Mutagen

Doctors came in and out to the classrooms while the other soldiers were maintaining the order of the people.

Inside the classrooms were the women and children that were saved from Dominador\'s faction. The families and relatives of the saved people were informed and were all invited here to check. Some of the people who came were happy that they finally received news about their missing relatives. However, after seeing the current state of the women and children, their happiness was doused with grief, anger and pity.

Those emotions were already the lightest as those people who did not find their missing relatives among the women and children frantically asked the soldiers. After knowing what happened to those who were missing, some fell on their knees on the spot as if their soul was taken out of their bodies. The stronger willed ones managed to go out of the classrooms before releasing their lament elsewhere. The worst case was the old mother whose youngest daughter was missing who went fell into cardiac arrest after knowing why her missing daughter was not among the saved women and children. These events caused more work for the doctors, nurses and medics.

Furthermore, that was not all. Some of the women and children received trauma because of the incident rendering their minds unstable. A few of the women could not be talked to and were only staring at nothing while some of the children were even afraid of being around their own fathers.

Unable endure the boiling feelings in her heart and mind, Irene stepped out of the classroom leaving her assistant to deal with her work for a bit. She had her own worries at the moment as she had just received the news from Captain Dela Rosa that his son who was her childhood friend had been bitten and turned into a Failed Mutator. Every time that it came to her mind, her eyes started to fog. It was obvious that she had lost her childhood friend forever.

As a soldier, it was expected for them to lose their close friends, comrades and even their own life in battle. Nevertheless, it would still hurt no matter how much they expected it. They were human that had feelings and not mechanical robots after all.

She walked on the hallway aimlessly, she saw Captain Dela Rosa whose complexion had gotten better. After he received that news about his son, his face paled because of his loss. His current countenance made Irene somewhat surprised. Captain Dela Rosa also saw her and with that, a happy smile was plastered in his face. The squad captain knew Irene since she was a child and she was very close to his son since childhood that they looked like siblings. He knew how much she felt after the news of what happened to his son was relayed to her.

Now however, they had hope for his son. Though he would not tell how or who would be able to save his son, Captain Dela Rosa could at least tell Irene that his son could be saved. At first, even though he begged Mark when he admitted that he could save the Boy that became a Failed Mutator, he was still a bit skeptical. That ultimately changed after he saw how the boy turned out after the boy went under Mark\'s hands.

***

Day 5 – 2:15 PM – Main Gates, Queens Row Elementary School, Queens Row Area A, Bacoor City, Cavite

A gray colored armored cash transport car entered the gates. The vehicle however, did not go towards the parking area but parked in front of the 5th grade building to the west side of the school that was being used as dwellings for the refugees. The doors opened and five armed men carrying guns and melee weapons went out of the vehicle.

When the back doors of the vehicle opened, several boxes of food and beverages could be seen lined up inside. Several refugees saw that but none of them tried to approach the vehicle. Though they seem to know these people, no one wanted to try and take advantage of these armed men.

One of the men separated from the others and went into one of the classrooms. The man was average in height and had a fair complexion. His face was rather good looking. He entered the classroom with a smile. After he entered however, his eyes dilated. There, the two people who he was going to look for, his brother and sister in law, was not in the classroom that they were supposed to stay in. Even their things were missing.

He hurriedly left the classroom and went towards another classroom on the second floor fearing that his girlfriend was not there either. To his relief, he found her eating a plain rice porridge that was rationed to the refugees. It was not surprising that she had not finished her food as she received it late. With the large number of refugees, not everyone could start eating at the same time.

Seeing his poor girlfriend eating some low quality food, the man broke into bitter smile as he entered the room. When he stepped into the classroom, the woman saw him immediately and cried out.

"Jason!"

The woman hurriedly stood up leaving her food on the floor and embraced the man.

"Grace, is everything alright?"

Jason asked his beloved girlfriend.

"It\'s fine. It\'s just there were some commotion earlier and you returned late, so I got worried."

"Sorry about that. We ran into some trouble."

Jason caressed the back of Grace.

"By the way, where are Big Brother and Sister-in-law?"

"They were taken in by the soldiers?"

Grace replied.

"Taken in?"

Jason could not help but frown.

Seeing that frown, Grace hurriedly explained.

"Don\'t think too much. It\'s like this. Big Brother said that several friends of his and yours came. It seemed that they have connections with the military. The female soldier that took them said that the living conditions here were too poor so they will be relocated to the military building."

Hearing that explanation made Jason feel relieved. He though that it as something dangerous.

"They left you here alone?"

"Ah, no."

Grace shook her head and continued.

"I told them that I\'ll stay to wait for you first because you might get worried if all of us suddenly disappeared from here."

That made Jason smile as he tightened his embrace with his girlfriend before releasing her.

"Want something better to eat?"

Jason asked which made Grace subconsciously nod.

From his backpack, Jason took out several cans of food. It might just be process food but it tasted way better than plain salted porridge rationed by the local government volunteers.

As the two ate, Jason asked.

"Did they mention who asked brother and sister-in-law to be relocated?"

"Yes. Your brother said that it was Mark and Rollan."

Hearing those names, Jason was surprised.

***

Day 5 – 2:14 PM – 6th Grade Building, Queens Row Elementary School, Queens Row Area A, Bacoor City, Cavite

Councilor Reynald Palabrica and Barangay Chairwoman Katherine Palabrica were talking after they had finished their lunch.

"Are we really leaving this place?"

Chairwoman Kat asked her husband.

"It\'s decided."

City Councilor Reynald nodded.

The councilor had just returned from his meeting with the military squad captain about half an hour ago. Since it was inappropriate to discuss these things over the meal, they had just started talking about what the result of the meeting was.

"According to the information they got from Madam Lanie\'s group that is currently residing in Citta Italia, there was a very large horde of infected that was likely to reach this place in a day or two at most. The numbers should be several thousands and there was no way for us to resist that number."

Captain Palabrica narrated with a stern face.

"What are the plans now?"

"Captain Dela Rosa asked us to gather enough vehicles and gasoline to transport the refugees as soon as possible. His men would also do the same. After another military squad that would arrive here this afternoon reached this place and we gathered enough vehicles, we would leave tomorrow morning in the earliest and tomorrow afternoon in the latest. After that, we will join up with the survivors and police with Madam Lanie in Citta Italia before continuing towards Bay City."

Chairwoman Kat frowned.

"Tomorrow…That early?"

"Yes, we can\'t delay since if that horde reaches this place before we could leave, we could only pray for our survival that time."

***

Day 5 – 2:16 PM – 4th Grade Building, Queens Row Elementary School, Queens Row Area A, Bacoor City, Cavite

Odelina had just entered the classroom with Abbygale and Laelaps garnering the attention of the people inside.

"Where are boss and Mei?"

Melissa could not help but ask as the two were not with the three who had just returned.

"Master is resting back there in the car. The young miss is taking care of Master."

Odelina replied. She then noticed that there were several unfamiliar people and children within the classroom.

"Who are they?"

Hearing Odelina\'s question, Charmaine answered.

"They are big brother\'s friends and classmates."

Charm was not unfamiliar with these people. They all attended the same school and it was Saime\'s house where they always spent their idle time after classes. The school at that time had fewer students and Mark\'s class that only had sixteen people in their fourth year stood out.

Right now, Carlo was even chatting with Saime\'s husband, Rodel. On the other side, Rollan and Nikky were sharing stories with Arvie and his wife.

Because of the new people in the classroom, it became a little noisier. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was good as if this place was detached from the outside that was filled with danger and death.

***

Day 5 – 5:30 PM – Fruto Santos Ave., Las Piñas, Metro Manila

The place was totally devoid of people and only the infected could be seen everywhere. On the road, vehicles that crashed into one another and unto the walls were common along with the blockage of abandoned vehicles.

STOMP! STOMP!

Loud steps could be heard that even the infected aimlessly wandering the area were alerted.

TAM! CRASH!

The loud steps stopped for a bit before a passenger van that was blocking the road suddenly flew two meters in the air and several meters away crashing unto more vehicles before stopping. The loud sound of the impact that pushed the van away and the crash was deafening.

There, the cause of the sudden crash was seen.

A monster that was even taller than a single story house. It looked like a human if not for the metal junk like shell covering its skin. The width of its body was about two meters with an oversized head like shaped like a frogs. Its mouth was too large that it probably made out one third of its body. Under the metal junk shell, its skin was very rough and had a lot of warts like a frogs but each wart was actually covered with metal. The color of its skin was reddish as if stating how much metal content it had in its body.

The huge infected walked around seemingly looking for something. Soon, it stopped by a makeshift house made out of metal roofing. It grabbed one of the rusted metal sheets from the wall of the house.

CREAK! CRUNCH!

The infected tore the metal sheet into half before shoving the torn metal sheet into its mouth. It repeated the same action over and over until it consumed all of the rusted metal sheets that composed the abandoned makeshift house.

It left the remains of the house and continued walking looking for something.

Without any reason, the infected monster looked far towards the south.

Mark woke up gasping and covered in cold sweat.