Chapter 7: Desperate Fight

When the feast was becoming more lively as the time goes on Antonio slipped out of the room and went towards the basement floor.

While going down these floor Antonio passes by a lot of armed men that was equipped with assault rifles and grenades on their bulletproof vest.

In this basement there were sentries that were positioned in various blind spots and barricade that makes it harder to attack in the front with the addition of a mounted M249 that could be used to suppress fire and act as a reinforcement.

Antonio walked towards the deepest part of this floor where there's an armored door located at the end that was guarded with a few guards around.

"Anything new about that guy?"

When Antonio approached the guards that guarding this place he asked them on the status of the guy that was imprisoned here.

"It's been straight 7 hours straight of torture, but there's still no confession until now." the guard replied at him before started to open the armored door.

*Creak* *Bang*

When Antonio heard that he shrugged in response as if he already expected this.

Inside this room, there was nothing else except a metal table that has a lot of torture devices and a blonde young man that was tightly tied in a chair while his body was covered with blood.

There were a lot of bruises and wounds all over his body while all of his fingernails were dug out, his finger was bent in an abnormal way and lastly his back was lashed with whipped.

"Where's the vault Reynold!?"

When the bald man torturing this blonde young man that was called Reynold he spare a lot of effort to make him confess everything but instead of receiving an answer he receives a lot of insult from this guy.

"This going to be recorded as the lowest budget torture plan I've ever seen in my entire life Cholo." Reynold mocked him while a smile escape from his mouth that makes it hideous with his current state.

"That's not my name!" the man that torturing Reynold got annoyed as he stab his palm with a knife.

"Aww-! That's nice Cholo." Reynold was moaning in delight while looking at his palm without flinching in pain.

"That's enough. We don't need to be stubborn here Reynold we know you're waiting for that old geezer to let you out, but by the time it happens we already got what we wanted."

When Antonio enters the room the first thing he does was stop the man who tortures Reynold.

"Never have I thought that my auntie will come here to pick me up." Reynold said while showing a surprised face when looking at Antonio.

"Don't make it hard for both of us Reynold." Antonio said sternly while staring at his eyes.

"I will stay here with my friend Cholo just pick me up tomorrow." Reynold replied with a laugh when he heard that.

"Heh! Idiot." Reynold lowers his head as he mutter silently without them hearing anything.

"Answer the question!" the man who was torturing him was about to stab his other hand when Antonio gesture his hand to stop him.

"This would be the last chance I'm asking you this. Where was the vault?" Antonio coldly said while drawing a gun from his pocket before pointing it at his head.

"Pull the trigger please! I couldn't wait!" Reynold said in a relaxed tone while pressuring him to pull the trigger as he lean forward towards the gun.

Antonio hesitated on whether to pull the gun or not, especially he still didn't get what he want this time, thus he keeps his gun and leave with the man that was torturing Reynold out of this room.

"I'll come back tomorrow and when you still don't confess. I don't have any choice but to kill you." Antonio sighed helplessly as he leave behind Reynold who kept his silence.

"Remember to keep an eye out of this guy and don't let him get away otherwise I'll kill you." Antonio coldly said while walking away from that room.

*Thud*

After they left the room Reynold's nonchalant attitude disappears and what replaced it was expressionless face.

"I was hoping that old geezer will make a lot of boom tomorrow or else I'll just kill all of them." Reynold plainly said before trying to stretch his body.

"By looking at the scene all over again for hours make me bored here. I guess after breaking out of here I will test my skill." Reynold looked at his Interface before checking his Natural Ability.

[Weapon Specialist (Passive): A skill that let you specialize in every weapon that you used.]

[Hype (Passive): A skill that stimulates your whole body in every kill you made.] [Stacks: 0/100]

[(Active): When activated it consumes your stimulant stacks while increases your concentration and dexterity based on your stimulation.]

[Skill Utilization: 70 energy per use] [Skill cooldown: 30 minutes]

"After doing all of that exercise make me feel sleepy. I will sleep again before they wake me up again." Reynold said while ignoring his injured body and immediately went to slumber.

...

After waking up from his sleep, Ziv looked around the room to see if there was someone awake from the people that was locked up with him.

"Uh.. I should have known that this sleep position was a pain in the neck." Ziv grunts before loosening the pain in his neck.

'I can still feel my knife that I put in my back pocket before. I hope it was enough to cut this rope.'

He started to wriggle his tied hands to put it in the most comfortable spot where he can easily move it under his legs.

After twisting and turning for a while he finally moves his hand behind his back while reaching out the knife in his back pocket.

When he felt the knife in his hand, he firmly holds the knife to avoid dropping it on the ground that may create some noises before he carefully move his hand on the front as if nothing happened.

'I need to carefully cut this rope until I can freely snap it anytime while making a one surprise attack.' Ziv carefully cut the rope with his knife.

Before hiding the knife in his palm while pressing the cut off part of the rope on his thighs.

'That should be enough to move around my hands and with this it can let me surprise attack anyone with my knife.'

He continues sleeping to conserve his energy for his execution of his plan later this day.

When the morning came the atmosphere of the shopping district was starting to get rowdier as the stalls and shops was opening their business to sell some products.

The vendors and butchers started shouting to attract the customers that were passing by on the street.

"Come in! We got a new batch of fresh meat here!"

"We have the best meat in the whole city!"

"Look at this plump and healthy meats!"

There were a lot of people that passing by in this shopping district to buy some meat that came from the outside of the wall and the people that were living somewhere in the alley of the shopping district.

When Kenny's shop business opened it was booming to the patrons as they knows that his product was superb than other shops.

But that also led the people in the storage room to get frightened as their numbers started decreasing at alarming rates.

They were now panicking and discussing on what they would supposedly do next to escape from here.

"W-what should we do? We are going to die!"

"What we could do? Kill him? That's ridiculous the guards outside will shred us to pieces without even stepping out from this shop."

"So, what do we do? Stay here for non-existent help?"

In this situation that were getting dire they tried to think about different methods they could think of to avoid being skinned alive while hanging on the meat hook.

Just a mere thought of it will let anyone shiver involuntarily, including Ziv that was always calm.

"Why are you not worried about this?" Claire curiously asked when she looked at his calm expression while being unperturbed by the whole situation.

"Worrying too much will muddle your judgement and decision in this situation." Ziv calmly replied at her question.

"But do you have any solution or assurance that you will live in this case?" Claire expectantly gaze in his eyes to find some answer.

"Yes. That's also thanks for your information that you said yesterday." Ziv looked at her before replying at her expectant gaze.

"How is it connected to me?" Claire blurted out in surprise as she was confused on what he said.

"According to your story yesterday the soldiers were starting to rescuing people, right?" Ziv didn't say directly as he tries to let her figure it out by hinting her a clue when he ask a question.

"Yeah, what about it?" Claire was confused at first, but when she started thinking hard.

"Wait! Don't tell me-"

When she figures it out she almost say it out loud, but thankfully Ziv stopped her in time.

"We can't let them know anything about this. It will make them unnatural that possibly lets them spill the news on those people outside." Ziv warned her while looking at the people in this room arguing and discussing loudly.

"That's fine, but why only me?" Claire nodded as she curiously asked him.

"You give me information that let me deduce from the clues that you gave. So, it's kinda repaying the favor, I guess." Ziv said as the matter of fact to clear the misunderstanding.

"Oh. Okay." Claire disappointedly said while she lowers her head.

When Claire mentions about the soldiers that escort them, he kept pondering about it all this time that lets him reconsider all of his plans according to the situation.

Especially when he heard the capital has fallen and the soldiers are started to rescue the citizen away from the danger zones this lead him to some possibilities.

The first possible explanation for that was these soldiers are just doing their task or responsibility as a soldier to escort and protect the citizens in every city.

While the second possibility was they need a manpower to build a base, replenish their ranks or find people with different specialties that let him lead to one conclusion.

".. according to that they will surely raid this area with a lot of imprisoned people to rescue and save us from these guys." Ziv explains in detailed explanation that let her undestand easily.

"Oh.. It's okay. But I think when the rescue comes I won't make it out alive." Claire forced a smile on her face while a slight tear could be seen on her eyes.

He stares at her before sighing as he whispers something to her ears and instruct her to do something.

"That's what I want you to do."

"Okay. I hope it works." she nodded her weakly head before she lean her body on the wall.

...

When the time went by and the people in the room are decreasing while the person who got picked by Kenny were shouting and screaming with fear and despair evident on their face.

The sun was setting in the horizon and the night enshrouds the starry sky while the bustling activity of the shopping district is at peak.

Kenny return to the storage room where the captives are locked up with only 9 people left inside hugging and praying that they weren't chosen tonight.

He approaches them one by one and started inspecting their body while nodding and shaking his head from time to time.

When Kenny stopped in front of Claire her heart beats faster and her mind suddenly blanked out.

"This would be my main attraction tonight. A young girl that has just become an adult while the skin was soft and subtle, your body was also healthy and above all of that you are a virgin." Kenny inspected every corner of her body while disgustingly lick his dry lips.

Kenny bent his fat body before he tried to lift her on his shoulder to carry her in the shop front.

While Claire struggled a little bit without any strength from her arms as she tried to break out of his grasp by hitting his back or twisting her body, but she failed to do anything.

Seemingly it's the time to take action, so he stood up and shout at Kenny to attract his attention.

"Hey! S-Stop it right there! You can't do that to her!"

When Ziv stood up from his seat he convincingly acts desperately as he shouts with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Hey Kid! Don't do any funny business here." Kenny warned him when he saw that he was trying to do something stupid.

When Kenny was about to open the door, Ziv suddenly rushes forward as he used his body to attack him.

"I won't let you take her."

"Ah-! No!" Claire snapped out of her daze when he saw Ziv's rushing forward.

"I won't let you die here!" Ziv resolutely declared before he got slapped on his face by Kenny.

"You stubborn Kid! If you don't stop right now I won't have a choice, but to kill you." Kenny got annoyed after slapping him hard.

He still continue charging this time but instead of some reckless attempt he made earlier there was a different outcome this time.

"Another waste of good quality meat." Kenny sighed in disappointment before slashing his butcher knife downwards.

When Ziv saw the slashing motion, he instantly evades sideways to escape from the trajectory of the knife before he went to Kenny's blind spot.

While breaking the rope that was restraining his wrist before revealing the butterfly knife that hid on his palm.

He jumped towards Kenny's back as he stabbed his nape on the back while proceeding to slash it towards his throat.

When the sudden attack from Ziv happened Kenny was surprised at the fact that he has a hidden knife in his palm before waking up from his daze as he tried throwing him off his back while preventing him from continuing on expanding the long gash on his neck.

He realizes that he couldn't reach him by swinging around his knife, so he tried to focus on chopping off Ziv's hand while inflicting a wound on himself in the process.

"Ha.. Y-You f*ckin piece of sh*t! You'll pay for this!" Kenny cursed in a hoarse voice before throwing Claire on his shoulder to the ground as he checked the wound that was inflicted on him.

The condition of Kenny's neck and throat was grevious while his exposed throat lets the blood continuously flow out of it.

While Ziv's condition wasn't excellent either especially he was losing a lot of blood from the severed hand that was chopped off by the butcher knife and also the pain was slowly enveloped his consciousness.

'I need to end this quickly or else I'll die first." Ziv grimly thought before biting his lips to stay awake while he keep staring at Kenny that was constantly checking his wounds.

"I will let you regret this decision of yours! I'll let you experience the taste of despair!" Kenny said in a hoarse voice while he tried intimidating him.

'His wound will surely have already killed him by now, I specifically targeted his neck and throat for much lethality, but why he is still alive? Unless he is a User!?' Ziv despairingly thought while looking at Kenny's condition before concluding something out of his expectation.

'Sh*t! I should have thought about this possibility. The only thing that could let me win here is by touching his head at this point.'

While he was thinking of some ways to end this fight there was a sudden explosion and gunshot that could be heard outside the shop.

And the people in the room were caught by surprise in this sudden turn of events as they got slightly distracted on what happened outside.

Because of that slight distraction it open a chance to let him get close to Kenny for a short amount of time that caught him off guard and made him flustered when he seeing him swiftly sprint forward.

But this time he didn't use any weapons nor hit him with his hands instead he just reached his hand to touch Kenny's head.

"Checkmate!"