Mutagen

Family, a word very important to Mark especially since his real family could be described as a wreck. His family was a not expressive one. To say, there were no morning greetings, night greetings and even apologies and words of gratitude were rare in his family. Not to mention the words of affection and love. Furthermore, each of the members had a fatal trait which was something that pushed him further and further away from them.

His father was close minded and self-centered, his mother was not working on her duties as a mother and a parent, his younger brother who was lazy and was like a cat that would snarl and scratch at the slightest misstep and his youngest brother was a spoiled brat. If there was better in his family, it was his younger sister who also had flaws but was still within an acceptable range.

Thus, he really never felt the warmth of a family even though he had one. Although it was bad to say, his life even became peaceful after they left.

He now had a family of his own. With what it was going, it seemed that it would end up as his ideal one. Because of that, he could not help but feel the desire to meet them as soon as possible. Still, he had things to do. For now, just being able to hear their voices gave him the joy and motivation he needed.

Ignoring the time, the Mark and Mei started to talk and narrated their experiences after Mark separated from them. Still, even though Mark had nothing to hide from Mei and Odelina, he hid a lot of details and it seemed that Mei and Odelina also understood the reason. They were currently using a military frequency to communicate and the possibility of being wiretapped was very high.

Still, it did not hinder both sides from enjoying the talk but Mark was scolded when he narrated the events that happened after he lured away the stone clad woman and the frog headed infected. Mei said that he was too careless but Mark gladly accepted her scolding.

When Mei told their experiences in the settlement, he felt proud that they were also getting stronger and a bit sad that he was not there to watch them improve. Hearing that they were experiencing some harassment and annoying people were repeatedly trying to recruit them, Mark felt angry. Still, he was glad that General Perez and his entourage did not shirk their promise and took care of Mei and the others.

It was a nice time but a problem came up however.

"By the way, where\'s Iola."

Mark asked. The time Mark spent with her was not even a whole day so he understood if she was not as enthusiastic as Mei and Gale but it was bad if he neglected to talk to her.

"Gege, wait, she\'s here."

When the little girl spoke however…

"Uhm, You Majest-… Uhm, not that… Papa?"

Mark sighed hearing that. For sure, Iola was suffering from identity problems. Her first address even though she immediately cut it off was for sure, the address Keeper used when greeting Freed.

It was not new to him that Iola was the inheritor of Keeper since Freed mentioned it before. Iola inheriting Keeper\'s powers and part of her memories was not the problem. The problem was the timing that she woke up the memories and it was when she lost her own. Without Iola\'s past memories, it was as if she received Keeper\'s memories as a replacement. Although she knew that she was not Keeper, it would still cause confusion like what happened just now.

"Iola, are you having trouble with your memories?"

Mark asked and Iola on the other side seemed to hesitate before she replied.

"Uhm, yes."

"Then, just wait a little more. When I return, I\'ll try to fix that."

"Yes…"

***

Half hour, one hour, one and a half hour…

This was the longest time Mark had spoken with someone on a communication device. Normally, he stayed away from this since he could not judge what the other side was exactly feeling and thinking but this was different this time. Mei would not hide anything from him and he was sure of that even if he had to bet his life.

Still, the good times had to end soon. Not only that they were using a military frequency and equipment but both sides had things to do. Even if they wanted to spend more time talking, they could not. At least, the farewell this time was not a bad one.

"Gege, we\'ll be waiting for your return."

"Papa, bye bye!"

"Uhm, Papa, bye."

"Master, rest assured. I\'ll take care of everyone."

"All of you take care of yourselves. Wait for me, it won\'t be long."

***

Mark tidied up the equipment and stood up to leave the room. This time, he felt lighter not just his body but also his mind.

"You really took your time, huh."

Someone spoke after Mark went out of the room. He already knew that there was someone waiting for him outside but he still ignored it, after all, the guy outside was someone really annoying, the Mercenary, Jones Galley.

"It\'s not like I\'m given a time limit right?"

Jones scratched his head. Although that was true, it was very unlikely for someone else other than Mark to think of hogging a military communication line for almost two hours for private use.

"By the way, why are you here in the first place?"

"Hah, do you really hate me that much? It sounds like you don\'t want to see me."

Jones droop his shoulders as if he was crestfallen. However Mark just stared at him with a cold gaze. It was just an act. Mark would not fell for it.

Seeing Mark\'s gaze, Jones stopped acting.

"Alright, alright. The Old man told me to fetch you since there\'s going to be a meeting. The military officers and the private groups that joined the defense against the horde earlier are invited. Of course, you\'re included."

"Then, count me out."

Mark started walking tracing back the way he took when he arrived here. Of course, Jones hurried to catch up.

"Wait! You really need to attend this."

"And why?"

Mark asked but he did not stop walking.

"The general needs you at the meeting. Since many people saw your display in the middle of the horde, they are thinking that we are hiding someone powerful but we neglected to help the people fighting in the front lines. They are saying that due to that, many died."

"That\'s not really my problem. I\'m just hired to do help with Karlene and do something about the strange group of mutated infected, not to babysit people."

"We know that but most of them won\'t believe if you\'re not at the meeting. At least, we need you to confirm our statement."

"Still not my problem."

Jones became troubled. He decided to draw his trump card.

"That red lizard in the laboratory. The old man thinks that you might want it since you seemed to have interests in strange creatures and animals. If you attend the meeting, along with your contribution in the horde, the old man will agree if you want it."

Mark finally stopped walking and turned to Jones.

"That\'s still not enough."

Jones became troubled once more.

"What else do you want?"

"That Regeneration Medicine. As many vials as possible."

Scratching his head, Jones sighed.

"I can\'t decide that one. Let\'s go to the meeting and ask the old man."

Finally, Mark nodded. With Jones in the lead, Mark went out of the headquarters and entered the Humvee prepared outside.

***

Day 36 – 4:39 PM – Ungos National High School, Port of Real Settlement, Barangay Ungos, Real, Quezon

It was one of the largest landmarks in this settlement, the Ungos National Highschool.

Although most of the rooms in the school were being used as dwellings for the refugees, there were several areas dedicated to different activities. One of such areas was the trade post where survivors and refugees could trade things not only to the military but to other people. There was also the request boards were the people could post things from looking for an item to searching for people. Still, most of them were free requests for people with big hearts as most refugees would not be able to pay anything with their miniscule amount of belongings. This was one of the places the people who earn credits in the settlement could spend theirs.

Right at this moment, the school\'s open multipurpose hall was filled with people who had also drawn the attention of the refugees living in the school. There were a lot of soldiers so the refugees did not create much ruckus but it was different from those inside the hall. The people seemed to have a very impatient mood at this moment for some reason.

The refugees outside the hall could recognize some of the people inside. After all, being stronger and being able to fight the infected would surely attract such popularity and impression from the common populace in the time of the apocalypse. To say, many refugees knew about the Mutators and Evolvers in this settlement.

The general and the officers of the military together with Professor Suzuki and his assistants sat in front of the hall with troubled faces. Since the start of the meeting had been delayed already for almost an hour, it was normal for these people to become impatient. However, they could not do anything since they were waiting for someone.

"General, shouldn\'t we start already?"

Captain Garcia whispered to General Faustino.

The general looked at the captain before he panned his eyes towards the people who were getting impatient and could not help sigh. Although these people were still behaving since the leading figures of the military were here, it was still bad in a sense if this continued.

He had already sent Jones to fetch Mark who should be currently communicating with his group in Bay City. Since he saw Mark\'s behavior, it was not hard for him judge that Mark was not the type of person that would attend this kinds of troublesome matters. As such, he prepared a few conditions that Mark would likely accept. Still, he could not believe that Mark was taking too long in that room. Jones had already contacted him through the radio and Mark was still not done.

However, they could not delay the meeting anymore.

"Captain, you start the meeting."

"Yes sir."

Captain Garcia stood up and went to the front.

Seeing that someone finally stood up, the people realized that the meeting finally started. Some of them finally felt relieved but there were still those that were giving the soldiers and officers in front some hard looks. Still, everyone went silent. If they did not, the meeting would get delayed even more.

"Everyone, good afternoon." Captain Garcia spoke on the prepared microphone. "I apologize if the start of the meeting was delayed since we were waiting for someone but the person was still in the middle of his personal matters so we will proceed with other matters first."

Hearing the starting lines of Captain Garcia, General Faustino nodded. Although it might give some bad reactions, they needed a legitimate reason for the delay. Furthermore, it was the truth in the first place.

The meeting started and the information about the horde was disclosed. The parasites which were the cause of the large number of infected in that horde became a hot debate not only among the Mutators and Evolvers but also among the refugees watching.

Following the information about the horde, the military disclosed the measures they thought of against the possible attacks in the future and received the feedback of the people in the meeting.

The meeting proceeded as normal and half hour after the meeting started, Mark finally arrived with Jones in the lead.