Chapter 318
Jake swung open the driver’s door and stepped out of the vehicle. The only figure visible was the individual operating the machine gun on the technical.
The rest of the team was clearly hidden behind the wrecks on either side of the roof level. He realized his field of vision was narrower than the one he was used to. It was understandable. Human eyes were inferior compared to his own, offering much less vision than his expansive eyes, which were capable of capturing every detail.
He was definitely not used to such a narrow field of vision. Had he been in his usual form, he would have easily discerned every detail about the vehicles on either side and might even have detected the bandits lurking behind them. Since human sight didn’t allow him to make out all the details, he wanted to glance around to pinpoint the exact positions of the bandits. However, he opted against it to avoid raising suspicion.
Jake wondered if Skullface was among them, but it seemed highly unlikely. He must be holed up in the main base, sending his minions to deal with him instead of taking care of business himself.
The gunner stationed in the bed of the pickup truck asked, “Hey Thilo, is our friend in your car?”
Jake began to walk toward the vehicle. He didn’t have a clear plan of action in mind, though. He simply wanted to see how long his disguise would be able to fool these people. For now, it was working exceptionally well, as the gunner clearly had no idea that “their friend” was right in front of him.
He continued to stroll casually toward the pickup truck. The gunner didn’t seem concerned about that at all. His eyes darted between Jake and the muscle car, as if he didn’t want to miss the moment the one they were supposed to ambush suddenly jumped out.
Jake was more and more pleased with his disguising ability. The gunner clearly thought he was Thilo. Even though he still hadn’t said a single word, the gunner wasn’t concerned in the least about him getting closer and closer to the pickup truck.
For a few seconds, the gunner stared at the muscle car. Then, he tore his gaze away from the sports car and looked at Jake, who had almost reached the front of the pickup truck by that point.
“Thilo, what the fuck is going on?” he asked, irritation creeping into his voice. “Is the freak in your car or not?”
Jake was increasingly pleased with his ability. The gunner was getting really nervous, but he still had no idea that the guy before him was not Thilo. The gunner stared at him, obviously expecting an answer, so Jake pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the muscle car behind.
The gunner’s eyes immediately darted that way, giving Jake a couple more seconds to move even closer. The bandit stared at the muscle car, his hands tightly gripping the butterfly triggers of the fifty-cal.
When it became clear that nobody else was going to get out of the muscle car, he turned his head to look at Jake again.
“You’re starting to freak me out, man,” he said.
Even though he said that, he clearly had no idea that the person beside him was not who he thought he was. His disguise was perfect. It definitely passed the test.
“What the fuck is going on?” the gunner said, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. “Tell me, did you bring the morphus or not?”
Jake reached the bed of the pickup truck and stopped. The gunner kept the barrel of the mounted machine gun pointed at the muscle car.
“Fucking say something!” the gunner said, his voice rising.
He was clearly losing his nerve, and quickly at that. It was now time to take action.
Jake lifted his right hand to shoulder level. The gunner’s eyes immediately darted to it, a puzzled look on his face. Jake transformed his hand into a large cone-shaped drill and instantly powered it up.
The gunner gasped, watching in sheer horror at the sight. The look of absolute horror on his face was priceless.
“Thilo, whu… What the hell… Whu—,” he stammered incomprehensibly.
He clearly struggled to process what he was witnessing. Perhaps as a safeguard mechanism, his brain simply refused to accept that the person beside him was not his comrade but the mutant they were supposed to ambush.
Jake was surprised as well, though not to the same extent as the gunner. His surprise stemmed from a different reason: while his right hand was transformed into a large, spinning drill, the rest of his body still maintained its disguise.
Before the gunner could regain his wits, Jake morphed his left hand into a grappling hook and immediately launched it at the person. The harpoon-like hook sunk into the bandit’s throat, and Jake yanked back on the cord, causing the person to lose his balance and fall sideways.
The bandit flopped over the side of the pickup truck’s bed, and Jake instantly drove his drill through his face in an explosion of blood. After that, he leaped into the truck’s bed and turned toward the machine gun. There was no longer a need to maintain his disguise, but he decided not to drop it just yet.
Morphing his weapons back into normal hands, he grasped the butterfly triggers. He couldn’t help but notice that, with his disguise still active, his forearms looked human again. His hands sported pale skin, and the worn fabric of his brown jacket hung over them.
From this vantage point, he could see much better now. He spotted several bandits cautiously peering over and around the wrecks that lined both sides of the roof level, unable to grasp what was going on.
Which was understandable. The gunner had died very quietly, and most of the bandits hiding behind the wrecks kept a watchful eye on the muscle car, still convinced that their target was inside.
He could see some of them popping their heads over the derelicts’ hoods to look in the direction of the pickup truck. All they saw was Thilo manning the big .50 caliber machine gun. Not all of them could see that the previous gunner was draped over the side of the truck’s bed, blood flowing to the ground.
The bandits had clearly missed the moment of the kill, and those with a good vantage point to see the corpse were now utterly shocked by the scene before them. They struggled to comprehend what was happening and who their enemy truly was.
Jake could hear them whispering to one another, but since the gunner, likely their leader, was now dead, nobody was barking orders at them, so they didn’t know what they should do now.
They were also likely starting to think the morphus wasn’t in the muscle car after all, and there was no need to remain silent anymore, as one of them shouted, “Hey Thilo, what the hell is going on?”
“Yeah,” another chimed in, “Where’s the morphus? It’s not in the car, is it? What do we do now?”
Since the gunner was draped over the right side of the pickup truck’s bed, the bandits hidden behind the wrecks lining the left side of the roof level couldn’t see the corpse. The two large SUVs also helped conceal the gruesome sight.
However, it wasn’t long before someone hidden on the other side of the roof, able to see the dead gunner, regained their senses and spoke up.
“Hey, what the fuck happened to Nico?” somebody asked. “Is he dead?”
“I think he is. Did you kill him, Thilo?”
The bandits cast suspicious glances at Jake, finally starting to realize he might not be on their side. The situation quickly grew tense. Jake spotted some of them propping their assault rifles and shotguns over the hoods and roofs of the wrecks, aiming at him.
“What the fuck are you smiling about, Thilo?” one of the bandits asked.
Jake didn’t even realize he was smiling. When he was in his usual mutant form, his monstrous face was incapable of conveying any emotions. But sure enough, human faces could display a range of various expressions, a fact he had almost forgotten. Apparently amused by the confused panic in those around him, he smiled without even realizing it.
Anyway, it was time to strike. Jake made a slight adjustment to the barrel of the machine gun and opened fire.