DogMan - Written by : Vincent Rouge

The city was quiet, too quiet for Max. The urban hum of Richmond usually drowned out his thoughts, but tonight, it only reminded him of the transformation creeping in. He pulled his hoodie tighter, hoping to push back the gnawing sensation bubbling under his skin. The serum had done more than mutate his body; it messed with his mind. His senses were sharper, his hearing more acute, and the faintest sounds echoed like a roar in his ears.

 He had planned the heist at the lab perfectly, but now he was paying the price. Max could feel his humanity slipping each night as the creature inside him grew stronger.The streets were still familiar, though. He walked past the same corner stores, under flickering streetlights, and along cracked sidewalks. But everything looked different since the mutation.

 Even Poodle had noticed. She had called him out just last night, sensing something was off. "You're not yourself, Max," she'd said, her voice soft but concerned. Poodle, with her sharp moves and street smarts, always had a way of reading him. But how could he tell her that at night, he wasn’t himself at all?

 He wasn’t the smooth, low-key burglar she fell in love with. No, at night, he became Dogman—part beast, part human, hunting for a cure to fix his twisted fate. The transformation hit like a wave as the moon rose higher. His muscles tightened, bones shifted, and a deep, guttural growl escaped his throat. His clothes stretched against the hulking figure he became, but the hoodie and cargo pants still clung on, barely fitting his new form. Max—or Dogman now—felt the wild instincts take over. 

His claws scraped the pavement as he dropped to all fours, sniffing the air. The serum might have stolen his humanity, but it gave him power. And with that power came an urge—a hunger—for revenge against the people who had done this to him. But the streets weren’t kind to monsters, even if they wore Chucks.Poodle didn’t run when she saw him. She was waiting at the usual spot, her bag slung over her shoulder from the dance gig she had just finished. 

"I knew you'd come," she said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at the sight of him. Dogman’s glowing eyes softened for a moment. She was the only person who could still see Max behind the beast. "We've got a lead," she continued, tossing him a crumpled flyer she’d found at the club. "Some shady types were talking about a lab on the west side, the same one you hit before things went sideways."

 Dogman sniffed the paper, his enhanced senses already picking up on the scent of their next target. They had a trail now.The beast growled in agreement, and without a word, they moved as a unit, Max and Poodle, hitting the streets under the cover of night. The closer they got to the lab, the stronger the pulse of animal rage throbbed in his chest. Dogman didn’t know how much time he had left before the creature inside fully took over, but with Poodle by his side, he had a fighting chance to reclaim his life. All he needed was to find the cure before it was too late.