the pulsing, sinewy mass that had replaced the principal's face. Harrow stumbled, letting out a screech that vibrated in Marcus's bones—a sound both animal and mechanical, as if his lungs no longer knew what to do with air.
Marcus didn't wait. His body moved on instinct, legs pumping faster than any athlete's, heart hammering in rhythm with the voice in his head.
[Adrenal Boost: +15% Reflex Efficiency]
He didn't even know what that meant, but he felt it. The world slowed. Every motion became readable, like watching a movie at half-speed.
Harrow lunged again.
Marcus ducked, slid across spilled chemicals and broken glass, grabbed the Bunsen burner hose and whipped it upward, looping it around the creature's neck. He pulled. Hard.
It wasn't enough.
With a roar, Harrow swung Marcus like a rag doll into a metal cabinet. The impact exploded across his ribs. Stars danced behind his eyes.
[Warning: Internal Fracture Detected][Pain Suppression Activated]
Marcus gasped, then blinked. The pain was… gone?
His body was still broken—but something inside him had numbed it, buying time.
"This isn't real," he muttered. "This can't be real."
But it was.
The world was burning outside the lab windows—literally. Flames danced across the soccer field. The red rain had stopped, but the damage was done. Creatures—students, faculty—whatever they were now—ran wild through the parking lot, tearing through glass and metal like it was paper.
Marcus turned back to Harrow just in time to dodge a downward strike that cratered the linoleum.
He couldn't keep dodging forever. He needed a way to win. Fast.
[Optional Evolution Available: Analyze Enemy Biology?]
"Yes!" he shouted.
The world shifted again. His vision sharpened. Data scrolled across his sightline. Organ structures. Muscle density. Weak points.
[Target Weakness: Joint Fractures in Left Knee. Preexisting Injury Detected.]
Marcus's breath caught. He remembered—Harrow had limped for months after a hiking accident last year. Even now, monster or not, the old injury remained.
"You're still in there, aren't you?" Marcus whispered. "Some part of you remembers pain."
He grabbed a metal rod from a dismantled desk, ducked low, and drove it straight into the creature's knee.
The result was instant.
Harrow howled and collapsed sideways, the mutated leg twisting at an impossible angle. Marcus leapt onto his back, driving the rod deeper, again and again, until something cracked like a snapped tree branch.
Silence.
Then the system spoke.
[Predator Defeated][Genetic Material Absorbed][New Evolutions Unlocked]
The options unfurled before his eyes like a glowing interface:
[Predator's Regeneration]
[Enhanced Hearing]
[Thermal Vision]
[Adaptive Muscle Memory]
He didn't hesitate. "Regeneration. Now."
A wave of warmth spread through his chest, racing outward. The ache in his ribs faded. The blood on his shirt dried. His breathing leveled.
Marcus stood over the creature's corpse, panting. Not just alive.
Evolving.
He looked down at his hands again. Human… for now.
But how long could that last?
A crash outside snapped his attention to the hallway. Something—no, many somethings—were moving toward the lab. Growls. Heavy footfalls. The floor vibrated with their approach.
[Warning: Multiple Hostile Entities Detected Nearby][Recommendation: Relocate Immediately]
Marcus backed toward the shattered window. The fire outside was spreading, but it was his only escape. Behind him, the hallway door began to shake as claws scratched at the glass.
He didn't look back.
He ran.