Chapter 74
Jake dropped a few feet befrabbing hold of a piece of rebar stig out from the wall, preventing his fall. Hanging on with one hand, he took a moment to steady himself. He then swiftly sed his surroundings and noticed aurdy handhold, slightly lower than his current position, protruding from the opposite wall. Positioning the soles of his feet against the wall, he carefully adjusted his body angle before pushing off against the wall, releasing his grip on the piece of rebar. He easily twisted his body in midair, rotating to face the dire of his movement. Just before impact with the opposite wall, he braced himself, hitting it with the soles of his feet and bending his ko absorb the shock. Reag swiftly, he reached out and grabbed hold of another piece of rebar jutting out from the wall to halt his dest down the shaft.
After that, Jake gnced over his shoulder and noticed that he was now positio the same level as the entrao the sixth floor. The door was absent, and the se of the wall surrounding it had been partly destroyed, creating a rge gaping hole in its pce. His pn was to reach the sixth floor to determine if the magical ptform would desd with him. If it did not, there would be no point in wasting time desding all the way to the first floor.
Jake adjusted his body toward the entrahen propelled himself off the wall, s across the expanse of the shaft and through the entrao the sixth floor. Upon nding, he bent his ko soften the nding. He then broke into a run down the corridor leading toward the elevator shaft housing the magical ptform. As he sprinted, he listened carefully, fog on any sounds around him, but nunshots could be heard ing from the street. The group of survivors had likely already looted the mutants they’d killed and tiraveling to whatever destination they had been headed to prior to being ambushed. Jake knew he had to hasten his pace if he wao intercept them before they slipped away.
When he made it to the elevator shaft, he saw the ptform positio the same level as the sixth floor, indig that it had indeed desded along with him by one level. It was great. It meant that once he reached the first floor, the ptform would lower all the way down as well, providing him with the means to transport the group of survivors to the intended floor. Figuring out how he would lure them ihe building and thehem all into the elevator shaft posed an altogether different challeo tackle. He would also have to follow them into the elevator shaft, as he had a hunch that the ented ptform wouldn’t asd until he joihem on it. How the survivors would react to having a monster like him in such close proximity was hard to predict. Jake had no idea how to do all that or whether it would ultimately work out. He would have to e up with a pn on the fly and simply watch how things pyed out.
After returning to the empty shaft, he tinued his dest. He dropped down the shaft, progressing one level at a time, gripping pieces of rebar stig out from the walls and any other avaible handholds. When there were none directly below him, he pushed off from his current wall to leap to another ohat offered a secure grip. The dest proceeded easily and smoothly. While he was aware that falling even from the top floor to the bottom wouldn’t be fatal, he knew he would get hurt, which he aimed to avoid at all costs. To quer the final three floors a the boss, he o be in good dition. So he proceeded with his careful yet brisk dest, leaping from wall to wall and grasping onto handholds as he went. Even after being a morphus for some time now, Jake still marveled at his agility and swiftness. He effortlessly trolled his body, adjusting midair with ease and smoothly seizing handholds.
At st, he arrived at the base of the shaft. He got out and sprihrough a brief corridor that opened up into the main area of the first floor. Rag across the vast room, he burst out of the building. Pausing momentarily, he took a sed to survey his surroundings, notig the corpses of the mutants sin by the group of survivors just a few minutes earlier. Regarding the survivors themselves, he spotted them half a block away from the building, strolling dowreet. They hadn’t gotten all that far, so his worry about them getting away had been unfounded. However, the most challenging part was yet to e.
Jake slipped into a swift but almost silent pursuit of the survivors. He moved with stealthy grace, treading cautiously and silently like a seasoned predator on the hunt. While he had his eyes fixed on the survivors ahead of him, he paid attention to his surroundings, his senses finely attuo the slightest of movements or possible signs of danger around him. Within moments, he narrowed the gap between the survivors to a mere fifteen yards. Surprisingly, they were he wiser.
He was usually pleased with how silently he moved, but right now it worked against him. Jake o attract the survivors’ attention, but he also khat getting too close to them would be risky. If he were to sneak up on them suddenly from behind, the only oute would be to spook them, causing them to potentially open fire on him before he had a municate. No, he o make them aware of his presehout being too overt and drastic about it.
Slowing down, Jake gnced around and spotted the rusty car frame off to his right. An idea sparked in his mind, prompting him to swerve toward the old vehicle. As he closed the distao within a few yards, he leaped forward, propelling his body up onto the roof of the dipidated car. The rusty metal roof, showing signs of heavy damage, sagged slightly beh his weight but held firm, emitting a loud, creaking sound.
Jake crouched down, his palms resting on the rusty metal of the car roof, his gaze fixed on the group of survivors farther dowreet. Just as he expected, they heard the creaking noise from behind them. They hesitated for a fra of a sed before quickly pivoting to face his dire.
“What the hell is that?” Jake heard one of the survivors excim before they all simultaneously aimed their guns at him as if on cue.
