Bruce's eyes adjusted to his surroundings, it was dusk. Bruce realised he was on a highway, a crossing in front of him, a familiar figure in front of him. Bruce took slow and steady steps towards the feminine figure, she wore a long floral dress. Bruce rested his hand on the figure's shoulder, she turned around. It was his mother. Bruce felt a rush of emotions, happiness, and sadness and has longed for his mother's touch, since childhood.
Her hazel eyes lightened when she saw him, and her maroon lips curled upwards. The smaller figure wrapped her arms around Bruces' back arch, and he too wrapped his arms around her, a smile rose as he felt her embrace, he felt his tensions melt away, and he felt safe for the first time in a while.
He felt sickly wetness on his chest, he pushed out of the embrace to see his mother with an eye popped out, her nose falling off, and the skin around her mouth melted away exposing crooked yellow teeth. Her light brown hair slowly fell, gashes covering her whole face. Bruce stumbled backwards, panting, gasping for air. His mother's lifeless body descended to the ground. Bruce wanted to shout, to cry to speak, but all that came out were whimpers and his unsteady breath.
Bruce woke out on the floor. He felt a warmth flow down his face, he wiped at it and realised it was blood, Bruce was confused but as he settled into the room he was in a dark room, not the same as the torture room he was in before, this room was smaller, there was a metal table pressed against the right wall, the centre of the room was where Bruce laid, to his left was a door, behind Bruce, was ropes tied up, the same way he was earlier, and in front of Bruce was a mirror. He walked over and inspected it, his body was riddled with wounds, there were large cuts across his chest and small gashes near his waistline, there were new injuries though, bullet wounds that weren't there before, they were fairly fresh located near his collar bone and neck. Bruce then looked at his face, he no longer wore his undercut and now had a buzzcut, there were also slits and bruises across his face, the bridge of his nose had a deep gash running horizontally, another cut on his left brow, and more minor cuts on both cheeks, the left side having more cuts. Bruce took a step back and inspected his back, the small PEGGIE symbol sat dead centre on his upper back, and the sight brought Bruce to pain. There were more bullet wounds on his back some were old some were new.
Bruce was cut from his thoughts when Jacob walked in, "so you've woke," he spoke staring down at Bruce, rage lit in his eyes.
"Nah, mate I'm still asleep." Bruce mocked, and the already angered Jacob socked Bruce's throat, causing Bruce to fall to his knees coughing like crazy. Once Bruce managed to maintain his breath Jacob grabbed him by the neck.
"Don't you try to escape again!" Jacob spoke sternly. "I know where your friends are, I can send my men and capture them, oh and let us not forget the already weakened prison, it would be a shame if everyone there was slaughtered. Or better yet captured and tortured. And it's all your doing." Jacob spoke coldheartedly.
"Okay, okay just leave everyone be at peace," Bruce replied, lowering his eyes he knew he was in no position to beat Jacob, and even if he could he'd have to face the judges, and those beefed-up PEGGIES. Backup would be rapid Bruce assumed, Ari and John could pull out of nowhere and kill everyone Bruce truly cared about. Bruce's thoughts were cut short when he felt a hefty force knock him down, Bruce glared up and saw Jacob crack his knuckles.
"Did that hurt?"
"No, not really just felt like a force pushed me over," Bruce replied.
"Good, the conditioning's working."
"Conditioning?" Bruce raised his right brow.
"You, are a tool, Bruce. Your purpose is to fight, to flatten anything in your path. I'm aware I've told you this many times before."
"But why, why are you taking away my pain receptors?"
"Why do you think, so you don't fear the pain of getting shot, stabbed, punched. But we'd have to test longer to assure your pain receptors are no more."
"Yeah, and what if I use that as an advantage to escape here?"
"I'm aware, that's why I have my men surrounding the prison as we speak at any moment you act up I will ask my men to slaughter and bring back as many people they can."
"Yeah? And if I killed you then?"
"The leader of my men has a device that shows my heart rate, if there's a flatline they'd know I'm dead and attack the prison."
"So I have to obey?"
"Yes," Jacob spoke walking away, "Now let's see how you handle a brute."
"A what?" Bruce muttered, as soon as Jacob left. Bruce was left in silence, his thoughts bounced from what a brute was, to why out of everyone he had to go through the trials. Bruce heard a loud footstep, and the floor shook a slight bit, Bruce braced himself for the door to open, and what he saw didn't terrify him it brought out some emotion but Bruce couldn't identify it because any emotion he felt was short-lived, it comes and goes.
The brute had a mask on similar to those angels wore, it had white eyeballs with no irises the brute was at least 7 feet tall, it was beefed up, its biceps twice that of Bruce's, its legs thick with muscle, and the whole thing was covered in lean mass, meaning he was going to be fast at throwing punches. Bruce steadied himself, dominant foot and hand angled towards the brute, his left arm covering his face and his right at his chin. Bruce strafed forwards, once he was within punching range of the brute, Bruce threw a hard jab at its left rib it acted as if nothing struck him, unfazed the brute threw a jab at Bruce's chest, - the fist was half the size of Bruce's torso -. Bruce flew backwards falling hard on the ground, he thought he wasn't going to feel pain but he was wrong, his body quivered as he stood back up, but the brute wasn't holding back, - Bruce was the prey and it was the predator -. It threw a hard kick at Bruce's left rib once again launching Bruce to the right, this time he struck the wall, Bruce didn't want to get up, he felt dead already, but for the sake of passing Jacobs test and ensuring everyone back at the prison is safe, Bruce got back on his feet this time he was fueled with anger. The brute charged but Bruce dodged and kicked behind its knee. It was ineffective. But Bruce wanted to defeat this beast, he charged at the brute, climbing its back and putting it in a choke hold, it was working the beast fell to its knees struggling to get Bruce off. The brute then fell backwards crushing Bruce in the process, 'this thing enjoys playing with its prey' Bruce thought as he rolled away, from the brute's stomp.
Bruce was on his feet the table still sat there maybe it had weapons, or maybe it was the weapon Bruce thought dashing towards it. Unfortunately, there were no weapons, but Bruce looked under the table and saw a small kitchen knife. He tried to grab it but the Brute grabbed Bruce and launched him back, Bruce slid onto the tile floor. The brute once again went in for a stomp, but Bruce easily evades and dashed back to the table, he slid under and grabbed the knife, the brute followed but Bruce threw the table at it as a distraction. The brute simply swiped the table away but it gave Bruce enough time to run behind and sink the knife into the brute's neck, blood sputtered, and the brute reacted, grabbing Bruce by the leg and slamming him against the floor, and again, and again and then throwing Bruce against a table leg, the leg penetrated through Bruces stomach area, Bruce groaned, 'was this really it? was he really going to die?' The brute was going to finish it all, he grabbed the table leg and snapped it off, Bruce struggled it stand still, - he felt uncomfortable with a table leg sticking out of his torso -. The brute smashed Bruce's head in causing him to fall to his knees, in despair Bruce closed his eyes awaiting the killing blow, and then it came, a sharp pain in Bruce's abdomen. Bruce winced in pain his eyes shot open and he saw the table leg removed, blood sputtered and leaked from his torso, Bruce could do nothing except watch the floor stain crimson. The brute raised the table leg as if it was a trophy. Using this as a chance Bruce made a last-ditch effort. He mustered up all his energy, got up and went behind the brute, he pulled out the knife and struck it deep inside the beast's brain. All its muscles tightened up and it fell lifeless on the floor. Bruce couldn't help but feel powerful, he looked down at his abdomen and saw the hole, it was slowly healing back to its original state, Bruce was infatuated by the muscles reforming to their original shape and form.
Jacob walked in through the door clapping, "Well done, I see that the healing factor is working."
"But how does this work?"
"You know how the angels are invincible, essentially if you shoot them they may fall but they will get back up like zombies until you hit their weak spot. The brain." Jacob replied, "You figured out the brute weak spot by jamming a knife in its brain, that's why it died in one shot. You too have a weak spot, do you know where?"
"My neck?" Bruce answered making a wild guess.
"Yes, that's why I punched you in the neck to see if it would affect you. So tell me, did you feel pain?"
"Yes, temporarily, the heavy strikes to the chest hurt most, but when the brute stabbed me with the table leg that's when it hurt most."
"That makes sense, your skin and muscles are what mainly hardened. Your organs not so much if you get hit in any vital organs either A, it will regenerate, or B it's going to remain damaged until someone fixes it for you. Else you'd die." Jacob said while noting down Bruce's experiences.
"How many more tests do we have?"
"Plenty, until you serve your purpose then you may be set free but for now you will go through more trials."
"One thing why am I losing my emotions?"
"It's a similar process with how we're destroying your pain receptors it's essentially a two-in-one deal, the fewer emotions you show the better warrior you become, you don't have a second thought when attacking, and no emotion controls you."
"Okay, so you're telling me I won't be able to talk to people normally.?" Bruce asked with a neutral face. "And how does this whole transformation thing work?"
"Too many questions, I'll answer these before your next test," Jacob replied pulling out his music box and wounding it up, "You see Bruce angels go through a process, where they are exposed to large amounts of bliss, similar to my judges, well you too are being induced by large bliss dosages. This causes you to lose any form of emotion, and the invincibility ability is because your mind is in the bliss, so in that state you are numb to any pain inflicted, the brute was induced to gassed bliss which is why his eyes were white, he had no control except the mindset of kill or be killed. He was killed. You Bruce are exposed to the liquid variant of bliss, it doesn't boggle your mind as hard, but in moments you will hallucinate. So far the liquid bliss works well but you don't fully require a higher-up to tell you what to do instead you can make tactical decisions on your own, this makes it harder to fight you, harder to kill you, and makes you a better soldier. And yes you won't be having a normal conversation like this. You will be given a task, to accomplish and you will complete it or die trying." Jacob answered Bruce's questions, and then opened the music box.
"Only You" the words rang in Bruce's head, he fell onto his back his vision tunnelling red.
Bruce woke up in the same room, the table was back in its original position and no brute or Jacob was in sight, Bruce turned to see two men with knives, one of the men charged Bruce trying to drive the blade into Bruce's neck. Bruce grabbed their arm and threw them on their back, snapping their neck. The second man screamed and charged Bruce slashing the air, Bruce sidestepped the man and stuck his foot out causing him to stumble, Bruce once again went behind the man and snapped their neck. Bruce took both knives and ran out of the room.
"Good, cull the herd." Echoed Jacobs's voice.
Exiting the room Bruce could see a narrow hallway to his right was a wall, and to his left was a door Bruce tried to open it but the door was locked. In front of Bruce was a stairway, as Bruce charged up he saw a woman with a handgun, without hesitation Bruce drove both knives into her neck, and her body disappeared into mist. Bruce saw a door in front of him but it was locked. So Bruce continued up the stairway, he was met with a heavy unit and two footmen with ARC rifles, Bruce hastily rammed the heavy against the wall and drove a knife up his throat, the footmen took shots, most missed and the ones that did hit didn't faze Bruce. He drove both knives into the first man's neck, and slit the second's throat. Now Bruce was at a dead end there, there was one door but it was locked, but Bruce glared at the ceiling and saw a small hatch that Bruce could fit through. He climbed up and entered a dark room, as his eyes adjusted he realised he was in some sort of attic thing, in front of Bruce was a small window, that allowed a glimpse of the sun, and both sides were lined with shelves and tables, stacked with boxes, Bruce glared back and saw nothing so he ventured forwards. He was by the window when he saw there were two paths to follow left or right, Bruce ran right 'because right is always right.' It eventually led to a man holding an AKM, Bruce drove a knife into his neck, and another into his chest, the man fell to the floor, Bruce got on top and began to stab the man's chest again, and again, and again until the whole corpse was just covered with blood. Bruce rose and ran backwards, there he saw five heavy men all wielding LMG'sc. Bruce, charged at the men, slashing at one's throat, driving a blade into another eye socket, and with the third Bruce went ham. Bruce threw the knives at the third and fourth men and grabbed the third by his neck, Bruce reached in for the esophagus, he felt the tender box, he wrapped his fingers around it and once he felt his fingers touch, he pulled hard. Blood spluttered and the man reached for his throat trying to stop the bleeding, Bruce kicked the man onto the floor and then glared at his hand the esophagus was still there, blood dripping from the tube. Bruce dropped it once he realized the other men were shooting at him. Bruce grabbed the fourth man and snapped his neck, the last man tried to run but Bruce took the knife back from victim four and threw it into the runner's calf the man fell on his chest, in desperation they tried to crawl away but Bruce grabbed them by the ankle and slid them towards him, Bruce pressed his right leg hard against the fifth mans back, and clasped the head with both hands Bruce pressed hard against the man's flesh, he started to pull at the head, he twisted and turned the neck, the man pleaded and cried for help. But Bruce paid no mind. He saw a stream of blood run down the man's neck, the tendons and flesh began to tear, Bruce in one swift motion tore off the man's head, and blood splattered everywhere, drenching Bruce's body crimson. Bruce held the head for a second glaring into the lifeless eyes, the tear point was jagged and the carotid artery was spluttering blood all over the floor. Bruce slammed the head on the ground and walked off, only to realise his vision began to darken, and then. Black.
Bruce woke up tied back up, Jacob stood in front of him. "You did well on your second trial, I applaud your creativity," Jacob spoke with a smile. "And for that, I'll give you a prize," Jacob said leaving the room. Bruce hung on, not a single thought ran through his mind, except that his real purpose was to be a warrior, it was to be a super soldier, Jacob was right.
Jacob reentered the room, this time with Cheeseburger. "You both have passed the trials, Cheeseburger obeys every command and considering you two have good chemistry, you can fight alongside each other." Jacob started to pace across the room. "You know Peaches and Boomer are actually doing well too, but both were underwhelming, they could be better test subjects if they had the primal instinct of a bear, I mean don't get me wrong Peaches is primal but she's easily countered by anyone with bait." Jacob paused. "Why am I telling you this? I don't know I'm leaving now, your ties will be cut off later." Jacob spoke as he left the room.
Cheeseburger stood in front of Bruce, the bear's eyes were pure white, and a green mist surrounded the bear, Cheeseburger still wore his collar, but it was modified with an electric collar, with the number 666. Bruce didn't know how to feel, well he didn't feel much except disappointment, he wanted to go back into the trials, the high he had was unmatchable to any other experience he's had. Bruce was pulled out his thoughts when Cheeseburger started to growl at Bruce. The bear stared at Bruce, there was a fire in the bear's eyes, and it let out a growl as it slowly approached Bruce. It took Bruce a minute to realize that Jacob probably hadn't fed the bear causing its primal instincts to take over. Bruce struggled, trying to break free from the ropes, Bruce didn't want to kill Cheeseburger, but he didn't want to die either, after a minute of struggling Bruces ties were loosening, but the bear was about to strike, it lifted a paw and slashed at Bruce's ankle, it wasn't painful, but Bruce remembered that he wasn't invincible, so he hastily freed himself from the ropes and fell on his back, the bear snarled, saliva spilling out of its mouth, the bear charged Bruce before Bruce could evade he was already pressed against the floor, Cheeseburger rested his hand hard on Bruce's chest, the bear bit down on Bruce's thigh, Bruce this time felt a sharp sting, he tried to break free but he couldn't. Bruce was really going to die in the worst and slowest way possible, the bear tore at Bruce's leg, Bruce kept a stoic face, he punched the bear hard across the face, the bear was stunned for a second before becoming more enraged, it tried to bite down on Bruce's stomach but adrenalin hit Bruce allowing him to grab the bear by its jaw, in one hard tug, Bruce managed to dislocate the bear's jaw. The bear stumbled back, Bruce knew he had to do something quickly, the bear still wore craws and probably weighed twice than Bruce. So he made an attempt for the table, if he remembered correctly the knife should still be there, Bruce looked under the table and found a machete instead of a kitchen knife, Bruce hastily grabbed the weapon, and braced himself for the bear, who was already prowling towards Bruce its mouth covered in blood. Bruce decided to make the charge but tripped from the wounds on his leg, Bruce wasn't able to get up in time as the bear already had its paw pressed hard against Bruce's back. If Cheeseburger went through the same conditioning as Bruce that meant he too could heal. Bruce thought right as he felt a sharp pain in his gluteus Maximus, this time Bruce let out a little squeal, Bruce in anger drove the machete into Cheeseburger's abdomen, he pulled down, disembowelling the bear, the guts spilled all over Bruce's face. Bruce felt the pain in his ass ease and the tension in his back disappear. So in a quick motion, Bruce slid behind the bear, and slashed behind its leg causing Cheeseburger to fall, Bruce decided to finish it all by beheading the beloved bear. Cheeseburger's body fell lifelessly on the floor.
The door opened and Jacob walked in, "You passed your third trial." Bruce felt a surge of emotions, a split second before they faded away. "Now I know for sure your emotions are gone, you killed your best friend." And for that, I give you the real Cheeseburger. Bruce's eyes opened wide when he saw the bear enter the room, Cheeseburger looked indifferent from the first time he saw him, either he had a strong healing factor or Cheeseburger was untouched. "I can tell you're wondering why Cheeseburger looks the same, and that's because he is obedient already meaning we didn't have to drug him as heavily as that clone, Cheeseburger has gone through similar trials as you so you both have a free rule in certain areas," Jacob spoke. "But Bruce you and I have two more trials left before I can allow you to eat anything."
Jacob led Bruce out of the room and exiting the room Bruce saw the same thing as before, a narrow hallway with a stairway in front of him and a door to his right, Jacob unlocked the door and entered, "Let's see if you can handle fire." Bruce felt confused until he saw Jacob pull out a jerry can and douse Bruce in gasoline.
"What if I die?"
"Then you failed your trials," Jacob replied lighting a match and throwing it at Bruce's feet. The gasoline blew up beneath Bruce's legs causing him to stumble backwards, Bruce did feel the heat, and his body in seconds was fully lit on fire, Bruce tried to roll, but it did nothing. Bruce felt his skin melt away when Bruce stared at his fingers he saw the skin peel back. Bruce in a last-ditch effort tried to brush the flames off with his hands but once again it did nothing. Bruce gave up and laid flat down waiting for the fire to eliminate him, or for the fire to die out. After what felt like an hour of discomfort Bruce felt foam cover his body, he opened his eyes to Jacob with a fire extinguisher, "Well I'd say you passed the trials, you survived 1 minute 30 seconds," Jacob said pulling Bruce to his feel. Throw these on, Jacob said throwing a pair of ragged pants at Bruce's face. Bruce obliged and realised his pants were essentially burnt off, and taking them off was easy since they broke off after a touch, with the new pair of pants on Bruce inspected his body. His whole body was red with his skin having flesh sticking out, and dark patches riddled around his body.
Bruce stumbled as he walked, for someone who's trying to be immortal fire sucked and he'd rather be stabbed multiple times instead. Jacob was in the room, he carried a small grin, "Your final test for today is to see how you pit against your fellow super soldiers," Bruce was confused until he saw Sheriff Whitehorse, Tracey and Pratt walk through the doors behind him, they had a green mist over them, Bruce assumed they were given the gas variant of bliss instead of the liquid version.
"Now, Cheeseburger and I will watch this unfold," Jacob replied pulling out his music box and winding it. "In three, two, one,"
Only you
Bruce once again felt his vision cave in red. He hastily got off the ground and realised the two men with knives weren't there instead the Sheriff, Tracey and Pratt were in the other corners of the room, Pratt let out a loud holler and charged Whitehorse, the older man dodged Pratts attack and put him into a headlock, Bruce tired to watch the battle unfold until he felt a hard strike against his right cheek, Bruce saw Tracey in a boxing stance. He quickly socked Tracey in her nose causing her to stumble back, she punched but they were easily evaded, Bruce threw a cross but that missed allowing Tracey to kick Bruce's chest. Bruce stumbled back but now he felt enraged, roared and like a lion, he pounced at Tracey pushing her on her back, he hastily punched her face, once, twice, thrice and after the fiftieth punch Tracey's face was bloodied and bruised, Bruce decided to finish her by putting her into a headlock she tried to fight back but the larger male had considerably more strength. In a swift motion, he finished her by snapping her neck. Her lifeless body rolled off Bruce's chest.
Bruce glared up to see the Pratt on top of the sheriff, punching him across the face, again and again. Bruce charged the two men, he tackled Pratt off the Sheriff and put him in a headlock once again he finished Pratt by snapping his neck. By the time Sheriff Whitehorse was back on his feet Bruce was already moving towards the Sheriff, he hurled at the Sheriff going for hard hooks at his ribs, and the older man stumbled back allowing Bruce to easily grapple him. Once again the younger man had his opponent in a headlock before ultimately snapping their neck. Bruce watched the Sheriff's lifeless body hit the ground.
Well done, Jacob's voice echoed.
As Bruce gained consciousness again he realised it was all just a hallucination, there were no bodies around him, or maybe they cleaned the room before Bruce regained consciousness. Bruce saw two small bowls, one had water in it the other had beans in it. Bruce never realised it but he was ravenous and he practically dived for the bean stuffing handfuls down his mouth in seconds the bowl was empty, Bruce then eyed the water and chugged the whole thing within seconds. He wanted more but he knew he wasn't going to get anything until the third day comes.
Bruce looked in the mirror and saw that his burns were healing, but his skin still had a dark tint to it. Cheeseburger emerged from the door the bear growled and walked towards Bruce, this time the bear had no aggression and seemed to be playful, Bruce walked towards the bear and gave him a pet. The two eventually laid down on the floor Bruce used Cheeseburger as a pillow and they both relaxed.
The following days were the same, Bruce hallucinated, was tortured and had to fight brutes or buffed animals. It was exhausting, but the worst day was when the whole compound came in to torture Bruce, some men carried knives, guns, and brass knuckles and some came with bats with nails. Now those hurt the most. Bruce was tied up once again as each man came in and had their turn, the first man had a metal baseball bat and took swung at Bruce's abdomen, it didn't hurt too bad except some hits felt like Bruce's insides were breaking, the second, third and fourth men carried 1911 pistols, they dumped their magazine into Bruce's abdomen as target practise. This one hurt like hell, it started fine but ended painfully. The worst was the man with the bat, well bat with nails, every swing felt like Bruce's flesh was being torn and some hits felt like his organs were being stabbed. After an hour the men all left, with Jacob asking Bruce which weapons hurt the most.
Weeks went past and Bruce grew accustomed to his new life, his new purpose, he just wondered if he was going to go outside to kill. He and Cheeseburger would be inseparable throughout the whole trial, well unless Bruce was being tortured, or hallucinating. He was fed once a week and was given water every second day, Bruce grew used to fasting for a week though his bodyfat lowered significantly, giving Bruce a lean bodybuilder look, he knew for a fact this wasn't healthy and it can cause him to die if he loses too much fat.
The trails would continue until one day the alarms went off, Bruce shot awake, Cheeseburger growled, the room's lights were off but there was a red light flashing, providing enough light for Bruce to look around. The light shot open blinding Bruce for a split second, and then the door broke open and Jacob grabbed Bruce.
"What's going on?" Bruce asked but Jacob remained silent, he dragged Bruce up to the second floor and pushed him into the room, it was a huge storage room, Bruce skimmed around the room, there were plenty of boxes, science equipment and bliss canisters all placed on racks and tables, they were all lined on both sides of the wall and there were small racks in the centre of the room, the racks in the centre had weird boxes with crates that had locks, maybe that's what holds the liquid bliss Bruce thought, a minute later Jacob walked back in. "Bruce here's your final trial, go to the third floor and eliminate any threat," Jacob spoke in a raspy voice. He handed Bruce a 44. magnum and ran downstairs.
Now Bruce felt a surge of energy, he can finally pursue his purpose. His whole existence is to eliminate threats. Bruce dashed upstairs, and in seconds he was already up, he saw two Peggies taking shots, they were on both sides of the doorway. A grenade skipped into the stairway, the men tried to evade but they reacted too late and the explosion killed them both, Bruce was shot back by the explosion's blast, but he was left unfazed except for the shrapnel that hit. Bruce peeked into the doorway and saw Joe enter, he held an Ak-47 and aimed it at Bruce's head, Bruce stood out of cover and aimed his magnum at Joe's head. The two stood there glaring at each other neither one took a shot, moments later Faith and Mary May, Bruce glared at the two, he knew he could easily take the three out if he wanted to but there was something that stopped him. 'Was his emotions resurfacing? or does he realise they are his friends,' Bruce thought. He lowered his magnum Joe did too.
"Why do you come here," Bruce's voice grunted.
"To get you back," Faith uttered softly.
"I don't need saving I've found a purpose as a warrior,"
"No, that's what he's got you thinking," Joe blurted.
"No, you wouldn't know, now come with me and I'll show you purpose, I"ll show you the trials," Bruce smiled.
"I don't know what he's done to you Bruce but you would never support Jacob, you despised him. Remember," Joe yelled
"Maybe, but that was before I found my purpose," Bruce replied calmly
"Bruce for fucks sa-" Mary was cut off when Bruce heard the two words. Only you.
Bruce fell to his knees grabbing his head. He blocked his ears, "Run", Bruce shouted pressing his face against the floor, "I said fucking run." Bruce yelled this time since he knew that he was about to lose control.
Joe and his crew ran through the hallway they took a right and saw a metal door, the light was green meaning it was unlocked, Mary and Faith both entered, Joe turned around to see Bruce scowling at him, his eyes eye bloodshot red, and his tongue was sticking out of his mouth, saliva dripping from his mouth. Joe felt a hard tug as he was pulled inside the small room, Mary closed the door and locked it. The door had a window slit, and Bruce was glaring at them, licking his mouth, Joe scanned the room, there were plenty of shelves there was one to the right of the door so, Joe dragged it over the door, there was another rack against the right wall, "Mary search those boxes," he directed, the left side of the room was empty, and the back wall had a chest, "Faith on the chest," Joe said looking at the ceiling, he saw a large vent in the top left corner of the room. Joe quickly ran over but was too short to reach it.
"Faith let me use that chest real quick," Joe said dragging the chest against the corner, he hopped on and tried to pry the vent open, with no hope. There was a loud thump on the door, Joe saw there was a huge dent in the door, Bruce was going to break it down. Joe found his small flip knife and started to unscrew the vent, he hastily unscrewed three and then the vent hung downwards. "C'mon guys get up here," Joe directed exiting the vent, once everyone was in Joe got inside and tried to put the vent back to its original state. In success the three made their way into the vent, there were three ways to follow, "Split" Joe said Faith went left, Mary went straight and Joe went right.
He made his way through the vents, there was nothing special, until he met himself at a dead end, Joe was going to make his way back until he felt the vent creek, and then, a loud crash, and Joe fell down, he face planted, he got up and saw he was by the entrance of the bunker. Joe needed to turn back he wasn't leaving without his trio. Joe ran back but saw multiple Peggies, hiding. That was strange seeing Joe's enemies scared. He walked behind them tempted to shoot them, but Joe instead tapped one on his shoulder, the man stumbled back aiming at Joe. "Calm down I could have killed you guys, I just want to know why you're hiding," Joe raised his hands.
"From the monsters, Jacob has been training the past month."
"Interesting, do you know when the rage mode thing wears off."
"1 minute 30 seconds, unless they get a kill then it increases by 15 seconds, that's what we hide up here, so his time runs out by the time he reaches us."
"Okay let's have a truce until it wears off,"
"Okay, then we have a truce for 30 seconds," The man replied.
Joe ran downstairs as fast he could, once he reaches the third floor the faster he'd meet Bruce.
That he did. Bruce was biting down on a Peggie's neck tearing off the flesh. Like a zombie. Joe took out a stick of dynamite and threw it towards Bruce, the zombified figure tried to evade but was blown backwards, for half a second Joe had a breather until Bruce charged him, knocking Joe on his back, Bruce's teeth were stained red with small chunks of flesh. Joe wanted to puke, the saliva dripped all over Joe's face, it was red and had a sick smell, and as soon as Joe snapped out of his thoughts Bruce disappeared, but Joe could feel a sharp pain in his throat, or what was there before now it was a gaping hole squirting blood. Joe felt the floor beneath him wetten creating a disgusting feeling. Joe knew this was it, there was no point in saving himself and he knew there was no one who could defeat Bruce.