Chapter 362
Jake followed Kira into the room where Felix and Rajan were finishing off the remaining mutants. Upon noticing him enter, Felix said to Jake, “Well, look who’s still alive! We thought you were a goner for sure.”
Rajan laughed at Felix’s comment, but Jake didn’t find anything humorous about it. He had learned from their memories that these two often made jokes at Aaron’s expense, as Aaron’s muteness made him an easy target for their mockery.
There were just a handful of walkers left on this floor, so the group was now relaxed.
“You guys need any help?” Kira asked, eyeing the mutants Felix and Rajan were taking down.
“Nah, we’re good,” Felix replied as he shot another walker dead.
“Alright then,” Kira said, skillfully twirling her revolvers into the holsters on her hips.
In under a minute, the fight was over, and the group scanned the bodies for loot, quickly grabbing what they needed. Rajan fished an extra magazine from the pocket of a dead mutant, and after sliding it into the pocket on his gunbelt, said, “I’m gonna check the other rooms. There might be something interesting there.”
“Be quick,” Felix said. “Just one more minute, and then we head to the final floor.”
“How much time do we have left?” Rajan asked.
“We are on track,” Felix replied, clearly in charge of the mission. “Still, let’s not linger on this floor longer than necessary.”
As Rajan began walking toward the exit, Jake followed him.
“You going with him, Mute?” Felix asked.
Jake nodded and followed Rajan out of the room. For a minute, they walked down the corridor, inspecting every room. Some of them were littered with dead mutants that the team had taken down earlier. To avoid looking suspicious, Jake pretended to search the bodies for loot, too.
After checking a couple more rooms, they found the next ones empty of mutant bodies, as the battle hadn’t reached this far into that section of the floor.
However, Rajan continued down the corridor, checking every room along the way, with Jake following just a step behind. They were getting closer to the room where Jake had hidden Aaron’s body. Knowing he had to prevent Rajan from discovering it, he placed a hand on the bandit’s shoulder.
Rajan glanced over his shoulder, anger flashing across his face.
“What the fuck do you want, Mute?” he snapped. “Get your paw off me!”
He shook Jake’s grip off his shoulder. Jake pointed down the corridor, shaking his head. Then he mimed pointing at an imaginary watch on his other hand.
“Didn’t you catch what Felix said?” Rajan replied. “We’ve got time, so I’m checking a few more rooms. You never know what valuables you might find.”
Without waiting for a reaction from Jake, Rajan turned away from him. Jake wasn’t having any of that, though. He grabbed Rajan by the shoulder and yanked him around, causing Rajan to lose his footing and nearly fall. Jake didn’t want to be so forceful; he was just much stronger than the average human being.
“What the fuck?!” Rajan shouted as he steadied himself.
Jake nodded toward the room where Felix and Kira remained, waving at Rajan. Now that he could finally speak, he hated having to use gestures to communicate with humans again. However, he knew that Aaron had never used an electrolarynx to speak, so he had to refrain from using it as well to keep his assumed identity intact.
From Rajan’s expression, it was clear he was mad now. He slung his assault rifle across his back and took a step toward Jake, his hands clenched into fists.
“You need to learn a lesson, Mute,” he hissed as he threw a punch aimed at Jake’s face.
The punch was fierce, delivered with incredible force and speed. Aimed straight for Jake’s jaw, he knew Rajan expected it to either shatter Aaron’s jaw or send him crashing to the ground, knocking his lights out, given that he was taller and way stronger than Aaron.
For a moment, Jake considered actually letting the blow land. He knew it wouldn’t hurt him. While he currently looked human, beneath this disguise lay his armored body, which was nearly unbreakable. In fact, if Rajan’s fist connected with his jaw, it would more likely be Rajan’s wrist that would break, while Jake wouldn’t even flinch from the impact.
The fist was racing toward him at an incredible speed, but from Jake’s perspective, it looked like it moved in slow motion. He could easily dodge it, but he was genuinely contemplating letting it land.
However, as the fist drew closer and was about to impact his jaw, his instinct for self-preservation kicked in. Even though he considered letting Rajan hit him, his predatory instincts, which dictated that he always avoid getting hurt, were so strong that Jake found it impossible to ignore them.
So he ducked under Rajan’s arm, simultaneously stepping out of the way.
The bandit put all his weight into the punch, and now that Jake was suddenly gone, Rajan was propelled forward by the momentum he had built up. For a brief moment, it looked like he would topple over, but he somehow managed to keep his balance.
When he turned to face Jake, he saw an astounding look on the human’s face. Clearly, he hadn’t expected Jake to be so fast. Jake hoped this would help calm him down, but the missed punch only seemed to make Rajan even angrier.
Jake shook his head as he raised his hands in a placating gesture, but it did nothing to soothe Rajan. The bandit continued to advance, his fists clenching once more.
“Stay still, you slippery bastard,” he snarled. “Don’t make this harder on yourself than it needs to be.”
Rajan threw another punch, but Jake dodged it just as easily as before. This time, Rajan couldn’t maintain his balance and went down on one knee. He quickly sprang back up and spun around to face Jake once more.
When Rajan threw another punch at him, Jake realized he was getting sick of it. He ducked under the arm, but instead of darting aside as he had done the previous two times, he punched Rajan in the solar plexus.
Knowing how much more powerful he was compared to humans, Jake did his best to strike Rajan as gently as possible. Still, the punch was hard enough to knock the wind out of the bandit’s lungs. He sank to his knees, his mouth forming an “O” as he struggled to draw a breath in vain.
Jake backed away a few steps like a boxer retreating to the opposite corner of the ring after knocking his opponent out. It took the bandit a full minute to recover. When he finally rose to his feet, his face was livid with the rage boiling inside him.
“That’s it, motherfucker,” Rajan growled. “You’re gonna die now.”
As he spoke those words, he grabbed his assault rifle and aimed it at Jake.