Mutagen

Day 58 - 4:03 PM - Medicine Faculty, University of Perpetual Help System DALTA, Las Piñas Campus, Alabang-Zapote Road, Barangay Pamplona Tres, Las Piñas, Metro Manila

Mark together with Mei, the three little girls, Karlene, and Edzel rushed into the closest building from the parking area. Because they still needed to fake their act, it was only Edzel and Karlene that shot the infected with their guns along the way while Mark and the girls just avoided any confrontation.

Nevertheless, even the confrontation with the infected was just an act. The quite a number of the infected along the way had already been controlled by Aephelia that was watching back inside the vehicle. Together with her, Amihan, Odelina, and Spera stayed at the vehicle to prepare the stage for later.

Actually, the parking area extended towards the front of the building but because of the vehicles that packed the parking area, it would not be easy to remove the other vehicles. If they were to do so, they would at least secure the building first.

The moment they entered the building and they were out of sight of the scout, the clean up intensified.

Blood splashed and bodies littered the floor as Mark's group became a moving meat grinder running inside the building.

It was already late, what they needed right now was a place to spend the night and this building was the best place.

The building was large but smaller compared to the other buildings around it making it easier to clean up and defend. It had two floors and the second floor could be set up as a safe camp.

Those things aside, this building was not only the closest to the parking area but was built at the very center of the largest part of the university. Because of its location, it would be easier to move anywhere around the university and retreat to this location. The only places that would not be easy to access would be the Medical Center and buildings at the front of the university that was located about three hundred meters away from the Medicine Faculty.

"It is kind of disturbing how this building was easily cleaned by just by five people and three of them were just cute little girls."

Karlene could not help but voice her thoughts seeing the number of dead bodies that littered the floors of the building.

After entering the building through the door, there was no much she and Edzel could do. Even though she was a Mutator, unless she transformed and was controlled by Karla, her abilities would be limited. Edzel, on the other hand, might be stronger than average people being raised in hard labor but he was still just a normal person. If the two wanted to help, they could only use their firearms but the narrow hallways prevented them from doing so. Rather than hitting the infected, it would be easier to hit those that were fighting in front even if they did not want to.

"Gege, the person watching us didn't see this, right?"

Mei asked worried that Mark's plan would fail.

"Oh, don't worry, this building is blocked by several trees from where he is. Unless he goes down from his hiding spot, he won't be able to see anything here. If he goes down though, he will surely end up being chased by the infected."

After Mark replied to Mei, he turned to Miracle.

"Miracle, don't touch those things, we don't know what is inside those."

Being reprimanded, Miracle who was about to touch several bottles left on a table out of curiosity immediately retracted her small hands.

Abbygale was also curious about the things found inside but refrained from touching anything while Iola stood to the side silently while observing the surroundings.

Looking around, it was not hard to assume what this place was. White walls, tiled white floors, and the educational charts on the walls made it look like either a laboratory or a hospital but the office tables and chairs, the document cabinets in each room, personal computers, and lesson plans on the tables said otherwise.

"This place looks like a faculty for Medical Instructors and Teaching Doctors."

Mark speculated. There was also laboratory equipment on display at almost all the rooms. Unfortunately, most of the items had already been trashed broken to the ground. Even some of the glass windows on the second floor were broken making it obvious that a few people tried to escape from the windows.

While thinking that, Mark looked through one of the broken windows and stared below. The puddle of dried blood on the cement below surely indicated that the person who jumped through here did not end well.

"Alright..." Mark spoke facing everyone. "Let's pick a room and clean up a bit. Just dump the bodies inside one of the rooms on the first floor."

As Mark instructed, aside from the little girls, they started to clean the place to spend the night. It was not a thorough cleaning as there was no water to clean the bloodstains on the floor, in the least, they could use the documents on the cabinets to cover the fresh blood under their feet.

It took another half hour and they finished preparing the room. They chose a room that could oversee the parking lot. The office desks from different rooms were gathered in the room they chose and were lined up into makeshift beds.

Finishing the task in the building, Mark waved his hand out of the window to signal Odelina to do the next part.

Receiving the signal, Odelina drove the vehicle once more. This time, she had the goal of pushing away the vehicles that blocked the way.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The V-Ram of the [Exceed: Personnel Carrier] crashed unto the vehicles in front causing crashing sounds. After being pushed to the side, the abandoned vehicles had their sides scraped or dented but the [Exceed: Personnel Carrier] did not even have a single scratch on it.

Without much problems, Odelina opened the way towards the front of the Medicine Faculty. However, her job did not end in that. After pushing the other vehicles to the side, Odelina turned the [Exceed: Personnel Carrier] to the left facing the other vehicles. She then rammed the abandoned vehicles towards the fence not only creating an open space in front of the Medicine Faculty but also adding another layer of defense around the parking area.

After finishing her work, Odelina and Spera walked out of the vehicle while Aephelia and Amihan still stayed inside.

"Master, what are we going to do next?"

Odelina asked.

"Hmmm..." Mark turned towards the building on the other side of the school field. "Odel, Mei'er... and also Spera. It's getting late so prepare dinner. Karlene and Edzel, we will go to greet our temporary neighbors."

"Huh? Why?" While Edzel nodded without a word, Karlene could not help but ask. "Isn't it better if we just avoid contact with them?"

"Don't worry, those guys there are different from the ones chasing after us. Also since they live here, they might know where the blood bank is. That will save us a lot of time searching."

"I see. But how are we going there?"

She asked once more. The school field was brimming with infected. Anyone would ask that question.

"There's a way though."

Mark smiled.

***

Leaving the Mei, Odelina, and Spera together with the three girls back in the Medicine Faculty, Mark, Karlene, and Edzel made their way towards the large building to the east side of the school.

As Mark had said, there was a safer way towards that place and it was on the roof of the walkway at the southern side of the school field. This covered walkway was not only connected to the building but also extended towards the furthest sides of the school and to the main entrance several hundred meters away from their location.

While running on the roof, they were, of course, detected by the infected on the school field. The infected started roaring aggressively as they raised their hands in an attempt to reach the three that was two to four meters away from them. It was a futile attempt for the infected. Still, both Karlene and Edzel could not help but swallow their saliva seeing how many infected were there at the school field. Even a needle would have a hard time to fall unto the ground.

Seeing the expressions of the two, Mark shook his head. If there was no one watching them, he would bring Mei and the three girls instead but as they had to keep the act, he chose this arrangement. Not only that he made it look like that he was wary about communicating with the survivors on the other building but he also made it look like that they never noticed the scout tailing them since they left the supposed non-combatants on the building.

"STOP!"

A male voice was heard when they reached half of the distance they needed to walk on the roof of the walkway.

Mark was not surprised by Karlene and Edzel immediately went on a defensive stance.

Three looked at the flat area of the roof of the building and there were six people there armed with guns and staring warily at them. Three of the six were even pointing the guns at them with a bit of hesitation on their minds.

"Karlene, you do the greeting."

Mark whispered.

"Why me?"

"Because of the girl on the roof, look."

Mark answered mysteriously.

When Karlene turned to the only girl among the six, she was confused. She could not recognize the person since the girl's face was rather dirty and it seemed that she had not taken a bath for a very long time. However, the way the girl looked at her was full of unbelievable shock, too shocked that she even dropped her pistol without knowing surprising the others around her.

Before anyone could speak another word, the girl on the roof rushed forward.

"Lynn! What are you-?!"

A boy that seemed to be the same age as the girl shouted in surprise and tried to grab the girl. Unfortunately, he was late. None of them was able to react as the girl jumped down from the roof of the building to the roof of the walkway. Even though it was about a two-meter drop, she seemed to be fine and did not even create a sound as she landed on the metal roofing.

As she ran, she was already sobbing.

Since a stranger was running towards them, Edzel could not help but raise his gun but before he could do so, a hand pressed his assault rifle down. Edzel could only look at Mark in confusion.

"Read the mood, will you?"

Hearing that, Edzel turned to the girl once more. He was too wary about the people with guns that he did not notice the lack of aggression from the girl.

On the other hand, Karlene was also stuck. She could not help but find the girl familiar but she could not recognize her due to her current appearance. Before she was able to think clearly, a warm but rather smelly embrace enveloped her body.

"Karlene! I'm not dreaming right?" The girl sobbed with tears creating a clean trail on her dirty face. "Right? This isn't a dream... Right?"

The girl asked repeatedly not knowing what else was to say. The world had already turned into a huge nightmare, it would not be surprising if she was dreaming.

Karlene on the other hand froze. Tears also fell from her eyes before she could even open her mouth.

"This voice... Analynn? Lynn... Is this... really you?"

Karlene pushed the girl away and held her face. She even rubbed the sticky dirt on the girl's face just to be sure. As the tears had softened the dirt, some of it was wiped away.

"No way..." Karlene voiced as she finally confirmed the crying face she held. "Lynn!"

Karlene let go of Analynn's face and gave her a tight embrace.

Even though there was a large number of infected just a few meters away, their aggressive roars and growls could not overwhelm the joyful cries of two girls that had the reunion that was almost impossible to happen now in this world.