Jake spun around, ready to confront whatever enemy was behind him. As he turned to face the other side of the tent, he spotted someone crouching behind a large chest with its lid open. The chest had been large enough to completely hide the person when Jake had just entered the tent, which explained why he hadn’t noticed him. Now, the figure rose slightly to peer over the lid, revealing himself.
Jake crouched slightly, preparing to spring across the tent to take down the human before he could make a sound. The person must have sensed the impending attack because, in an instant, he leaped to his full height and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.
“Wait,” he whispered urgently. “I’m not your enemy.”
Judging by his clothes, it was clear he was a worker, not a bandit. Jake hesitated, uncertain about what to do. The person looked at him with a mix of terror and awe, but there was something else in his gaze. Despite the obvious terror at Jake’s appearance, the worker seemed to look at him with a hint of hope.
“My name is Johnny,” he introduced himself.
Jake watched him, making no movements at all. One of the upgrades he had acquired for Feral Instincts allowed him to sense the emotional states and intentions of nearby humans, picking up on their potential hostility. Thanks to this skill, he knew that the worker across the tent posed no threat, so Jake allowed himself to relax just a little.
Johnny watched him for a few seconds. When it became obvious there would be no reply from the obsidian-black mutant, he said, “Oh, right. You can’t speak, can you?”
Johnny stepped around the chest to stand directly opposite Jake. He could sense the fear radiating from the human. It felt almost palpable to him.
“And I heard you have some trouble with writing, is that right?” Johnny asked cautiously. “But while communicating might be difficult for you, you understand human speech perfectly. You are an intelligent being despite… the way you look. I once heard someone say you were just a regular survivor until something happened to you, turning you into… whatever you are now. I believe… this story. I think it’s true.”
Johnny came to a halt just a few steps away. He was clearly terrified of Jake, even though he was trying hard not to show it. By walking so close, the human aimed to appear unafraid. Perhaps, he also wanted to stay near so he wouldn’t have to raise his voice above a whisper. He definitely seemed intent on avoiding attracting the guards in the tent, which Jake certainly appreciated.
Johnny made a brief pause, giving Jake another scrutinizing look. He visibly struggled to suppress a tremor that threatened to overtake him. Jake was desperate to flee the bandit base before his earlier massacre at HQ was uncovered. Yet, he still hadn’t devised a plan for leaving unnoticed. With little mana remaining and unable to use Cloak, avoiding detection had become impossible. The moment he stepped out of the tent and attempted to cross the base, both the turrets and guards would surely spot him. Perhaps, though, the worker in front of him could be useful in some way?
Jake stayed motionless, his large, unblinking eyes fixed on the human before him. Johnny seemed to have finally managed to overcome his fear, at least to a degree—just enough to prevent himself from shaking.
“There are many rumors about you, you know?” Johnny said, lowering his voice even more. “They say you’re fighting a war against Los Demonios, right? Everyone’s talking about it.”
He glanced around, as if to make sure no one was eavesdropping, even though there were only the two of them in the tent.
“And you know what? They’re absolutely terrified of you. Those Los Demonios who believe this city is theirs begin to shake with fear the moment someone brings you up.”
Johnny’s lips twisted into a crooked smile.
“It’s really funny to see those guys who think they’re so tough tremble in fear. We workers happen to overhear some of the guards’ conversations, so we know you’ve slain plenty of them by now. Some are so scared they won’t even step outside the base for fear of running into you. What a bunch of chickens pretending to be tough guys!”
Johnny even chuckled softly.
“They have no idea what you look like because you leave no survivors. Every time you come across a bandit group, they all end up dead. No one makes it out alive. I did hear a rumor, though, that once, you let one go just so he could take your message to the gang leaders. But that guy was so terrified he couldn’t give an accurate description of you. His portrayal was overly dramatic and completely wrong. The only thing he managed to get right is that you had pitch-black skin and huge, scary eyes.”
Johnny’s expression shifted back to serious.
“But it’s the regular soldiers who are afraid of you, not the gang leaders. After all, the leaders never come after you themselves. Instead, they send their subordinates to hunt you down. None of the leaders have ever encountered you, which is why they aren’t afraid of you. But it’s only a matter of time before you go after them as well, right? We think you first want to take care of all the soldiers to leave their leaders completely vulnerable.”
He then took a breath before stepping a little closer to Jake.
“It’s Los Demonios who are your true enemies, not us—regular survivors who were captured and forced to work for them, right?” he asked, a hint of hope in his voice not escaping Jake’s attention. “So you’re really waging war on Los Demonios, aren’t you? And you’ve been at it for quite some time, haven’t you?”
Jake wondered how Johnny had reached such a conclusion. After all, he had killed some regular survivors too. Moreover, for all Johnny knew, Jake could be fighting Los Demonios solely in self-defense, and that wasn’t too far from reality. There were plenty of times when he had to engage them simply to defend himself.
“So you’re planning to save us all, right?” Johnny blurted out in the next second.
If Jake had the ability to laugh, he would have done so. Johnny completely misunderstood the situation. Him? A hero saving lives? That was absurd. Just ask Elena or Isra how they felt about him.
He then recalled the gruesome sight of several dead survivors who had been tortured to death by Los Demonios. It was after witnessing that scene that he decided to wage war against the gang. Until then, his confrontations with them had been purely acts of self-defense. However, that brutal scene ignited a fury within him that he rarely felt as a mutant.
Still, Jake knew he was not some kind of superhero. His decision to put an end to Los Demonios’ reign was primarily for his own sake. He relished the surge of anger that washed over him after witnessing that horrific scene because it reminded him that he could still feel compassion. He wanted to hold on to his human emotions to retain what little humanity he had left. So did that make him a hero? He didn’t believe so—especially not after having taken the lives of many regular survivors himself.
“It ain’t just my conclusions,” Johnny said, as if reading Jake’s mind. “I heard a story about how you killed several members of the gang who were going to torture some regular survivors to death. That shows you’re aiming to protect us from Los Demonios, right?”
Johnny’s words made Jake stop and think again. Maybe there was some truth in what he was saying after all.
“Anyway, I was just slacking off here,” Johnny said, his voice pulling Jake back from his musings. “They work us until we’re about to collapse from fatigue, so we try to grab whatever rest we can. But I have to get back to work before one of the guards notices my absence.”
He took another step closer. Now he was so close to Jake that he could touch him if he extended his hand toward him.
“I dunno why you’re here,” Johnny said. “No alarms are blaring, and there have been no sounds of fighting, so I guess you’ve sneaked into the base for intel, right? It’s known that you can turn invisible, but you weren’t when you darted into the tent. By the way you moved, I assume you suddenly ran out of mana and couldn’t keep your disguise up anymore. Am I correct? I might be wrong, but there’s a rumor that you need mana to survive and use your abilities.”
Survivors had definitely learned quite a bit about him by that point.
“Anyway, if I’m right, it means you’re trapped here, right?” Johnny asked. “You either don’t want to fight right now or you originally planned to sneak in and out unnoticed. But now, without your disguise, you can’t leave without being seen.”
Johnny had been speaking hurriedly as if he were running out of time. He took a brief pause to catch his breath before continuing.
“What I’m trying to say is, I can help you,” he said. “I can get you out of the base without anyone noticing.”
Johnny paused, staring intently into Jake’s eyes. He seemed to hesitate for a moment.
“But in return, you have to… to do something for me, okay?”
Jake waited for him to elaborate.