The people that knew him knew two things to be true. One, Eric Sandoval wasn't a liar. He told you the truth regardless of the consequences like when he told Denver it was his fault Emily cheated on him with Oliver. He didn't care that it got him a black eye, it was the truth and it needed to be said. Two, he kept his promises. If Eric told you he was going to do something you could take your money to Vegas and bet on him. So, when he told the figure lurking in the woods they were next, he meant it.

The branches sliced across his face leaving lines of blood. Pine cones carved craters into his bare feet as he padded through the dense forest. He had one thing in mind as his eyes stayed trained on the man, kill him. One thing was sure as Eric steadily inhaled and exhaled; when he caught the man he was going to end his life. 

Eric's brain was just trying to decide one thing since there were a thousand ways to die, which one was he going to execute. He searched the canals of his mind for the option that was animalistic and painful; bestial and sadistic. Eric wanted the man to drown in his blood, choke on his last breath unable to recite his prayer for redemption cursing his soul into damnation.

Anger and hate surged through every fiber of Eric. He didn't know where this newfound sensation, that pumped through the delicate walls of his veins came from. It captivated his mind locking him in a blood fuel trance. A trance that could only be broken by feeling the man's warm heart turn cold in his hands, which was about to come into fruition. Eric pounced on the man's back like a jungle cat sending them tumbling to the torrid ground. Eric smashed the man's head into the dirt trying to pop it like a stepped-on grape. The man with fearful eyes and tender skin screamed with all the air his lungs allowed him. He bucked trying to throw Eric off his back but Eric's thighs held firmly on the man as his hands gripped tightly around his blonde hair-covered head. Eric's nails bit into the man's pale skin.

"Stop fighting!" Eric ordered pushing the man's head harder.

The man clawed at the ground tearing grass out of its home, "I just train the dogs!" He kicked wildly throwing dirt and leaves in the air. "Which you killed."

"Yeah, I killed your dogs!" Eric's hands traveled closer to the man's neck. "You killed my friends!"

"The dogs killed your friends!"

"And you trained them!" Eric's hands were firmly around the man's neck as he squeezed.

"I-I'm just doing my job!" The man spat out in one breath.

"To kill us!" Eric loosened his grip so the man could answer.

The man coughed rasping for air. Once he caught his breath he spewed, "Only the defects! Only the defects!"

"The defects?" Eric's hands hovered around the man's neck; he needed to know more but not enough to let him off the ground. "What's that?"

"Progenies that don't activate their OXRO gene."

"OXRO gene?"

"I can tell you more." He spat out. "If you promise not to kill me." He closed his eyes clenching his teeth hoping the limited information he had was enough to keep him alive.

Eric looked up only seeing the streaks of light leaking through the tree's branches. His entire essence wanted the man dead but he needed to know what was going on. So, he rose from the man's back grabbed him up by his sweat stained t-shirt and hemmed his back to the tree.

Eric held the bloodstained arrowhead up to the man's neck, "Tell me what you know."

The man's Adam's apple dabbed against the arrowhead. "Roughly thirty years ago Dr. Cummings started experimenting with human DNA and how to enhance it."

"Enhance it?"

"Make it better." The man clarified. "Stronger by using Nylaarian genes."

"Nylaarian?" Eric's eyes narrowed with confusion. "What's that?"

"A tribe from the Congo jungle." The man reached his hand toward the arrow and Eric bent the hand backward until he yelped in pain. "Okay!" He heaved. "Long story short, Nylaarian DNA lets you encrypt DNA of other species into the Human embryo and Dr. Cummings did so."

"So, you're saying I have some manufactured DNA. That I'm a test tube baby."

"Pod." The man blurted out. "They use pods and your human.... mostly."

"Mostly." Eric's arrow cleaved hand trembled. "What else am I?"

"Wolf." The man took a deep swallow. "Your progeny and the one before you."

"My progeny," Eric spoke. "Who else is like me?"

"You can't feel them." He widened his eyes on Eric's swelling pupils. "You should be able to feel them. Smell them."

Eric's sight journey passed the man and the tree, gazing through the never-ending curtain of trees. His nostrils flared pulling in pine-laced, ragweed-enriched air but there was a hint of something else swirled into the mixture. Something he spent all his life inhaling. He couldn't place it but its familiarity hugged him with endearment.

"They're still alive," Eric uttered.

"Oh my God." A smile crept onto the man's face. "You are one." His smile grew bigger showcasing pearly whites. "Magnificent creature." His smile faded as his eyes shot open as far as they could go. His mouth erupted with a scream that scattered the birds resting in the tree above. "You promised..." His hand shot to the arrow piercing into his skin.

"I said no...such thing." Eric seethed before burying the metal rod into the man's heart.

"Omega." The man muttered with his last breath.