Mutagen

The sounds of the gunshots echoing across the settlement early in the morning jolted everyone into a state of panic. The refugees outside their dwellings hurriedly ran back and closed their doors while those who were able to fight the infected prepared themselves in case. Furthermore, the scene of soldiers that were speaking on their radios while frowning as they all ran towards the direction of their headquarters did not do any help to quell their stirred minds.

Everyone thought that the infected were attacking once more. After all, it was not the first time gunshots echoed across the settlement but the previous times, it was all because of the infected. Thus, the refugees though that the same circ.u.mstances were happening. None of them though that the cause was a completely different event.

Back inside the cla.s.sroom where Mei and everyone were gathered, Odelina propped herself up while coughing. The force Janette used to push her towards the wall was no joke. If it was a normal person, their bones might have shattered already. The cracks on the wall left after Odelina crashed unto it was the evidence. What bewildered everyone was that no one knows the reason why the docile Janette suddenly erupted and rushed out.

Furthermore, the moment they saw Janette running after Laelaps and the beetle through the window, they suddenly saw Emika jump off from the second floor of a different part of the building joining the dog and the beetle. The three went towards the same direction with Janette following behind them.

Furthermore, the sudden sounds of gunshots made everyone unsettled. Knowing that it might get dangerous as Janette was still an infected, Odelina wanted to chase after her. Nevertheless, she was grabbed by her arm. Looking to the side, Odelina saw Mei who was shaking her head.

"Young miss. Do you know what is happening?"

Odelina asked with bewilderment. Everyone inside also turned towards Mei in askance.

"I think, I know a little but please, just stay here and protect everyone. Things might get dangerous if not handled properly."

What Mei said was a little cryptic to everyone but Odelina could only nod.

"But what about Janette? I"m afraid she might attack someone. Also that strength…"

"It should be fine. All of you might not know but Gege told me last night before sleeping that Janette was starting to develop her own consciousness. It"s less likely that she will attack anyone. Aside from special food, I think."

Hearing that, everyone was shocked. An infected that was developing consciousness was something really surprising. However, they were lost as to what she meant for special food.

Before they could continue their conversation, Irene arrived with Rollan. Behind them were Arvie and his wife Jayne. Rollan introduced Arvie and Jayne to everyone allowing the group to know Arvie"s relations.h.i.+p to Mark who was the leader of the group. Then, Irene finally relayed what was going on making everyone perplexed as they looked at Rollan who had one of his remaining relative missing.

It was then that Nikky arrived with Dorothy in tow. However, Mara was not with her anymore. Seeing Dorothy that was safe, Rollan was very elated and he forcefully hugged the girl even lifting her up. Nikky then relayed what Dorothy and Mara told her updating everyone about what was happening.

Knowing that what Mark did, everyone was perplexed specially Rollan who was the one who asked him for help. Though he saw his best friend being able to jump up that high, in actuality, he never saw Mark fight ever since he knew him. If something were to happen to Mark just because he went to save Dorothy, he would not know what to do.

Nevertheless, while Rollan and the others who they had just met today were panicked, the rest only had troubled expressions on their faces.

"We know now why Laelaps and Emika left. Janette also probably went to where Master is."

Odelina nodded in realization.

Seeing their troubled faces but calm reactions, Irene stared to them with wide eyes.

"Are you people worried about him, your leader? He"s facing a Mutator and his armed men! What if he faced danger? He could die!"

However, it seemed Mei took what she said as an insult, she looked at Irene while frowning.

"Don"t underestimate Gege. He already faced thousands of infected before and remained alive. Such insignificant ants can"t harm him."

Looking at Mei, Irene gulped. In her eyes, the shy looking beautiful girl vanished. What replaced her was a beautiful woman that only had Mark in her eyes and everything else was insignificant. However, the next moment, it seemed that Mei lost interest in her and became impa.s.sive once more while staring towards a certain direction.

***

At the vehicle, Mark completed his preparations and was about to head out under the watch of the two soldiers that were left to guard their vehicles. He was carrying the only M79 grenade launcher, a PSG-1 sniper rifle and a USC sub-machinegun. However, before he could hang the bag containing the magazines and ammunition on his back, he felt several fluctuations coming towards his direction. Knowing who were coming, Mark was surprised.

"Scary Uncle~!"

Mark heard a bright childish voice from the distance.

Soon, the five reinforcements came in front of him. He saw Emika riding on the back of Laelaps while hugging the large beetle. Behind them, he could see Janette and Mara who was following behind her sister. Mark could not help but scratch his head.

It was one thing for Laelaps and Emika to come to his aid. Laelaps as a dog had strong senses and thus, it was not surprising for her to come and the beetle probably came here due to this independent dog. As for Emika, she also had a strong enough ability to sense her surroundings. Mark first noticed it when they were leaving the city hall. Despite the fact that the MB Sprinter had a heavily tinted window, she still managed to find him and even waved at him as they left.

However, why in the world was Janette in here. It was sure that Mara saw Janette out of her leash and hurriedly followed but Mark could not fathom why this strange infected came here.

"Ne~ Scary Uncle, where"s the enemy?"

Emika inquired as she looked around not even realizing that the large beetle was now struggling to get away from her embrace.

"M-Mark! You"re fine! Thank goodness."

Mara seeing that Mark was fine felt relieved but she could not help but feel perplexed seeing Mark fully armed. It was not hard for her to discern his current intention.

While the Emika and Mara was in the midst of speaking their thoughts to Mark, Janette walked towards him and started sniffing his body. With a darkened complexion, Mark grabbed her head and gently pushed her away.

"What are you doing?"

Mark could not help but voice out but Janette suddenly grabbed his jacket and pulled it towards her mouth. She then licked that part of jacket. Seeing this, Mark hurriedly pulled his jacket away but he realized what was going on. It seemed that Janette was drawn by the clash between him and Dominador. The part of his jacket she licked was stained by Dominador"s blood when he shot his chest.

Sighing Mark spoke.

"Mara, right? Since you"re here, I have a task for you."

"What is it?"

Mara immediately approached him.

"I"ll leave your sister under your care. We"ll deal with Dominador and his men."

"But…"

Mara was elated that she would have the time to spend with her sister but since her sister was an infected, she doubted that she would be able to rein her in. However, before her eyes, Mark turned to Janette and pushed her inside the vehicle and made her sit down on the sofa.

"Stay here. Stay. No food if you move from here."

Mark with red glowing eyes spoke like if he was training a dog.

Mara wanted to spurt blood from her mouth seeing her sister being treated like a dog but remembering that she was supposed to be a mindless infected, Mara could only sigh. At least, her sister seemed to be different from the others. Furthermore, her sister was actually heeding Mark"s commands as she remained on the spot while staring at Mark.

Unknown to them, Mark was using his [Emotion Induction] to Janette which allowed her to perceive his intent as it was obvious that she could not understand everything he was saying. Though it was faint, Janette"s newborn consciousness reacted to his intent and he finally felt relieved as his intent seemed to be understood.

Knowing that Janette would remain on the spot, he turned to the others.

"Mara, keep an eye on her alright?"

Mara nodded without hesitation.

Looking at the golden dog, the four horned beetle, and the little dryad, Mark sighed and spoke.

"Since you three are already here, I"ll give you tasks. We"re going to take down a bunch of criminals."

"Then Scary Uncle~! I"ll help but give me and my lil bro a bar of chocolate each~!"

"Do you think I have those?"

"Scary Uncle lying is bad~! Gale told me before that you have several packs being cooled inside the freezer~!"

Mark could only slap his forehead hearing that.

***

Day 5 – 9:14 AM – South Building 1st Floor, Eastern Bacoor National High School, Queens Row Area A, Bacoor City, Cavite

Dominador was being nursed by only medic on their group. Due to the lack of medical supplies, Dominador could only grimace in pain as the bullets stuck in his arms and legs were being pulled out one by one. As for the ones in his torso, though he would not die from it, there was still the need to remove the bullets through surgery.

Dominador"s mutation led to his body turning into something like a monkey"s which highly enhanced his arms and legs. His weakness however was his torso and head. Furthermore, it was likely that he would die if Mark managed to shoot him even once on his head which strange enough, he never did. Still, that action of Mark even made his anger rise as he felt that Mark was looking down on him.

"Matias, gather everyone! We"ll deal with that b.a.s.t.a.r.d called Mark and his group! The women in his group are all for you to enjoy as long as we kill him! If the military interfere, we"ll also deal with them!"

Amidst the pain, Dominador bellowed his orders to his right hand man.

"Yes leader!"

Matias replied but before he could go out of the room, one of their high ranking men barged into the room with a look of horror in his face.

"Leader!"

"What is going on?!"

Matias, who was about to leave asked.

"Sir Matias, Leader! We"re trapped!"

Hearing that, Dominador jolted with a confused expression. Ignoring the pain, he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Leader! Our exits were blocked with thick vines! Even the rooms where we are keeping the hostages were covered with vines!"

"What are you saying? Vines? What is going on?"

Dominador could not fathom what his subordinate was trying to say.

However, as his subordinate stepped forward to answer.

BANG! CRAs.h.!.+

His subordinate"s body then fell with a b.l.o.o.d.y hole behind his head after a loud sound of a gunshot and the gla.s.s on the window breaking.

Shocked by what happened, the men inside the room tried to go out of the room.

Then…

THUMP! BOOM!

An explosion occurred by the door they were about to pa.s.s through. The people who were late to go out were flung away groaning in pain but those who were early. All perished on the spot with incomplete bodies. Among the dead bodies was Matias who stood right beside the door. And now, only half of his head remained while staring at Dominador"s direction.

Seeing what happened, Dominador, the medic and the few of Dominador"s guards were shocked. But as if pouring salt to their wounds, they heard a mocking voice shouting from the outside.

"Dominador! Surprised? You made the move first so you can only blame yourself. Today, your kingdom will fall before you can even build its foundation."

THUMP! BOOM!

"AHHH!"

Another explosion occurred outside the room which was followed by painful bellows of Dominador"s men.

Now, all of Dominador"s anger dissipated. His face paled as he spurted blood. He was breathing too heavily that his wound on his chest and abdomen that had already stopped bleeding opened up once more.

THUMP! BOOM!

And another explosion echoed. Then, following the explosion, the sounds bullets raining from above sounded, drilling his men outside with holes.

He then saw one of his close subordinates running outside the room through the window. However, before he could even seek shelter, his fell with a splatter of blood coming from his temple.

Dominador"s guards could not help but swallow their own saliva as they watched what was happening outside. One of them took a peek beside the door and saw their men who wanted to escape but all of their escape routes were blocked with st.u.r.dy and thick vines.

THUMP! BOOM!

The armed men gathered by the blocked entrance were blown away by another explosion. Most of the ones closest to the explosion were dead with mangled bodies.

The guard who saw that felt his knees weaken as he slumped to the floor. He looked at their leader, Dominador.

"L-Leader our brothers were b-being slaughtered… Wh-what are we going to do?"

The guard spoke with a quivering voice.

BANG! CRAs.h.!.+

Through another window, another bullet pa.s.sed through and drilled a hole on the head of the guard that had just spoken.

Everyone was now quivering as they retreated away from the windows and closed the doors. But before all of them could do so, another bullet flew in through the broken window claiming the life of another guard.

Seeing his men being helplessly slaughtered in front of him, Dominador"s eyes turned bloodshot with his complexion very pale. Since the start his successful career as an underground boss until now, this was the first time he made a mistake. He underestimated not only Mark"s prowess but also his viciousness.

Propping himself up, Dominador stared at his men. Although he regretted his mistake, there was no taking it back. Still, he could not fall here. Dominador looked at the window facing the back side of the building. Using his uninjured left arm, he bashed the windows broken and started to remove the railings outside the window with his sheer strength.

However, the moment he grasped the metal railing, a figure of a man landed on top of the wall in front of the window. The figure was looking at Dominador with a smile.

However, looking at the man, Dominador felt as if he was looking at a devil. With eyes brightly glowing red and the vicious smile plastered on his face, Mark stared at Dominador who froze in fear. This was the very first time Dominador felt that the reaper was grasping his neck.