Mutagen

A barely dressed man came out of his condo unit after he was called out by one of his subordinates. His tone was rather heavy as it seemed that he was disturbed from his fun. Nevertheless, his tone became a bit lighter as the details about why the subordinate came was revealed.

"Boss, I won\'t be joking with you. I\'ll never. Baldy and Jerry are also there if you want to be sure."

Eloy replied like a dog wagging his tail.

"Alright. I\'ll change first so call Logan and Royce. Tell them to meet me in the meeting room."

"Yes Boss!"

Eloy scurried off to follow the order while the Boss returned to his room.

"Gifre, what is that?"

A woman who was covered who lay on the bed covered with blankets asked.

"Our lookouts saw a strange vehicle lurking around the blockades we made at the northern streets. They said that the vehicle looked like something from a sci-fi movie."

Gifre replied as he started to wear his clothes. Seeing that, the woman on the bed looked disappointed. Seeing that, Gifre approached her and held her chin.

"Vem, we\'ll continue it later."

The two shared a lustful kiss before Gifre went out of the room.

As they were interrupted in the middle of their fun, the woman called Vem was dissatisfied. And thus… She started playing by herself.

***

Gifre soon arrived at the meeting room just one floor below.

"BOSS!"

The people inside the room stood up and greeted. Although it was only Logan and Royce was called, it seemed that the said vehicle caught the attention of their other members. Currently, there were ten people inside the meeting room including Gifre. All of them were armed with guns that should be illegal to own in this country.

"I guess you all knew why we are here?"

Gifre spoke.

"Boss, other lookouts aside from the guys on the roof saw the vehicle. I also saw it personally from my unit since it is facing that road."

Logan, the man who was tall  but had a stout body spoke.

"What are your thoughts about it?"

Gifre asked.

"I don\'t know. I never saw anything like that. It looks intimidating, to be honest. Look at this."

Logan then took out his phone and opened a video recorded by him through the window. It seemed that it was the habit of this man as there were a lot of videos and pictures inside his gallery.

"This thing…"

Gifre was speechless seeing the vehicle. Not only him but the other people inside the room had the same expressions. The vehicle looked amazing, powerful and intimidating. However, it also sparked the greed inside him.

"Boss, by the looks of your face, we can tell that you want this vehicle."

Logan joked.

"Why not?" Gifre smiled. "The car might be amazing but what about the people inside?"

Gifre turned to a shorter man with a thin body and an easily forgettable face.

"Royce, you think you can tail that vehicle? Investigate and observe the people inside."

Royce looked back at the boss without any change in his expression.

"I want one from the collection once I get back."

"Sure, sure. No worries. If we managed to get that vehicle you can take two or three if you want to play."

Hearing that, Royce walked out of the meeting room without saying anything else. No one bothered with his attitude however as they were used to it. He was not a wordy person but he always got his job done without problems.

***

Day 58 – 11:03 AM – Diamond St., Don Angelo King Townhomes, Barangay Manuyo Dos, Las Piñas, Metro Manila

Mark and his team were not having good luck today it seemed.

After they took a detour further away due to the roadblock on the initial route they should have taken, they had to take several more detours.

First, they encountered a broken bridge. It seemed that whoever did that had the idea to blow up the bridge to cut off the movements of the infected. Although the bridge was not completely collapsed, it was questionable whether it was safe for a vehicle to pass through it.

They also entered a cemetery and had to deal quite a number of infected. Of course, they were not infected that rose from their graves but because of a chapel nearby that seemed to be used as a refuge by a lot of people initially. Mark also had to personally break down the back gates of the cemetery as it was not only locked but the hinges of the gates were heavily rusted which fixed the gates in place.

Luckily, he already had Flam or it would be a hassle to break the gates down even if they had a truck with them to ram over it.

As they left the cemetery behind, the next thing they had to deal with was a large number of infected blocking the street. From the map on Mark\'s tablet, he could tell why there was a large number of infected here. The subdivision they were currently in had a lot of dead ends that could trap the infected inside this place. The other reason for the horde was because there was a densely packed compound nearby. Mark could not tell from the map but it was very likely to be a squatter\'s compound.

There, the shredders in front of the V-Ram were fully utilized. Ignoring the rocking and noises as the infected slammed unto the sturdy body of the vehicle, they sped off.

Because of the shredders, the impact on the vehicle was lessened. Instead of the infected being rooted to the ground, every one of them that stood in front of the vehicle fell down with either their waists or legs decapitated. The other parts of the V-Ram then pushed the body parts aside making way for the vehicle.

Mark felt satisfied as already two of the arsenals of the vehicle worked fine. Nevertheless, it seemed that the shredders overstepped his initial ideas as the infected not only fell on the ground but also splattered a lot of blood and guts on the windshield. He started to think whether he needed to change the shape of the ram like a boat shape to push the remains downwards or just keep it as is.

Almost an hour more passed and they were finally about to leave Manuyo Dos. At the end of the current street was a wider main road dividing his barangay to the next one. Unfortunately, they could not follow that wider road as it led somewhere else and needed to enter another maze-like subdivision towards their destination.

"Seriously, why are these places built like mazes?"

Karlene grumbled. Not only her but everyone in the vehicle was rather riled up by the inconveniently designed roads. Even without the vehicles abandoned in the middle of the road, just the turns and dead ends made them unable to speed up.

"Well, we can\'t help it. We won\'t have to go here if the road back there isn\'t blocked."

Mark shrugged his shoulders.

As he said that, Mark smiled.

"Why are you smiling?"

Karlene could not help but ask. Their current situation was not something to smile about.

"Don\'t mind me." Mark replied and looked at his tablet and looked for something on the map. "It\'s almost noon. We should find a place to eat lunch."

What he had just said made everyone confused.

Nevertheless, what he said was true. It was almost lunchtime and it was better to fill their stomachs before reaching their destination. However, they could not fathom why Mark wanted to find a place to eat when they could just eat inside the vehicle.

"Hmm, alright. There is a quite hidden parking area behind a restaurant two lots away from the route we are taking. We can stop there. There\'s also a convenience store and a fast-food beside the parking lot. We can try to see if there is there are still supplies there."

Mark said as he chose a place to eat.

"Mark, what are you trying to pull?"

Karlene became suspicious. Not only that Mark decided to eat outside of the vehicle but also mentioned searching for supplies. The first thing was still fine but the second one was totally off from their real goal this time.

"Nothing. I just want a change of pace before entering another maze." Mark said with a mischievous smile. "Also let me see how you and Edzel can handle the infected on your own now."

Edzel nodded as he wanted to show how much he improved but Karlene could only grumble her complaints under her breath.

Soon, they left the Don Angelo Townhomes and left Barangay Manuyo Dos. Just on the other side of the main road, they arrived at the parking area. As the parking area was facing the main road, there was quite a number of infected that were attracted to the vehicle but not as many as they encountered inside the townhomes they just left.

Running over some of the infected, the vehicle rushed behind the restaurant, which really was a rather secluded area as the whole parking area was surrounded by tall walls.

With Mark in the lead, everyone went out of the vehicle and stretch their legs that were numb from sitting too long inside.

"Alright, you two go clear the remaining ones. There don\'t seem to be mutated ones so it will be fine with the two of you."

Mark pushed Edzel and Karlene forward.

"Seriously, why should we do this before eating…"

Karlene grumbled but still followed.

As they needed to stop here for a while, the two could not use firearms that would likely attract more infected in the area. Because of that, Karlene was going to use the folding blade Mark made for her while Edzel had the katana Mark previously had.

Since Mark had other weapons and Flam now, he did not mind giving that sword away.

While the two cleared the infected in the parking lot, Mark and the remaining ones entered the back area of the restaurant to get to the second floor where they would eat. There were several infected inside the restaurant but they were easily dealt with.

Mark observed how the two fought and could say that they were improving and were way better from before they left the base. Karla was also behaving and was not abruptly taking control with Karlene\'s body enabling the latter to grow on her own.

The two fought the infected in their own ways. Their speed, strength and fighting skills were already above normal but were still not in the line of being outstanding. The way they fought only gave out the feeling that they were seasoned survivors of the apocalypse.

While the two were fighting it seemed that a mutated infected from the other side of the wall detected them. As the mutated infected came from behind the wall, the two did not saw it immediately. The mutated infected rushed towards the two people while jumping like a grasshopper.

No, it definitely jumped in a way similar to a grasshopper. In fact, the infected were human, but it was standing on all fours and its lower limbs were distorted that its knees were facing backward.

"Geez, why are those two not watching their backs…"

Mark grumbled. He then jumped down from the second floor through the broken glass wall with great difficulty. He then rushed towards the incoming infected that was unable to control its jumps. It was really the same as a grasshopper that randomly leaped around. Like an amateur, Mark chased after the mutated infected and managed to take its attention. Finding a chance as it landed in front of him, Mark gave it a strong but clumsy-looking kick that managed to break its neck.

On the second floor of the restaurant, they others were confused.

"What is going on with Master?"

Odelina asked as the way he behaved was totally not normal. He did not even wear his armor and was currently wearing something casual except for his face that was half-covered with a handkerchief. Aside from that, he made Aephelia and Amihan stay inside the vehicle.

Mei, however, had a hunch. It was because, since the time he jumped out of the second floor, she could see that Mark was stealthily glancing in a certain direction. Not only was that but all his strangely weak actions were made sure to be seen from the direction he was glancing at.