The first book was indeed about anatomy, showing off the various differences between the 'alpha', 'beta', and 'omega' anatomy.
All it did was confuse him further. This book was unlike anything he had ever seen, or he felt so anyway, out of some kind of fantasy story. Who would ever believe this was how human anatomy worked? Penises just weren't shaped like that, anyone could look down and see that!
He moved from the "Alpha" section to the omega one, what they seem to refer to him as.
'....what?'
Ren was confused? 'Is this mislabeled? There are parts here that are for women's anatomy, right?'
He gets distracted by something he had missed in the last section.
There was something about glands? Glands for what? He touched at his neck absentmindedly before reeling it back, feeling ridiculous. Like there would actually be anything there!
No, this nonsense, it was exactly what he thought: lies the school planted! What he was looking for wasn't their fabrications of truth, he was looking for clues for why they were lying about something like this at all! What were they hiding?
He picked up a different book, flipping through it hastily for something that explained their motivations. Nothing. He tried another. Then, another...
———
Ren jolted upright from a loud banging sound. He yawned and shook his head. Did he fall asleep? For being such bizarre castration of the human anatomy, it was awfully boring. He reopened the book in his lap-
A light suddenly went off near him. Someone was turning the lights out for the day. He glanced out to the window in horror. It was completely dark out!?
'How....how long did I fall asleep?' He glanced around for a clock. Suddenly footsteps approached, and he quietly put the book up and tiptoed away.
The footsteps faded, and he could almost see the door. Suddenly the room started to spin.
'Crap, I forgot to take my pills!' Ren fumbled in his pockets for the pills he brought, when suddenly he's pulled from behind.
He falls down on his back, staring up at the group of shadows above him. Five of them, each with a devious look in their eyes. "Think no one noticed you stinking up the library, omega?"
Ren is pulled to his feet but his shoulder, forced to stare face to face with him. Well, face to shoulder, he was still way too short.
"Had to wait for that old timer to leave. Luckily he's an old beta, so now we get to have some fun."
The room began to fill with all different kinds of smells, suffocating him till he could barely breathe.
Ren briefly recalled something about scents in the anatomy books, but his terror clouded the thought.
All that nonsense he had read about "Alphas" and "Omegas", it was all obviously fiction to him, but they... They didn't! They thought it was real! And he had led them there by being too reckless, falling asleep and forgetting the medicine!
Suddenly the insanity of those books became real whether Ren believed it or not, staring down the barrel of a gun he himself had unintentionally loaded. If they thought that was normal, that he was what those books thought-!
For fuck's sake, he was right! They did think he was a girl! Now they were ganging up on him to-! They were gonna-!
Filled with a sudden rage at the thought, with the last of his strength he gave the man in front one straight shot kick, right to his nards. For a brief moment he relished in the moment of watching his attacker scream out in pain and nearly topple over. But his friends got the jump on him quickly. He has pulled him back by his hair, a voice hissing in his ear with malice: "You're gonna pay for that, fucking omega!"
Now he was on his stomach, being held down by his neck. He couldn't scream out, he couldn't move.
'This wasn't supposed to happen. Who would have thought all this Alpha and Omega crap would come back to haunt me? Maybe if I had listened to that damn boy from before he...' tears began to well into his eyes. This sucks.
All of a sudden the pressure on his back and neck were gone. He lays there in surprise momentarily before getting up and looking around.
The five boys had moved away from him and were heading towards someone else, surrounding them.
Ren's fists balled in fury. It was bad enough what almost just happened to him, he was not letting it happen to anyone else!
His eyes scanned the tables in front of him, picking up a heavy book to chuck at one of their heads.
But before he could throw it, one of the boys fall. Shoved back was more accurate, by the looks of it.
Two of the boys fall back. Then two more. They fell into the furniture with a loud crashing, cursing and shouting at each other.
It took Ren a second to realize there was a fight occuring, it was so one-sided it looked like they were falling over each other purposely.
Eventually they stopped getting up. Without them obscuring his view, he could see who they tried to surround.
It was the boy from the closet and the infirmary, the boy with the blue eyes and brown hair. Ren felt....so relieved. His savior had come. He grinned, holding a hand up wave.
The boy locked his eyes on him, and the furious look he gave him flushed his relief right down the drain. His hand dropped and he paled.
'Shit! Of course he's mad!'
If Ren had the energy he would flee, but all he could do was hold his makeshift book weapon defensively as the boy stalked over, eyes furrowing.
He grabbed his arm and started pulling him away. Ren was almost too afraid to speak, but he couldn't help but ask, "Where are we going!?"
The boy spoke. "There are more of them coming, we need to get you to safety!"
They left the library and made their way down the halls. They were about to turn a corner when the boy stopped, then took a different path. He did the same down a different hall, his movements seeming random and erratic to the already dazed Ren.
He couldn't see what was causing his constantly shifting path, but on occasion he could hear howling laughter echo down the hall, running a chill down his spine.
They turned left, they turned right. Down the halls and up the stairs, then down the stairs again. Where were they going?
Finally, the boy approaches a door. He takes a ring of keys out of his jacket and unlocks the door, pulling him into darkness and shutting and locking the door behind them.
Once Ren's eyes settled he realized where he was. It was a storage closet. This was his idea of safety?
For a brief moment they stood there in silence, Ren panting from his exhaustion from running.
The boy glared at him fiercely. "What the hell are you doing here?" He whispered loudly. "Did you completely forget what I told you this afternoon?" The boy frustratedly ran his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes, continuing.
"The school's crawling with Alphas on the prowl." He grunted. "Locked doors everywhere. Did they plan this out? How long were you in there?" He asked, eyes glued on the door. "Going around when your heat is still this strong, of course you're gonna attract this much attention, idiot..."
Ren was still dazed and exhausted, but he felt rage hearing those words. "What did you call me?"
"Why didn't you take your medicine?" The boy continued, seemingly not hearing him. "You're gonna get yourself seriously hurt. Do you know what almost happened in there? All you had to do was stay in your room till your heat was over. Are you out of your mind..."
Ren bared his teeth. "Oh, I'm the crazy one here?! It's you freaks that are the problem! You're the one seeing I'm the one that almost... almost-! and you're seriously blaming it all on me?!"
The boy stopped, turning to see Ren's gritted teeth, taken aback.
Ren continues, "If anyone should be at fault, it's this crazy school! This "heat" bull crap?! I've just about had enough of it-!"
"H-Hey, calm down, listen I'm..."The boy trails, suddenly glancing back at the door.
Ren kept yelling. "-and about this 'Omega' crap! I'm-"
The boy suddenly flies over to him, covering Ren's mouth with a hand. The boy glances at the door. In the silence, Ren could hear voices, growing louder in the hall.
"Hey, where's that little omega go?"
"Damn it, I lost the scent."
"He's here somewhere. Try here."
The door knob began to jiggle. Ren forgot how to breathe.
"Forget it, Imada would use one of those safe closets anyway."
That omega was practically begging for it laying there, but Imada had to come and ruin things. He's such a stick in the mud-"
"Hey keep your voice down, don't you know who you're talking about?" Someone hissed.
"Whatever. Once he leaves the omega in one we can have some fun. Still got that key mold?"
"Keep quiet about it, will ya..."
The voices began to walk away. Ren breathed a sigh of relief. The boy lets go of his mouth. Only when the boy backs away Ren realizes he had grabbed onto the boy's hand. The boy had gotten pretty close to shut his mouth; too close in fact, he had begun to lean over him pretty sharply.
Ren picked up a smell.... he suddenly vaguely recalled it, from his fevered nightmares he had the night before. Having him so close it was stark and clear now. It was his scent, a strong whiff of some flowers he could not identify, but it smelled amazing.
Ren's hands moved on their own, grabbing the boy's jacket to keep the scent close.
The boy stares at him, eyes wrinkling. His eyes lock with Ren's. The boy's eyes focused in, yet they seemed to fall away, a haze coming over.
Ren's heart, he only realized was beating fast, begins to pound against his chest.
The boy moves towards him again, and for a moment, Ren does nothing...
Then Ren snaps out of it. He pushes him away again.
He was suddenly breathless, as if he was holding it the entire time, but for a completely different reason. His face felt hot, hotter than he thought possible, and his heart wouldn't stop pounding. His head was foggy again, his mind feeling alien...
"You....damn it!! I-I should have remembered you were a part of it!" He shouted at the boy.
The boy picked himself up. "What are you talking about?"
He sounded apologetic but he looked guilty, only affirming in Ren's mind, something about this was wrong!
He snarled. "The damn drugs, the heats, the Alpha and Omega bull crap, I know about it all!!" Ren knew he shouldn't give away his position to who he thought was his enemy, but his heart was pounding too hard to listen.
"You'd think I'd believe that this 'heat' thing came on it's own?! I know it's some kinda medication you've put in the food, or some kinda drug that's making me act this way, and probably everyone else in this school!"
"The....what?" The boy was confused once again. "Hey, wait!"
But Ren had already managed to stroll past him.
"I'm not staying in this crazy place another second! You'd think I'd fall for your mind games like that! Hah! You don't know who you're messing with! I'm getting the hell out of here!"
And Ren opened the door to a wall. He froze. A wall of meat, to be precise.
"Wha–!" Ren gasped, before he's grabbed by the shoulders, and something is jabbed into his arm. Before he could even get a good shot of the attacker, his vision had already gone dark.
———
Ren wakes up in his bed bright and early the next morning.
His head is foggy, yet his mind became clear. His body cool, yet his spirit blazing.
'I knew it! I freaking knew it! When they heard me talking about what I know, they drugged me and took me back here!'
He also had another misunderstanding.
'But I hadn't eaten their food, so now I'm free of their control! I woke up and that 'heat' is gone!'
Ren had gained a lot of information last night, lots of it he wasn't sure what to do with yet. These "Alphas" had locked down the school searching for him because he didn't take the medicine. Did that mean they had some way to keep track?
Ren pulled his papers from his mattress and began to plan. While reading that book about the school, he remembers something about the wall built behind the school. It was crazy old, with nothing but old, dense woods behind it. If he can get past the sentry's defenses, then he can get over the wall and make it to freedom! He was still on sick leave, he could probably do it right now-
Knock Knock!
It was the dorm's health advisor, coming to check on him. He gave him the same checkup as yesterday, giving him a pleased smile. "Seems you're all better! Guess a good night's sleep did some good for you, huh?"
Ren gave him a nervous chuckle, before realizing what he meant. "Wait, so I'm going back to class?"
"You'll miss the 1st one but you can make the 2nd if you hurry."
"Hurry? B-But! What if-!"
"Not another word out of you, you're not getting another day's rest when you're already better, alright?" His face was friendly but his eyes glistened with an all-knowing look.
Ren just shook his head and agreed. He'll have to wait until later, it was obvious they weren't going to make it easy for him. Looks like he was going back to classes.