Unlucky Evolution

Kirill kicked a rusted soda can down the dark alleyway.

"Seriously, Leo, you won't believe my life right now," Kirill sighed into his cracked phone screen. "I literally just dropped my last dollar bill. It slipped right through the iron grate and fell straight into the sewer. My actual last dollar, Leo. Gone. I was standing right over it, watching it drift down into the muck like a fallen leaf. Who even loses a single dollar bill to a storm drain in this day and age?"

The tinny voice of his best friend echoed through the speaker.

"Are you kidding me, man?" Leo laughed, though there was a hint of genuine pity in his voice. "Your last buck? How does that even happen to someone? I swear, you must have pissed off a witch in a past life. Or maybe you're just cursed. Actually, scratch that. You definitely have the absolute worst luck in the entire city, maybe even the whole country. What are you going to do for dinner now?"

Kirill rubbed his growling stomach with his hand.

"I don't know, okay? It’s the Bautista family curse, I'm telling you," Kirill muttered, pulling his hood tighter against the cold night wind. "I went to pull my hand out of my pocket, and the bill just clung to my finger, flew off in the breeze, and went straight down. I couldn't even grab it. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast, and my stomach is literally digesting itself right now."

Leo sighed, the sound of keyboard clicking audible in the background.

"That is some next-level bad luck, bro," Leo said, his voice dropping to a softer, more sympathetic tone. "I'd offer to Venmo you some cash, but my account is literally in the negatives until my paycheck clears on Friday. If I send you anything, the bank will just eat it instantly. I can't even buy myself a coffee right now, let alone get you a decent meal."

Kirill shook his head, staring at his shoes.

"Don't worry about it, man," Kirill said, trying to sound nonchalant despite the sharp hunger pangs. "I’ll just drink some tap water when I get home and go to sleep early. If I'm asleep, I can't feel the hunger, right? It's a solid, foolproof strategy. I just have to make it back to my apartment without collapsing on the sidewalk first."

Leo hummed in thought, a sudden note of worry entering his voice.

"Yeah, if you don't starve to death in your dreams first," Leo replied. "But hey, seriously, be careful on your way back. Did you hear about those weird animal attacks on the news tonight? The police issued a warning for our district. They said some stray dogs have been acting completely crazy, attacking people out of nowhere. Just don't get bitten, alright?"

Kirill waved his hand dismissively, scoffing at the warning.

"Stray dogs? Please, I can handle a dog," Kirill said, walking past a pile of overflowing trash bags. "Honestly, at this point, if a rabid dog tries to bite me, I’ll probably just bite it back out of pure, unadulterated spite. I'm too hungry to care about a stray mutt, Leo. It's the least of my worries."

Suddenly, the asphalt beneath Kirill’s worn sneakers violently shuddered.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kirill stumbled, reaching out wildly to grab a nearby brick wall to keep himself from falling. "What the hell was that? Leo, did you feel that? The entire ground just shook! It felt like the street was trying to flip upside down. Did an earthquake just hit us? Tell me I'm not crazy!"

The phone line sputtered, filling with a harsh, scratching static.

"Feel what? What's going on over there?" Leo asked, his voice cracking and fading. "Kirill? I can barely hear you! The signal is dropping fast. Did you say the ground shook? There aren't any fault lines near us! What do you mean the street shook? Are you playing some kind of prank on me right now? Because it's not funny."

A nearby streetlamp flickered violently, then shattered, throwing the alley into darkness.

"I am not joking! The streetlights just blew out!" Kirill yelled, his heart beginning to race as the darkness closed in. "It’s pitch black out here now! And oh, great, fantastic! I gripped my phone so hard during that shake that the screen just cracked even more. See? This is exactly what I'm talking about! A natural disaster happens, and somehow my personal property is the only victim!"

A deep, guttural growl echoed from the shadows at the alley's end.

"Uh, Leo..." Kirill whispered, his anger instantly evaporating, replaced by a cold dread. "I think those animal attacks you mentioned just got a lot closer. Like, right in front of me close. There is something standing at the end of the alley. It's... it's huge. I can see its eyes glowing in the dark. They're bright yellow, Leo."

The creature stepped forward, its massive, mutated form illuminated by the moonlight.

"What do you mean?" Leo’s voice was barely a whisper through the static. "Kirill? Get out of there! Hello?"

"It’s not a dog, Leo," Kirill stammered, backing away slowly as his heels hit a pile of wooden pallets. "It's way too big. It looks like a wolf, but its skin is covered in jagged bone spikes, and its mouth is dripping with black slime. It's looking right at me. Oh, god, it's raising its head!"

The mutant wolf bared its razor-sharp teeth and leaped forward with terrifying speed.

"Leo, I gotta go! It's lunging!" Kirill screamed, dropping his phone as he threw his left arm up to protect his face. "Get away from me, you ugly piece of trash! Stay back! Get off!"

"Kirill! Kirill!" Leo’s voice cried out from the screen on the damp ground, but the connection suddenly severed with a sharp beep, leaving only the sound of growling.

The beast's powerful jaws clamped down hard on Kirill's raised forearm.

"Aaaaaagh! Son of a...!" Kirill screamed, tears of pure agony springing to his eyes as the sharp teeth tore through his jacket and sank into his flesh. "Let go! Let go of me! Help! Somebody help me! It's tearing my arm off! I don't want to die in a dirty alleyway! This is the worst way to go!"

In his mind, a cold, mechanical voice chimed with sudden clarity.

"[Emergency protocol initiated. Extreme localized physical trauma detected in left upper extremity,]" the robotic, genderless voice announced calmly inside his head. "[User biological parameters fluctuating rapidly. Activating passive evolutionary trait: Misfortune's Compensation. Beginning conversion of received physical force. One hundred percent of trauma is now being redirected to defensive attribute upgrades. Skin hardening process starting immediately. Please stand by.]"

A dull, metallic gray light began to pulse beneath Kirill’s wounded skin.

"What... what is this?" Kirill gasped, his screaming halting as the blinding pain suddenly began to recede, replaced by a heavy, dense sensation. "Who's talking in my head? Am I losing my mind? My arm... it feels completely numb. It doesn't hurt anymore. Wait, why is it glowing? What are you doing to me? Is this some kind of sick joke before I die?"

The wolf bit down harder, trying to snap the bone in his arm.

"[Conversion in progress,]" the mechanical voice chimed again, unbothered by his panic. "[Tissue density increasing by four hundred percent. Localized epidermal layers transitioning to high-grade iron alloy. Defense rating successfully upgraded. Current status: Impervious to low-tier piercing damage. Please proceed to neutralize the threat.]"

"My arm... it really turned to iron!" Kirill stared in absolute awe as his skin solidified into a dark, metallic gray.

The wolf's teeth scraped against the hardened skin with a screech.

"Ha! Did you hear that?" Kirill laughed, a wild, hysterical edge to his voice as he saw a massive yellow fang snap off the beast's jaw and fall to the ground. "Your tooth just broke on my arm! You can't bite through this, can you? You overgrown, mutated rat! You thought I was an easy meal, but my bad luck finally did something useful!"

Kirill gripped the beast's thick neck with his free, right hand.

"You started this, you ugly bastard, so we're going to finish it!" Kirill snarled, pulling his right fist back as a metallic sheen quickly spread across his knuckles. "You think you're the only one who can bite? I've been taking hits from life for twenty-three years, and I'm still standing! Let's see how you handle a solid fist of iron directly to your face! Feel the weight of my terrible luck!"

He slammed his iron fist directly into the side of the wolf’s snout.

"Take that!" Kirill roared, the impact making a heavy, metallic dull thud. "And this! And this! You like that, don't you? Let's see how many of these punches your ugly face can take before you go down! I'm not going to be your dinner tonight! I have a terrible life to get back to! I still have to find my dollar in the sewer!"

He rained down heavy blows, cracking the beast's skull with ease.

"Die! Just die already!" Kirill screamed, throwing his entire body weight into one final, devastating punch that shattered the wolf's temple. "Get off of me! Go back to whatever hell you crawled out of!"

The beast gave one last, weak whimper before its legs buckled beneath it. It collapsed onto the asphalt, its glowing yellow eyes fading into darkness as its lifeless body rolled away.

Kirill stood over the carcass, his chest heaving as he gasped.

"Oh my god... I actually did it," Kirill breathed, staring at his hands as the metallic gray color slowly receded, returning his skin to its normal, pale state. "I killed a monster with my bare hands. No, with my iron hands. They're completely fine. Not a single scratch on them. My jacket is shredded, but my skin... it’s perfectly normal. How is this even possible?"

The robotic voice spoke inside his mind once more, confirming his thoughts.

"[Threat neutralized. Total physical trauma absorbed: 150 units. Conversion complete. Constitution permanently increased by 15 points. Current defensive rating: Iron Skin (Level 1). Your physical defense has been permanently enhanced. Any future physical trauma of a similar threshold will yield reduced damage and further defensive upgrades.]"

"Permanently increased?" Kirill whispered, a massive, disbelieving grin spreading across his face. "This is insane!"

He looked down at his fists, flexing his fingers in wonder.

"Are you telling me that every time I get hurt, I just get stronger?" Kirill laughed aloud, the sound echoing through the empty, dark alley. "My whole life... all the times I stubbed my toe, fell down the stairs, or got beaten up by neighborhood bullies... if I had this system back then, I'd be a literal god by now! My garbage luck is actually my greatest weapon!"

Suddenly, a massive, deafening explosion rocked the street just a block away.

"Whoa! What the hell was that?" Kirill spun around, shielding his eyes as a massive column of fire and black smoke rose into the night sky, illuminating the surrounding apartment complexes in an eerie orange glow. "That came from my street! No, wait... that's my apartment building! Oh, no. What is happening over there? Is there another one of those things?"

A high-pitched, terrified scream pierced through the sounds of the crackling fire.

"Please, someone help me!" a girl's frantic voice cried out from the distance, carrying over the wind. "They're coming through the lobby doors! There are too many of them! Get away from me! Get away!"

"Maya?" Kirill's face went completely pale, his heart dropping into his stomach. "No, no, no! Hang on, Maya! I'm coming! Don't you dare touch her!"