19 Escape Artist (2)

"How the hell..." Marcus mumbled as he saw a dagger materialise in the masked man's hand.

He looked at Miranda, who too was shocked to see the dagger materialise from nothingness. The day kept getting weirder with every passing moment. In the morning she would've slapped anyone who told her that monsters like ghouls existed in the world. Yet by the night she had been ordered to. look for one. Then all of a sudden the Impounders appeared out of nowhere to retain the ghoul. And now she was witnessing a fight wilder than her wildest dreams.

'Chris is going to win right?' Marcus couldn't help but wonder.

Marcus had assumed Chris would win the battle because of the augmentations he had gone through, pushing him through the limits of a human being. He wasn't a human and those psychic chains of his were the proof of it.

For obvious reasons, the augmentations were a well-hidden secret that not even the top officers working under the special force knew about. But since Marcus's father was one of the leading scientists in the field of augmentation science, he had connections with the right people to know about secrets no one with his level of authority did. But he had been careful not to spread the news about augmentations around, as it would land him and his father, in a lot of trouble. So much trouble that dying would've been the least of his worries.

The augmentations were also the reason why he was so desperate to join the Impounders and thus wanted to prove his worth to them during this operation. However, thanks to the masked man the operation was ruined now and so were his chances to join the Impounders. Chris would've won easily against an ordinary man, but now Marcus wasn't so sure about it. As the masked man didn't look like an ordinary human either.

'If I help Chris catch that bastard, they'll definitely invite me to join the Impounders and finally, I won't be a mere patrolling officer.' Marcus had a disgusting smile on his face as he charged in to take Zaen down.

"What are you doing!? We have been ordered to stay out of the fight!"

Miranda tried her best to stop Marcus, but it was as if he had been possessed. He pushed her off of him and rushed towards the men. Miranda wanted to rush after him, but in the end, she decided against it. Not following the order of a superior officer could land them in a lot of trouble. Especially, if the superior officer was the leader of Impounders. Either way, she had different opinions regarding the Impounders and the special force. An opinion that made her rebel against them now.

She pulled her Taser out. Patrolling officers like the strider team weren't allowed to carry lethal weapons. The stun gun and an electric baton were the only weapons they were provided with. However, there wasn't any rule in place to prevent her from upgrading these 'non-lethal' weapons into something... lethal.

Miranda had used this loophole to get an engineer from the black market to tinker with her weapons. The usual output from a stun gun was about fifty thousand volts. Her taser, however, could generate a pulse of roughly about four times its original value. Also, the range of her taser had been improved so she could now shoot enemies from a distance of ten meters. About the same distance between herself and the masked man.

But the masked man wasn't her target. Chris was. She had been questioning herself about the operations the special force had been conducting behind the public eye ever since she joined them. Also, the fact that the special force knew about the ghouls told her that they knew more about the mist as well.

She could understand why the force wanted to secure the ghoul alive but she couldn't understand one thing. If they had information about mist, then why not divulge that information to the public? Why keep up the facade of being useless in the eyes of the general populous?

She could feel something was wrong. Maybe the force wasn't established to keep the humans safe from the mist, but to safeguard the mysteries of the mist from prying eyes. If that was the case, maybe the masked man was someone who knew about their plans and was intending on stopping them?

Maybe it was this masked man who brought back the missing people? It could be a possibility. Who else in their right mind would dare to go against the force? If that was the case, she had to protect the man at all cost. Even if it costs her, her job. In case he knows about the secrets surrounding the mist and the special force, only God knows what they'll do to him if he got caught.

Miranda was lost in her thoughts when she heard Marcus scream his lungs out. She looked up and saw his blood all over Chris. There was a hole inside Marcus's chest... and within the hole were Chris's tangled chains.

"Motherfucker! I told you to stay away, didn't I?" Chris spat in anger before pulling his chains out of Marcus's lifeless body.

***

Moments ago...

As soon as Zaen got the dagger in his hand, he went from defence to offence in a matter of moments. All of a sudden he was fighting back. Attacking and deflecting the chain whips he had been dodging until then. Chris was not expecting such a drastic change in Zaen's demeanour and was a bit surprised. But as soon as the temporary shock faded away, Chris's attacks became even deadlier.

Unlike his opponent, Zaen was running on fumes. Beads of sweat were rolling down his face as he kept deflecting the chains. He was already tired from running and fighting the ghoul, and now he was forced into another fight. Although he could've gotten rid of the fatigue by using an energy drink, sadly he couldn't find the opportunity to do so. Chris's attacks were ruthless and their frequency didn't give Zaen much time to do anything other than defending himself.

Zaen felt a surge of adrenaline being pumped through his body. His mind forced his hands to push harder. He had killed a monster, a fcking monster, with these hands even when the odds were stacked against him. A human was nothing in comparison to the frenzied ghoul. He recalled how helpless he had felt back then, and he hated that feeling. He won't let a mere man make him feel like that, not in a million years.

Just then Zaen sensed someone rushing towards him. He ducked to avoid Marcus. However, Chris wasn't quick enough, he couldn't change the course of his chains at a moment's notice. He had already aimed his chains to hit the masked man in his chest and couldn't control the chains anymore. Neither could Marcus stop himself in time. Their collision was inevitable.

The sharp edges of the chains cut through Marcus's flesh like butter. Just a moment later, he had a gaping hole in his chest. He tried to say something but only blood came out of his mouth as he collapsed on the ground. His eyes fixated on Zaen even in his last moments. It almost felt as if he was cursing him to die as well.