The moment the grenade hit the floor, time seemed to slow down, at least for Mark, because his eye's ability had triggered.
Mark could even see the fire and small pieces of metal coming from the corridor. They would not hit him, but he could clearly see their trajectory. Mark glimpsed to the soldier in front of him and saw his exasperated face while hiding behind the table.
After so many tortures, Mark could better control his eye ability. It was like he was being pulled or pushed by surprise. The first time he fell, the second time he tripped back, and the third time he straightened his body to not move. It was the better comparison that Mark could do to how his ability activated, and after so many sessions of tortures and experiments, he now could decide if he let the ability to activate when his subconscious felt danger or not, but more than that, he now could also activate the ability by his own will.
This time, Mark let it activate, because he didn't know what was happening, and it was better to trust his instincts than die for not trusting them. But seeing that nothing was going to happen to him, he used that bit of time where his mind was racing and the time seemed froze to think of a way to escape his cell, because he was not sure what was happening outside nor if the people invading would win, or even let him leave.
Mark looked at the soldier, at the pieces from the grenade, the fire, but in the end, he could do nothing, he was behind bars, and worst then that, he was chained to the walls, he could not even come close to the bars.
Mark let go of his ability, and time flowed naturally.
~boom~
The table that protected the guard caved in, and pushed the man back, making him fall on his back.
Mark heard the noise of the door opening, and soon shots were fired.
The soldier behind the table cursed aloud and raised his hands high after throwing his gun on the floor. Mark looked at that and figured that the other guy behind the door was dead now.
"I surrender" shouted the guard, while slowly raising from behind the table.
Mark didn't have a full view of the situation, and could only see the guard that stood with his hands high, and another empty cell by the other side of the corridor, but suddenly, he heard a familiar voice, "Lay on the ground and don't move!"
'Frank?' asked himself Mark
Barely that thought crossed his mind, and he saw the owner of that voice coming to his cell, "Long time no see Mark" said Frank
"Frank? What..." asked Mark aloud, but Frank quickly interrupted him and said, "We don't have time for that now. Let's leave this shit hole first."
Frank looked at the soldier on the floor and grabbed the keys on his belt, "Which one?" asked him.
The soldier looked at Mark as if pondering if he should tell, but immediately lowered his head. He knew what was coming. There was no point in delaying, he could only hope that Mark let him live.
"The white one, the white rounded key," said the guard in a low voice.
Frank immediately opened the cell, and approached Mark, and only now he seemed to notice that Mark was chained to the walls in the four members, not only that, but the locks were not common locks either, they looked like they had come from a medieval film.
Big and sturdy locks, strong and heavy chains tick as Frank's arm. They differed from modern locks and chains, but seeing the shining luster on them, it was clear to Frank that they have recently been made. Recently made to keep a single person restrained, Mark.
Frank furrowed his brows when realizing that, but said nothing and looked back at the soldier on the ground.
The soldier immediately understood what he wanted and said, "The red and big key, it's the only one red."
Frank grabbed the red key and opened one by one the locks that held Mark chained to the walls. The chains were so heavy that Frank had no way to hold them, and they fell to the ground, making an absurd noise of a hammer striking an anvil.
Only now Frank noticed the walls and the floor were also made of metal.
For the first time, Frank asked himself if he was freeing a friend or a monster, because the way that Mark was held, it not seemed he was a guinea pig, but more like a monster that could not be set free.
Mark shook off the rest of the chains from his arms and, seeing he was free, a river of emotions took him by surprise. He was happy, euphoric, and almost wanted to cry, but when he saw the soldier laying on the floor in front of him, rage came to his mind.
Mark immediately rushed to him, while making Frank stumble to the side when passing, and when he came close to the guard, he said, "I told you this day would come,"
"Mark, no! We don't have time for this!" shouted Frank, seeing what was about to happen. It was not only time that concerned him but also Mark's mental health, because just by the scars he saw on Mark's body, he knew he went through hell in this period of a month.
Possessed by his rage, Mark didn't even hear what Frank said, not that it would actually change anything, because right now the only thing that mattered to him was revenge, and he would have it no matter what.
Mark grabbed the soldier from the ground by his neck using only one hand, as if the man was a sack of potatoes, and raised it high.
"No! please don't kill me! I was just a guard here! I did what they told me to do!"
Hearing what the man said, Mark became even more enraged and started pressing the man's neck.
The man kept shouting and hitting Mark with his hands and legs, as tears came out of his eyes. He knew what would happen, and he knew he could do nothing, but even so he tried to set himself free from Mark's grip.
Mark had thought of so many things to do with the guard, so many ways to kill him, rip his skin, put him on fire, cripple him, beat him to death, gut him alive, but in the end, consumed by rage Mark pressed the guard's neck more and more, until a crackling noise was heard.
The noise of the guard's neck breaking didn't make Mark stop, and he kept squeezing it, while looking right into the man's eyes and seeing the desperation he craved so much to see.
Only when the body fell to the ground separated from its head did Mark woke up from his stupor and lowered his arm.
Seeing what had just happened, Frank was not sure how to react, or what to say to Mark, he was not the best for that kind of situation, but remembering they were running out of time, he quickly shouted, "Lets go Mark, we need to escape, we are running out of time!"
Mark looked in frank's direction and suddenly laughed.
"HaHaHaHa Escape? HaHaHaHa"
But it was not a laugh of happiness, but one filled with malice, and the urge to destroy and kill everyone, a laugh filled with bitterness, a laugh filled with rage.