Mutagen

Day 128 - 6:11 PM - Haddon Heights, Camden County, New Jersey, United States of America

An uncomfortable silence, that was the only thing Arnold and the others could give while they continued to clean after hearing Felicia's story.

None of them expected such kind of story from a lively and caring woman. It was also no wonder why she hesitated in telling her story. This time was not the first time that someone asked Felicia about her past. However, every time that the topic came out, she would only reply about being an employee in the casino. And none of them expected that it was that kind of employee.

Furthermore, she was not working there because she wanted to or desperate for money. They forced her to work with a debt that she did not even make.

Outside the house at the front yard, Mark and Mei sat at the stairs while guarding the place against the wandering infected. With their heightened senses, they could hear the whole story that Felicia told in the living room.

It was such a sad story and was horrifying in a sense.

Still, some things did not make sense.

"Mei'er, what do you think?"

Mark asked as Mei seemed to have some opinion. Usually, she would ignore the stories of other people she was not interested in. But as someone who was used by her family as a tool to expand their business, she could relate somehow. A woman that was being forced by the circumstances and could not do anything to stop it or retaliate. In that sense, both of them were the same.

And it was also the same that both their circumstances ended when the outbreak started.

"Gege," Mei turned to Mark. "I don't think that it is possible to amass such a large amount of debt from a casino."

"I also think the same." Mark agreed. "It can only happen if the person had some position in society, or at least, had a good background. From Felicia's story, it doesn't seem to be the case. After all, a casino won't let just anyone borrow money. Unless..."

"Unless it was all a plot."

Mei continued what Mark wanted to say.

A plot. That was not impossible to happen.

And the one that most likely happened was that the debt was all a lie.

Felicia's appearance may not be on par with Mei, but surely someone at the level of international beauty pageant contestants. It seemed that she had taken care of it since she was young. That very same reason, however, could get the attention of lawless people.

Especially since she was living with no one but her ungrateful boyfriend.

And the worst thing that could have happened was that Felicia's boyfriend only did not have that debt but actually sold her to the casino.

"Should we tell her?"

Mei asked.

"Better not," Mark shrugged. "Her past is already a heavy burden. We shouldn't more load to it. Besides, she's definitely going with us back home. There, she can start anew with Morgan."

Hearing that, Mei smiled. Like her, Felicia definitely deserved a new beginning.

***

The night was rather uneventful.

Cleaning the house enough to be slept in, they had had dinner and slept early. While cooking, however, Arnold and the others that were free dug a hole in the backyard by Felicia's request.

It was to bury the remains of her neighbor that their family was close with.

After eating, Mark and Mei slept in the vehicle while the others slept inside the house. The house was not that big for everyone to sleep inside. Furthermore, there was no extra room for the [Queen Type] to be confined, and it would be unnerving for anyone to sleep with a high level infected around.

Furthermore, even with its intelligence, the [Queen Type] did not need to sleep like the other infected. It was just Mark could put her to sleep like how he did with Janette. Her sleeping time was not long either and would wake up with the slightest disturbance.

Morning came, and Felicia was able to experience something nostalgic. It was to wake up in the house where she grew up with her family. Unfortunately, none of them were around for her to greet a good morning.

Except for the children, everyone woke up rather early. No one could tell the reason why. Well, Mark, who could, would not say it to them.

Hearing Felicia's story last night made them want to do something for her. It was not that she shared her story to gain sympathy. In fact, she was not expecting anything at all. Nevertheless, they just felt like doing it.

They were going to search for her family today. That was why they wanted to set off as early as possible.

Well, once they went out of the house to see Mark and Mei, they were stupefied. There was a large number of corpses outside the vehicle, particularly in front of the passenger door.

Since the window was clear, they could see that Mark was already awake. He was not moving, though, as Mei was clinging to his left arm and leaning on his shoulder, still asleep.

There was nothing to say about it. It was because there was a lot of infected wandering the area. Since Mark and Mei were both psychics, they were more prone to attract the infected despite not being seen. Thus, for the whole night, Mark had to wake up every now and then. He had to deal with the infected knocking at the door of the vehicle.

And he had to do it without waking up Mei.

They ate a light breakfast and immediately proceeded in preparing to depart.

Felicia securely locked their house. Mark even gave her a lock he made to secure the doors.

As they boarded the vehicle, Felicia kept staring at the house they just left. She wanted to keep a good memory of the house one last time. Until they turned unto the corner and the house was nowhere in sight anymore, that was when she turned her head to the front.

Their next destination was about two miles away from the house of Felicia's parents, the Audubon High School.

The contents of the letter were too vague due to being burned. That was why they could only bet on this one as it was the closest. It was because, just beside the high school building, there was a Y.A.L.E. School. Both schools seemed to be on the same campus.

It was just two miles, which should only take more or less than five minutes to travel. However, after twenty minutes, they barely passed midway the distance.

The road was quite wide with its four lanes. However, it was not wide enough for the abandoned cars, the infected, and some barricades left abandoned along the way.

Their advance had slowed down because of such annoying obstacles.

After looking at the barricades, the rolled barbwires appeared to be very similar to that military commonly deployed along the roads. Since the military evacuation was written in the letter, it was very likely that it was left by the soldiers and had no time to dismantle.

As they got closer to their destination, the more barricades blocked the road. There was enough space for vehicles to pass through.

However, it needed the car to drive around the small spaces around the barricades. That was not something easy to do, especially since they were driving a large vehicle.

Well, unless they ran over the barricades. It was something reckless to do, though.

Then... along the way...

BANG! RATATATATAT!

Sounds of gunshots suddenly echoed.

Everyone in the vehicle flinched, and Otis could not help but slam on the breaks due to his surprise.

Nevertheless, they were not the ones being shot at. If they were, they would start hearing metallic sounds hitting the vehicle. Furthermore, the gunshots sounded distant.

And the direction the gunshots were coming from was the same direction they were going to.

That gave Felicia some hope.

If there were gunshots, there were people.

There was also the chance that the gunshots came from the soldiers.

"Otis, speed up."

Mark said, and Otis immediately complied.

Of course, there was no way for them to reach the same speed they had in the expressway.

As they came closer to their destination, they started to notice something.

The gunshots did not cease. At first, they thought that the school was being attacked by the infected.

When they got closer, however, they noticed that the gunshots came from opposite sides.

Mark closed his eyes, extending his senses towards the direction the gunshots were coming from. At first, he could not sense anything as they were still far away. When they got close enough, Mark found out the situation immediately.

The school was definitely under attack. Not by the infected, however, but humans.

"This is the third group already."

Mark sighed.

Since they left Atlantic City, they already encountered two bandit groups. From what it looked like, they were going to meet the third group.

"Otis, stop at the corner and hide the vehicle a bit. I'm going to check the situation first."

Mark then turned to Mei and patted her head.

"I'll leave the protection to you again."

"Uhn! No problems."

Mei smiled.

After the vehicle stopped at a hidden corner, Mark jumped out and flew up.

There was no other best place to see the situation aside from the sky.

Mark used his [Shadow Mist Movement] to obscure his flight and landed at the rooftop of the nearest building inside the school campus.

Sure enough, a battle between two opposing groups was happening.

Inside the school, the group was a mix of people wearing military uniforms and civilian clothing. Outside, the group was wearing some punk style clothes with most of their members had piercings, mostly on their noses and ears.

***

The battle was intense, and both sides were getting casualties.

"ARG!!!"

A painful shout was heard as another man from the military was shot on his arm. With a clatter, his assault rifle fell to the ground.

"Captain! If this continued, we are going to waste a lot of our ammunition!"

Another soldier called out to the one in charge of the soldiers here.

"I know!" The Captain shouted back."But what can we do? If we don't deter these bastards, they are going to break down the gate!"

"JUST GIVE UP CAPTAIN MORRISON!" A shout came from the enemies outside the school. "This place will be under us starting today! There is nothing you can do!"

Looking at the lineup outside, it seemed that they prepared thoroughly in order to capture the school.

"You bastards! Not only your group always obstructs our scavenging groups. Now, you want to destroy our only place to stay!"

"Who said that we will destroy it?" The person leading the attackers snickered. "We will not destroy it. All of you will serve us instead! Well at least, those who will survive! HAHAHA!"

With an insane laugh, the leader of the attackers transformed.

His thin body became covered with black bone armor. His nails became claws, and two bone blades grew at the sides of his forearms.

***

Mark watched the transformation unfold.

"A level two mutator..."

That was what Mark thought as he felt the aura of the person. It was the same feeling he had when he absorbed the blood infected back in Perpetual Help Medical Center, also the same feeling when he fought that fat guy before he found Hannah.

***

The transformed mutator kicked the ground. His visage vanished as he moved at unprecedented speeds. His body appeared over the walls with a blurry appearance. He then vanished once more with another kick to propel his body forwards.

Due to his speed, the soldiers could not even know where to shoot.

The next time he appeared, he already impaled one of the soldiers with his claws. The claws even penetrated the armor that the soldier was wearing.

Throwing the dying soldier away, he looked for the next target. The soldiers shot him, but before any bullets could hit, he turned into a blur once more.

The next target was an old man. Despite his age, he was holding a gun and was aiding the military in this battle. However, he was also too conspicuous among the group of younger people.

Thus, he became the next target by the bone-armored mutator.

As he brandished his claws towards the old man, however...

TANG!!!

A loud metallic sound echoed as a man covered in black haze suddenly appeared to block his attack with his scythe.

"Sorry, but I can't let you kill this one."

The man in black haze said as the whole place became silent due to his sudden appearance.