Mutagen

Madam Lanie and Chief Mallari just went out of the room Mark and the three girls were staying. The two wore bitter face after learning everything from Mark.

After Mark rested enough, he asked the nurse taking care of Charmaine to call the two and tell them the things the government disclosed back in the mall. He also summarized a bit of his encounter with the military and what happened at the mall. Still, he did not tell everything. He hid things like he had a Satellite Phone and he could contact the military based at the Bay City. There was no point in telling this to them right now.

Actually, it was not that there was really no point but he just did not want to be pestered about when would the rescue arrive and stuff like that. More than that, this phone was personally given to him by Angeline. It was not a government property for them to demand its use.

The two leaders would be the ones to inform the other survivors about the situation. They also told Mark that they were already preparing to leave this place.

At this moment, Mark could hear a lot of gunshots from outside the window. The bodyguards and the police along with other able people were moving to procure some of the government vehicles outside. Once enough vehicles were gathered, everyone would hurry up and leave this place.

Mark and Abbygale"s fight at the City Hall rooftop opened the eyes of the people here. This place was not safe at all. Unless they had the ability and skills like the two displayed at the rooftop, they would not survive just by staying at this flimsy and small building.

In the room, Mark was also preparing his things. Abbygale on the other hand was taking a nap using Charmaine"s lap as a pillow. The full usage of her abilities at the rooftop drained the little girl a lot.

TOK! TOK!

Two knocks sounded at the door and it opened. It was the nurse who was taking care of Charmaine. Apparently, after the doctors and nurses were rescued, they divided to work on treating the injured survivors. On the other hand, this nurse was a.s.signed to solely take care of Charmaine.

The nurse was holding two small bags. He handed one of the bags to Mark.

"Here are the medicines you wanted."

"Alright."

Mark took the bag and bundled it with the things he will bring back. In the bag were Charmaine"s insulin shots and other medicine of common illness like cold and fever. As for the painkillers and other stuff, he had a lot of stock back in the vehicle so he did not ask for more.

After giving the bag of medicine to Mark, the nurse sat beside Charmaine and the two women started chatting with each other.

"Mr. Mark…"

The nurse called out to him.

"Just Mark is fine. Adding mister to my name gives me cringes."

"Okay then, Mark. Is Charm"s proposal for me before still valid? I know I did not give my answer earlier but."

"You want to come with us?"

Charmaine interjected with a happy face.

"Yes. I decided to come with you if possible."

The nurse answered Charmaine"s question before turning at Mark. After all, he was the one with the final say.

"It"s fine if Charm wants you to go with us. Still, what changed your mind?"

Mark was curious. The nurse inhaled and exhaled deeply before answering.

"I"ll be frank. Your fight at the rooftop shook me. I know Madam Lanie said that we are going to a safer place but I doubt that the place is really safe. So I thought that going with your group would be safer."

She looked straight at Mark and continued.

"I know that I"m being presumptuous but in exchange for the protection I will get, I"ll work hard for anything I can do. Even if you wanted something like my body I won-"

"WAIT! Wait. Stop. You"re going the wrong way."

Mark stopped her with a darkened face. Charmaine also hurriedly spoke with a flushed face.

"Yeah. What are you saying? Don"t tell me you fell in love with Big Brother…"

Charmaine"s voice trailed off as she received a stern stare from her Big Brother.

With a serious face, the nurse replied.

"I didn"t. I"m not falling in love or something like that. I just know that I needed to give something as exchange and all I have is myself and nothing else."

"Don"t tell me, you"re that kind of woman?"

"I"M NOT!"

Mark stared at the nurse and sensed her emotions. She was actually not that willing to say or do it but she was determined to give up everything she had as long as she could live.

"Geez. Alright."

He decided to accept the nurse"s determination or rather, desperation.

"Big Brother?! Don"t tell me…"

"What kind of dirty things are you thinking about? Can you use some bleach to cleanse your brain a bit?"

"Guu…"

With that, Charmaine became quiet.

Looking back at the nurse, Mark spoke once more.

"I"ll let you come with us and you will fulfill what you just said except the last one."

Hearing that, the nurse felt relieved and somehow insulted at the same time. She was relieved that she did not need to resort to giving up her body but felt insulted since she seemed to not have any charm on Mark"s eyes. She was still a woman. Even if she was not beautiful, her looks was still above average. But to Mark, she seemed to be just an ugly woman.

Then she came to a realization and she voiced it out subconsciously.

"Are you impotent?"

COUGH! COUGH!

Mark choked on his saliva because of what he just heard.

"Where the h.e.l.l did that come from? I"m perfectly normal!"

It seemed that Abbygale was disturbed from her nap because of the noise they were making. She slowly opened her eyes and rubbed it. The little girl then stood up and walked towards her Papa.

"Papa is angry?"

Mark patted her head.

"I"m not."

The little girl nodded and sat on his lap without asking him. Everyone was speechless after that though. It was because Abbygale started glaring at the nurse without anyone knowing why. The little girl just sat on his lap while staring at the nurse without saying anything.

Abbygale"s glare made the nurse s.h.i.+ver inside. It was as if the little girl was telling her not to bully her Papa.

Mark on the other hand sighed.

"Why is it harder to talk to women nowadays? It was even harder than killing a dozen infected."

With that, the room finally became quiet. Mark continued with his work while Abbygale sat on his lap staring at the nurse. The nurse on the other hand did not try to move or talk under the little girl"s watch. To the side, Charmaine could only smile bitterly.

The little girl was actually scarier than the father…

Fifteen minutes later, Chief Mallari came in to tell them that the vehicles were ready and they could leave anytime. It was faster than he antic.i.p.ated. With that as the signal, Mark called on his radio.

"Mei"er, are you there?"

"Gege. Are we going to fetch you already?"

It was an immediate reply and even the subject for the call was not needed to be discussed. Mei"s voice even sounded happy.

"Yeah. Are you watching what is happening?"

"We are."

"Alright, tell Odel to drive here already. The evacuation will start."

"Okay!"

Mark then turned to the police chief.

"Let"s get going. It"s better if we leave sooner. We need to get to Firenze before sunset."

"Isn"t it too early? Firenze is just about half an hour from here on car right?"

Charmaine interjected.

"It was before the outbreak. Right now, even just going here from the City Mall took us more than an hour when it should be just about ten minutes normally."

"Why?"

"There are infected on the street and even cars blocking the roads. Maneuvering through those blockades and dealing with the infected would consume more time than travelling. There are even time we needed to drive back and forth since there are totally blocked and unusable roads."

The Chief nodded with Mark"s explanation while the two women were also enlightened.

With that, Mark carried the things he needed to bring while the nurse helped Charmaine walk out. Not wanted to be left out, Abbygale volunteered to carry one of the bags. The bag looked too big for her but she carried it without effort.

As the first people to be informed, Mark and his group was the first to move. Strange enough, Mark did not get out and just stood by the entrance of the building while holding his a.s.sault rifle. Due to this behavior of his, the rest of the group did not dare walk away from him and just waited by his side.

The gunshots continued outside as the armed men kept the infected at bay under the Chief"s leaders.h.i.+p. Mark was watching the situation while leaning on the frame of the door. The vehicles procured were several vans and multi-cabs. There was also a black car with a single 8 on the car plate. Cars with these plate numbers belong to congressmen so this car should belong to Madam Lanie. He was also sure that this was a bulletproof car.

A minute later, the survivors started walking out of the building in a hurry. They all ran into the vehicles. It was not because they were panicking but it was instructed by the congresswoman. Everyone needed to hurry since the infected were gathering towards this direction.

Soon, a large black modified van arrived. It was Mark"s vehicle. The armed men let the vehicle come close to the entrance since Mark had a lot of things he was carrying.

The vehicle stopped just beside the entrance of the Command Center. Then, under the gazes of the people around, the door opened and a very beautiful girl came out of the vehicle. Everyone who saw her froze on their steps and inhaled a mouthful of air amazed. Even the men shooting the infected could not help but stare.

And then, under their surprised eyes, the beautiful girl ran towards Mark and embraced him tightly.

Everyone choked. The contrast between the appearances of the two was like heaven and earth. If one were to use a Chinese idiom, it was like a flower stuck in a cow"s dung!

Disregarding the gazes she was gathering, Mei started examining Mark"s body. On the other hand, Mark"s face was very dark. Somehow, he was feeling irritated. He could not pinpoint why though since he could only detect the amazed and disappointed emotions of the people around him.

"Gege, your wounds, is it fine?"

"I"m fine. Look, it"s already scabbed. Anyway, why did you go out? You"re gathering attention you know that."

"But, Gege. I"m worried."

It was then, another woman"s voice was heard.

"Master, just let her. She was too frantic when you got wounded that I had to s.n.a.t.c.h the radio away from her."

Everyone looked at where the voice came from and saw someone coming out from the driver"s seat of the vehicle. It was a beautiful woman. Even though she was not as beautiful as the first girl, her mature appeal hit the eyes of the older on younger men alike.

But still, they froze when they realized what this woman called Mark. It echoed into their ears and they were screaming inside.

"You two…"

Mark sighed. He then heard a murmur behind him.

"No wonder my appeal did not work on him…"

He decided to ignore that. However, Mei did not…

She started glaring at the nurse like a cat whose tail was stepped on. Mark started pus.h.i.+ng Mei away and looked at Odelina.

"Odel, help me load these on the vehicle."

He pointed at the things he put beside the entrance.

"Yes, Master."

Odelina then patiently loaded the things at the back of the vehicle. Charmaine then asked while looking at Mei.

"Big Brother… You"re girlfriend?"

"She"s not."

"But… Ok."

Charmaine wanted to continue asking questions but could she not notice Mark"s bad mood while looking at the people staring at the beautiful girl hugging him.

Soon enough, the survivors boarded the vehicles. The only people left outside were Mark"s group and Madam Lanie"s group.

"Is everyone ready?"

Madam Lanie asked Chief Mallari.

"We actually have three people missing."

"Huh? Who?"

"Garcia and his men."

"What? Are they not coming?"

"Madam, I think they wanted to come but…"

The Police Chief pointed at the entrance where Mark was. Mark was wiping blood from his nose when he noticed that the two people were looking at him, he called out.

"You guys ready to leave yet?"

Madam Lanie realized what Mark was doing. She shook her head.

"We are ready."

"Alright. Lead the way. We"ll guard the back when we leave since there are still the infected coming from behind the City Hall."

Unexpectedly, an arm sized tree root came busting out of the ground near Mark. The other people except Mark were surprised. Then, the root slowly came in front of him.

He raised his head and looked at the huge tree and then back to the root in front of him. He reached to it and shook it. Since the huge tree wanted to befriend him, Mark did not deny its intentions. To his eyes, it was better to befriend something like this sentient tree than actually befriending the unstable humans.

After he shook the root with his hand, several more roots busted out from the ground in the middle of the street. The roots then started to block the incoming infected.

"There"s the cue, we"re leaving!"

Mark shouted. They all boarded the vehicles and started to drive away. Strange enough, Mark sat beside the pa.s.senger door of his vehicle and the door remained opened. He then started to aim his M16 a.s.sault Rifle at the entrance of the Command Center.

"Odel, stop the vehicle for a bit."

Mark said and without questioning why, Odelina obeyed. The vehicle stopped by the corner street beside the City Hall.

Then three people came stumbling out of the entrance in a hurry. Their faces were covered with sweat and their expressions were filled with fear and panic. It was the businessman, Garcia and his bodyguards.

"Wait!! Wait for us!!!"

The three shouted in unison.

It was then that the roots blocking the infected receded and the infected started running towards the three men who were shouting.

TSST! TSST! TSST!

Several silenced gunshots could be faintly heard. Then, the three men shouting fell down and started screaming in pain. Their legs were shot and were bleeding profusely.

TSST! TSST! TSST! TSST! TSST! TSST!

With their screams, the infected became more agitated. The bodyguards disregarded the pain on their legs and started to shoot the incoming infected. However, they were surprised. The infected running after them started falling down on the road before them. There were b.l.o.o.d.y holes all over their bodies.

They started to feel hope. They thought that someone was trying to help them. What they did not notice was that none of the shots were aimed at the head of the running infected. After several seconds, the infected that had fallen started to stand up once more.

Then...

Garcia and his men could only let out their painful screams as they were voraciously eaten the by the Biters that had turned into Eaters.