Cat Eyes: Sirius (Marien's POV only)

Chapter 25: Something hidden

We went to one of the Security Guard facilities, but Max was denied a pass for some reason, claiming they were in private training. We waited for him outside while he tried again. Much of the building was part of the high wall of the city. Sirius was with the sunglasses, just in case someone paid attention to him. He looked to the building's side, and his eyebrows drew together in a gesture of doubt and confusion.

"What's going on?" I asked worriedly.

"I detect the smell of some EH," he muttered.

Max crossed the street, quite annoyed.

"Well, it'll be another day," he growled, looked at us, and realized something was up. "What?"

"Sirius says he sniffs out more evolved," Marcus explained.

Max looked at us, confused.

"They might be corpses from some attack," he said after shrugging.

"No," Sirius replied. "I know what a corpse smells like."

He walked, and we followed him. We went down a narrow alley, and there was an old rusty door half open. Sirius stopped me.

"Stay back," he whispered.

Max stepped between the two of us.

"Preferably, further back," he completed.

I frowned. 

Sirius guided us. It seemed an abandoned part of the building, with some forgotten metal furniture. The dusk made everything look worthy of a horror movie. A rat ran past and surprised me, but I didn't scream. I was expecting to find something like that.

As I advanced, I began to pick up slight sounds, like men training or fighting. As we moved further, I could make out other noises: gunshots, short explosions, heavy blows, and the rubbing of shoes on the floor. Until another new sound made me shudder: evolved's grunts and screams.

We went into a spacious room, and on the other side of an old door, we could hear those noises clearly. 

"If this happens, gentlemen," exclaimed a male voice. "I want you to try this... Private Ryan will show you."

We hurried to the door since it had a narrow window. Sirius and Max took it, and Marcus and I had to settle for some holes in the material caused by rust.

I got horrified. An EH with a metal mask, as if to avoid biting, with no claws, and full of cuts, bleeding and exhausted, waiting. In front of him was a soldier. Further back stood the one I assumed was the boss. Few men observed the arena, who seemed to be some kind of elite of this organization.

"Soldier," ordered the one who had been speaking.

The man took a weapon. I was never good at firearms, so I only knew that it was one of those rifles with a metal blade like a dagger at the end, a very old one. I was distraught when someone not in my field of vision forced the EH to move forward.

He went on the attack. What 'attack'?! He was wholly deprived of his natural weapons! The soldier dodged him, crouching and turning, moving the gun with him, and cutting the abdomen of the evolved man, who screamed and fell to the ground.

"Very good," the sergeant congratulated him. "As you can see, these weapons are handy..." The soldier breathed heavily, watching the EH on the floor. "Easy, soldier, he will heal. It's just a beast," the man rebuked.

I was horrified. The stories were true. Still, that was not like fighting against a healthy, evolved man. That was not fair. That was a sick spectacle. 

I noticed that Sirius was tense. "Let's go," I whispered.

Marcus was also horrified. He got surprised, so I looked through the hole again to see why. They were bringing in two evolved men who seemed to be healthier. They released their hands, and one lunged for the attack, but an electric shock knocked him to the ground, and the other was pushed to the center of the arena. After a while, the one who had been electrocuted followed him.