The Birth of The Unity (sequel to Chronicle of Nautilus)

Chapter 17: A Secret Revealed

Jason paused by the entrance to the room eight hundred seventy-seven. Putting his ear close to the door, he listened to the unsettling silence. The anticipation of the upcoming fight grew inside and excited him. To his surprise, he felt no fear, only joy. He had always wanted to learn more about his origins, about the blood-thirst which he often resisted. Never before had he found an opportunity to unleash it and see what happens. To learn what he truly is.

He entered a combination of dozen letters and numbers to the digital lock. Then, he put a key into a hole at the door center. The unlocking mechanism moved loudly. For a second, inside the thick metal door, parts squealed as rust brushed against metal. When the squealing stopped, came three consecutive hits: one for each side and one for the bottom part. In a blink of an eye, the door moved up.

Hand by the hip, ready to draw the gun, he stood in the middle of the entrance. The joy he felt from the thrill became uncontrollable. He laughed.

"Come out, come out. Wherever you are. I've got plenty of bullets for all of ya," he teased.

Silence.

"I am not in the mood to play. I got three times more bullets than there are crates. If you want to die without even getting as chance, so be it."

A deep voice echoed inside Jason's head said, "You are weak."

And while the echo lasted, the large man felt weakness enter him. He lost strength. Hands slowly went numb. Jason stepped back. It helped. He fired a volley of bullets: one bullet for one crate in front of him. For a half-minute, he listened to the silence, but no one moaned and no bodies hit the ground.

The voice whispered, "Come and play."

Jason stepped forward and felt weak again.

The voice laughed.

But the laugh did not fool Jason. He was damn sure that even though the voice acted tough, one of his puppets must have been bleeding to death or perhaps had already popped its eyes. Those mind invading tricks had a cost.

Jason endured the annoying sensation, ready to move back the moment his eyes picked up any movement. He searched for strength to resist the feeling and found it. A surge of adrenaline came to him and assisted in fighting the invisible power.

From the direction of the room center, a vast psionic pulse struck him like a resonating shock-wave. Jason felt the world fall down on his head. Before everything turned to black, with the peripheral vision, he saw two shadows emerge from the crates. They came from two directions. With everything that was still in his control he switched weight backward and fell. The time slowed down to him.

He felt the brain fry inside his head. He heard the clumsy steps approaching him. His right hand was growing numb. The grip opened and the weapon fell. It shocked him. Then, as he understood that he still had control of the left, he reached for the falling gun and grabbed it. The feeling of relief pushed the shock away.

Jason's bottom touched the ground. He produced enough inertia to continue the roll. Rolling over the left shoulder he heard the steps getting dangerously close. The first roll felt incredibly slow. The second was faster. And as he finished the second roll and aimed at the dirty gardener coming from the right, he understood that not only the time had slowed down to him, he had been slowed as well. He had expected to take the current position much quicker.

"Bang!" came the sound of the barrel and Cain jerked back.

By no means, Jason could have missed the shot, because the moment he pushed the trigger, the barrel was poking gardener's bony chest. Kneeling on the right knee Jason turned his attention to the second attacker.