A subtle swooshing sound caught Jason’s attention. His instinct flared up as his hands grabbed both Hakeem and Esther. A slight second later, Jason’s whole vision went bright as flames erupted.

BOOM!

The upside-down jeep was burning as the heat grew stronger eating up the metals and leathers inside the vehicle. There was no sign of burning bodies in the jeep as if they were never there.

“Ugh,” a man groaned as he woke up with a light-headed head.

“Jason? Esther?” his barely open eyes searched for his friends. His slight search ended as he noticed the hand grasping over his jacket. It was Jason’s hand, his eyes trailed towards the body, and saw Esther lying on Jason’s lap. She was unconscious but still breathing well.

Jason’s other hand brushed his sister’s face with his fingers trembling. His eyes were cold lacking the empathy of his actions.

“Esther!” Hakeem dragged his body to the duo as his lips were shivering.

“Is she okay?” Hakeem asked.

“She’s fine,” Jason said. The undertone of his voice carried deep resentment, if it wasn’t for him, his sister would have died.

The moment the jeep exploded, Esther’s energy guard shattered leaving her defenseless to the raging flames. But Jason’s quick hand was already on her as the green glow battled against the hot flame healing her burnt wounds while at the same time dragging his friend and sister into the shadow realm.

He expended a lot of his energy points as healing three people at the same time was hard on him. Hakeem had a better fortune than Esther. His immediate job-change made him a bit more guarded since he received another layer of defense. He only fell unconscious due to the huge force from the explosion.

“My head,” Hakeem rubbed his head as his eyes scanned the surrounding. The world was in black and white as he realized he was inside Jason’s ability. Then he saw the burning jeep, a few feet away from them.

His eyes opened wide as his mind scrambled over what had happened. The last thing he remembered was the bright orange flash moments before he turned unconscious.

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“What happened?” Hakeem turned to his friend.

Jason didn’t reply as he kept on stroking Esther’s hair. Hakeem felt the need to know yet before he could open his mouth one more time, he heard the swooshing sounds.

His head ducked down by reflex as the jeep was hit by numerous missiles in sequence.

“What the?” Hakeem witnessed the destruction of the jeep as it was rendered into scrap burning metals.

Only one thing came into his mind, an ambush and it wasn’t from some monsters spewing fireballs but humans. He saw it, a flying missile exploding right at the moment it made contact with the jeep.

He turned his head up to the sky searching for the culprit. But it was too dark as he couldn’t find what he sought.

“Hakeem,” Jason called.

“Yea,” Hakeem turned to Jason.

“Is your guard intact?” Jason asked.

Hakeem skimmed over his status and saw his energy guard broke but another extra layer of defense was still intact and full.

“I’m ready,” Hakeem said, prepared for what was about to come.

“Put your hand over my shoulder and follow me,” said Jason. Hakeem followed without question as Jason carried Esther in his arms. Within the Shadow Sneak, he brought them over far away reaching the shore of the lake. She put her down as he turned to Hakeem.

“Here,” he took out a spiked mace from one of his loot. Hakeem accepted it as he knew the mallet and shield he had were already gone in the flames.

“Protect my sister,” Jason said.

“But I can help!” said Hakeem.

“Help me guard Esther, and I’ll handle those fuckers,” said Jason as deep down he was seething in rage.

Jason walked away but stopped at the last second.

“Hakeem,” he said. “even if they are human, don’t you hesitate when the time comes.”

He left after reminding Hakeem as he once more disappeared into the shadow realm.

Hakeem’s grip on the mace handle tightened as he thought about it.

Can I do it?

--

“The target has been eliminated, I repeat the target has been eliminated,” said Bravo-1.

The ten missiles hit the target as all the attackers were waiting for their next command.

“Arm for a ground assault, prepare for confirmation of the target,” the leader of this black-clad men gave out the orders as they changed their weapons into assault rifles and SMG.

“Bravo-1 ready to snipe,” a few snipers stayed on the roof giving cover for the men on the ground.

Bravo-1 observed from above as his comrades were on the ground reaching what left of the burning jeep. Twenty armed men with their scopes ready to find their target surrounded the blazing scrap jeep.

The leader dubbed as Alpha ordered a few of his men to secure the perimeter while the majority aimed for the jeep.

“Delta,” Alpha nudged his head over to the burning jeep.

Delta approached the burning jeep with cautious steps. He turned off his night vision as he took a closer look at the inside of the flaming jeep. Delta searched for any remnants of the bodies.

“Status?” Alpha asked.

“Nothing sir, no signs of any bodies,” said Delta.

“The missiles probably blew them up, ten missiles in a row is too much even towards an Awakened,” said Bravo-1 as he had been listening through the intercom. Yet Alpha wasn’t as optimistic as Bravo-1.

“Weapons hot! Assume position! Target might still be alive,” said Alpha as his men fanned out with their scopes searching for the target.

“Geez, Alpha is too cautious. There’s no way…” Bravo-1’s voice fell silent as he felt a pain prickling over the side of his neck. Then a voice tickled his ear.

“No way what? Me being alive?”

It was Jason and before Bravo-1 could say a thing, the sharp edge of his sword stabbed right through the neck. Blood seeped out from the end of his blade as Brave-1 lay there dead.

Jason looked down at the corpse with emotionless eyes. He felt nothing killing a fellow human being. He then turned his eyes at the sniper rifle.

I’m gonna snipe them to their graves.