Mutagen

Day 5 – 4:32 AM – Lake Ave., Lakeville Subdivision, Molino VII, Bacoor City, Cavite

After Mark had left under everyone's worried eyes, they started the task they were assigned with. It was to set up traps along their escape route in case the worst scenario happened. The traps were not that complicated. Most of the traps only consisted of ropes that went across the street to trip the infected once they ran over.

The only complicated and the most deadly one was the trap Mark prepared before and was to be set up at the exit of the subdivision. It was a nylon cord with both ends of the cord tied unto the pins of three pairs of grenades. The grenades were to be tightly stuck on posts at the side of the exit of the subdivision and once the nylon cord was pulled, the grenades would surely blow off along with everything near it.

Once they were done with the traps, they would be ready to pick up Mark on call.

While some of them were installing the traps, Odelina was training the others how to use weapons. It was obvious that they would attract unwanted attention during this activity and it was also the same chance for them to train fighting the infected. As most of them were just beginners in wielding weapons and fighting, Odelina, Mei and Abbygale would eliminate the Biters that were more dangerous in close quarters while Emika would regulate the number of Eaters that would approach the trainees. Laelaps on the other hand was guarding the whole group alerting everyone where the infected would be coming from especially with the tall grasses around them.

SHINNG!!

Wielding a katana, Carlo begrudgingly beheaded the Eater he was confronting. It was obvious that he was not proficient in using the Japanese Sword as his clumsiness was showing in his attacks. He also looked squeamish as the blood of the infected in front of him splashed on the ground.

The katana he was wielding was a sword that his grandfather received after killing a Japanese general during the world war two. The evidence that the katana belonged to a general was the ornamental gems embedded on the hilt of the katana. This sword was one of the things he retrieved from his abandoned house. The katana was left for him along with the letter as he would need a good weapon in order to survive.

***

Day 5 – 4:43 AM – Taal Lake St., Lakeville Subdivision, Molino VII, Bacoor City, Cavite

Mark was almost done with packing the things he wanted to bring while the important things he would leave behind were all put inside the bedroom. Even though the chances of it happening were very low, he would take back these things if the outbreak settled down in the future.

He took all his "prized" possessions into a sports bag. What he brought with him was his favorite black hooded jacket, three robot plastic models, a nendoroid figure and four different sized stuffed toys. As for other things, he brought all the compact disks he had in his case, his several flash drives and the hard drive of his laptop and computer. He could not bring his laptop anymore as it was too bulky and it had lower specs compared to the laptops he took from the mall. It was the same for his computer.

Unfortunately, there was no way that he would be able to bring his only console. It was a bulky play station 3 that he luckily bought in a surplus shop at a very large discount along with several game disks. If the infected outside were not around, he might have a chance to bring this away but unfortunately now, he would not be able to.

Now, the last and the most important thing…

The jar with the crystals in it that was stored inside the closet. He removed everything he put above the jar to hide it before the item was revealed. This was why Mark was confused as to how that flash of light happened. The closet was tightly sealed and the jar was covered with clothes and thus, that light should not be able to escape out of the house.

After Mark finally took out the jar from the closet, he froze. It was because he could see that the double terminated crystal was emitting a faint glow continuously. It was not like this before. Furthermore, there was an additional marble sized crystal floating around it. What was stranger was that the color of the newer crystal was a way lighter compared to the others.

He was not that confused as he knew nothing about the crystals in the first place but it still felt odd. However, he had no time to ponder about it now. He started to hear loud noises outside the house the moment he moved the glass jar.

Mark hurriedly covered the jar with a thick blanket and stuffed it inside his backpack and not together with the other things he brought. The things inside the sports bag could still be tossed about to some extent but not this one. He put the cloth covered jar unto the bottom of the bag moving away the grenade launcher shells stored in the middle of several handkerchiefs to prevent the shells from making noise as he ran about.

BAM!!! BAM!!! BAM!!! BAM!!! BAM!!!

Mark subconsciously turned his head around towards the direction where the entrance to his house from the alley was located. It was because that loud sound was actually, the gates of his house. Someone was banging the gates of his house in a violent manner!

He hurriedly finished everything and ran out locking his door once more. Using the hidden corner of his house, he tried to peek on the gates and there, he saw the whole width of the gates was blocked with infected that was trying to get in. He could even see the gates shaking and hear the hinges creaking. It looked like that his act of taking the jar containing the crystals made the infected aware of its location.

'I can't stay here any longer!'

Mark thought as he immediately propelled himself kicking on the corner of the walls simultaneously and jumped off onto the roof like a kung fu artist. He arrived on the roof of his house in an instant. However…

BAM!!!

He was not alone.

A Biter suddenly appeared in a curve through the air falling onto the same roof he was standing on in an unsightly manner.

"WHAT?!"

Mark blurted in shock.

SWISH! SWISH! BAM! BAM!

It was followed by two more landing on the roof in a random direction. Looking at the direction of the curve they fell, it seemed that these three were thrown up here.

SWISH! SWISH! BAM! BAM!

While the three were recovering from the fall and Mark was in his thought, two more infected landed in front of him with one infected even hitting the first one that appeared.

Mark did not try to think anymore, he immediately bolted off. He knew that he had been discovered and the one that was throwing these guys should be a Mutated Infected with super strength. It must be the same infected that mutilated the van he saw earlier.

Jumping off from the roof of his house, he went towards the opposite direction he came from. Since he was now escaping, he needed to use the shortest route as he could. Furthermore, he was already discovered and would not be able to hide anymore. No… Rather, he would not able to hide even if he wanted to.

Running across the lot of the house behind his where he jumped off, he intended to climb unto the next roof.

He then noticed some movements…

Above the walls he just jumped over.

To his horror, he saw more than half a dozen heads popping over the almost three meter wall followed by arms and then their torso. One by one, the infected fell off over the wall. The damn infected were actually climbing up the walls!!!

PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! PLOP!

Bodies continued to pour down from the wall just behind him.

He did not try to dawdle and hurriedly jumped towards another wall, jumping over it and then unto the roof of a class room inside a small private school located just one lot away from his house continuing towards the roof of his neighbor. As he was now in an open area, he could finally see what was happening nearby. The Biters on the vicinity was climbing over every obstacle they could climb over to reach him while the Eaters were behaving the same as normal but also following the direction the Biters were going.

He also saw the creature that was throwing infected at him. It should be a Biter that mutated as it was moving fast. Its body was bulky. Different from the large hulking infected he saw before, this one was not tall but it had firm looking muscles and there was not a trace of fat that could be seen from its body. What Mark was surprised about this infected was because he knew the person. He was one of his neighbors that did not frequent gyms but still had a body filled of muscles for some reason.

Mark thought before if that neighbor of his had a myostatin related disorder and now, it really seemed to be the case. The Mutagen even strengthened that characteristic of his neighbor further.

As it was almost five in the morning, the sky had started to brighten. As such, Mark was looking at the scene below while the infected was also looking at him.

BAM! BAM!

Two more infected was thrown onto the roof he was standing on. Furthermore, the Biters were also starting to climb unto the same roof. They were even making a ladder made of their own bodies like how it was in a blockbuster zombie movie that aired in theaters several years ago.

"Well, the situation is just getting worse and worse."

Mark helplessly muttered.

TSST! TSST!

Mark put down his sports bag and shot the two infected that had just been thrown onto the roof with his Assault Rifle. He then faced the muscle packed infected and shot it with several bullets.

However, before the bullets could hit the Mutated Infected, it pulled an Eater beside it and used it as a shield avoiding getting hit by the bullets Mark fired. It then threw the infected towards the Mark making him dodge to the side and stop shooting.

Mark frowned.

The Mutant Infected he was facing right now was smart for sure. No, not just that Mutated Infected. The normal Biters in the area seemed to be smarter too. Furthermore, the Biters and Mutated Infected that were behaving strangely were only the ones in the close vicinity of his house. He could see that the infected further away were still behaving as usual.

He then remembered the crystals inside his backpack. Every time he's at home, he would feel his mind relaxed ever since he found these crystals and it even aided him to be able to concentrate on his freelance online work and with playing video games. The infected gathered here could have been affected by the crystals for sure. There was no doubt about it.

Turning back to the Muscle Mutant, Mark's eyes dilated. He immediately picked up his sports bag on the roof ignoring everything else. It was because he saw the Muscle Mutant picking up a Dozer intending to throw it at his direction.

Mark jumped off the roof onto the roof of another neighboring house.

BLAAMMM!!!

A loud sound echoed behind him as the two meter tall Dozer slammed onto the roof after being thrown. Mark glanced behind and saw the roof where he stood before was dented with the Dozer sunk at the center of the dent struggling to get out. On the further side of that roof, he could see the Biters finally managed to climb up to the roof and started running towards him. Due to the roof Mark now stood on was about two meters away from the previous roof, he expected the Biters to fall off but he was gravely mistaken.

The infected that reached the edge of that roof started jumping towards the roof he stood on. Most of them still fell off due to the wrong timing and being pushed by ones behind but there were several ones that made it and continued running towards him.

Mark then shot the Biters that managed to jump over the gap between the roof of the two houses without panicking.

But that was not the end of it…

BAAAMMM!!!

With a loud sound, he saw the Muscled Figure landing on the roof of the neighboring roof he was previously on.