Escaping

Thus I decided to f*ck it. If I was caught, I was caught.

I calmly walked forward for about a good 10 or so seconds. There was a simple door that reminded me of emergency exits that likely led to the outside or another room. Unfortunately, as this wasn't a gate I couldn't see through it.

My only choice was to try and listen to the situation on the other side. I pressed my ear against the metal door to give it a try.

I couldn't hear anything. Either the person was very good at being very still or there was nobody on the other side.

I pressed against the side of the door purely on accident making some noise. I nearly froze on the spot before hastily moving to a corner of the room near the door.

The room was not too small so the conversing guards probably didn't hear anything. If there was someone on the other side, however, they almost definitely heard me.

Just as I feared, the door opened up from the other side. A bored-looking man in his late thirties wearing a guard uniform appeared. He didn't enter the room, he only scanned it warily.

This put me in a tough spot. I couldn't sneak behind him as I would definitely touch him if I tried. The only option was to take him down!

It isn't wise to copy movies and television. That is unless of course, you overpower the enemy!

With my strengthened physical abilities. I grabbed the man from behind and put him in a chokehold while covering his mouth at the same time.

The man squirmed desperately but apart from the open door, there wasn't much else he could use to create some noise. I also made sure to pull him away from said door and walls.

He tried to reach for something so I kneed him. I could almost hear something break.

I had to applaud his quick thinking though as he then tried to stomp madly on the ground. But it was futile in the end as I managed to see right through his attempt and quickly stop him in the act with another swift strike.

It felt as though the man wanted to scream but in the end, he lost to asphyxiation and his trashing finally stopped. His body went limp and his eyes were naturally… lifeless.

And I- well...

I slowly placed his body in a corner of the room.

I wasn't sure how to feel about it. My emotions were in a bit of turmoil but all things considered. What was the difference between killing an animal and a person? Their intelligence? Or was it their position on the food chain. Be that literal or metaphorical.

This was a question I didn't want to answer as it concerned the value of human life and just life in general.

So instead of pondering over that question, I stole his pants, shirt, phone, and a gun. It was properly holstered, this was likely what he had been reaching for.

It looked like a standard model handgun from my past reality which was a bit disappointing. This was the future after all.

I suited up and transferred my package to my pant pocket. The phone was unfortunately locked but I could at least check the time on it, it was currently 3 pm.

I took a final glance at the dead man's body. As much as I hated to, I was committing it to memory. Call it idealistic if you want, but... No, you can call it that. I would like to at least act like I have morals. Especially after stripping the poor guy naked.

With haste in my steps, I opened the door and left the room in one swift motion. On the other side was a dirt road. Unlike in the city, I could see tire marks that indicated that cars did pass through here.

Other than that, there was nothing different. It was the same cavern-like environment.

If there was one thing I could differentiate was that the number of mutant made holes were almost non-existent.

This insinuated that someone regularly dealt with any maggots or flies that dared pass the gate. Luckily it seemed that they weren't here. If not I would probably be back on that corpse pile to feed the maggots.

Not daring to run, I walked along the dirt road. It would be inevitably more time consuming, it also put me at risk if someone discovered the dead body.

I likely won't be able to pass off as an officer. The youngest one I've seen looked to be in their 30's. I was not willing to bet that others would simply consider me a rarity or an exception for that matter.

Thus I was forced to peacefully walk to maintain my concealed presence. I was considerably bored and then I felt a vibration in my pocket.

BZZZ BZZZ

I was still along the boring dirt road and there were no cameras or people around so I decided to take a look.

[ 3:35 ]

[Unlock to see sensitive notification]

Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to see whatever the notification might be. I wonder if I will be able to have someone unlock it for me. Which reminds me…

I forcefully opened up the phone's back panel and removed its battery.

So far the path was just a straight road so there were no problems with being tracked but if I manage to enter the city being tracked would be making things too easy for others.

I put the battery in one pocket next to the crystal.

BZZZ BZZZ

Eh? I felt a vibration inside of the pocket with the battery.

I hurriedly brought out both the crystal and the battery. For some reason, both felt hot to the touch. Taking a closer look, the phone battery seemed to have swelled a bit.

The crystal's vibrations had reduced in intensity, it was going to stop altogether.

That could only mean that for some reason the crystal and the battery reacted to one another. Now that they were separated the reaction was stopped. Is the crystal perhaps some sort of radioactive energy crystal? In that case, can I absorb that energy?

I could only stare at the fist-sized crystal on my hand. I definitely couldn't eat it. Do I have to concentrate to get the energy or is it simply impossible? Maybe I am overthinking this.

I can only hope to unlock the guard's phone to get myself some more information. The person's authority rank should be higher than zero after all.

Well… I'll also need a new battery now.