Mutagen

As usual, the battle was a bloody one. Leading the fight was, of course, their leader. He was a strong person in their eyes, capable of eliminating hundreds of infected alone. If there was something a bit disturbing about his qualities, it was his method of killing the infected.

Every kill he made was as bloody as possible.

At times, he would chop off the infected\'s limbs first, causing the limbless infected to squirm on its accumulating pool of blood before killing it. There were also times that he would stab the Biters to the point that it bled to the point of dying. And at the moment that it became an Eater, that was only when its life would end by their Leader\'s blade.

There were various ways of killing their Leader displayed before. All of it was bloody. However, among all of it, there was one that seemed to be his favorite.

It was to split the bodies of the infected in half, bisecting their bodies right at the stomach. It would cause the infected\'s organs to splatter everywhere like candies in a jar that fell to the floor.

Now that the battle had ended, the survivors had no choice but to go out. The corpses of the infected littered the bridge and the road connected to it. If they wanted to use this road, they had to remove the dead bodies no matter how they were repulsed to do so.

After all, every battle that their leader led was always a bloody mess. However, despite how their leader was towards the infected, he never pointed his bloodlust towards his allies. In fact, it felt like he was two different people in one body comparing his personality towards humans and towards the infected.

"Leader, are we still going out? The ashfall is starting to pick up."

A teenager approached Joseph and asked while covering his nose with a handkerchief. This boy was also part of the scavenging team. No one knew his real name, but he went by the alias Ace.

"It\'s more the reason that we should go out as soon as possible," Joseph replied, wiping off the splatter of blood on his face. "If this ashfall continued, it will become more dangerous."

"But still... Did a volcano erupt, or it\'s another strange thing?"

Ace said, looking up at the darkened sky.

"Who knows?" Joseph shrugged. "Normally, ashfalls accompanied volcanic eruptions, but we don\'t have any way of knowing. There\'s no T.V. or internet anymore."

At this point, several people approached the two.

"Leader, we\'re ready to go."

One of them said, calling to Joseph. And by their appearance, all of them were part of the scavenging group. It was a group of fourteen people.

"Hmmm?" Ace looked around. "Where\'s Wally?"

The boy asked. It seemed that the group was missing a person.

"I\'m here! I\'m here!" A scrawny looking teenager came running. "Seriously! All of you! Why did you leave me behind!"

"Because you\'re too slow!"

The muscular bodied man among the group, Andres, said, slapping Wally on his back jokingly.

"OW!"

Wally winced in pain, causing the group to burst out in laughter.

"Alright, it ends here." Joseph clapped as he ended the commotion. "Let\'s go."

And here, while the other survivors cleaned up the bridge of the bodies, dumping the bodies unto the river, the scavengers left on foot.

It was not like they could not afford to use a vehicle. However, with the limited gasoline that the group could use now, it was better to reserve those for emergencies.

Passing through the dead bodies, Joseph took a glance south of the bridge. There, he could see a high flyover.

To others, it might be nothing but a normal contraption. A now desolate road littered with infected and abandoned vehicles.

To him, however, it was the very same flyover that changed his life entirely. It was the very same exact place where his father took his last breath.

That was why Joseph was here. After recovering, he left Bay City. It was to retrieve the remains of his father that he was not able to see at all after he fainted that night.

In the least, he wanted to give his father a proper burial.

Unfortunately, bad things always happen in the apocalypse.

With his newfound strength, he managed to reach the very same place on foot, with a trail of blood behind him.

However, while the remains of the destroyed military vehicles were there, all he found were pieces of gnawed bones and wandering mutated infected.

It was the scene he expected, although he still hoped to find his father\'s body. Or at least, his bones.

However, with the hundreds of broken pieces scattered around, there was no way to identify what belonged to who. Thus, he gathered all the bones around the scene and buried them altogether, hoping that at least one of those bones was his father\'s.

On the burial, that was when he encountered the survivors of Island Cove. From then on, he stayed at this place until one day, he was appointed as the leader of the group.

Of course, he knew that it happened because these people wanted to rely on his protection. He was not as naive as before to believe that it was given to him because he deserved it.

In any case, it was his life now. Continuing to slaughter the infected while protecting those that had been relying on him.

"Dad, I\'m going."

He murmured as he led his group out into the chaotic city.

***

"It\'s amusing that a human can emit that amount of bloodlust. It\'s a bit unsettling at the same time. Fortunately, the target of that bloodlust is only the infected. Most humans would not be able to handle it if they were targeted by that."

Unexpectedly, someone was watching Joseph\'s battle with the infected. Furthermore, the person was watching while sitting on the railing of the very bridge where the fight happened. In fact, the survivors that were removing the corpses from the bridge were passing in front of her.

"Hah... Unfortunately, that guy did not pass the criteria. He had potential, though. But seriously. This is why potential gods are troublesome. Just their lack of destiny can affect people\'s lives drastically."

The person, who appeared to be a little girl, grumbled.

"Hmmm... seriously. Just why is the territory I\'m in charge of terribly lacking talents."

She said as her three eyes closed in resignation.

"Just when is that guy returning here? It\'s getting boring here."

The girl sighed as she looked at the sky. She could not help but frown.

"These visitors are here again. Can\'t they just stay put somewhere else? They are too annoying. They even took an interest in that red Pure Spirit Tree."

The girl then stood up, patting the dust on her skirt.

"I better warn that thing to stay away from his base. He will surely not feel happy being spied by those visitors."

And with that, the girl vanished like a ghost. She was heading towards that invisible unidentified flying object that was flying towards the direction of General Nakar, Quezon.

***

Day 144 - 12:49 AM - Unknown space

"The infected are evolving fast. It is very unprecedented. No, not only the infected. Even humans."

The Greyling Professor muttered, looking at the data of his research since the start of the outbreak. Several translucent data windows floated around him, filled with letters, symbols, and even pictures.

This alien was no other than Professor Alphfa Alston. The alien professor who was observing the infected in the containment zone, aka Atlantic City.

"It is strange. The other instances did not evolve that fast."

He murmured as he waved around his hands, shuffling the data windows around.

Looking at the data windows, surprisingly, it was not only about Earth. The other data windows contained information about other planets, living or not, that was affected by what they called Universal Cataclysmic Pathogen, Infector.

Of course, it was the name that it went by in generalization. In terms of subtypes, it was called differently. Mutagenic Pathogen, Mutagen, was only one of those subtypes.

Each planet was affected differently by the Infector.

Planet L345-4-3313. Suffered under an Infector subtype called Ragen. An airborne pathogen causing rage, and at later stages, muscle mutation.

Star System 218743. Enveloped by Infector subtype called VarSyn. One of the strangest pathogens due to being controllable by songs of certain individuals.

Experimental Planet Eriellis. Affected by the PsyPathogen, turning creatures into mindless infected psychics and some immune people gained psychic powers. Unfortunately, no specimen was recovered as the whole planet exploded more than a thousand years ago.

These were just three among hundreds and thousands of planets and star systems that were conquered by Infector.

And now, Earth. And strange enough, Mutagen was something that behaved differently on every individual depending on their mindset, emotions, lifestyle, and genes. Among the types of Infector, it was the hardest to predict.

"Is it because of the stagnant evolution state of creatures on Earth?"

Stagnant Evolution State. It was the state where the creatures of a planet reached the peak state and could not evolve any further. Was it something all genetic? Unfortunately, no. As the ease of life developed, it became more and more unnecessary for humans to find the need to evolve.

However, when the apocalypse came, that ease and peaceful life vanished in an instant. As there was danger in every corner, humans found a strong reason to evolve. To grow stronger. And strangely enough, Mutagen complemented that need. Unfortunately, not only on humans but also the infected and other creatures on Earth.

Reading the data windows, Professor Alston slumped on his chair.

"I was tasked to analyze what pathogen will appear on Earth. But how am I going to do it? The pathogen on Earth is divided further into countless subtypes. Are they going to tell me to examine all the existing creatures and infected on Earth?"

"Let\'s put this for later."

Professor Alston waved his hand outward, causing all the data windows to pile up before vanishing. Then, he pulled another data window out of nowhere.

"Well then, what are we going to do with this?"

He said, looking at the image of a huge red glowing tree in the mountains in South East Asia.

At this moment, a small prompt appeared to his side, blinking with a red light.

"Hmm?"

His beady eyes blinked as he lightly touched the prompt.

"Professor."

A voice echoed in his mind.

"What is it now? Betha. Your group is supposed to investigate that tree, isn\'t it?"

"Professor. We have an issue regarding the investigation. We are stopped from investigating by one of this planet\'s guardians."

Hearing that, Professor Altson rubbed his hairless head.

"Then abort it." The Professor sighed. "We are only here to investigate. If we are stopped by the guardians, we can only retreat. It\'s not worth it to provoke them."

"By your orders, Professor," Betha confirmed. "By the way, I found something odd."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember the energy fluctuation in Camden in New Jersey some time ago? That one with your acquaitance?"

"What suddenly brought that topic?"

Professor asked, intrigued.

"The Human DNA signatures of some people in the nearby school at that time appeared here for some reason. They were in the human settlement exactly under the investigation target. I believe you know these DNA signatures."

At that, several data windows appeared in front of Professor Alston. Sure enough, it surprised him.

"Professor? Is something wrong?"

Betha\'s voice echoed as the Professor went silent.

"No, it\'s nothing. I\'ll check on these DNA signatures. For the meantime, I need you to investigate something else. I\'ll send you the location coordinates."

"I received it, Professor. We will head out right away. This country is being covered by as right now because of a volcanic eruption. It might be bad to our reactors."

"Alright, I\'ll cut it off. I still have a lot of work to do."

"Yes, Professor."

And there, the conversation ended. Professor Alston, however, was now staring at the data windows in front of him. It was the data windows of several survivors from Bally\'s Casino that escaped.

"Is that tree connected to that strange creature, somehow?"

Professor Alston could not help but mutter.