The alarms at the facility woke something inside of Jackson. The clapping of boots on hard ground mixed with the fall of rain created a crescendo of the battle to come as they prepared for Jackson to make the first move.

  For months, they hunted, harassed, and took on the orders of the man responsible for his family’s murder. To kill him for some money. A fact the reptile didn’t take lightly, and for that, he would make them all pay and be used as examples.

  A deep anger rumbled in the back of his throat. With a loud clunk, he put down three propane tanks chained together so he could load his potato cannon with homemade flashbangs and nail grenades. However, he knew that wouldn’t be enough to kill them all. It would help him, but it wouldn’t finish the job. The reptile had a few other weapons: a short double-barrel shotgun, a single-action revolver, a hammer, a few knives, and extra grenades. But again, they were not enough. Nor did he want any of it to come to this.

  Long ago, he made a promise. To never raise a weapon ever again, to stop being what he had been for so long. A killer, a monster to slay monsters. He promised to live a life of pacifism and become a healer instead of being an instrument of destruction. Of course, it had to be broken. Naturally, he had to stray from the path of peace because the world wouldn’t allow a relic to put down his weapons and stop.

  At that point, it was a common cycle. A routine of wanting to stop, only to be forced back into being a killer. However, Jackson would make sure that once he got his vengeance, he would put an end to it himself. He accepted that the world didn’t want him. All it meant was he had to put matters in his own hands.

  Pulling out a vial of Rage, Jackson grit his teeth. He made a few more batches to continue for as long as possible, but that fact didn’t matter. He had killed, yes, but the creation of Rage was something far more sinister. That was a declaration of war, an act of aggression that promises unbound slaughter. And as mercs form up into defensive positions, he wasted no time in jabbing the needle into his neck and injecting the cocktail of violence into his veins.

  The effect was immediate. His mouth watered while his body warmed up to the point that it felt like he was boiling from the inside. With every heavy heartbeat in his chest, it pumped an ungodly amount of adrenaline throughout his body that could kill a full-grown elephant, while his mind released a sharp pain to help stimulate aggression. The world slowed. Jackson’s reactions became sharper, his hastened and harsh breaths gained their own rhythm, which quickly became comfortable for the reptile.

  Jackson closed his eyes to take in a deep breath. Silencing the world to gather his thoughts so he could listen. Listen to the one voice deep inside himself, a figure in his deep subconscious, to give himself the permission Jackson desperately needed to hear. He wanted to hear Hannah’s voice, the woman he loved. But he knew he would not hear her, for she wouldn’t want him to seek vengeance in the first place. She helped him walk into the light and helped him put down blade and gun to replace them with warmth and love. Yet, her efforts were now in vain as Jackson eagerly returned to the darkness for some semblance of revenge.

  So, he had to listen for something else, something darker. To listen to a shame so deep he had to dig through his fractured mind. For a command to do what he was good at, to show his enemies why the world called Jackson Abernu, Faith Breaker.

  ‘Go.’

  With that simple word he heard at the back of his mind, Jackson opened his eyes and leapt into action. Firing his potato cannon into the facility. Releasing flashbangs and grenades at unexpected enemies as he closed the gap. In seconds, he ran through the forest and reached for the 2-metre-tall fence. Which he jumped over with ease.

  Even though many were disoriented, some witnessed Jackson perform an impressive physical feat. However, to the horror of a few, they swore they saw the reptile drool like a rabid dog yearning for the flesh of man.

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  Ditching the potato cannon, Jackson set off the fuse near his propane tanks and hurled it at the building. The explosion caused the entire complex to shake, while every window shattered, and blasted a hole on the third and second floors.

  As everyone was trying to recover from the chaos, the reptile reached for his revolver and shotgun. Shooting at anyone close by while running for cover near a shipping container, as every merc in the facility released a hail of bullets at Jackson’s general location. Lighting up the area with gun flashes and drowning out the screams of their injured comrades.

  But they were not meant to keep him in place. They never could. As Jackson threw flashbangs behind him to blind the enemy, he rushed out of cover to chuck nail grenades at groups of mercs to inflict as much damage as possible or force them out of their safe zones to make it easier for him to rush in and close the distance. One merc noticed the reptile charging towards them, but before he could reach for his pistol, Jackson jammed his shotgun into his mouth, shattering the front teeth before he pulled the trigger. After the brutal death, the reptile yanked the shotgun out to sprint for the nearest person to repeat the process of brutal executions.

  Though an effective display of carnage and destruction, that didn’t mean Jackson wouldn’t come out unharmed. But Jackson was prepared for a few bullets to strike him in the back, legs, and even chest. He didn’t care if it was wounded or bled a worrying amount of blood. Nor did he care that death was a possibility. In fact, to some extent, he wanted to die. What mattered the most at the time was that he would make them all feel pain and regret standing in his way. And as Rage surged through his blood, he wanted them to put up a fight!

  Soon, he ran out of ammo for his shotgun, then his revolver. Without having a use for them, he threw his guns at any merc he saw. And with the enhanced strength granted to him by the combat drug, throwing a gun was equally damaging as any bullet. When he threw the shotgun, it crushed a merc’s skull and pulverised the brain inside. With the revolver, it managed to ignore the absorbing properties of a merc’s armoured vest and completely shattered his chest cavity, which caused him to immediately die of shock. The grenades he threw were no different, often being lodged into a person before detonating.

  Seeing that the battle was deteriorating by the second. Some mercs turned and ran from the battlefield, choosing life rather than dealing with a psychopath who willingly charged into their position with only two guns and grenades made from scrap. Yet some held their ground, or at least chose to retreat to a favourable position to better fight their foe. All while an armoured car sped through the facility to confront Jackson, its tyres skid across the wet ground before coming to a sudden stop.

  Jackson pulled out his knife as the gunner from the car fired a stream of .50-calibre bullets in his general direction. Falling back for cover wasn’t an option, running even less so. So, Jackson chose to charge forward. Every step of his clawed feet sliced the pavement as he ran to that car. In a split second, the reptile ducked under a hail of fire, his chest touching the ground. After driving his knife into the ground and using it to launch himself forward. The gunner swerved his machine gun in an attempt to put him down.

  However, it was too late. As Jackson ducked under the gunner’s arc of fire before leaping up to slam the armour car upwards. Bending the car’s thick armour while forcing the car to tip over and squishing the gunner into a paste of meat. The driver tried to crawl out, but the vengeful reptile pried open the door and dragged the poor soul out to split him in half vertically with his bare hands. Showering Jackson in gore and blood.

  Before the reptile could leap out to continue his rampage, a cylinder landed beside him and exploded. Coating him with flammable gel. The mercs had finally caught Jackson off guard, even just for a moment.