Chapter 21: Sleeping With Lions

This time the screams were more urgent and almost constant as Jake ran at full speed down the hallways, taking out the increasing number of J'avo as he went.

All of them were people of the safe house, some mutated further than normal J'avo; having huge bulging swivelling eyes.

He tried not to think about it too much as it still saddened him deeply, and although all that hell at the safe house had only been a week or so ago, to Jake it felt like months.

So much had happened.

"Fuck! Off!" Jake roared as a barrage of mutated J'avo tried to stop him as he ran.

Those J'avo were not only from the safe house but, youngsters; the teens he'd saved from a pack of Strelat's one muggy evening by an abandoned market place, he even remembered their names; Azar, Banu, Naheed, Pari, Yasmeen and Darya.

Yet again the screams brought him back from his memories, and back to this nightmare.

Jake raised his gun once more and continued with his shooting as he ran until all of them were nothing but burning embers and didn't stop, he flew past them like a whirlwind, rocketing to the door where the screams were coming from.

"HELP! GET AWAY! OH GOD SOMEONE! PLEASE!..." The female voice screamed from the other side of the large metal door.

"SHERRY!" Jake shouted at the top of his lungs. Hearing no reply he stood back and began kicking at the door.

"NO-!" Sherry's screams came again, even more urgent than before. "PLEASE STOP!"

His kicks became increasingly more powerful, but only denting the door, not breaking it down.

"FUCK THIS!" He shouted angrily, grabbing his shotgun harshly from his back and aiming it at the lock-handle.

Pulling the trigger and leaving a huge gaping hole where it had been, he gave one final kick, and the door flew from its hinges backwards into the room.

"JAKE!" Sherry screamed tearfully.

Jake's eyes adjusted to the scene before him and anger flared inside him quicker than any wildfire, the left side of his face began to twitch as a dark crazed scowl patterned his features.

Feelings of hatred and pure violence from his ex-Mercenary life began bubbling inside.

Sherry was strapped to an upstanding metal bed; much like the one they were both strapped to in the Underwater Facility half naked with a masked dark skinned man, nearly the same height as Sherry standing almost on top of her with his penis hanging out his trousers, hard and ready to...

"Get... the fuck... away from her." Jake seethed darkly, his powerful shotgun aimed at the masked man.

The man laughed crazily, his pristine white lab coat flapped at his calves gently from the air conditioning; his one hand grasped around his manhood pulling gently back and forth.

It made Jake gag inside.

"Pretty little thing she is, Mr. Muller. A huge shame you never gave her the pleasure she deserves." The man pressed, still stroking himself grossly. "She enjoyed me fucking her like a whore." He continued, smiling beneath the mask. "The screams of pleasure echoed throughout the walls of this place."

"Jake! Help me!" Sherry cried helplessly, her eyes red as was her face. Jake could see small red scars here and there but pushed that to the back of his mind, for the time being.

"You raped her?" He asked the illusive scientist, the man nodded and laughed.

"No!" Sherry screamed through her tears.

"Exactly! No, she wanted it Muller. She begged me for it. No rape." He laughed again.

Jake's rage kept on building every second the bastard spoke, watching the freak continue playing with himself as if Jake wasn't any danger to him made it all the more worse, let alone the thought of this crazed loon raping Sherry.
He was going to self combust any second.

"Man, am I'm gonna bring you hell, before I kill you!" He roared, cocking the heavy gun in his right hand.

"Hell? Ha! You really think it will be so easy?" The scientist laughed, again.

"Well, let's... find... out." Jake said through gritted teeth, pulling the trigger hard.

The scientist fell backwards with a huge hole in his lower chest, the lifeless body lay there a large puddle of blood materializing around his form.

"Jake!" Sherry cried hysterically from the table.

"Sherry!" Jake whispered softly and jogged to her side, her face stained with tears and blood that had been half washed from her tears.

"Jake... I... I..."

"Relax," He spoke softly, smoothing a hand over her cheek. "I'm here now." He kissed her on the forehead, before looking around for a release button.

Luckily, it was right next to her.

"Hold on Supergirl, I'll get you out."

A low buzz came from the table-machine, the metal clasps pinged loose and she fell to the floor.

Jake dropped to her side and pulled her into his arms, but he couldn't stand seeing her like this; crying hysterically, mentally tormented, holding onto him like he was air as she was taking her last breath, half naked and cold as ice to the touch.

He held her for the longest time not knowing the right words to say to make her feel better, there were no words, holding her tightly was all he could do.

"I... I'm... Cold, Jake." She whispered though her hiccups, Sherry felt him nod and look around the room.

Her trousers were hung on a hook by the door he'd come through.

"Hold tight, I'll go get your pants." He whispered gently, letting her slide to the frigidly cold floor.

Sherry couldn't feel her legs anymore, the mental and physical pain she'd endured from the elevator to this point was absurd.

"Here Supergirl." Jake spoke softly kneeling in front of her, holding her clothes out to her.

"I... Can't feel my legs... Can't put them on." She muttered under her breath, trying hard to stop herself from crying, and not looking Jake in the eye.

She wanted to tell Jake what had happened, but couldn't just yet she wasn't strong enough.

"Alright, I'll do it." Jake nodded understandingly, the pain in his chest was too great to do or say anything else.

He struggled to put her black wet-look leggings on, and was amazed at how cold her legs and feet really were, it made him worry all the more.

"I'll try and find your boots." Jake suggested quickly when he'd dressed her.

"Don't leave me!" Sherry sobbed harder than before.

"I won't leave you Supergirl, I'm only gonna be over there." He smiled, standing with a small wince; his leg was hurting a little from the cold.

"You're hurt!" Sherry wept, looking at the floor.

Jake spun on the spot to see a small blood smear where he'd been kneeling.

"Only a small scrape." He winked trying to assure her. "I'm a tank, remember?"

"I'm... ashamed of myself." Sherry whispered now feeling strong enough to talk, whilst the tears had ceased. She wasn't totally sure how long they'd sat there, him holding her stroking her back and hair in silence.

"Why?"

"I led you into all this, and... myself."

"No you didn't Supergirl, I came here of my free will."

She shook her head, soft tears making way from her extremely sore, tired eyes.

"Wh... What did he do to you?" Jake asked gingerly, his arms tightening around her, this was the question Sherry knew had been coming and was obviously racing around his mind. "What happened?"

"I... was knocked out like you and Chris when the elevator dropped, when I came to I was being dragged here, I was groggy but I knew he'd tied my hands and feet so I couldn't get free... I asked him about you and Chris, he never gave me an answer... A little while later he strapped me to the table... he left, after taking blood and hair samples." She sniffed, tightening her grip on him. "When he came back he gave me an injection that sedated me, to the point where I was barely conscience... That was when he took... my... My... Clothes off... I couldn't move but I could speak..."

"Sherry... Did he?" Jake prayed the worst hadn't happened.

"No... You came just in time... Otherwise," Sherry looked to the vulgar corpse across the room. "He would have."

"But your screams." Jake pressed on, to hear Sherry burst into tears again.

"He... He... t... touched me..."

Jake was distraught for her, the woman he loved had been violated by a scumbag.

"I'm so sorry Sherry." He whispered into her hair, wishing he could take away all her pain and torture, one such as her should never have experienced all this.

"It... It will be okay. He didn't touch me there completely, but it was enough."

"We need to get out of here." Jake muttered looking towards the small staircase next to the dead man. "Do you feel okay to move, Supergirl?"

Sherry nodded slowly, beginning to rise on her shaky legs. Jake followed her, holding her hips to keep her steady, as she was swaying on the spot.

He held her hand tight giving her some sense of security before they made their move to leave, taking the door he came from.

UPDATED: 15/01/2015 - Spelling, Grammar, Minor story changes.