Revenge

Mindaugas, as well as Iwaka's three other teammates, hesitantly approached Alexandre's limp, bleeding body.

"Phew," said Mindaugas, "that was close!" 

Iwaka sneered arrogantly and said, "You should've just kept your mouth shut, huh, Mindaugas? I bet you feel like a fool now. I told you this bastard was never a real challenge to me. He only hurt me last night because he attacked me by surprise. On an even playing field, I'm obviously superior!" 

Mindaugas shot him a skeptical look, remembering how much damage Alexandre had dealt to a professor who was, logically speaking, surely more powerful than Iwaka. 'What a proud person you are,' Mindaugas thought. 'Well, someone will put you in your place someday, my friend!'

Of course, he didn't say this aloud. All Mindaugas said was, "Well, go on and take his watch. We only have a few seconds before the other Cats show up to steal the bounty!"

Iwaka gave a cunning smile. "You know, the more I think about it, the less sense it makes to split the bounty five ways. All of you were just dumb muscle, really. You got the net in place, but he tore right out of it! Without me doing all the work, we wouldn't have the watch at all, now would we? You even wanted to run away like a yelping little puppy!"

Mindaugas glared at him and snapped, "Don't you pull this on me right now, asshole! A deal's a deal!" 

Iwaka replied calmly, "Yes, of course you're saying that while you're the one who stands to benefit. But what exactly are you going to do if I refuse to respect that deal? Come on, try attacking me and see what happens!" He crossed his arms and sent a provocative look to his teammates.

Then a look of confusion spread across his face as an icy pain blossomed in his stomach.

***

A few moments earlier, Omega and General Pantherson were still watching the fight from their table, staring intently at the drone-captured footage.

Pantherson gave a confident smile. "What a pity! Your champion was such a promising one. Unfortunately, this world shows no special mercy toward promising young men." 

Omega didn't respond to this jab. He simply ignored the general's words and continued to look at his tablet as though nothing had happened.

Pantherson seemed disappointed that his provocation hadn't worked. He tried again with an exaggerated yawn and a look at his watch. "What a shame! Only ten minutes to go. But perhaps a miracle will happen in that time. The Lord works in mysterious ways, after all."

Omega finally looked up from his tablet. There was a peculiar expression on his face. "Perhaps you're right, General. If you look closely, you might see exactly that mysterious work at play. It pains me deeply to say it, but I don't think you're going to win this time."

Pantherson froze, then replied in astonishment, "What do you mean!?" 

Omega pointed silently at the General's tablet, where an unbelievable scene had begun to unfold. 

***

Iwaka took a staggering step forward. He put a shaking hand on his stomach and stared down in shock at the long, sharp, white, curved bone that protruded from it. "What the…"

Then he heard a slight motion from behind him and took another lurching step away as he turned.

Alexandre was standing again.

His stomach and lower abdomen had been torn into cruelly, as though a lion had disemboweled him with a swipe of its paw.

Alexandre emotionlessly reached into his own open body, grasped another rib, and snapped it off like a toothpick. His stomach sliced even more savagely apart as his own rib cut through skin, fat, and meat.

Then he stepped forward and plunged the rib into Iwaka's heart.

Iwaka vomited blood and collapsed without another word, leaving a grisly sight to the other four students who were staring on in horror.

Alexandre retrieved his rib-weapons from Iwaka's body and turned toward the four remaining students, glaring at them with his impossibly bright blue eyes. His own blood covered his body, and stomach acid, bile, and a half-dozen other fluids dripped from his torn entrails to soak the forest floor below.

It was as though Alexandre had transformed into one of the very zombies the Hunters spent their lives training to fight.

And in response, Mindaugas and his allies fell to the ground in shocked horror, vomiting up their entire breakfasts.

Perhaps they weren't ready to become true Hunters after all.