Chapter 14 BLIND ATTACK

“We are under attack!”

One of the soldiers who’d witnessed Scott’s mysterious death alerted the others and immediately opened fire in the direction from which he saw the footsteps leave. The footstep changed course and trotted towards him. Fast.

And suddenly a knife appeared from thin air and plunged into his chest. His eyes went wide and wild as the knife drove deeper, twisting about in his chest, crushing his rips, piercing his heart. Mouth agape with shock and acute pain, the soldier dropped. Dead.

Almost immediately, panic-stricken, they all fired randomly in every direction. And one by one, the soldiers dropped like flies. It terrified Kevin as he watched the masked figure walk amongst them, stabbing each of them in the chest. They couldn’t see him—but he could. It terrified him to know he was the only one who could see the hooded figure.

“I was never crazy, after all.” Kevin thought aloud. Didn’t know if he should feel happy or terrified. “He was in that room watching us.”

Derik grew more confused. “What are you on about?”

“The masked man—he’s here, and he is killing them one by one.” he stuttered, fear transformed his face as he followed the masked figure with his eyes.

Derik turned to look around—at the soldier shooting as they were being stabbed by something they couldn’t see. Searched around for their attacker. He saw no one—only bodies dropping all around. His eyes were drawn to a soldier left standing amid the cadavers.

“Clark!” Derik called out when the footstep approaching the terrified soldier from behind.

Clark’s fingers were trembling as he tried to grip the gun firmly, eyes darting about searchingly. Sweat broke on his brows.

The footstep was moving at a fast pace towards him.

“Watch out!!” Derik’s warning came a second too late.

He watched in horror as Clark let out a shrill, a knife moving along his body, tearing his chest open. The content of his stomach poured, and Derik—horrified, turned away in revulsion. The soldier collapsed dead on the floor. One by one, he watched as the soldiers that were left standing squawked and bled before they dropped dead.

“We’ve lost before the battle even began.” Kevin said in a quivering voice. He observed as the masked man sneaked up on the soldiers from behind and plunged his knife into his unsuspecting victim.

“We can’t win, Derik.” he turned around and started running in the opposite direction, leaving Derik behind.

A glance at the scene confirmed Kevin’s statement. Some soldiers who were still standing fired fiercely in all directions at something they couldn’t see before the knife came through their chest and they instantly dropped dead.

“Kevin is right, we can’t win.”

Derik ran into the forest, following Kevin. Heard the painful screams of the soldiers behind him as he ran and wept bitterly. He had underestimated this organization, and now the soldiers are all paying for it with their lives. He’d led all these people here to be slaughtered.

He shut his eyes in regret. I’m sorry William, I have failed you.

Frank escorted William into the laboratory. They came upon a door with the tag special project written just above it. The room inside was empty and dark, except for the medical bed placed at the centre. Frank reached for bulb switch placed beside the door and turned the light on.

The red bulb hanging from the ceiling shone dimly across the room, revealing a bald man that lay on the bed. His arms and feet were strapped with chains to the bed, restraining his movement.

William’s brows waggled. “Why the chains?” he inquired, eyeing the bald man as he sleeps.

He moved closer to examine him. Startled when the bald man suddenly opened his eyes. He scrambled backward at the sight of his bright yellow eyes.

“I would move away from him if I were you.” Frank warned. “He is a little unpredictable and dangerous at the moment. That’s why I decided its best we put him in chains. It is for our own safety.”

William neared for a closer look, eyes bored into the bald man. His face lit with recognition. “Wait, isn’t this the thug that’d raped my daughter?” he frowned at the discovery.

Shady suddenly raised his head at William, opening his mouth as though he wanted to bite his head off. William quickly retracted backward, almost stumbling. Shady hissed as he returned to his original lying position.

“Why on earth would you use a thug for an experiment as important as this one? This mission is too important to be left in the hands of just some thug—and especially the one that’d raped my daughter.”

“Sir, there are a number of reasons I chose him for this experiment.” he started off, “Before we successfully carry out the experiment on Mrs. Eulich, we had some other lab attendant who had volunteered, but they’d lost their lives during the genetic transmutation process.”

“For this new project, I worked on improving the genetic characteristics of the test subject, such as his strength and speed. That’s why I brought in Mr. Shade as a specimen for the experiment. I never imagined the experiment would succeed at first trial.”

“So the truth is finally out, you brought me in here as your lab rat after all.” Shady sneered, sounding agitated. The chains on his arms rattled as he struggled to break free, then slacked as he forced his arms to relax. “So much for giving me a second chance at life.” he scoffed.

Frank turned to him. “I turned you into something better than your old self.”

Shady forced himself up, charging at Frank with an angry groan, but the chains restrained him from reaching him. “You used me as your lab rat for some idiotic experiment!” he grunted, glaring at him, shaking with barely restrained rage.

For a moment, their eyes locked on like magnets. Shady looked at him with scorn. “I promise you punk, when I finally get out of here, which you know I will, I will come for you, and I will tear you apart from limp to limp.” he spoke under his breath.

Frank knocked him down with a hard blow to the head, and Shady fell unconscious onto the bed. And turning to William, his feature formed a humourless smile. “We are currently working on a procedure that will erase his memory.”

William watched in silence as Frank continued. “Mr. Shade won’t remember a thing once the procedure is completed. He would undergo a re-education exercise. It would be like learning from the scratch. That is where we shall introduce him to the objectives of this mission. He would be taught all he needs to know about the mission. This way we would give him a new purpose in life.”

William turned to him. “Time is not on our side. I need him to be ready as soon as possible.”

“We shall begin protocol to erase his memories as soon as possible.”

The door burst open, and Frank’s receptionist, Catherina, peered through the door. “I’m really sorry for interrupting,” She quickly apologized. “But there is someone here to see you.” she said, directing her gaze at William. “He said it’s urgent.”