Mutagen

Everyone knew that they still had a very long way to go to get to safety. The goal of this journey was to get to The Pagoda in Reading, Pennsylvania.

It was the fifth-largest city in Pennsylvania, located in the southeastern part of the state.

And from their current location, the shore of Absecon Bay, the shortest route they could take was still more than a hundred and eighty-five kilometers. Using a family car and going through the Atlantic City Expressway, it would take around two and a half hours to travel that distance back before the outbreak.

Now, however, this travel might take several days, if nothing goes wrong in the middle journey. And unfortunately, the chances of something going wrong was rather high. No matter what road they took, it would lead them to pass through several infected infested cities before reaching their destination.

"We will be going through the shortest route, so everyone should focus."

Mark said to the survivors with a serene expression.

Everyone nodded. Although if the infected inside Atlantic City looked fiercer than those outside, they could not let their guards down. Even though they were currently under Mark and Mei\'s protection, they should not be too complacent.

They did not survive these four months trapped in the middle of Atlantic City without learning anything.

And thus, everyone left the dilapidated lodge, facing the empty road.

Their load was quite light, with only four backpacks carried by the survivors. These backpacks had some items they managed to find in the lodge. It contained a few clothes, the little amount of seasoning they got from the kitchen, and some sanitary items that were yet to expire. Being a lodge, it still had the things of the people staying there when the outbreak started.

Most of it smelled gross, though, after the smell of rotting corpses seeped into the items. That was why there were very few things that they could take with them.

The cars outside the lodge had some valuables like gadgets and other stuff that most people bring on vacations. The electronics were unusable without electricity, and thus, left behind. A car had a set of tent though, which they gladly took.

There were also cars left open, even with keys inside. However, after four months of being left without maintenance, the vehicles would not start anymore. The batteries were already dry, and the gas had gone stale.

Even if they wanted to highjack a vehicle, none of the cars would start at all.

They had no choice but to continue on foot with the items they had taken.

On the other hand, Mark could have requested a vehicle from the US Military. It would just take a few minutes for him to go to the Great Island Military Base. However, with that little favor, the US Government might use it for something troublesome. He could steal, but it would also bring some trouble.

It was hard to be indebted to the government, any government. Comparing walking through cities filled with infected and having a debt to the government, both were equally dangerous. Dealing with the infected was better as they could not scheme, unlike humans.

Mark would also prefer adventure than diplomacy.

The whole group started walking north, following the E Absecon Boulevard.

Luckily, the road was pretty much empty. It was your typical countryside road during a zombie apocalypse.

The infected were more concentrated in cities where humans lived before. On the other hand, there were fewer infected in these kinds of places.

There was a downside, though. Evolved animals frequented areas like this.

A vast grassland surrounded the road, filled with kneehigh grass and bushes. Those surroundings made it easier to spot the animals roaming the area. There were also smaller ones hiding in the thickets.

However, for some reason, none of them were brave enough to attack Mark\'s group. The animals could only watch their supposed prey in fear.

Mark pulled the cart carrying the [Queen Type] and the [Empress Spider] without minding the animals watching them. Like how it was in their base, the animals could feel a grave threat from Mark and dared not to take action.

Still, Arnold and the others did not know that and were still wary of the animals. After all, even though they had encountered who knows how many mutated infected, yesterday afternoon was the very first time they had seen an evolved animal.

And to say, to them, even the small cat they saw with metal spikes around its neck, was very dangerous.

These animals made them realize that the world was not what they remembered.

Mark and Mei led the group as they passed by the other lodgings and a large hotel along the road not far from where they started.

They took care not to make too much noise as there were quite many infected roaming the vicinity of the hotel.

Most of them were regular infected, Biters and Eaters, though there were some strange-looking mutated ones.

CRASH!

A loud sound of glass breaking sounded. It seemed that an infected from the higher floors saw them passing.

That was not a good move though, because the infected was on the sixth floor, it ended up falling unto its death. The sound of flesh falling to the ground echoed from the hotel\'s front parking. Still, everyone hurried to pass by the hotel as the sound of crashing glass alerted the entire hotel.

There would not be much danger for the group even if the infected from the hotel confronted them. Nevertheless, rather than wasting time while fighting the infected, it was better to continue on the road.

Avoid unnecessary fighting. That was what Mark planted on his mind this time.

Leaving the vicinity of the hotel, they reached an abandoned house. From there, it would be a long patch of empty land until they reached the outskirts of the next city.

While walking, Mark could not help but notice Mei looking around.

"What\'s wrong?"

Mark asked.

"There\'s nothing wrong. It\'s just I never thought that a single road could look pretty, like this."

Mei had a strange reply. Nevertheless, Mark could understand what she was saying.

If you removed the infected out of the way.

The green grass by the roadside and the properly maintained road before the apocalypse, the scene looked beautiful.

Now, the plants had overgrown, and some were crawling in the middle of the road. Nevertheless, it added to the beauty. In the least, compared to the ones back in the Philippines, this scene was better. After all, it was more common to see unmaintained roads in the Philippines, especially the older ones.

After walking for about twenty minutes, they finally reached the outskirts of Absecon.

The first two buildings they saw made Mark feel a bit funny. Disregarding the first one, which was another small motel, the second building was The Home Depot. And a big mall at that.

"Gege."

Mei called out to Mark.

"What?"

"You look very interested in that mall."

"Ah, I guess so. I always hear about The Home Depot when watching Reddit videos before, but I never been to one."

Mei tilted her head. She could not understand what Mark was talking about.

"Don\'t mind it. Let\'s go."

Mark patted Mei\'s head and urged her to continue walking.

And as expected. As Mark\'s group went closer to the city, the number of the infected in the streets was increasing.

Leaving the cart to Mei for a bit, Mark turned into smoke and dispatched the infected along the way.

Mark had to do it quickly and efficiently. He had to prevent alerting more infected, and thus, had to kill everything in front.

Blood splashed, heads rolled. In every swing of his sword, an infected would fall.

Still, they could not grow complacent with this. Everyone had to start running while following behind Mark.

It was because the smell of blood could still attract some of the infected, especially the infected animals that had a keen sense of smell.

Sure enough, while Mark was dispatching the infected in front, a tiger sized infected dog jumped out of the windows of the closest building.

"Pull this."

Mei handed the cart to Felicia, who could only receive it.

Then, Mei\'s body flashed and appeared above the charging dog. Because of the flash of light, the dog noticed Mei above it. Nevertheless, it was already late for the dog to react. Mei was already pointing her white sword downwards as she fell.

SHWIRK!!! THUD!!!

The dog\'s lifeless body collapsed with Mei\'s sword fixing its head to the ground.

As she landed, Mei immediately pulled the sword off the head and waved it to remove the blood.

That scene made the males in the group fascinated.

"Stop, ogling. All of you might get your heads off your necks."

Felicia warned, which snapped the men out of their trance with embarrassed and flustered expressions.

"What are all of you doing?"

Mark suddenly appeared in front, making them shocked.

No one dared to reply, and could only swim their eyes.

Mark took the cart from Felicia, and as Mei returned, they continued on their way.

However, they noticed something.

Mark and Mei were running fast while dispatching the infected along the way. It became harder and harder for them to keep up.

And when they reached the road where they would take their first left turn, Mark and Mei ran off the corner first, disappearing from their eyes.

When they reached the corner, Mark and Mei were gone.

What they found was... a small horde of infected. There were about thirty infected that immediately noticed the group.

As some of them were not actually combatants, they had the urge to step back and retreat.

However, retreat where?

They needed to find Mark and Mei. Retreating was never an option.

Thus, the Mutators led the battle, leaving the still unconcious Morgan to the hands of the non-combatants.

Arnold\'s hands and arms became covered in fur. It was his usual transformation. However, this time, everyone noticed something odd.

His eyes became beady, and there was a tail that protruded behind him.

"Arnold..."

Felicia called out.

"What?"

Arnold responded hurriedly as the infected was already closing in.

"Eyes and Tail."

Felicia said while pointing behind Arnold.

Arnold was confused until he saw the moving tail behind him. It looked like a short, rat tail.

Well, he became even more confused. However, there was no time to think about things. He brandished his talon-like claws and cut off the neck of the nearest infected.

Felicia also displayed her ability. Her nails also turned into claws of a different kind of animal. Looking at her eyes, it was clear that her mutation was a cat. With her agile movements, she immediately appeared in front of the horde, twisting the necks of the infected caught with her hands.

On the other hand, Sandie remained with the non-combatants as her body also changed. Her skin turned greenish with strange patterns similar to a turtle\'s shell.

One of the infected, which seemed to be faster than the others, managed to close into the group. Sandie intercepted the infected and swiped her hand with great force.

BAM!

With one swipe that hit the infected\'s temple, the infected was thrown away with a smashed head.

Lastly, Ernst. There were no noticeable changes in his body or appearance. However, when an infected approached him, he spat his dark-colored saliva.

SISSSS!!!

The head of the infected that was smeared by the saliva immediately melted. Ernst\'s saliva did not seem to be too potent as the melting stopped after a few seconds. However, as the saliva melted its head up to its brain, the infected stopped moving.

They fought the horde bravely, not knowing that Mark and Mei were just sitting by the pavement beside them.