Mutagen

"Joseph, stop it."

Bernard patted his son"s shoulder.

Still, no one blamed him for asking such a question as everyone here understood his point. From what Paula said, Mark instructed the two employees to save a few people without telling why. It just meant that he had no plan of helping them. He abandoned them to die.

Everyone looked at Mark though it"s not like that he would actually answer it.

But to their surprise, Mark answered frankly and nonchalantly.

"Why should I?"

"You! Don"t you even care about the lives of other people?"

Joseph was agitated, especially with how Mark behaved when he answered. They are talking about lives of people here and not just one but many. Joseph was so agitated that he almost stood up but he was held down by his father.

"Could you say you"re reasons? I don"t question what you did or your decisions but I want to know why."

Surprisingly, it was the silent Calvin who asked that. It seemed that Marks att.i.tude and stance here made him curious.

"Fine."

Mark sighed.

"First things first…" Mark seriously looked at Joseph.

"You are mistaking who is the victim here... It is not them who are abandoned but we are."

Joseph was shaken and Mark continued.

"Those people, no, idiots was helped by those employees. They were directed to a safer place. They, who only knew how to run, scream like crazies and ask for help even though they never even tried to help themselves. They even had the guts to turn on the people who helped them. Because of them, we were locked out, we needed to fight, we were constantly in danger and we made it here alive with great difficulty.

Though, I don"t mean it a bad way, think about it. What would have happened to these people if I wasn"t there with them?"

Mark looked to his left and right, the group people he helped and saved.

He pushed everyone into thinking. What would have happened if he was not there?

Fernan and his cousins might have been able to escape but they would need to leave the precious food they found. Then, they might have been able to enter the TechZone before it closed but with what happened inside, their ending would be unknown.

Paula and Ange might have been able to save Sariya but Reyah, her mother, would become the sacrifice for their escape. And even if the two managed to run away, they wouldn"t be able to enter the TechZone at all and that is a hundred percent sure to happen. Then, their future is bleak from that point. During their escape, they relied on Mark and his weapons. If he was not there, it is likely that they would not be able to reach the cinema on their own.

Everything was because he was there. If he wasn"t there then…

They s.h.i.+vered as they thought of the possibilities left for them.

Looking at their bitter reactions, Mark continued.

"Those people inside abandoned those who were outside for dead. So tell me. Why should I save them? Are they worth it? Actually, if not for those two who waited for us despite the threat they are facing, I won"t really bother giving them those instructions at all."

"After all… I"m not a Saint.

And I"m not a hero either. Though you guys can say I had a screw loose, I"m an average person for the most part.

One of the things I am good at is remembering and repaying favors. The way I treated them would just be my repayment the favor they gave us. They pushed us to danger that can potentially kill us so paying with their lives for their unreasonable actions, is a good trade-off don"t you think?"

Joseph already grew silent.

"Also… What if they did not locked us out? Do you think I won"t tell them the potential danger? Of course I will tell them because we would also be in danger but that isn"t what happened. They just paid for their own actions.

It"s that simple."

Everyone is silent and Joseph can"t counter any of what he said. Everyone is contemplating about what Mark said.

Though what he did is morally wrong in a human standpoint, what those people did isn"t morally right either. No one can be blamed rightfully. The first person to blame would be the wrong one.

They looked at Joseph who now hung his head down.

"Though, frankly, we should thank those people."

Mark patted Mei"s head who is now hatefully glaring at Joseph, making her calm down. Joseph even felt her piercing stare. Though her fear of them is still visible as she hid behind Mark, her anger can"t be concealed either.

At first, they were confused why they should thank those people but they immediately realized what he meant as Mark patted Mei"s head.

If those people did not lock them out, what would have happened to Mei then?

Thought the three cleaners don"t totally know what exactly happened to Mei but they knew that she was saved after their group was locked out so they also understood what Mark meant.

Joseph felt down. He knew he wasn"t thinking carefully when he blurted those all out. He also wasn"t in the position to question him in the first place. While Mark was fighting for survival below, he was here s.h.i.+vering in fear not even wanting to step and face those scary creatures.

On the contrary, Calvin now had a refres.h.i.+ng smirk as he looked at Mark. He found Mark"s reasoning interesting.

Bernard patted his son"s back comforting him before he looked back at Mark and spoke.

"I understood your reasoning but there is something that is inconsistent with what you said."

"What is?"

"You said that you"re not a saint and not a hero either. Why did you save them? I doubt that they have anything to do with you."

The others beside Mark also looked at him. They he also wanted to know why he saved them.

"Hah, I did not save them. They saved themselves."

Everyone was confused again. Still, their ears perked up.

Knowing what is in their minds, Mark continued.

He looked at Fernan.

"If you and your cousins abandoned those food carts, do you think I would help you guys? Those food are really essential to survive this mess though I won"t be surprised if you guys abandoned it and ran away. Yet, you guys didn"t so I helped you guys that time."

He then looked at the girls.

"I"m sure that time you two were running from the west wing. Paula was on the verge of giving up."

Paula"s eyes grew wide. "How did you know that?" She thought.

"Yet, Ange continued pulling you away and not willing to give you up."

Ange blushed.

"Also, When Mrs. Ismail fell that time, while the other people ignored her. It"s you two who stopped disregarding your escape and tried to help her. If that time, you two abandoned her you two would have more time to escape if you ask me."

"And Mrs. Ismail, you went quite far to ask these two to take your daughter and sacrifice yourself. Actually, it won"t be surprising if you actually throw your daughter to the zombies so you can escape."

"What are you saying?! How could I do that to my own daughter?!"

"Then, about Mei…"

Mark ignored Reyah.

"Hers is quite complicated so I"ll skip it."

Mei pouted her lips in displeasure just to wince in pain as the cuts on her lips that just started to dry up opened.

"Well, I"m just talking about the possibilities. But if those possibilities really happened, do you guys think I would help any of you?"

He faced Bernard.

"I"m not a morally good person but I admire people to can keep their humanity in a situation where their lives are at stake. That is why I helped them."

The people he saved felt embarra.s.sed.

He turned his head and looked at the opening on the wall above the ladder the others climbed up before and looked at the sky.

"I"ll tell you, guys. In a time like this which is possibly the end of the world. Humanism is the rarest treasure."

He looked like an old man who experienced a lot in his lifetime as he continued.

"Treachery, theft, selfishness, ****, murder and other awful things that human can do. There won"t be a lack of those things at times like this. Just take those guys that you said I abandoned as example."

He sighed and turned his face back to Bernard and smiled.

"Did you like my answer?"

Bernard bitterly nodded. He did not expect it to be so deep.

Then…

"HAHAHAHAHA!!"

They looked at Calvin who is laughing loudly.

"Is something wrong?" Mark asked.

"No, nothing is wrong. Rather I liked what you said. It is amusing to hear that from someone so young."

"I"m not young anymore though, I"m already 27."

"No, you"re age is still young to have that kind of mindset. That is a mindset you can only see from people who experienced war and devastating disasters."

"Is there wrong with that?"

"Nothing is wrong. I"m just amused and curious."

Bernard and Joseph looked at the always silent and loner Calvin who is now talking, like a machine gun, with incredulous expressions.