Mutagen

Day 132 - 3:06 AM - St. Gabriel's Hall Compound, Audubon, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Mark stared a little at the building in front of him before his eyes lowered.

There, he saw them. The people he detected while he was still inside the vehicle.

If not for these people outside, he would not be able to detect people from the St. Gabriel's Hall while on the road because of the considerable distance between the two.

Even so, it was quite lucky that the vehicle was not speeding, and the noise it emitted was not loud. If not, these people might have been rushing to see where their car was.

And as it seemed, these people did not hear anything and went on their business.

Still, it was quite unusual for a group of people to be outside at this time of the night. Until the sun rose from the horizon, most people would rather stay indoors because of the danger called the infected. On the other hand, these people were not afraid at all. They were even carrying torches to light up the way.

Another unusual thing was that the group was composed of boys that seemed to be in their teens.

Mark hid better, wanting to know what these people were doing out here. Furthermore, they seemed to be gleeful for some reason.

And as Mark watched the group, they made their way towards the middle of the vacant land that had nothing but the overgrown grass. That was when he saw them dump something out of the sacks they were carrying.

Then, the cold breeze blew, making Mark frown. The thick whiff of blood entered his nose. Mark, whose abilities were directly connected with blood, could tell, though.

It was not the smell of the stale blood that the infected had.

It was not the smell of blood from an animal either.

It was the scent of blood that came from a human.

After dumping the contents of the sack, the group merrily left and went on their way back to the red building. That was when Mark went out to see what those people dumped in that place.

Mark made his way through the overgrown grass, and the disgusting stench started to become thicker and thicker.

As soon as Mark reached where those people dumped the contents of the sack they had, he saw what was in that place.

Because of the knee-high grass, it was hard to see, but there was a big pit, dug in the middle of the vacant, overgrown field.

And what did the pit contained?

It was a pit filled with decaying infected and human skeletons.

Of course, it was not decayed skeletons. A lot of them looked fresh, with stains of barely dried up blood. There was even a set of bones that were still fresh, dripping with blood. It was very likely the thing that that group just now dumped in this hole.

This scene made Mark look at the red building with a frown.

"Cannibals."

Furthermore, it was not just some cannibals that eat their victims. These ones were quite picky. From the shape of the bones that Mark saw, these butchered skeletons all belonged to females.

Mark shook his head. It was not his intent to meddle in this place. He was just here to see if these people could pose a threat while his group passed by.

In any case, he confirmed that these people were hostile ones.

"What should I do now?"

Mark murmured as he threw a ball of black fire towards the pit. The smell of burning bodies and bones started to mix in the air. But at least, no one would notice it as black colored fire would not emit any light as it burned.

Watching the hole burn while making sure that the fire would not spread unto the grass, Mark decided to check the red building.

"I should at least see the firepower these people had. If they had guns, it's better to dispose of them before we pass by."

As the pitiful dead bodies turned to ash, Mark opened his wings and flew up.

From the sky, Mark was able to see the whole place. And he was right. It was not a church. He could tell just by looking at the shape of the building.

Yet, from the front, it was shaped like a church with a tall belltower-like structure at the center. However, from above, it was actually a compound of several buildings, built in a U shape. It had a vacant space at the center. He also saw the surrounding areas where it looked like wide recreational spaces. It was quite strange, though, that a single facility like this had five basketball courts, two baseball fields, and a half soccer field.

Mark was sure that even sports schools would not have this many basketball courts.

There was also a small greenhouse, a swimming pool, and other vacant lands that had some recreational facilities left in it.

Mark then circled the building from the sky and detected all the people living inside. Unexpectedly, all were males. He also found some females, though their mental states were already broken. The females also seemed to be under the building, indicating some sort of basement facility or dungeon.

While flying around, Mark took the opportunity to peek into the rooms and found the same layout for each one. The place was like a dormitory of some sort. And as the furniture looked dull, this place should be a dormitory for males.

That was when Mark had to land in the northern area of the compound. It was where the road to access the place was located. It was because he saw some signage that could tell him what kind of place this was.

And as he read the sign, Mark finally understood this place. He also passed by some information about this place on the internet before.

The St. Gabriel's Hall. It was a Residential Treatment Facility for court-adjudicated adolescent boys. In layman's terms, a rehabilitation center for young males that committed crimes.

No wonder now that it became a den of cannibals.

Of course, it did not mean that because a young person committed a crime would become irredeemable in the future. However, if one of them started something like this, being young, a lot of them would be influenced.

However, what if the one that started it all was not the young ones? Instead, what if it was actually the people that run the place?

That might be the case in this place. After all, Mark detected some older people in the building while he flew around.

Leaving the signage, Mark flew away once more. He then saw that the road that his group would drive through was actually built with some watchtowers. Thus, he could not help but check.

These cannibals were actually guarding the highway.

"This must be where they were procuring their food, huh?"

Mark murmured.

Anyone using the Benjamin Franklin Highway would need to pass by this area. Thus, those people had no choice but to stop after being blocked by the current residents of St. Gabriel's Hall.

Furthermore, being a detainment facility, the people in the watchtowers were definitely armed with guns.

In any case, whether Mark used the crystals or not, there was still a chance that these people would be alerted.

PUFF!

Without hesitation, Mark turned into a black mist that moved towards the watchtowers.

And there, the blood of the lookouts splattered into the walls inside.

Mark then looted the bodies, took the guns away, and vanished with a sinister smile.

He then flew around the hall, appearing and vanishing into black mist. One by one, he quickly checked the places were he detected firm mental fluctuations. These people that had confidence and had a high sense of safety were likely to have weapons with them. And thus, Mark took them all.

If he could not find any, Mark did not hesitate to slit their throats in their sleep. Some of them woke up but could only utter gurgles on their mouths as blood flooded their throats.

***

After a half-hour, the shadow of the Devil appeared in the dark basement of St. Gabriels hall.

There, the women were all awake, despite their bloodshot eyes that were devoid of sleep. After all, even if they were already broken, who would be able to sleep if they knew that they would be eaten sooner or later.

That was when the pitiful women noticed someone entering their despairing prison.

Everyone shrunk back into the furthest corners of their cells. They thought that cannibals wanted some nighttime snack or something.

But then, as the silhouette was seen by them, they were all surprised to see a human with demonic wings. He had a sinister aura around him that they felt fearful of.

'Did the devil finally come to claim our lives?'

'In that case, please, take it.'

'Dying with their body intact instead of dying to be butchered. This would be better.'

Their minds were flooded with those thoughts, as they slowly crawled their way towards the bars of their cells.

'Kill us. Please Kill us."

'We don't want to live like this anymore.'

Those words that they could not utter anymore were emitted by their eyes and gestures.

They wanted this Devil that appeared to claim their lives and stop their suffering.

"Unfortunately, I'm not here to claim your lives."

The Devil then spoke.

With several flashes of a black blade, the cold metal bars that enclosed them to their dark prison were slashed into pieces.

And then, from a black hole that appeared out of thin air, a lot of items fell.

Guns, bullets, melee weapons, and even grenades, a lot of weaponry fell to the ground.

Everyone was confused, frozen while looking at the weapons in front of them.

"Those are your ticket out of this place." The Devil continued. "I believe you all knew what to do next."

And with those words, the Devil turned into a puff of black mist and vanished.

At the same time, the women's eyes seemed to have a red glow on them.

'Pick up your weapons. Take revenge. Kill them all.'

Those dark thoughts flooded their minds.

It was the whispers of the Devil as they said.

Slowly, with their weakened bodies, the women stood up. Sluggishly, they picked up the weapon of their choice.

Like ghosts of revenge, the naked women left their prison.

That was the start of the massacre.

The women shot their guns at every person they saw inside the building. The gunshots woke up everyone, and they rushed towards the place, only to get shot themselves.

The cannibals tried to find their weapons.

However, they never found any.

As they ran out of the halls, bullets showered upon them.

The cannibals tried to find their Mutators, unexpectedly, none of them were present. Instead, in their rooms, their beheaded bodies were left with their heads rolling on the floor.

The men tried to fight back. But without weapons or abilities, they were only sitting ducks. Although they managed to kill a few of the women, a number of them still remained. And that remaining number killed more and more.

The cannibals tried to flee, but found themselves trapped, unable to get out.

***

The St. Gabriel's Hall.

The outside was red because of bricks.

The inside was red because of blood.

And the cause of it all was currently standing on the roof of the tower. The Devil was smiling at the scene he was watching.

"Sure enough, the stories of revenge are the most satisfying to watch."

He murmured as he opened his wings and flew away.

***

Mark returned to the vehicle and saw everyone outside. Everyone was alert. It was clear why they were.

"Boss, what did you do now?"

Roan asked the moment that Mark landed.

Mark then shrugged.

"Nothing. I just cleared our way. We can leave now."

Of course, no one believed him. Even so, they rode the vehicle once more and drove off without problems. They saw the emptied watchtowers and thought that it could be what Mark took care of.

Unknown to them, a few days later, in the very same place.

A cult of women worshiping the Devil was founded.