Mutagen

Day 3 – 11:03 AM – Bacoor City Hall Rooftop, Molino Boulevard, Bayanan, Bacoor City, Cavite

Mark could see the claws of huge cat coming closer from his left. The huge cat seemed to have slipped out of Abbygale's interception and rushed towards him when he was concentrated on trying to burn the Woodman despite its strong attacks. This feeling…

It was similar to the time he encountered the first infected he killed in the mall. He was in the verge of death after a sudden ambush. His eyes dilated but he did not panic but his concentration heightened in that millisecond. Everything slowed down in his eyes as he heard Abbygale and Mei's screams.

Reflex!

His heightened reflexes that were cultivated in playing fast passed games kicked in once more.

Mark made a step back with his left leg evading the initial contact. Without knowing and thinking about his movements, he bent his body backwards and did a fast back walkover with his left arm as support. Since the speed he did the tumble was too fast, he added another backflip to mitigate the impact his feet would receive upon stopping.

He was surprised after the backflip. Mark did not know how he was able to do that move. His body moved subconsciously at the last second and he evaded the fatal attack. However, he did not get out of the situation unscathed. Since his right arm was holding the shotgun, the arm's movements were slower that the other parts of his body. The huge cat's claws managed to hit his arm.

The sleeve of his jacket was torn and there was four bloody, centimeter deep slits on his skin. The flesh of his arm could be seen as the slits tore through all the layers of his skin. The flesh was immediately covered behind the flow of blood dying his black jacket with a reddish hue and the blood started to drip on the roof.

Mark saw the flow of blood on his arm but his face did not change at all. Yes, it was painful. But Mark was the kind of person that never displayed pain on his face for something like this. However, it would hard to use his arm like this.

He looked at the assailant that attacked him. He smiled. It seemed that the cat was confused on how he was able to dodge the attack it made. The huge cat recovered from its stupor and posed to charge at Mark once more but its movements were cut off. With dilated eyes, it suddenly turned its head away from him and posed to dodge.

Mark did not let it do what it wanted to. He did not need to look but he knew that someone got angry at the moment. His eyes glowed red and he raised his wounded arm.

Mental Pierce!

The energy composed of negative emotions flowed towards the unguarded mind of the cat. Its body froze and could only stare at the attack it was about to dodge that was coming towards it.

***

Abbygale stood several meters away from the tree while intently watching the huge kitty that was not really paying attention to her. Her Papa already said it that this huge kitty was hers to guard.

During the time her Papa was intensely battling the Mutated Woodman, the huge kitty was watching her Papa in confusion. As if it was thinking of something.

After her Papa started to get the upper hand on his fight with the Woodman, the huge kitty started to make its way down of the tree. It its target was her Papa. Abbygale became sullen. This huge kitty must not disturb her Papa's fight!

BAM!

Before the huge cat was able to land on the roof, the little girl already made her move. She anticipated where the cat would land and charged towards the location. She tried to welcome the huge cat with a fast kick and succeeded since the huge cat was not paying attention to her. The cat was hit below its abdomen and panther sized cat was sent flying. It rolled in the air before the gravity pulled it down.

Yet, as a cat, it regained its balance before it fell. The arrogant cat became angry as this little human that it did not put into its eyes was able to send it flying. However, it did not change its intent and still tried to charge towards Mark. But it did not let down its guard anymore against the little girl.

Noticing its intent, Abbygale immediately charged at the huge kitty once more. Since the cat was now aware of her speed and strength, it was not caught by her attack and agilely dodged.

The chase between the huge cat and the little girl commenced. Still, it was just the Abbygale attacking the huge cat and preventing it to get on her Papa's fight. On the other hand, the cat only dodged the little girl's attacks and proceeded on trying to approach the fight between Mark and the Woodman.

Two blurs, one black and one red, chased around the southern half of the rooftop which even took several minutes while Mark was fighting the Mutated Woodman.

The huge cat seemed to have realized that it could not shake off Abbygale from blocking its way and attacking it. It started to fight back. It made a huge and fast swipe towards the little girl which she easily dodged. Abbygale counter attacked but was also dodged by the huge cat.

The huge cat charged with all its might towards Abbygale forcing her to retreat back. It was unknown to the limited knowledge of the little girl that the cunning cat was just baiting her into retreating. As the little girl retreated, the huge cat immediately turned around and charged towards Mark. The little girl who was caught off guard was not able to react in time. Even if she was able to react to it, it was already late as the speed between her and the cat was not that far. If she chased the cat even at the moment it turned around, she would still not be able to block it.

The poor Abbygale paled when she saw her Papa who was caught off guard. The huge kitty flexed its right paw making its sharp claws stuck out of its fingers. The huge kitty was aiming for the kill. It was aiming to kill her Papa.

"Papa!"

She shouted.

Abbygale saw that her Papa managed to dodge but his arm was still struck on his arm. Four bloody slits was visible on his arm and her Papa's blood overflowed from those wounds. The blood continuously flowed out and dripped on the white colored roof staining it with red spots.

Her emotions flared up as she remembered what happened to her before and during the outbreak.

The night before the outbreak, she was bitten by the pet ragdoll of her grandma. It was because she accidentally stepped on the tail of the cat that it attacked her and bit her on her right arm. She cried because of the pain but her grandma was more worried about the cat than her. Her mommy on the other hand immediately took care of her wound wiping it clean and put her to sleep saying that the pain would be gone after she woke up next day.

It looked fine for the whole night until the morning that her mommy found out that she was flaring with high fever. Her mommy immediately panicked and decided to bring her for a checkup. On contrary, her grandma did not seem to be bothered by it and just said that it was just a fever for her mommy for panic.

Her grandma did not really like her.

'Mommy said that it was because grandma hated Daddy.'

From what she remembered, she never had a Daddy unlike other children she knew. Her mommy said that he left her after learning that she was pregnant.

There were times that Abbygale could see her mommy looking at a picture on her phone with a sad look. She did not know why.

After leaving the house, her Mommy drove their car and they made their way towards the nearest private hospital. However, they got stuck in the traffic. Her fever continued to rise inside the car making her mommy panic even more. The part of her arm that was bitten by the cat the night before was swelling already.

It was then that they were struck by the sudden chaos. A huge accident happened on the intersection that they were supposed to go through. Then the infected appeared. Her mommy carried her on her arms and left the car stuck in the middle of traffic.

Unfortunately, her mommy was swept away by the crowd of people trying to escape.

While she and her mommy were in the middle of the panicked crowd, she felt a stinging pain on her arm. The pain was too sudden that she did not know what happened. She looked at her arm and saw an elementary school girl biting her arm. The eye of the girl was all white and her face was filled blood.

Abbygale's mommy saw what happened to her and pulled her away out of panic. Luckily, the bite was just shallow but her right arm was still filled with blood.

The school girl that bit her arm lost its target looked at her mommy. It attacked her and tried to bite her. Her mommy tried to dodge and fight back but was still bitten by her leg since her mommy was protecting her.

Abbygale's mommy managed to shake off the infected school girl was both her and her mommy was injured and bitten. Her mommy carried her away to escape but still lagged behind since she was wearing heels. Not bother about it anymore, her mommy removed her shoes and started to run barefooted. Still, her mommy's injuries made it hard for her to run fast.

Along the way, they saw a lot of horrible scenes along with the fact that someone bitten would turn and attack other people. The little girl was still innocent about it but despair had already enveloped the heart of her mommy.

Since there was no place to hide, her mommy ran together with other people into the mall and tried to find a place to hide. But that was just easy to say but hard to do. With the infected on their tail, just a little more time and it would be their death.

At the last moment when her mommy started to get weaker, she saw the counter of the large store on the first floor of the mall. Her mommy put her under the counter and left. Abbygale could clearly remember what she said before she was gone.

"Stay here and hide for mommy alright? Remember what I always told you. Don't cry and keep calm at every situation like mommy. Mommy will pick you up later, alright?"

She was an obedient little girl and tried to stay as quiet as possible. Still, when her mommy left, she poked out her head over the counter to see her mommy once more. And that once more was the last. She saw her being attacked by an infected and was ganged upon several of them. Her mommy did not cry for help nor screamed for pain. It seemed that she noticed Abbygale looking at her and she turned her head to look at her. Her mommy opened her lips and spoke but there was no voice that came out. Still, Abbygale recognized what she said. Her mommy always said it to her. In the morning and before her sleep, her mommy would say it to her.

'I love you sweetie.'

Tears started to flow out of her eyes and decided to follow what her mommy told her. Abbygale hid under the counter. She tried to keep herself calm as her mother always told her. However, she started to feel her body getting weaker and she fell unconscious.

When she woke up, she was lying on a pool of blood together with mangled bodies around her on the floor. She vaguely remembered what happened. It was her who did this when she was unconscious. With her body, face and clothes stained in blood, she hid under the counter once more.

It was then that he came, a man with a scary aura. Strangely, she did not feel scared and just curiously stared at him. He then wiped off the blood on her face and arms in a gentle manner and brought her away when things got dangerous. The one thing that she liked about the man was that his embrace was really warm and comfortable. It was like when she was being hugged by her mommy. She had even fallen asleep in his arms.

She decided that time that he would be her Papa since she did not have one at all. She really longed for one. And fortunately, she had not chosen the wrong person. He really took care of her and doted on her for the past day.

And now, her Papa was in danger.

Her grandma hated her and she had no Daddy. Her mommy was also gone and the only one she had her chosen Papa.

This huge kitty was trying to kill her Papa!

The aura of the little girl erupted and charged at the huge kitty with all her might. While she was running, her wavy black hair started to turn white. Her nails on her fingers grew and turned into curved sharp claws. A bushy white tail emerged from her back that could be seen under her skirt and two triangular ears sprouted on her head.

With that new form of hers, Abbygale let out a full strength kick towards the huge cat in front of her Papa.