Free Tread Fearless: Survival & Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 4) by Kenneth Cary

shaking uncontrollably for thirty minutes.
    He never forgot how it helped him think and act quickly, though. And this time it would be different. He since learned how to control the drop through physical exertion, and direct contact with two armed combatants would most assuredly do the trick for spending his adrenalin. He let it flood into him with the threat, and focused on his targets with laser-like precision.
    “Get on your knees,” hissed the white guy, as he stopped just outside of Mark’s reach.
    Mark moved to comply, and the white guy turned to his partner to say, “P! Go get his guns.”
    With cat-like speed, Mark shot forward and closed the distance to the white guy before the man even turned and faced him again. Mark batted the gunman’s arm aside as the gun fired its first and only shot harmlessly away.
    He continued moving forward, ignoring the gun, intent only on occupying his target’s space. Then, before knocking the man down, Mark decided to keep him standing a moment longer, as a barrier against the giant, so he drove his knuckles deep into his enemy’s throat.
    Without giving a second thought to the debilitating blow he just delivered, Mark pivoted around the man’s right shoulder and prepared for a second strike. Facing the man’s back, and effectively positioning the white guy between him and the giant, Mark delivered a powerful blow to the man’s kidney.
    Mark was pleased to see the white guy drop his pistol and try to decide what part of his body to comfort with his own hands. He knew it was a normal response to immediate pain - to move the hands to the injury - but Mark wasn’t finished.
    He saw the giant move closer, and Mark was almost ready for him. He delivered a powerful kick to the inside of the white man’s right knee to close the deal. He felt the white guy’s knee snap, and literally heard the damaged ligature separate from the bone as Mark drove his foot through the target and to the ground.
    With the white guy down and Mark’s foot on his knee, Mark turned to prepare for the giant. He looked up just as the giant was completing the wind-up of his bat to take a full-force swing at Mark’s head. Mark leaned back and avoided contact with the nail-enhanced bat by inches, but the big man put so much energy into the swing that he couldn’t maintain his grip on the bat and it sailed out of his hands and into the cedar bushes behind him.
    Both men acknowledged the moment with a surprised pause. And had the scene been anything other than a life or death, it would have deserved a hearty laugh. But Mark wasn’t in a laughing mood. His only thought was how to quickly dispatch the last idiot before he got himself hurt.
    Before the giant could recover from the surprise at losing his weapon, Mark stepped forward and delivered a powerful shin kick to his groin.Mark knew he did it right, but the man didn’t react to the kick. The giant should have doubled over in pain and grabbed his balls with both hands. Instead, the giant stepped forward and enveloped Mark in a massive bear hug.
    As the giant began to squeeze, lifting Mark off the ground, he felt his breath being forced out of his lungs. He knew he’d be unconscious in moments, so he quickly slammed his forehead on the bridge of the giant’s nose. The giant loosened his grip for a moment, but it was enough to allow Mark to raise one arm free.
    With a thumb, Mark pushed deep into the giant’s left eye. He drove it along the side of his attacker’s nose, and continued to push into his eye socket to scoop out the eye. It came free of the socket with a wet pop, and the big man screamed in pain.
    The giant released Mark and raised his hands to his damaged face. Now free of the constricting death grip, Mark caught his breath, unsnapped the pistol’s safety strap, drew, and fired two quick shots into the big man’s chest. The large .45 caliber rounds knocked the man off his feet and he hit the ground with a heavy thud.
    Mark moved and