Mutagen

Mark stood by the door of the greenhouse, looking at the abomination at the center of the greenhouse. He could not tell if the infected could detect him or not. Although there was movement, he could not see any kind of aggression.

Taking out his phone and turning off the flash, Mark took out some pictures.

It had been his hobby since the outbreak started. Every time he could, he would take pictures. If not, he would engrave the appearance of the infected in his mind and draw an ill.u.s.tration later.

In fact, the database about the infected and evolved animals inside his laptop was growing fast.

That was the difference of this outbreak from what Mark knew from video games and movies. The number of possible branches that the infected could mutate to because of Mutagen was infinite. 

Of course, there was some rarity among the mutations. Similar catalysts would mutate the infected the same way. 

And the more common the catalyst for the mutation was, the more likely that an infected mutated by it would appear. It was like the Dozers, the infected that had fat, bloated bodies that would release methane when injured. A lot of them were among the infected everywhere.

The catalyst for the mutation of Dozers was already confirmed. It was the high amount of fat in the bodies of the infected before turning. Since obesity was common around the world, it was easy to find Dozers almost everywhere.

It was the same with other mutated infected.

Now, Mark had seen a new one. And it was a very rare plant-based mutation.

Thus, he could not help but feel interested.

After taking photos, Mark switched his phone to video recording and started to record the interior of the greenhouse as he entered.

From outside, what could only be seen was the vines and strange bulbs sticking out of the broken panels of the roof. Inside, however, rather than a garden, it was like a small jungle.

Vines covered the walls and the ground. Large, green leaves filled the place.

No one would think that it was a mutated infected unless they look at the center.

At the base of the vines, a man stood still, with his arms outstretched. 

The base of the vines stuck out of the person"s body. As if the entirety of it grew from inside him. From his eyes, nose, ears, and his widely opened mouth. The vines even stuck out in front and the back of his hole-ridden pants.

In a short glance, anyone would think that he was dead. However, with the infected man releasing that creepy moans from his disfigured throat, there was no doubt that this infected was still "alive."

Furthermore, the base of the vines that were directly connected to the infected"s body had a different appearance. Instead of looking like a plant, it was like some flesh membranes growing out of the infected"s body.

Mark looked up, he saw something.

"Fruits?"

That was what anyone would think at first.

At the thickest parts of the vines above, several large things were hanging.

However, each one was not only as large as a human. It was also pulsating disgustingly. With its fleshy appearance, it looked more like a coc.o.o.n than a fruit. Nevertheless, there was no doubt that these things were hanging connected to the vines.

Out of curiosity, Mark took out his sword. With a jump and a slice, he opened one of the "fruits."

SPLAT!!!

Mark immediately retreated as disgustingly smelling liquid burst out of the fruit. As the contents fell to the ground, Mark could not help but frown.

The rotting and gastric smell spread across the greenhouse, making Mark retreat outside. 

Even for him, that was already used to encountering rotting corpses everywhere, the smell from that thing he sliced open just now was unbearable. 

If he did not retreat, even if he did not touch that thing, the smell would definitely stick to his clothes.

Despite his quick retreat, he saw what fell out of that "fruit" clearly.

It was a pile of digested human body parts.

Those things hanging from the vines were not fruits but food. Then, if those things were all food for this mutated infected...

As Mark had thought of that, the vines started to move like snakes. Sure enough, what he did alerted the infected inside of prey lurking around it.

CRAs.h.!.+ CRAs.h.!.+

More gla.s.s panels broke as the vines surged out of the confines of the greenhouse.

Then, the bulbs on the vine started to open, revealing huge flowers filled with barb-like teeth.

Seeing that, Mark tried something.

Mark ran, heading towards a corpse of an infected animal that he encountered while searching the greenhouses.

Picking up the corpse, he threw it into one of the widely opened bulbs.

As the b.l.o.o.d.y carca.s.s entered the bulb, it closed. The vine that was connected to that bulb also retreated inside. Then, from the broken parts of the greenhouse, Mark was able to watch what happened inside.

That vine that retreated moved and hanged itself on the roof with that closed bulb hanging on it.

"What a unique way of eating."

Mark murmured.

However, he also noticed something.

The vines were moving everywhere, looking for him. It was even though the direction the vines were moving to was the opposite way.

"It can"t see."

That was what Mark concluded.

A vine came towards him. But when he stepped aside, the vines continued moving the same direction and pa.s.sed beside him.

Mark returned his phone into his pocket. With a wave of his hands, black flames burst forth, igniting the whole greenhouse.

"It is a pitiful infected, but it can"t be left alone.

Mark murmured as he went back.

"Gege, did you find any?"

Mei asked as Mark returned. Mark could only shake his head. He found nothing that they could plant. And as if they would plant an infected like that in his base.

On the other hand, the others seemed to want to ask something as they glanced at the direction Mark came from repeatedly.

After all, the thick smoke from the burning greenhouse was open for everyone to see. However, Mei did not ask anything. They felt that it would be inappropriate if they were the ones to ask about it.

The next stop was the storehouse on the other side of the street. This time, everyone could help to look around. It was because there was a driveway in front of the storehouse where they could part the vehicle.

Entering the storehouse, they could not help but feel dejected. There was no infected inside the storehouse. There was nothing of what they were looking for, either.

From the looks of it, the storehouse had been emptied by other people. It was because the lock was forcefully broken, and the whole place was a mess. It was as if someone searched the storehouse in a hurry.

The only things they managed to find were some old dried seeds that were quite questionable if it would still sprout.

Still, it was better than nothing.

They decided to leave. From Mark"s map, there were still other places of interest if they were looking for things to plant. After, this whole area was filled with different farms.

However, with this storehouse being obviously searched, the others being in the same state was very likely. Then, it was better to leave than waste their time.

Maybe, they would be able to find what they were looking for elsewhere.

Going back to the expressway, they left the vicinity of the Hammonton Towns.h.i.+p and entered the border of Winslow Towns.h.i.+p.

And here, they finally entered the most populated areas around this place.

Due to that fact, they noticed that the road... started to become more and more crowded.

Their speed slowed down because of the vehicles blocking the middle of the road. Most of them were abandoned because of an accident blocking their way.

They even saw a vehicle half-hanging the side of an overpa.s.s.

The speed of their travel slowed more than half of before. Still, it was faster than going on foot.

Because of this, it was already almost lunchtime. 

And yet, they were only in the vicinity of Turnirshville at Was.h.i.+ngton Towns.h.i.+p.

They should be looking for a place to eat now since it would be questionable if they would be able to once they drove deep into the city.

But then, Mark could not help but frown.

"Stop! Help!"

A shout was heard from in front.

As their speed was not fast, they managed to see the man far in front of them along the expressway. He was stumbling on his steps, and he was holding unto his right side that was covered in blood.

With a desperate expression, the man stood in the middle of the expressway, blocking the vehicle"s only path because of the other lane being blocked by an abandoned vehicle.

"Sir? What are we going to do?"

Otis cried out. In a few seconds, they would not be able to do anything but stop the vehicle. Actually, they wanted to help the man as he looked desperate. However, this was Mark"s vehicle, and he was in charge here.

And all of them were surprised by Mark"s reply.

"Run him over."

"But-"

Otis had no experience in killing other people. Furthermore, he could not understand why Mark said that. If he did not want to help, they could just make the man stop blocking the way.

"Otis, follow what Sir Mark said." Arnold suddenly joined in. "I don"t feel good about that man. Don"t hesitate."

Hearing that, Otis inhaled deeply. 

He had never killed anyone aside from the infected. However, he could only obey.

Stepping at the gas pedal, Otis sped up the vehicle.

Hannah, Felicia, and the others closed their eyes as they braced for impact. Killing humans was something they had yet to experience. Thus, they were nervous about this.

Arnold was the same. Nevertheless, he kept his eyes peeled open. He wanted to see if his hunch was correct.

And there, when the vehicle was about to collide with the man...

"F*CK!"

The man rolled to the side. None of his movements showed that he was injured, or desperate.

"d.a.m.n IT!"

The man cursed once more as he took out a pistol from his jacket and fired at the driver"s seat.

BANG! BANG! PANG! PANG!

Otis was shocked as the shots were aimed at him. The sound of the bullet colliding with something metal was heard loudly in his ears. When he looked to the side, he saw two shallow dents on the window. It was clearly the mark the bullets left after hitting the window.

Unexpectedly, the windows did not shatter, and it sounded more like metal than gla.s.s.

"Don"t mind the bullets. Unless they shot from below us, the car will be fine."

Mark said with a smirk.

Outside, the man stared wide-eyed at the vehicle that continued to drive away. He could see the two bullets he fired that fell off in the middle of the road, leaving the car unscathed.

With a raged expression, the man took out a whistle hanging on his neck like a necklace.

PRRRRRRRTTT!!!!

The loud sound of the whistle echoed loudly. It was the signal for his comrades.

BRRROOOOMM!!!

VRRROOOOOMM!!!

From the hidden areas behind the buildings nearby and behind the forest on the other side, multiple sounds of engines from different vehicles echoed.

Soon, the source of the sounds came out. Seven Motorcycles, two owner-type jeeps, and four quadbikes, there was a total of fourteen vehicles with about thirty people riding on them.

All were armed to the teeth. Some had guns, some had metal bats. One of the jeeps even had a machinegun mounted on it.

With crazed expressions, they chased behind the black armored vehicle.

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