Mutagen

Day 21 – 11:49 AM – Abandoned Campsite, Unknown Riverside

This creature looking like a blob made of red jelly was something really unprecedented. To observe it further, Mark looked around the ruined campsite and found a rectangular microwavable plastic container to put the blob inside. The blob was not large and could likely fit even in a small bowl. Mark started poking it with a finger and even Amihan joined in flying around the container while being cautious that it might attack her again.

Fortunately, it did attack not anymore. Although it was moving, it did not make any large movement after it was converted by Mark's blood and changed in color. The largest movement it made was when it coiled its tentacle around Mark's finger when he was poking it. There was no danger and any ill intent at the action of the blob. Rather, Mark felt that it was somehow looking for affection.

It was a really strange creature and Mark could not think of anything what it might have been. The only things he could assure were that the blob was alive, its body was made of jelly like blood and it had its own consciousness akin to a domesticated animal. That third assumption made Mark think if this blob was something like a dog or cat that became like this due to unknown reasons. This was due to him considering where the animals in the city might have gone to when the outbreak struck.

The third assumptions had holes though. After all, it only behaved docile when it absorbed Mark's [Blood Whip] and it actually tried to attack Amihan when she tried to approach it before. Mark tried to look around the river if there were other blobs like this. Since there was one, there could be others. Unfortunately, he did not find any.

"Amihan, can you fly following the flow of the river and see if there are others like this stuck somewhere?"

Mark asked the little Sylph while pointing at the blob in front of them.

"Heh?! But…"

She hesitated. Mark knew what she was worrying about.

"Just fly in the middle of the river and not too close to the water so you can see if there are dangers around. Fly back to me immediately if you encounter danger or if you see any of these things."

"Uuuuhhh. Yes."

She dejectedly fluttered away following the river flow.

Mark saw her fly away and prepared to catch fish for lunch. Since there was already firewood gathered around the campfire in the middle of the ruined campsite, it would be easier to cook it here.

He looked around and found a large rock to sit on while overseeing a deep part of the river where the fish would swim by from time to time.

While he sat there waiting, a rather large fish more than a foot in length swam near him. He sneakily outstretched his right arm and a [Blood Whip] protruded out of his palm. The tip of the whip turned into an icepick shape with two small backward hooks before turning into metal. Only the tip of the icepick and the surface of the handle were metal. The insides of the handle were rather rough and hollow with a few inside protruding hooks making it possible for the [Blood Whip] to hold unto it. If he turned the whole tip into metal after it took that shape, it would end up detaching from the whip and fall down into the river.

After taking shape, the whip was launched like a spear plunging into the river water. Mark was not worried that the blood whip would get washed off since it was sturdy enough to be able to be used to constrict his targets. This blood when outside his body was in semi-solid state with a rather tough outer layer after all.

The metal icepick pierced through the body of the fish and the hooks locked it on place. Mark then retracted the [Blood Whip] taking the caught fish out of the water. Looking at the appearance of the fish, Mark was sure that it was Lobed River Mullet, also known as 'The President's fish. He had never tasted a fish like this before because it was rather too expensive.

It was a luxury food before the outbreak and he never thought of having the chance to eat something like this now. He was only looking for fish to eat but to think that what he caught first was an expensive one. Considering the size and weight, it should be around three kilograms. A single kilogram of this fish back in the old times was around five thousand pesos. That price could already buy two hundred fifty packs of instant ramen.

The only pity was that he could only roast this luxury fish over a campfire…

Mark caught two more large fishes before returning to the camp. The fishes were not mullets though but milkfishes.

"Uwaaaaa!!! HELP!!!"

He then heard Amihan crying for help. She was flying towards him at fast speed while there was a large duck, no, a Grebe chasing after her. The sylph hurriedly circled around Mark before hiding behind him while Mark raised his arm towards the Grebe.

Despite seeing Mark, the Grebe did not look afraid and continued to charge over. It seemed that it was enraged for some reason. Opening his palm, Mark released three [Blood Whips] towards the Grebe. Seeing the whips closing in, the bird panicked and tried to fly back but the force behind its charge did not let it do so.

The whips coiled around the Grebe and turned into metal almost instantly. The Grebe fell down on the rocky riverside not being able to move a muscle. It was still alive but it was greatly terrified quacking continuously. In the end, Mark also coiled a whip around its beak and turned it into metal muffling the Grebe's cries.

Looking at the Grebe that was afraid, Mark was sure that it was not a bird that turned feral after Evolution.

"What happened? I don't think that it's something that will attack like that."

Mark asked Amihan who still have tears on her face. It seemed that her trauma about getting chased by enlarged animals and insects deepened even more.

"Um… I saw a nest by the river and saw several eggs. I thought that you will want some but that huge bird suddenly chased me."

Amihan replied in a soft tone making Mark shake his head.

No wonder why the Grebe looked angry. This regrettable sylph invaded its nest.

"Ah!" Amihan seemed to remember something and exclaimed. "I saw many red things down the river. They seemed a little different though."

That made Mark's eyes light up.

"Let's check that later. I'll cook fish first. Do you eat fish?"

Amihan shook her head.

"We sylphs only eat fruits, edible leaves and flowers. We're also fine with flower nectar and honey."

"Then, let's find honey later. I saw honey bees at the west side of the village so there should be a bee hive nearby."

Mark said as he took out several berries out of his bag for Amihan to snack on while he cooked the fish over the fire. The red blob on the other hand was sealed covered inside the microwavable plastic box.

It did not take too long to cook the fish. He left the mullet for later though as there were salt he could use in the village to cook it.

While he ate, Mark was rather perturbed. Not because of the red blob or because of Amihan. It was because of the Employee ID cards on his hand. While he waited for the fish to be cooked, he looked around the campsite and wanting to gather anything that could be used and he would be able to carry. Among the things he found however, were these ID cards. If it was just some ID card of a person, he would not be affected but the person on the ID cards were people he actually knew!

"Nicole Alberts, Hallie Reynes."

Mark murmured.

These two were a pair of girls he met when he worked at an animation studio years before. The two were best friends and was at the same batch of interns as his that time. At the later times, he was rather close to Nicole. Close enough that their co-workers thought that he had an interest on her. In actuality, he just got closer to her than others since the others were kind of annoying people while she was also as timid as him when it came to others. Furthermore, she had a boyfriend at that time for him to make a move even if he had interest in her which he did not.

He never ever expected that he would see their employee identification cards here in the middle of nowhere. It was likely that they fled the city.

It also made Mark felt relieved. If these two were here, then, the possibility of him traveling across the sea had become lower. It became more likely that he was in some mountain range nearby central Luzon. The mystery however was that how his savage ego was able to cross the highly infested cities to reach this place.

Even though Mark had a relation with the former owners of this camp, he did not have any notion to look for them. In the first place, it had been long since he had a contact with them and they might have forgotten about him already. He could only wish them luck. It would be good if he could see them though since they would surely know where in the world this place was.

In the end, he decided to leave the things back in this camp. If he did not know them, he might take the things but there was a chance that they would still go back here since there were a lot of important things left behind. There was even a family picture of Hallie's family in one of the bags.

After eating, Mark put out the fire and left with Amihan to check the red things she saw down the river. He shaped his blood into a basket and turned it into metal to have way to carry the large mullet and the struggling Grebe. When they arrived at the place where Amihan led him to, there were about a dozen red blobs stuck on the rocks, floating branches and a tree that fell down unto the river.

Strangely, Mark did not feel any tingling sensation from his blood when he arrived. He started poking the blobs with his katana and even with his finger but he did not get any movement from the blobs.

"These blobs were dead."

He concluded.

In any case, he started scooping the blobs out of the water unto the riverbank. There were several sizes with the smallest about the size of an infant's fist while the largest was slightly larger from the blob the he saw earlier. The bodies of the blobs were still intact but there was really no movement. Mark stabbed one of his [Blood Whips] unto the blobs but there were still no changes and he could not absorb them either.

Unexpectedly, Mark felt some agitation with the connection he had with the first blob inside his backpack. Taking it out and opening the plastic case, the blob suddenly jumped out of the case falling unto the riverbank with a splat. It then moved its body towards the 'dead' blobs and started fusing the dead blobs unto its body.

Mark and Amihan watched the scene with curiosity. The first blob's body started to grow larger as it fused with the others and his connection with it was getting stronger overtime.