The Primal Hunter

It was just another boring Monday morning. The sparse rays of sunlight that found their way through the blinders’ narrow gaps did little to disturb the man sleeping deeply on the bed. However, the serene peace was short-lived as the accursed sound of his alarm began its daily ritual of ruining a good dream.

Jake, previously enjoying the sweet embrace of his blankets, was startled awake, fumbling around until his hand finally found his phone. Grumbling, he rolled out of bed and started his usual morning routine, preparing for yet another day at work.

He went for a warm shower, a quick breakfast, got himself dressed, before he finally grabbed his stuff and headed out the door. The entire morning routine was done in less than half an hour.

Walking down the stairs to his car, he had an intuition that the day was going to be interesting. He didn’t know why as everything was as usual so far, but he couldn’t entirely dispel the feeling. Maybe someone brought donuts?

Traffic was terrible as usual, living in a big city and all. He spent most of the time not actually driving but sitting in the endless queues of the morning rush. He had considered cycling or maybe running to work, but then he would have to shower and get dressed at work, and that just sounded bothersome.

As he finally pulled into the parking lot, he got out, grabbed his bag, and headed on inside the corporate office that had been his workplace for the last couple of years. The building itself was a massive monstrosity of glass, with way too many floors. It wasn’t all that out of place, though, being surrounded by similar structures.

As he got inside, he was greeted by the receptionist, Joanna. She was a middle-aged woman, who always wore these large earrings, and more makeup than an entire class of high school girls would need in a week. If Jake had to describe Joanna in the easiest way possible, it would be a soccer-mom stuck in a perpetual mid-life crisis. The reception was located only a couple of meters away from the elevators, so greeting her in the morning was a natural routine for most employees.

“Morning, Jake, had a good weekend?” she asked, with far too much energy for this early in the morning.

“Same as always, how about you?” Jake answered politely, knowing what was to come.

“Oh, it was great! You know me and Mike tried to…” she replied with vigor, explaining in great detail, giving Jake déjà-vu to last week, where the exact same scenario seemed to have played out.

the far too long conversation about inane subjects with her, the arrival of the elevator finally saved him, allowing his

the first to arrive today, he thought, as he found

peaceful to immerse himself in the spreadsheets, financial reports,

knack for picking out the excellent stocks and avoiding the bad ones. He had always had a good gut feeling about those kinds

polite social exchanges,

once more, clearly having not gotten enough sleep. Most others in the office had learned by now that he wasn’t one for small talk, so most left him alone. Just the way he wanted

Cautious and a bit withdrawn. He had always been a bit of a loner and chose activities based on not interacting with others. Heck, when his dad forced him into

a nice apartment, great colleagues, and his future was looking bright if he said so himself. He wasn’t an extraordinary person, but just another face in the crowd. And he kind of liked it

his superior, Jacob, walked over with a big smile

the others are heading

good,” Jake replied

for reading people, and making you feel comfortable around him. He was one of the few people that

a big softie. Apparently, he had taken care of Jacob while growing up and was something like a butler or

It was quite honestly a miracle that Jacob hadn’t turned out to be an entitled brat, instead of the man he was today.

the office. His hair always seemed to sit impossibly perfect, his suit always worn perfectly, and what seemed like an eternal relaxed smile

Jake. The fact that Jake wasn’t the type to create problems

Jake agreed on going to lunch. Because with Jacob along, he knew it wouldn’t

with Jacob and Bertram. Talking along the way

spotted Joanna with Mike, her husband, getting into the same elevator he, Jacob, and Bertram were heading into. Said elevator

these three being Caroline. Caroline was a coworker working in the human resources department, who shared their office space with Jake's department. She was a year