The Room

The woman stared at Nathan wide-eyed with the blade thrusted into her neck.

Looking at her with cold eyes, Nathan twisted the blade and then whisked it away, causing blood to spurt out of the woman's neck and paint the sheets in red.

The woman helplessly covered the wound on her neck with her hands while she desperately gasped for air and made choking sounds as her lifeforce slowly abandons her.

Tak!

Someone under the bed shot a taser gun on Nathan's leg.

Titititititititi…

Nathan immediately lost control of his body, stiffened and dropped to the floor.

"Arghhhh!"

He gritted his teeth and arched his back due to the overwhelming and excruciating pain he was experiencing which felt like his muscles were being ripped apart.

"Got him! Quickly come out!" The person under the bed shouted.

While Nathan was being electrocuted, two men came out from one of the doors inside the bedroom and turned on the light.

Seeing Nathan immobilized, one of them shouted in excitement, "We got the motherfucker! Chosen One my ass! This is too easy!"

"Don't celebrate just yet. Once the taser stops, quickly remove his equipment and tie him up. You guys got the ropes and handcuffs?"

"Yeah, ready."

"I couldn't see him even with my thermal goggles on." The person under the bed muttered under his breath.

After what seems to be an eternity of overwhelming and excruciating pain, which was actually only 5 seconds, the electrocution finally stopped.

"Did we kill him?" One of the men asked.

"Nah… Tasers don't kill. I've yet to hear someone die from being tasered."

"Well, you know that the boss wants this motherfucker alive. We'd be screwed if we accidentally killed him."

"That would just mean he's weak. He could only blame himself for messing with our group."

"What the fuck are you two doing? Don't waste time! Remove his items and tie him up now!" The man who was under the bed said as he stood up and then pulled out a radio. "Mission successful. We got the target here at Room 304."

The two immediately approached Nathan to remove the items from his body.

But as the two were about to touch Nathan, he suddenly disappeared.

"What the… ?!"

The overwhelming pain from being tasered immediately vanished right after the electrocution stopped but was left Nathan with his body feeling jellow.

However, with his Vit at 29 points combined with his strong desire to live and the adrenaline rush kicking in, he activated [Coward's Way] and somehow managed to pull out his Revolver with his left hand.

Bang!

Nathan shot one of them on the chest and he lost his invisibility.

Seeing Nathan appear, the one under the bed earlier shouted, "Quick! Grab him!"

They both jumped in.

Bang!

Another one was blasted away, while the one who tasered Nathan managed to get on top of him.

Still suffering the aftereffects of being tasered, Nathan was overpowered and the gun was taken away from his hands.

The enemy then started pummeling Nathan.

"Stay down, you motherfucker!"

Pah! Pah! Pah!

The door which led outside of the bedroom suddenly swung opened and a group of people rushed in.

"Stop him!" a male voice ordered.

It was a voice that Nathan was very familiar with – Derek.

He was wearing a full black bodysuit, utility belt, thermal goggles, and was fully geared with System items, but carried no System weapon. The only weapon on his side which was a Glock 18.

"Freddie, that's enough!"

"Calm down, Freddie!"

Three men grabbed Freddie away.

Derek and the people who came in with him looked at the surrounding.

Nathan was lying on the floor motionless along with three other people: the woman on the bed and the two men shot by Nathan.

"Check their bodies," Derek ordered.

One of the people that came in with Derek went to check Nathan, while another one checked their fellow members.

Nathan's face was bruised and bloodied. His night vision goggles destroyed.

"He's still alive," said the person who checked Nathan's condition.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Their leader wanted Nathan alive.

"They're dead," the other one said who checked their fellow members.

Everyone had a dark expression on their faces. These people were their companions, who had family and friends that cared for them.

"Clean this place up and inform their family members," Derek said and then looked at Nathan. "Quickly tie him up."

Two people went over to Nathan to remove his items.

Derek looked at Freddie who had his head down and was looking at his fallen companions.

He placed his hand on his shoulder.

"I know how devastating it feels, but at least you guys were able to catch him. If you guys failed, many more would've died. Everyone here in this town is indebted to you guys. Don't worry, I'll make sure that all of you will get the reward you guys deserve. I promise you that."

Freddie raised his head to look at Derek in the eye and then turned away to look again at his fallen companions.

"I don't want anything for myself. Just make sure their family is taken care of, especially Danny's wife and his 3-month old daughter."

Thud!

"Aw~ How sweet. Why don't you two faggots get a room already?"

Everyone looked at the direction to where the voice was coming from.

It was Nathan who had taken a hostage and was holding a dagger against the victim's neck. There was also another person right next to them lying on the floor drowning in a pool of blood.

The beating that Nathan received from Freddie earlier was actually not that damaging despite him ending up with a bruised and bloodied face. Although he felt physical pain, at that moment, he was more focused on recovering his body from the aftereffects of being tasered so he decided not to fight back and waited until he could at least move more than 50% of his body. With his 29 points in vitality, he was confident that it would only be a matter of time before he recovered.

If there was any part of Nathan that sustained grave injuries, it was his ego.

During these past few days of him conducting experiments, he started getting used to being the one in power.

He was supposed to the predator that preyed on humans, not the other way around!

Nathan spat blood on the floor and his eyes flashed with anger.

"Booty Warrior… I should've known."

"He used the 'f' word," someone whispered.

"Yeah, such a disgusting person," someone whispered back.

"Wait… what?" Nathan was dumbfounded. Despite the zombie apocalypse, there are still some people concerned about the word faggot.

"Nathan, put down your weapon. The leader of Red Dust wants to meet you," Derek said.

Nathan didn't care and ignored him.

"If anyone moves, I'll slit this guy's throat!"

He disappeared.

Activating [Coward's Way] while holding a person won't disable his invisibility but he can't make the person invisible. However, if he kills the person he's holding or inflicts grave injuries, he will lose his invisibility.

"Nathan, we have Amir."

Nathan was startled for a moment and quickly regained his composure.

"Lies!"

"Nathan, think about it. If we wanted to kill you, you would've been dead already. Let that person go and surrender now."

Nathan's eyes twitched and then look at him with disdain.

"Surrender? To who? You? These ants?"

"Nathan, don't make things –" while Derek was talking, Nathan's head was already elsewhere and was looking around. 'Where's my gun and my other dagger? Dammit... This isn't looking good. I got to heal fast.'

With the [Grade D] Long Dagger still held against his captive's neck, he quickly pulled out 5 healing packets from his fanny pack with his left hand and popped them inside his mouth and tore them with his teeth.

The fluid inside the healing packets went down his throat which was immediately followed with this refreshing feeling that ran all over his whole body and healed his wounds.

He spat the empty packets and then surveyed his surroundings once again.

"Rose is on her way now and wants to offer you a deal," Derek said.

There were still 5 people alive including Derek. Among the 5 people currently here in this room, there was one he wanted to kill the most – Freddie.

Just thinking about this person still alive and breathing after the humiliation he received made his blood boil that he wanted to skin him alive. There was no way he's going to let this person named Freddie and the people he cared about to live any longer.

"Your boss wants to talk to me, right?"

"Yes, she's heading here right now."

"Okay. But before I agree with that, I want you to break that person's leg and give me all the people he cares about."

Hearing what Nathan said, almost everyone in the room scoffed and sneered. They never expected Nathan would be this vengeful and stupid.

In their mind, wasn't Nathan the one who attacked first and killed their fellow members back in the bridge? He even killed Lester, Rose's cousin. So could how could he have the audacity to demand something so absurd?

Moreover, what makes him even think he can escape here? This room alone was wired with explosives. And with their numbers and Chosen Ones along with the other traps planted around the area, they could easily take care of him.

Among those who scoff and were sneering, it was only Derek who didn't. He knew what Nathan was capable of – he had firsthand experience what it was like. But despite that, he wasn't someone who would back away from fear or threats either.

"Nathan, don't be unreasonable. I suggest you think carefully," Derek coldly said and didn't hide his killing intent.

Meanwhile, the rest of the members held a mocking smile on their faces and also didn't hide their killing intent.

"Heh~ Is that so? Then let me give you guys something to think about."

He returned his [Grade D] Long Dagger to its sheath, shoved his captive towards Derek and ran through one of the windows, shattering it.

Ca-clak!

Nathan's descent to the ground was far from safe and graceful. He landed in an awkward position, dislocating his left wrist, spraining his left ankle and rolled a few times before finally stopping on a corner.

Thud!

Fortunately, he was still invisible so no one was able to see his miserable Superhero landing.

He got up.

'I need to practice some parkour shit…'

He quickly pulled out 5 healing packets from his fanny pack and tore them inside his mouth.

He spat the empty packets and quickly got up and because many people were coming his way.

'Five healing packets left, and I lost my Revolver and [Grade D] Dagger.'

"He's around here somewhere! Search the area!" one of the guards shouted from afar.

Nathan pulled out his [Grade D] Sword from his back and stared at the blade with a very warm smile and loving eyes as if he was looking at a loved one that he hasn't seen in years.

He licked his lips.

'I wanna see you guys smiling after this.'

*********************************************

Author's thoughts:

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Thanks for reading!

And to those who want to donate, you can send it here at immortalshades123@gmail.com via PayPal.