Chapter 19 - THE SYSTEM

Jax was startled yet glad that he managed to free himself from the clutches of the filthy hands of that unruly man.

However, he knew it was not going to stop the lustful creep from making things difficult for himself. But he was not going to surrender without a good struggle either.

Actually, he didn't intend to surrender at all. Why would he deliver himself to his own deathbed? He would fight them off until his last breath and if he were indeed going to end up failing in protecting his own dignity, he would not even hesitate to kill himself before taking their lives with him.

He had enough of their sick games. It was not like the other inmates who had now gathered near this commotion would help him either.

He knew that other prisoners were not saints. If they were, they would not be placed in this prison meant for the most notorious criminals in the first place. In fact, if they were given a chance, some of them might even surpass Hank and his small party in terms of ruthlessness and cruelty.

Thus, he had only himself to rely upon to get out of this grave situation. And he believed that he himself alone was capable of doing so.

The only issue was his buzzing head. His aching head seemed to be even worse in abandoning him when compared to his situation.

As if it was hell bent on revolting against him.

As if there was no tomorrow for its unreasonableness, unlike his sh*t luck which landed him in troubles instalment wise.

On the other hand, Luke who seemed to be provoked after Jax's successful escape, looked much eager to pounce on the latter once again.

Noticing this, Jax warily yet cautiously took a step back, he didn't do it so obviously as he moved very slowly. He shouldn't give his opponent an opportunity to turn the tables in his own favor.

He still needed time to figure out a way out of this, and with his fuzzy mind, he was going to need a lot of this deliberation.

As for Luke, even though he noticed the subtle movements of his prey, he was too confident in getting him back as the young man was literally cornered by his boss, Hank, and the other inmates.

Thus, he leisurely stalked Jax at the same pace, if the latter lifted his left foot, Luke would turn his body in that direction, and vice-versa.

Seeing this, Jax couldn't help himself but curse inwardly, for his intentions got read by this lustful creep so easily.

Meanwhile, Hank who was observing the exchange between the two of them, got impatient as he urged the man named Luke to finish this as soon as possible saying that they didn't have all time in the world to play these cat and mouse games.

Jax felt like thrashing the rougish man with a whip until he couldn't even make a sound anymore, for making things worse for him.

Just as he was considering the success rate of out running all these crazy humans, Jax heard a strange voice, more precisely a robotic voice counting numbers in the reverse order after announcing something like system rebooting will be completed in three seconds.

But it was not clear, as if the voice interrupted by some static sounds like the ones while adjusting an FM radio.

And when it finished counting from three to one, the same voice greeted someone as master and asked permission for some full body assessment.

Jax was genuinely surprised that the people in front of him were still being unbothered by such a huge yet weird announcement, and continued to watch him and Luke as if they didn't hear anything at all.

How is that even possible, when he heard it so clearly as if they have used a loud speaker system?

What if they didn't hear anything for real?

This thought surprised him so much that his eyes visibly widened, at this stunning revelation.

And the same voice urged someone for permission a second time, only with much more clear tone this time.

And still, no reaction from the people in front of him.

Was he really the only one hearing it?

Or was it just another episode of his hallucinations that came over him at his most terrible situation?

[You are not hallucinating master.]

Came the voice as if clarifying his doubts

With that single confirmation, Jax finally understood that the voice was ringing in his own head.

But how was it even possible? And then again, why was the voice calling him master?

[You are my master.]

And when the voice answered his unspoken question once again, Jax thought what exactly did this weird voice want from him.

[Master, I need your permission to assess your full body condition.]

Jax was stunned, when he heard the way the robotic voice whined in his head impatiently, to the say the least.

This time the voice sounded too impatient to the point, Jax could even feel its restlessness.

'You have it.'

Jax decided to play along with it for now, because he was constrained for time and he would rather focus on dealing with the scum in front of him than this robotic voice, as his mind become clear after it stopped buzzing.

Somehow, he felt that the ringing of his ears had something to do with this robotic sound. As it stopped right before he heard this voice in his head.

And he also felt the weird ways it affecting his thought process. So he concluded that it wouldn’t disappear suddenly while he dealt with these men anyway.

On the other hand, Hank and his minions were confused when they saw an expression of surprise that coated the young man's face all of a sudden.

They couldn't comprehend why the raging youth who have been gnashing his teeth until just a few seconds ago, was standing rooted to his spot with a stunned expression on his face. And that didn't stop there either, as the young man soon started flashing disgust in his eyes.