Jamie's knuckles had started to hurt but Alberto still stood there with his arms up, ready for more hits. By now a crowd of bums had surrounded them, rushing to the fight to see some entertainment. Not a single person had called the cops, that wasn't how this area worked. After Jamie landed the sucker punch at the beginning of the beatdown, he had only targeted spots that would not deal more serious and lasting damage. He only wanted to see how much Alberto could handle.
"Not bad kid, I didn't think you were this tough." Jamie told Alberto, "And the rest of you bums, parties over get outta here!" he yelled trying to dissipate the crowd.
"S-So is this task over? Do I get the chance for more money?" Alberto asked quietly.
His arms were shaking, and Jamie could see him breathing hard. Even though being on the streets had made him tough, he still was a kid after all.
𝘐𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘴. Jamie realized after the task.
"Yea, you are good to continue. Go get a nice hotel room around this area and rest for tonight. Meet me back here tomorrow night around 10 pm, and get ready to leave this place for the next month. Don't pack anything. Don't bring anything. No food, no weapons, no tricks." Jamie emphasized, making sure that Alberto understood him.
Alberto nodded and immediately fell to the ground, despite getting beat up horribly for the past 20 minutes he had a massive smile on his face. Jamie's plan was a success, he knew that flashing a bit of money to bums like Alberto would get him to do whatever he wanted. Jamie left Alberto on the ground and went to try and find Mason in the alleyway where the druggie had went. Jamie purposely gave them different kinds of tasks to make sure that they were fit for The Darwin Experiment. Alberto was a smart kid who's survivability could be key in winning the experiment but Jamie had to make sure he had strong resolve. That's why Jamie decided to see if he could withstand a painful beating in front of an entire crowd while not even attacking back. As for Mason, he wasn't checking for a weakness or erasing any doubts, he was simply preparing Mason for what was about to come.
𝘏𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, Jamie realized as he thought back to years of previous losers and failures.
Jamie had to find someone who could kill while keeping a pragmatic view and a sane conscious. The secret service training that Mason had received would be absolutely perfect for this. However even with these two jackpots that Jamie had somehow found in the same shelter, his search for winners was not done yet. He already had booked tickets to California and Egypt to get two more potential winners. He still had a week of searching.
As Jamie neared the alleyway, he became exceedingly curious as to how Mason had done the deed.
𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘣 𝘩𝘪𝘮? 𝘖𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩? 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴?
The various ways to murder a human crossed his mind but nothing would prepare him for the sight he would take in. The first thing he saw as he turned the corner were 3 bloody bodies on the floor and Mason standing above them with his hands on his head.
"What the hell happened here Mason!?" Jamie said as he looked around. The people on the floor were all definitely dead, and one of them even had his head caved in. There was a massive cut on his head and brain matter was leaking out giving a horrible smell. It was one of the worst sights that Jamie had ever seen. One of the other bodies had lost his face, his nose was completely crushed and he was missing his top lip. His mouth was open and he was missing at least a dozen teeth.
"I-I-I did-n't it wasn't p-posed to," Mason kept trying to form sentences but he was clearly hyperventilating.
He kept taking short raspy breaths as if he was an animal about to get slaughtered. Small noises kept escaping through throat and it sounded like he was a saying a name?
𝘊𝘦𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘤?
As Jamie saw the cracked and bloodied brick in Mason's hand he finally understood what happened.
"Oh God" Jamie exclaimed, "You smashed their heads with a brick."
He looked around to make sure no one else was around the area and luckily enough, this was one of the dirtier areas which was usually desolate. He was thinking about the horrible situation they were in and realized that he was the only person who can come up with a solution right as he saw Mason who was trying hard to calm down. Jamie decided that they needed to get out of here immediately. His boss can pull some strings judicially and make sure Mason could still participate in The Darwin Experiment.
"Mason we need to go, right now. Explain everything to me later. Lets go get in my car and leave."
"Th-they weren't supposed to be there. It could have finished clean. They came to get some drugs from him." Mason explained as he calmed down.
"It doesn't matter now. Don't worry you won't get in trouble but we need to leave this area NOW."
Mason nodded and started following Jamie as they both started running away from the crime scene. Jamie slowed down as they got to the main road but kept a quick pace as he thought about where to go next. Mason himself wasn't very bloody, aside from small splatters on his pants and some stains on his hands. He could still walk around in public without arousing much suspicion. Jamie suddenly thought about a solution which could help Mason lay low for a couple days and recover while still giving Jamie the freedom to wherever he wanted alone.. He knew that Alberto was in a luxury hotel near the shelter and would be there until the morning. He stopped walking towards the car,
"Hey Mason, I got a much better idea man." Jamie told him as he went on his phone to search the location of a 5 star hotel nearest to the shelter. "You are going to go and spend some time with another one of the participants."