Chapter 82

  Jake had no idea how Frank expected him to expiuation. However, he was growing tired of Frank’s attitude and stant threats. It was time to teach him a lesson.

  The group leader may have believed he was moving quickly, but to Jake, it seemed like slow motion. He lunged forward as Frank raised his assault rifle, seizing the on before the man could take aim at him. With a firm tug, Jake wrested the firearm from Frank’s grasp, almost breaking his index fihat had gotten caught irigger guard, causing the leader to cry out in pain.

  Jake rammed into the man, forcefully tag him to the ground and pressing his fiightly around Frank’s throat, restrig his airflow. Fear filled his widened eyes as the realization that he couldn’t breathe sank in. Jake had no iion of taking his life; he only aimed to assert his dominance. However, Frank, unaware of Jake’s iions and thinking he was being killed, panicked and tried to break free. Despite his efforts, his human body proved no match for Jake’s mutant strength.

  In his expanded field of visioiced the other three survivors snapping out of their trances from when he had attacked Frank. Seeing them swing their ons to point at him, Jake immediately released the group leader. Leaping to his feet, he rushed toward the person, which turned out to be Isra. Yanking the on from the woman’s grasp, he tossed it aside almost all the way to the other side of the room. Before Isra could react, he took the handgun from her holster and flung it away too. Giving her a shove in the chest, he caused her to lose her band fall to the ground.

  Wheeling around, he charged at the closest oppo, Archie. Despite Archie’s attempt to aim at him, Jake’s agility made it impossible for him to track his movements. Wanting to incapacitate the survivors temporarily so they could refle the situation, Jake refrained from causing serious harm. He had morphed his cws bato normal hands to avoid inflig any signifit injuries on them.

  After wreng the on from Archie’s grasp and hurling it away, Jake delivered a powerful punch to Archie’s sor plexus. The impact was so forceful that Archie doubled over, his eyes bulging and his mouth gaping as he struggled to catch his breath, gasping futilely. Shoving the man to the ground, Jake swiftly rushed toward the st person remaining standing on his feet—Rick. He had mao draw a bead on him, but before he could fire, Jake was already upon him. In a matter of seds, he disarmed Rid delivered a powerful blow to his chest, knog the wind out of him and sending him crashing to the ground as well.

  All four survivors now y on the floor, struggling to catch their breath, gasping and wheezing. It had taken Jake just a few seds to ralize all of them. To them, it must have felt like it all happened in the blink of an eye, leaving them with no opportunity to defend themselves. Isra, being the least injured among them, did not ime to recuperate. However, she remained motionless, seated on the floor, her gaze fixed on Jake. She knew all too well that any attempt to reach for one of the scattered ons in the expansive room would be futile, as Jake could intercept her long before she could even grab a gun. Reizing Jake’s lightning-fast speed and agility, Isra uood that she owerless to take any a against him.

  After giving a final go the still-rec survivors, Jake pivoted and raced across the room toward the exit. Navigating through the corridors, he made his way to the entrance of the elevator shaft. Once he reached it, he came to a halt. The ptform remained on the eighth floor, patiently waiting for him to step on it to transport him up to the level. However, he refused to ehe elevator shaft. Instead, he turned ba the dire he had e from, anticipating the arrival of the survivors. He khey would e.

  It wasn’t long before the four of them emerged at the far end of the corridor, whispering among themselves as they made their way toward him. They were undoubtedly discussing the ret events, just as he had expected. The four survivors came to a stop at a distance from him, versing among themselves while occasionally sneaking gnces in his dire. Despite the distand their hushed voices, Jake’s heightened hearing enabled him to catch their words as clearly as if they were beside him.

  “Let’s just ask him,” Isra whispered to her three male panions.

  “How will he respond?” Frank grumbled. “He has no mouth, and it takes him ages to write a simple yes or no.”

  “Hey, weren’t you the one demanding a full expnation before he attacked you?” Archie attempted to i some humor into the teuation.

  “Shut your mouth before I shut it for you,” Frank barked at Archie.

  “He doesn’t have to speak or write,” Isra interjected. “I ask him yes or no questions, and he simply nod or shake his head in response.”

  “Okay, go ahead,” Frank said to Isra. “You already know what I think about all of this, but if you want some answers, feel free to ask him. I doubt he’ll be willing to cooperate, though.”

  “We’ll see,” Isra replied before turning away from her panions and beginning to walk down the corridor.

  She stopped a few paces from him, and Jake took a step back from the entrao the elevator shaft, motioning with his hand toward it to indicate she could enter, despite being aware that she wao speak first.

  As expected, she shook her head. “After the i, we had a discussion and reached a clusion. We believe we uand the situation here. I would like to ask you a few questions to firm our thoughts. Will you ahem, Jake?”

  Jake made a non-ittal gesture and waited for Isra to tinue, hoping the questioning wouldn’t take too long.