Escape

08- 01-2019

Around 1.30 AM 

In a forest of ohio state

Thump…. Thump… Thump…

Rapid thumping of a young man's heart drowned the sound of distant owl's eerie hoots and other animal sounds. The sharp scent of fresh pine assaulted his nose in every deep breath he took. He was hiding behind a big boulder, trying to listen to any sound the adversaries that came after him were gonna make but his own heart didn't let him do it.

He had to run continuously for 20 minutes, which itself is not that difficult. but doing it while carrying a full grown man on the back, that is not something any other normal 18-year-old could.

  Even with his enhanced physical prowess, it remained quite strenuous and the aftereffects of HyperActive Dose (HAD) aren't doing any favor to him, which he was forced to use in the last fight. 

  I should have done that cyborg update then. I wouldn't have to take the dose. He thought as he drew in deep breaths.

HyperActivite Dose (HAD) was developed for soldiers in emergency situations. It could make the brain process things faster, making the user faster overall. It increases the combat ability of a normal person by 50%.

Despite its benefits in combat, the hyperactive dose (HAD) had some drawbacks, such as body weakness, nuisance, and headaches. He was relatively immune to these effects, but they still affected him to a lesser degree. his panting was a result of the (HAD) he had taken earlier, which was taking a toll on his body.

After a few moments of focused breathing, his breaths became steady and normal. Then his gaze focused on his hands for a second.Despite the complete darkness, his enhancements enabled him to see a slight red hue and some wetness on his hands.

It's been a while since I went on a killing spree. A thought flickered in his mind. 

  He knew due to his actions today, Some kids never gonna see their father, some parents never gonna see their kid, many families lost their loved ones and most of them are gonna break apart, never to recover. But what the perpetrator, Alex, felt about all this…

NOTHING.. he felt nothing.

That's how he was made to never give a second thought about lives he took. Even now, what he was thinking was how to get rid of the blood because it might get in the way of his plans.

Without giving that thought anymore time, he wiped his hands on his trousers, smearing a layer of red on the fabric.

He concentrated on surveying the surroundings, searching his memory for details of the terrain beyond this point. His safety precautions included exploring the woods, leaving him with a bit of familiarity with the topography even at a distance of over 30 miles into the forest. And they were 25 miles deep; he only had 5 more miles of knowledge.

After a brief period of observation and recollection, Alex had a reasonably good assessment of his surroundings, just enough to allow him to start forming a basic plan.

There were many factors to be considered here. Rough environment at night time, adversaries with at least 5 years of military experience, and the biggest obstacle posed by lack of firearms while pursuers were armed to teeth.

There was only one advantage: those mercenaries still don't know Alex's lack of firepower so they will be cautious and, with limited resources at hand, Alex had to find a way to live another few hours. 

After taking these factors into account and information on terrain, Alex's brain functioned at a remarkable pace, processing information at least three times faster than that of an average human.

First, he devised a rudimentary plan, which he then proceeded to simulate in his mind. Throughout the simulation, most variations of the plan proved unsuccessful, while others met with varying degrees of success. 

In his target for the plan to ensure safety and successful escape, he meticulously cataloged the successful attempts in a separate file within his mind. After conducting over a hundred of simulations, he compiled the most effective strategies with their success in percentages.

He picked the most outstanding elements of each plan, subjecting them to several rounds of refinement. Then merged the most successful elements to make a comprehensive one escape plan with a hypothetical 75% success rate. Without leaving anything to chance, he went a step further and devised contingency plans to ensure readiness for any unforeseen circumstances.

  He only took five minutes to do all of this, which itself was beyond impressive. 

After a few moments of silence and peace, his mind began to drift, unknowingly detaching from the present situation.

It was still surreal for him. What happened? He was at the top of the world just a year ago, but now he looked like a runaway fugitive. 

It all started because of one single thing.

Gaming 

That's all. No one in the world would believe him, but that was the truth. It was the root cause of everything that had led him to this moment - running for his life and being tracked down for six months.

After months of consistent running, Alex needed some time to reflect on his future plans. But he could only stay for two days in the last motel they rented. But those two days he spent on scouting, 50 miles radius looking for escape roots and getting a rough understanding about the environment. After all, he wanted to stay at that place for a while.

Maybe because of his poor judgment and overconfidence, he still couldn't stop himself from being drawn to the gaming content. Who would have thought that casually navigating Reddit could push the cycle of fleeing back into action?

It was unfathomable to him, despite carefully covering his tracks. They still discovered his whereabouts. He has no doubt that he didn't give away his position. So he could only speculate that they used a new technology, which Alex had no idea what.

Lost in thought, a self-mocking laugh broke loose from his mouth. Suddenly, a voice interrupted his train of thought.

"finally lost your mind?" A shadowy presence beside him asked in a plain tone.

Alex gazed towards the left, and before him appeared the familiar visage of the man he had carried for twenty minutes. He is close to mid-sixties, rested under a tree about 3 yards away, though he could not do endurance running due to age, but in hand to hand combat he was a monster. He took down 2 ex-marines just a few hours ago, just with his hand to hand combat.

  He was about 6 ft tall with a lean build with power packed muscles. His face started to have a few wrinkles, and He had black eyes that looked like a dark bottomless lake, and his new bald head always bothered Alex. What was most striking was his left arm. It was a cyborg arm, and it looked like it just came from a cyberpunk game and his wrist had a small touch screen attached to it.

"They called us 'deadly duo', " Alex replied, still with a self-mocking smile on his face.

They both shared a laugh, their chuckles intertwining, finding the irony

In the lives they were attempting to abandon and leave behind, they had quite a reputation, when word spread through the criminal underworld that they were in motion, many would lose sleep, after all maintaining a 100% success rate isn't cake walk but they had it and maybe this time it's their names in duo's hands.

They had many stories. One of the famous stories was that one guy did something that made the duo's plan foil, so it took them a few more days to complete and with much more difficulty. But they didn't forget his kindness, so they went to meet him, of course, just to talk. They say that day a small river made with his goons' blood and they finally met, but he could not talk. He left the world before the duo's "peace talks'' took place. From that day on in underworld they were known as "deadly duo"

Their laughter lasted for a few moments before Ivor let out a sigh.

"Living breathing legendary monsters, huh?" 

"If they knew we were running away like headless chickens, because browsing on Reddit they would laugh their asses off," Alex added, still chuckling.

"Glory is not permanent, Nothing is permanent," Ivor agreed, but he didn't mention Alex's misshape.

After a few moments of silence.

"What is the plan?" Ivor asked. It was normal to ask Alex because he was the one who made the plans for almost everything they do, Ivor just do the approval and give some suggestions. 

"yea"

  Alex shared his plan, and Ivor mostly listened and analyzed the plan. He didn't have any complaints. It was near perfect. Ivor nodded and agreed to work with him. The plan mostly relied on timing and experience they have working together.

After that, an awkward silence settled between them. Both thinking about the plan but a little different.

The enemy was closing in, and their target was Alex, or more specifically, the information he possessed. Alex knew the duo could not just escape more and more deep into the forest. It's foolish to do that. They had to get out, but the enemy was not giving them a chance. They came in waves, one team after another. This is the fourth one. Alex was 95% sure that he would not see the daylight ever again and for Ivor it was even less, but he had to try so he can't just give up.

  One thing was crystal clear. They would not kill Alex until they had extracted the information they needed. At least they would have to take his brain intact. But as he looked at Ivor, he knew that his fate would be different. He would be disposed of, but how? That is the problem. They would torture him for a few hours if fate is kind, but Alex thinks they wouldn't take a rest for weeks and his survivability is low, and he, too knew that.

Alex felt a mix of emotions at the thought of Ivor's impending death. If it had been him a few years ago, he would have watched him die without a second thought, Even with a sense of enjoyment, but now Alex himself didn't know what to think about Ivor. Without his assistance, he would have been long dead. This wasn't his fight. It all started by Alex, but Even without Alex asking for help, he did. So Alex was having complicated feelings.

The sound of leaves crushing underfoot broke him out of thoughts.

"Thirty yards," Alex said, looking at Ivor.

Both knew they had no hope for tomorrow, but there was only one way to go and that's forward.

"I'm ready," he replied, his voice serious and determined.