Chapter 92

  “Frank, no!” Isra shouted just before the group leader opened fire, the chatter of the on drowning out her voice.

  Jake dashed to the side, feeling the rush of air against his skin as bullets streaked past him. Some of them punched holes through his body, causing him to stagger but failing to inflict much damage. He kept running in a semicircle, getting closer and closer to his target. Frank tio unleash a spray of bullets, but trag fast-moving Jake with his on wasn’t all that easy. Most of the bullets fired by the group leader missed him by a wide margin.

  As his assault rifle clicked empty and stopped spitting out bullets, Frank froze momentarily, surprised at how quickly he had burhrough the entire magazih little impa his enemy. In trast, Jake opped moving. As soon as he heard the distinct dry click, he adjusted the dire of his movement, making a beeline for the group leader. With a mix of panid determination on his face, Frank dropped the assault rifle and yanked a heavy-caliber pistol from its holster on his hip.

  He mao pop off two shots, blowing a couple of holes in his obsidian-bck chest before Jake reached him. He swung his cws at Frank’s gun hand, tearing through his jacket sleeve and flesh. The group leader screamed in pain and stumbled backward in a desperate attempt to flee. As he hurried to escape from Jake, one of his feet tripped over the other, causing him to lose his bance. He colpsed onto the rooftop with a thud, and the heavy-caliber pistol flew from his hand. Jake loomed over the fallen human, his cws poised for attack.

  “No!” Isra’s scream pierced the air from behind him.

  Jake was acutely aware of the running footsteps of the rinting toward him, but he didn’t turn around. His full attention was fixed on Frank’s c form sprawled on the ground before him. As a mutant, Jake rarely experienced emotions. He couldn’t recall the st time he felt anger or fear. However, whenever he attacked human beings, or they attacked him, a wave of primal anger surged within him. It was his inner beast stirring, awakened by the st of human blood. In those moments, Jake struggled to trol his as.

  This was exactly what had just happened. His inner beast had awakened from its slumber. The sight of the bloodied human c before Jake stirred his inner beast, urging him to poun his prey and plete what he had begun. Jake found it extremely hard to resist its dark urges.

  He could hear Isra running toward him but refused to turn to face her. He had to defeat his inner beast first. It was the most important task at the moment. Not out of any genuine for these two humans; such emotions had long abandoned him. No, his sole i was to preserve the scraps of humanity that remained within him. He had a feeling he might lose it forever if he didn’t keep his inner beast in check. He had to do everything in his power to prevent it from seizing full trol of his mind and body.

  “Leave him alone!” Isra screamed.

  She sounded really close. Still battling his inner beast, Jake looked over his shoulder. The woman had closed the distaanding only a few feet away from him, gripping a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun tightly in her hands. The on might have been small, but it was quite menag. Judging from the determined expression on her face, it was clear she was about to fire her on. Jake’s iruggle hindered his rea, and before he could dart aside, Isra discharged both barrels almost simultaneously.

  The double bst punched Jake in the back with the force of a sledgehammer swung by a giant. He staggered but mao keep his bance. He had suffered severe damage—he khat even though he couldn’t see the twed holes in his back. Mana was esg his body through the wounds at an accelerated rate. It made his inner beast even madder than it already was. How dare she!

  Jake spun around to face the woman. The shocked expression on her face told him she couldn’t believe Jake was still alive, having shrugged off a double bst from a shotgun at almost point-bnk range. She broke the on open, but before she could repce the two spent shell gs with fresh ones, Jake on her.

  The severe wound he suffered fueled his inner beast’s rage, which immediately ied Jake. Losing trol, he grabbed her by the shoulders so hard the tips of his talorated her flesh, elig a scream of pain from the woman. With tremendous willpower, Jake mao fight back his inner beast’s urge to tear her head off. Instead, with a powerful yank, Jake lifted her off the ground and flung her aside. She flew through the air and colpsed on the rooftop a few yards away from him. She was injured, but at least she was still alive.

  “You fug freak,” he heard Frank growl behind him.

  He looked bad saw the group leader make a grab for his heavy-caliber pistol lying nearby. Grasping the on, he poi at Jake and fired a hasty shot, hitting him in the shoulder. That was when Jake pletely lost trol. He was no lohe captain of the vessel. His inner beast was now in charge instead.

  Wheeling around, he darted toward Frank, who tio fire at him, holding the rge pistol in both hands while still lying on his back. Heavy-caliber rounds punched holes through Jake's chest, slowing him down slightly. However, it didn’t save Frank. Upon reag him, Jake kicked the handgun from his hand before dropping onto his supine form, straddling the human.

  The red scarf ed around his neck, a symbol of his affiliation with a gang called Los Demonios, offered little prote against Jake’s iron-like cws. His talons tore through the fabrid dug into the human flesh. Frank’s eyes went wide as he felt Jake’s cws sink deeply into his throat. With a powerful yank, he tore out Frank’s rynx. He held the bloodied piece of flesh in his hand for a moment before tossing it away. Frank stared up at him with bulging eyes, blood p from the ragged hole in his throat. The human seemed to try to say something, but all that came out of his mouth was a gurgle and more blood. He bled to death within seds.

  Jake stood up and turoward Isra, who was still lying on the ground. Determio finish what he started, he began walking toward her.