When Jack came to, he was in a particularly awkward situation. All eyes were on him as he sat up and looked around. Sadly, this included two new additions.

Two men in military uniforms sat near the entrance to the cave. Apparently, someone had moved him here while he was unconscious.

Nearby Jack could see Kane propped up on one of the bags the group had been carrying. He was awake, but not in any condition to be moving around. With a pale complexion and frail appearance, it was made clear that his earlier stunt didn’t come without a price, a costly one at that.

Noticing Jack’s gaze, Kane gave him an awkward smile, or at least he tried to. The only movement he managed was a small twitch.

Glancing around at the rest of the group, the atmosphere seemed tense. It was evident that Cade put up a decent fight with the deep coloration on his face and from the appearance of Nathan, Jack could only guess that the man didn’t put up much resistance at all.

Coward… Jack thought.

Seeing that Jack was awake, both soldiers stood and slung their guns over their shoulders.

“Now that everyone’s awake, I think it’s time to address why we’re here.” One of the men said while gesturing to his partner.

Hearing those words, Jack and his companions perked up.

Seeing how the man had their attention he continued.

“Today you managed to make quite a mess. Nearly two dozen casualties and half a dozen heavily injured.” Sighing, the man continued.

“It’s not about what you did. Honestly, we don’t give a shit what you do here. The problem is who you did it to.” Leaving a small pause for his words to soak in, the man continued.

“Did you honestly believe that we’d just give you all this power without a way to keep you in check?”

Those words brought on a shudder though Jack’s spine. He didn’t like the sound of that.

“Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, the government worked on a super soldier program. This program tried to use cutting edge technology to create the best soldiers the world had ever seen- and in truth, it did. Sadly, the project was terminated as the government realized they couldn’t keep these people in check. In the end they eliminated them.”

“That’s not where the story ends though.” The man said with a grin.

“Realizing they needed a way to control these people, they needed something to contain them, a failsafe of sorts.”

Slowly, the man began removing his tactical gloves as he spoke.

“The failsafe they needed had to be something that rendered the subject as powerless as an ordinary man.”

Reaching down, the man picked up a fist sized stone.

“It had to be something that could be activated and moderated on a whim.”

The man reached up and pressed his earpiece with his other hand and spoke.

“Permission to activate?” He asked aloud.

Smiling, the man must have gotten the answer he wanted.

Holding the stone up for all to see, the man squeezed.

At that moment, the man’s skin rippled with what seemed like a silver liquid.

*BOOM* The rock exploded into countless shards across the cave, the others shielding themselves from the jagged projectiles.

“Now, you may be wondering what that was. I’ll keep it short. If I’m version one, then you’re all version two. We may not function like you, but we’re currently MUCH stronger than any person on this planet.

You only exist because technology hit a plateau.”

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Pulling on his gloves, the man unbuckled a device from his hip and pointed it at the group.

“Don’t take this personally, everyone related to this incident needs to be punished appropriately.”

Fear was evident on the faces of the survivors. They didn’t know what the device would do, and they didn’t want to know.

*BEEEEEEP*

The wrist bands of everyone in Jack’s group made a loud beeping sound before the usual solid light winked out.

“All of you will go without access to the gene core for a while. We can’t just let you off with a slap on the wrist after this level of incident. Well anyway, I hope you survive.”

The man then walked out of the cave mouth with his partner in tow.

Jack and his companions sat in stunned silence for a moment before anyone felt like talking.

“We’re so fucked.” Cade broke the silence, voicing the thoughts of the rest of the group.

“What are we supposed to do? How are we expected to even survive like this?” Rachel asked, voicing her own concerns.

“If you had just kept it in your pants we wouldn’t be in this mess!” Nathan angrily growled at Kane.

The man had lost his composure. It seemed he’d lost any respect for Kane following his massacre. Considering Kane’s condition, he had no reason to fear him either.

Coughing whilst trying to sit up, Kane managed to lean against the wall to his side.

“I didn’t want this to happen.” He wheezed.

“I lost it when they tried to cuff me.” *Cough* “I don’t remember most of what happened.” He stated with a resigned look.

Jack resonated with Kane’s words. He’d also felt strong compulsions from the moment he first arrived on this world. Whether it be his desire to consume the colossal snake, or his primal urge to stay at the top, these were all things that were out of the ordinary.

Before Nathan had the chance to retort, Jack spoke up.

“I don’t think this was Kane’s fault.” Nathan whipped his head to glare at Jack.

“Wait.” Before Nathan could say anything, Jack stopped him.

“Give me a minute to explain.” Nathan said nothing and Jack took this as his cue to elaborate.

“Since arriving on this world, I’ve experienced urges and felt compelled to do many things that were certainly out of the ordinary. I think this is a result of our evolutions.” Jack surmised.

A short moment passed before Cade nodded.

“Aye, I got a bit of that too. Nothin’ that’d make me kill a buncha government goons though.” He said with a shrug.

Hearing Cade’s confirmation, Jack felt relieved. It appeared to be a common trait of the evolved, specifically those that had gotten a gene pack.

Thinking for a moment, Jack turned to Nathan who appeared to be contemplating something.

“Nathan. Have you received any evolutions since arriving here?” Jack questioned.

Pulled from his thoughts, Nathan hesitated before responding.

“Yeah, and it hurt like hell.” A second passed before he continued. “And I know what you’re getting at. The answer is no. I haven’t felt anything like what you described.” Nathan reluctantly shared.

“Just us then?” Cade asked, looking between Jack and Kane.

“Guess so.” Kane confirmed.

“Nobody felt like asking me?” Rachel interrupted, a tinge of anger in her voice from being left out of the conversation.

“Oh? Have you experienced anything similar then?” Jack asked.

“Well, n-no, but you should at least cover all the bases.” Rachel said, a slight blush appearing on her face.

“Well… Thanks I guess?” Jack replied.

Before the conversation went off topic, Cade brought up an inevitable concern.

“What’re we gonna do now?” He asked everyone at once. A few moments passed before anyone could come up with an answer.

“We’ll have to be careful.” Kane stated with a wince as he adjusted his position to be more upright. “Since we don’t know how long this punishment will last, we should stick together for now. Not to mention, I’ll have to rely on others for a while until I recover.”

Jack understood the logic behind Kane’s suggestion but didn’t agree with it. Ever since he’d met Nathan and worked with the other survivors, he’d felt that something was wrong.

Only now did he realize what that was. One of his newfound instincts had been telling him something. Something in him knew that he would never be as strong as he desired if he continued to rely on others. The inferiority he felt towards Kane and his overpowered ability reinforced that feeling tenfold. He wanted to get stronger and playing house with a group of stagnant survivors wouldn’t get him anywhere.

Since day one, Jack had made considerable progress on his own. Sure, he’d had many close calls, but he thrived in the end.

Sighing with closed eyes, he decided it was time to set things right.

“That wont work.” He said in a clear voice filled with finality.

“I won’t be staying.” Jack stated.

Eyes widened in disbelief; everyone present turned towards Jack with confusion. It wasn’t clear until today, but Jack was an important part of the group. His ability would be crucial to hunting in safety, not to mention his considerable strength.

That was one of the reasons his declaration stunned his companions.

“What? Why would you leave? That’s one of the dumbest choices you could make!” Rachel protested Jack’s illogical decision.

“Yeah, what reason could you possibly have to just up and leave?” Nathan asked in outrage. He clearly understood the importance of Jack’s abilities.

Cade said nothing as he thought about the situation and Kane sat with a small smile. He could understand Jack’s motivations. He certainly wanted to keep Jack around, but there was no point forcing an animal into a corner.

“I get it. When are you leaving?” Kane asked, looking Jack in the eye.

Kane’s answer surprised the others. They couldn’t understand why he’d be ok with letting someone that useful go without the slightest protest.

“Now” Jack answered with a grin. He felt light now. An invisible pressure lifted from his shoulders even with the inconvenience of the punishment.

With a sigh, Kane closed his eyes.

“Take care my friend.”

With that, Jack walked to the wall by the mouth of the cave to retrieve his sword. It was time to start the real adventure.