Chapter 75

  Jake remained pletely still, acutely aware of the gun barrels aimed directly at him. His enhanced vision enabled him to see the index fiightly ed around the triggers, just a slight amount of pressure away from unleashing a barrage of shots. Despite the teuation, he willed himself to remain still and non-threatening, croug atop the roof of the rusted, dipidated vehicle. He made sure not to make even the slightest of movements. He he survivors to keep their heads. If they got spooked and opened fire on him, calming the situation would be impossible.

  The survivors were on edge. Luckily, despite being nervous, none of them fired a hasty shot at him. It was a good start. Jake remained absolutely motionless, croug on the car roof with his palms resting on the rusty surfa front of him. He watched them through his rge unblinking eyes. The fear emanating from them was almost tangible. Yet they mao keep their cool. After surviving in this harsh world for a few days now, they had clearly learo trol their emotions.

  Nothing happened for a few seds. The only sound was the whistle of the wind, and the only movement was the swaying of tall grass pushing through the cracks in the road.

  After the initial surprise faded out, the survivors stirred, whispering among themselves.

  “What the hell is that thing?” one of them whispered. He slightly turned his head toward the person he spoke to but kept his eyes fixed on Jake. “I’ve never seen such a mutant before.”

  Even though the group of survivors was some distance away from him and the man eaking in hushed tones, Jake’s heightened sense of heari him pick up the words without any trouble, as if the speaker were standing right o him.

  “I dunno, man, but that thing looks dangerous,” another survivor replied.

  “It sure is. I’m getting real bad vibes from it.”

  “It’s n to attack us, though,” mentiohe sole female survivor in their group. “Why isn’t it attag us? Mutants usually go after humans on sight.”

  “Somebody s it,” a cold voice cut in.

  Jake turned his attention to the speaker, a man with a cruel face. He was taller thahers, and his head was smoothly shaved. He was noticeably better equipped than the rest for some reason. There was an aura of authority surrounding him, clearly marking him as the leader of the group. One peculiar detail stood out—a bright red scarf ed around his neck. Was it a symbol of something or merely a practical choice for warmth?

  Nobody rushed to carry out his and. Each survivor hesitated to release their grip on their on and reach for their PDA, almost as if anticipating a sudden attack from Jake. Even though they didn’t know what he was capable of yet, primal fear of him had already taken hold.

  However, the leader wasn’t easily scared. And he wasn’t having any of their disobedie really pissed him off. He turned his bald head to look at the others and bellowed angrily, “Have y’all gone deaf all of a sudden? Fug s him already or I’ll bash your stupid skulls in.”

  He was yelling at them withard for the noise he was creating. He really had a short fuse. Jake was already sick of that guy. He wondered why the others were putting up with his behavior and allowed him to boss them around. It was just one guy, so they could easily gang up on him a him up to teach him a lesson on good manners.

  For some reason, they were truly terrified of him. They fli the sound of his harsh voice. While the survivors were scared of Jake, their fear of him was nothing pared to the dread they felt toward their leader. The man standing beside the bald leader was the first to react, reag into his pocket arag his PDA. He slung his automatic on over his shoulder and aimed the camera at Jake, gripping the device with both hands.

  Jake remaiill, allowing the guy to s him. He was curious to know what information would pop up on the s of the PDA.

  “Are you do?” the leader barked, ing his o peer at the PDA held in the man’s hands. “What does it say?”

  “Not much, Frank,” the guy replied. “It’s called a morphus, and its level is eleven. That’s all.”

  “Is it elite?”

  “No, just a regur mutant.”

  The leader of the group let out a mog chuckle. “Y’all nearly wet yourselves over a low-level utant.”

  “We didn’t realize it was so weak, boss,” anuy interjected meekly.

  “Shut your trap, Archie. Nobody asked for your opinion.”

  “It does look scary, Frank,” the woman remarked, not letting her gaze off Jake even for a sed. “And it mao sneak up on us without a sound. I thiter not mess with it.”

  “It did make a sound when it leaped onto the car,” Archie pointed out.

  “Yeah,” the woman said. “It must’ve been chasing us silently. It could’ve attacked us before we even had a ce to notice it, but it jumped onto the car instead, making it creak. It’s almost as if it wanted us to be aware of its presence.”

  “Isra, yiving this mindless freak too much credit,” the leader said. “It’s just a dumb mutant.”

  “I don’t know, Frank. I think we should let it be. And it looks… very dangerous.”

  “More dangerous thaher mutants we’ve killed?”

  “Yes. Without a doubt.”

  “Geez, Isra, listen to yourself! It’s just a regur level 11 mutant, dammit,” he said with annoyan his tone. “What makes you think it’s any more dangerous than any other critters we have killed?”

  “Let’s just say it’s a female gut instinct.”

  The leader, Frank, made a sful chose not to respond this time. Isra stood her ground, pointing out the mutant’s fearful appearance.

  “Just look at it, Frank,” she said. “You ’t deny it looks really scary.”

  “Alright, everyone,” Frank cut her off. “Scary or not, I’m gonna kill that freak.

  “You’re making a mistake, Frank,” Isra persisted. It seemed like she was the only one among them who had the ce to oppose their leader.

  “Your opinion has been noted. You quiet down now too,” Frank dismissed Isra. Gng at the group, he instructed, “Don’t shoot at it. I want to deal with the bastard myself.”

  “Why?” a nervous voice piped up from the group.

  “Because, Rick, I’ve never entered such a thing before,” Frank replied slowly as if expining to a naive child. “I want to see how much XP I gain from it. I don’t want the XP divided among us if we kill it together and then waste time adding our shares to calcute the total.”

  As Frank took a step forward, pointing his on at him, Jake carefully lifted his hands off the rusty car roof ahem up, making sure not to make any sudden moves.

  “What is it doing?” somebody excimed. “It looks like it’s trying to surrender or something! Frank, are you seeing this?”

  “Do you think I’m blind?” the leader growled, staring at Jake in fusion.

  “I think it might be intelligent,” Isra said.

  Frank chuckled derisively. “And I think you’ve gone crazy, woman.”

  “I’m serious! I think it wants something from us. Maybe it wants to unicate with us. We ’t just kill it, Frank,” Isra insisted.

  She shouldn’t have said that. Frank wasn’t oo be told what he could or couldn’t do. Jake began to shake his head, but the leader of the survivhe gesture.

  “I’m gonna kill the freak.”

  Just before he opened fire, Jake sprang into a, leaping down from the car roof as rounds whizzed over him. Fortunately, the other survivors obeyed the leader’s and and refrained from shooting. With only Frank taking shots, evading one barrage of fire was retively simple for Jake. Knowing he hem alive, he swiftly spun around and dashed off, hopeful that the survivors would chase after him.

  As he moved farther away, the bullets Frank fired missed him by an increasingly wider margiually, Frank ceased firing, prompting Jake to gnce back. He noticed the leader of the group breaking into a sprint toward him, while the other survivors stayed put.

  After he realized they hadn’t followed, Frank yelled at them, “What are you standing there for, you idiots! Go after the freak!”

  Relutly, they joihe chase.

  Jake kept running. The situation was not unfoldily as he had pnned. Not that he had an actual pn to begin with. His goal was to simply make them follow him and lure them into the building with the tower climb challenge. So ultimately his pn seemed to be w. Frank’s votile temperament iently made his task much easier.

  Jake maintained a steady pace, ensuring that the group could keep up with him. They were so slow pared to him he could easily give them the slip if he chose to. However, that was not his objective.

  Upon reag the building, Jake halted at the entrance, waiting for the group to catch up with him.