Mutagen

Mark could hear a faint sound of a drill boring on a something made of metal. The sound comes from the Western Wing of the Rooftop.

"Why are they working there?"

Mark asked Ange as he looked where the equipment and toolboxes are placed before. Those things aren\'t there anymore. They probably relocated their working area.

"They said that there is a child sleeping so they changed places so they won\'t disturb her. It\'s also closer where you wanted to use those things."

Hearing her reply, he nodded and walked towards the west wing while the two girls followed behind him.

With Mark\'s current appearance, a black shirt with splotches of blood, black gloves on both hands, a security belt on his waist, a revolver on the belt\'s right holster, a machete hung on his belt behind him, a shotgun hung to his left side and his average but unconcerned looking face while wearing a black loose beanie on his head, it might look badass and cool looking, especially since there are two good looking girls following behind him.

Still, there is no such scene. Mark just doesn\'t want to play the part and looked quite troubled. Furthermore, the two girls following him had an awkward atmosphere between them.

Paula, who is nearby, noticed it and approached Mark to ask.

"What happened?"

"Ask your friend about it."

Mark replied raising his closed left hand and pointed at Ange who is behind him with his thumb.

Paula understood that her friend did something stupid AGAIN. She grabbed Ange and pulled her away.

As there are no more distractions, Mark wanted to check the materials the men gathered when he realized something. The turned around and walked towards the mother and daughter\'s direction with Mei.

"Do you need something?"

Reyah asked with a lowered voice as she didn\'t want to accidentally wake up her child.

Mark didn\'t immediately reply and gently pulled Mei to his front and held her on her shoulders.

"Can I leave her in your care for a bit?"

It is a no brainer why, so, Reyah immediately agreed. Mark pushed Mei forward and made her sit down beside Reyah.

"Gege…"

Mei didn\'t really want to leave Mark\'s side as she looked at him with puppy eyes. Mark caressed her head.

"Mei\'er, just stay here alright? I can\'t have you suffering from panic attacks just because you want to follow me there."

"But…"

"Continue resting. Don\'t make your Gege worry too much. Mrs. Ismail will be here with you. I will ask her later if you behaved or not."

With that, Mei reluctantly nodded.

Reyah was watching at the side confused. Gege? What is that? Isn\'t her name Mei? Why does he call her Mei\'er? Are those nicknames?

The common people of this country wouldn\'t understand those things.

Then she snapped out of her confusion when she heard what Mark called her.

"Uhm… Mark, It\'s Mark right?"

"What is it?"

"Can you do something about how you call me?"

Reyah looked quite troubled.

"Is that so? Hmmm… How about… Mrs. Reyah?"

She sighed.

"That\'s much better. I had several bad experiences where people around me would look at me like I\'m a terrorist every time someone calls me by my husband\'s surname."

She smiled wryly.

Mark nodded. He understood since also had struggles because of his name that is way too common.

***

"What do you think?"

Mark arrived and saw that the things he needed are ready. Right now, he is looking at the several opened crates containing different kinds of fireworks.

In his hand right now is a small rocket type firework with a plastic body and tip about the size of his pinkie finger.

There are other fireworks other than this. Some are those colorful Spider, Chrysanthemum and Peony Rockets. There are even cylinder shells of who knows what kind of firework it contains. The one most suitable to attract zombies this time though, are the small rockets in front of him, whistling rockets.

Its explosion is not too powerful but it is quite noisy when it is ignited.

"This one is good. I don\'t think this will activate the fire alarms even if I light it inside."

Mark replied to Bernard who is beside him who agreed on what he said.

Joseph is on the other side looping some Manila ropes on his arm.

As for Fernan and Calvin, they stood by the wall near the ladder above the emergency stairs on this wing, for a cigarette break.

Mark glanced to the wall to his left. There are the two rectangular metal sheets they prepared leaning on the wall standing on the shorter sides. There are drilled holes on the corners of the sheets and two more holes at the sides, slightly above the midline of the sheets.

Everything is ready… They only needed to tie up the metal sheets and lower the sheets to the stairs below.

"I\'ll start preparing. Please, put some of these rockets in here."

Mark handed a small ecobag to Bernard. He then shouted.

"Fernan! I need to borrow that Pipe I gave you earlier!"

"No problem! I left pipe is beside the bag I carried earlier!"

Fernan shouted back.

Mark remembered that the bags were left near Reyah.

\'What is he doing leaving his weapon behind at a time like this?\'

With that, he went back to the south wing of the rooftop to prepare.

***

When Mark went back, he saw Paula and Ange talking to Mei. When Mei saw that Mark already came back, she said a few words to the two and briskly walked towards him while the two college girls followed behind her.

"Is something wrong?"

"Gege, they said they wanted to apologize."

"For Ange\'s eavesdropping?"

"Yes." It is Paula who replied.

"You see, this friend of mine do stupid things now and then so I would like to apologize in her behalf."

"What\'s with this overly formal apology…"

"Well, you saved us before but she did something disrespectful."

"Nah, its fine."

"Really?"

"It is. Right Mei\'er?"

Mei nodded.

Seeing that her friend\'s apology succeeded, Ange spoke smiling widely.

"Paula, I told you. It\'s not a big deal. I didn\'t even understand what they are talking about."

Before Paula could even reply…

"Of course you won\'t. You think I would let you listen for that long if you will understand all of what we are saying."

"Wah… "

Ange froze. She thought that he just noticed her when he shouted like that but to think that… It looked like he knew when she arrived!

"Gege, wh-just how long is she listening?"

"Since the time you said that lame joke."

"Uuuuhhh."

The rabbit hung her head low in embarrassment while her face turned red like a boiled octopus.

Paula glared at her friend, Ange, who can only let out a stifled laugh.

"Anyways, I need to get ready. We\'ll start the plan."

"It\'s not dangerous is it?"

"Not really, I just need to lure the zombies out and make them splat."

Mark suddenly held his chin as something entered his mind.

"I guess… I\'ll wear those to be safe."

"Wear what, Gege?"

"Ahh!" Ange shouted.

"You\'re talking about those things inside your bag right!" Her eyes were sparkling.

"You saw it? Don\'t tell me you rummaged the bags without permission."

"I didn\'t! I saw it when you asked for the small bag when you fell down!"

She replied like a cat whose tail was stepped on.

"Stop shouting. It\'s not like I can\'t hear you."

Mark scratched his head.

"Gege…"

"Ange…"

Mei and Paula felt left out. Well, not for long.

Mark looked at the two.

"Follow me, I\'ll show you two what she is too excited about."

,m Mark went and opened his duffel bag.

One by one, he took out the reason why his bag looked too bulky.

What he took out is a set of sci-fi looking sports armor.

The two girls who saw the armor for the first time were also amazed.

The black armor consisted of a sleeved vest, a chest and a back piece, shoulder, elbow and arm pads, and a face covered helmet. Each part had a streamline design with silver colored reflectorized outlines.

Overall, the armor really looked good.

"Where did you get this and why you didn\'t wear it earlier?" Ange asked curiously.

"I saw these in a sport store earlier when I was going to the arcade. When the zombies appeared, I went back and took it. Though, I never really had time to wear it. And also…"

He pointed at the numerous buckles and zippers.

"It can\'t be worn easily with all these stuff. It looked all complicated. So I just looked for a bag and stuffed it all in."

"Actually, after I stuffed it all in the bag, the zombies reached the third floor. Then, you girls know the story after."

They all nodded.

"Well, I\'ll need you help me figure out how to wear this."

The girls agreed without hesitation. Ange was enthusiastic about the armor. Paula and Mei on the other hand wanted to help since helping in things like this is the most that they can do.