Chapter 85

  “Where do you think yoing?” Frank called out as Archie began to walk away.

  “I’m leaving,” Archie replied without even gng back.

  “You ’t just walk out,” Frank snapped, his anger esg.

  “Try and stop me,” Archie retorted.

  “I and you to e back this instant!”

  “Screw you,” Archie shot back.

  The leader was so taken aback by his sudden burst of defiance he fell silent for a sed or two. Archie reached the exit of the room. Realizing Archie was about to leave, Frank hastily excimed, “I’m your boss, damn it! You hafta listen to me!”

  Frank tried to sound threatening, but for the first time Jake had ever known him, his voice cked fidence.

  The leader’s words must have struck Archie as funny because he burst into a brief ugh. He paused in the doorway, turned around to face Frank, a out another chuckle.

  “Don’t kid yourself,” he stated firmly. “You’re not my boss, and you never were. So you go fuck yourself.”

  Frank’s face flushed bright red with anger. “So you’ve groair all of a sudden, huh? Well, I’ll tell you this: if you walk out now, I’ll make sure you never join Los Demonios.”

  “I don’t care anymore,” Archie retorted. “Your promise to persuade your superiors to take us in without any ditions was the only reason Rid I put up with you. But I’m done. e to think of it, you’re just a soldier in that anization, aren’t you? You said it yourself, remember? So you probably don’t even have a say in anything.”

  “You don’t know shit,” Frank said, trying to sound fident but failing. “I have a good retionship with one of their leaders. He listens to me. If I put in a good word for you guys, they’ll accept you into their anization. I did mention that to you as well, didn’t I?”

  Archie’s skepticism came through in his words. “Now that I think of it, you may have been lying all along,” he said acgly. “Maybe you aren’t even in their anization. Maybe you came up with this story only so you could boss someone like us around.”

  Frank’s face flushed with anger as his fidence surged back. “I wasn’t lying, you blockhead!” he barked, jabbing a fi the red scarf ed around his neck. “See this? It’s a symbol of my affiliation with the anization. Only the members of Los Demonios wear this.”

  “Or so you say,” Archie shot back. “But holy, I couldn’t care less anymore. I wasn’t all that keen on joining your fishy gang in the first pce. I only agreed because Rick wao.”

  Jake was unsure of how close Archie and Rick had been, but they seemed to have been very good friends. Rick’s death had deeply shaken Archie.

  The guy was doalking to Frank. He was about to turn around and leave the room when Isra spoke up. “Where are you going? You ’t go down. It’s impossible. We searched the floor below, remember? There are no other ways to move up or down besides using the ptform, which operates automatically, only going up and only when Jake steps onto it. It doesn’t respond to anyone else.”

  Archie g her briefly before fixing his gaze on Jake.

  “Really?” he said. “If the ptform is desigo only go up, how e it was on the first floor wheered the building?”

  Isra opened her mouth to respond when she realized Archie had a valid point. All of the survivors looked at Jake thoughtfully. They had already known that each floor of the building o be cleared of mutants. Jake had takeo the eighth floor, which meant he had already cleared the previous floors on his own. Then he desded to the first floor, which suggested that he could either manually operate the ptform or knew how to make it go down. That was likely what they were thinking.

  “So the ptform be trolled after all,” Archie cluded. “Either by anyone or just by him. I’m gonna find out.”

  After uttering those words, Archie turned around to exit the room. Jake spotted Frank tense, his grip on his assault rifle tightening. For a moment, it seemed like the leader was going to open fire on Archie as he left. He braced himself to intervene and disarm Frank if needed. However, the situation dide. Frank remained motionless, gazing at the now vat doorway.

  Jake wasn’t surprised that the survivors hadn’t sidered why the ptform was on the first floor until now. Even though they had previously discussed the situation among themselves, the strange and dangerous predit they had suddenly found themselves ihem fused and anxious, making it hard to process everything at o was uandable that some details slipped their minds in such a teuation.

  Isra turned her head to look at him. “Is this true? you operate the ptform?”

  Jake shook his head.

  “Then how did it end up on the first floor?” she pressed.

  Jake simply stared at her. Realizing that gesturing might only lead to more fusioed not to even try. Moreover, he wasn’t even sure if he should try to reveal the truth to her.

  “Is there a way to operate the ptform?” Isra posed another question, effectively ering Jake with her tricky question.

  He didn’t know how to reply. He did have a way to operate the ptform actually. If he desded the empty staircase, the ptform in the elevator shaft would follow suit and desd to the same floor he traveled to. But he couldn’t admit it. Her question really made him wrestle with the dilemma in his mind. Nodding wouldn’t be wise, because if they learned he knew how to operate the ptform, Isra and Archie might ask him to let them go, because, unlike Frank, they weren’t eager to tihe challenge. So Jake couldn’t nod, and he couldn’t shake his head either, because it would make him a liar in their eyes as they already khe ptform could go down. Having remembered it had been on the first floor when they ehe building, they were now aware that he knew how to make it move down. Given they already harbored some doubts about him, lying would only further plicate the situation.

  For a moment, Jake eaihe thought of letting Archie and Isra board the ptform and then using the disied staircase to desd to the first floor, causing the ptform with the two survivors to follow suit. However, he almost immediately dismissed the idea. He hadn’t gohrough all the trouble ing them here just to let them go. With one person already lost, the team was now down to three survivors, redug their manpower somewhat. He couldn’t afford to lose any more of his temporary teammates, especially when he was so close to pleting the challenge. Only one floor was left, but it was the most difficult one, so he couldn’t just let Archie and Isra leave. After the tenth floor, he would also have to defeat the boss on the rooftop. Jake was sure it wouldn’t pose much of a problem to him. The tower-climbing challenge wasn’t overly difficult for him, but it had to be pleted within a specific time frame. That’s why he needed as many survivors as possible to help him finish on time.

  At the back of his mind, a chilling realizatio in—he didn’t truly care about these people, and he was simply using them for his own be. He felt bad about Rick’s death, but only because his team was now weaker and clearing the final floor would be more difficult with reduced manpower. He realized the transformation into a mutant not only altered his appeara also ged his mi and way of thinking. It turned him into a cold-blooded monster, devoid of any feelings or care for anyone except himself.

  The realization hit him hard, prompting him to sider letting the remaining survivo one more time. But when he checked the time remaining and saw less than thirty minutes were left to plete the challenge, he quickly refocused his mind. Without a word, he pivoted and headed for the exit, aware of Isra and Frank following behind. Upon reag the elevator shaft, he heard cursing and stomping sounds from inside. Peering in, he saw Archie attempting to activate the glowing sigils by stomping oo make the ptform move, to no avail.

  Spotting Jake, Archie turoward him, his face a mask of anger. He began to walk over, saying, “It won’t budge. Now I abso-fug-lutely sure that only you trol it. Make it transport me down to the first flht now!”

  Jake remained in the doorway, unmoving. Seeing that Jake wasn’t cooperating, Archie charged toward him with closed fists, as if preparing to throunch. Ohin striking range, Jake forcefully pushed Archie, propelling him backward and causing him to tumble down at the ter of the ptform. Isra and Frank, who gged behind in the corridor, having struggled to keep up with Jake, withe otion.

  Isra dashed toward him, shouting, “What oh are you doing? Don’t touch him!”

  However, upon reag the entrao the elevator shaft and seeing that Archie was mostly unharmed and that Jake had no iion of attag him again, Isra rexed slightly. Jake stepped bad gestured for her to enter, prepared to push Archie back if he attempted to escape once more. Fortunately, Archie stood up but made no move to leave the elevator.

  “He’s right,” the group leader interjected as he arrived at the entrao the elevator shaft. “We ’t afford to waste any more time. e o’s finish what we started here. No need for drama.”

  Frank proceeded to ehe elevator shaft. For the first time since meeting him, Jake felt thankful that the group leader possessed such a demeanor. Isra stood still for a moment, her gaze fixed on Jake. Initially, she had been the only oo show him some sympathy, but now she viewed him as an enemy. The expression in Isra’s eyes veyed all the disdain she felt toward him. Despite this, she knew she had no choi the matter. If she didn’t join her panions in the elevator, she’d be left stranded on the ninth floor. Also, she knew Jake could easily force her to ehe shaft if he chose to.

  Without uttering another word, she stepped into the elevator shaft. With the three survivors now inside, Jake followed suit. As soon as his weight fully settled oform, it began to asd, carrying them up to the final and most dangerous floor.