Mutagen

Day 5 – 8:37 AM – Central Pathway, Queens Row Elementary School, Queens Row Area A, Bacoor City Cavite

Mark was currently running on the roof of the covered pathway they walked by earlier. Along the way, many soldiers were alarmed seeing someone running and jumping in fast speeds. Some of them thought of stopping Mark but there were those soldiers who were with Captain Dela Rosa when he welcomed Mark and his group and thus the soldiers did not attempt to do so. Being welcomed by Captain Dela Rosa himself, his standing was not someone they should bother. Rather, it would be better for them to guard the place tighter.

It did not take him too long to arrive at the south eastern area of the elementary school. Mark jumped towards the second floor of a classroom building where no one could see him and let his emotional perception to cover the whole area. Mark then noticed, it looked like that the faction Dominador led not only stayed here in the elementary school but also annexed the high school to the south east. There was the Eastern Bacoor High School next to the elementary school at the south eastern part. The high school had a small campus but it had several buildings enough to handle the number of students before the apocalypse.

The high school campus was separated from the elementary school campus by tall walls but it seemed that Dominador and his men managed to secure the high school by creating a hole in the wall connecting the two campuses. Looking at this, it seemed that the area Dominador's faction managed to annex was larger than both the local government and the military factions had.

Covering the area, Mark frowned. It seemed that the number of people under Dominador's rule was also larger. He could detect about two hundred people at the area with about a hundred and fifty being confirmed as Dominador's men. He could assure that as their mental fluctuations were very stable. It would not be like that unless they had weapons, had confidence in their selves, or they had someone in their back like a group or a powerful leader. In this case, they all had that.

As for the remaining people, there was no doubt about it that these people were the once Irene was talking about. There were faint fluctuations indicating children but all of the fluctuations had a negative vibe to them while most had despair in their minds. There were even those who seemed to want to die at the moment. These people were all gathered at the building to the south-easternmost building of the high school. Not only that building was in the most dangerous location, it was even sparsely fortified.

Mark looked at the building inside the elementary that was annexed by this faction. It was because he detected several familiar fluctuations. He knew that it was Nikky and the fainter fluctuation should be Dorothy. However, he noticed that there was another one.

"It looks like I'm late."

Mark frowned as he muttered.

He jumped off the building and unto the tree beside it before jumping on the roof of his former college campus. Though it was called a campus, it was just a large building with a dozen of rooms. His batch of students before was the pioneers of this school so they did not need too many rooms to accommodate the very few students at that time. That was also the reason why the college changed location. It was to accommodate the influx of the current students. Now, this building was annexed by the elementary school and was being occupied by Dominador's men.

Using the roof of the former college building as a pathway, he managed to make his way towards the building where Nikky and Dorothy was undetected. It seemed that Nikky and Dorothy was in different rooms. However, while Dorothy was with another familiar fluctuation, Nikky seemed to be in the same room as Dominador and his men. It seemed that Nikky was shouting.

Making his way closer and straining his ears, Mark tried to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"...ere is Dorothy? You said that you'll return her if I follow you all here!"

Nikky bellowed.

"I did make my men say that. I'm not one to break my promise but you need to do something for me."

Mark heard the rough voice belonging to Dominador.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't worry. It's just a little favor. After you do it, I'll return the little girl."

"What do you want? Say it!"

"I want you to bring that man here, the one who was welcomed by Dela Rosa. I want him here alone. That shouldn't be hard to do right?"

Dominador sounded smug.

"Why do you think that I will do that?!"

"You will do it. That is if you want to see the girl living. Or else, you know what will happen."

Hearing that much, Mark knew that it was because of him. Shaking his head, Mark decided to move. He did not want to implicate people because of his actions. Even though he had reasons in his mind as to why he ignored this emperor wannabe, he did not think that this guy would make his moves too early. It was not even an hour since the thing happened.

As the second floor of the building where Nikky was inside and the roof of the former college building was side by side, it would be easy to make his way towards the second floor of the building.

TING!

Drawing his machete, he tapped the metal railing of the second floor and hid behind the wall of the second floor. The metal sound soon had drawn the attention of the man on guard at the second floor. Seeing that there was nothing that could make that sound on the second floor he thought of ignoring the sound. However, he somehow got thought that there would be something behind the wall for no reason. Because of that, he tried to peer behind the wall over the railing. He then saw the blade of a machete slicing down on his neck.

The man did not manage to let out any scream as blood immediately entered his throat. All he could do was stare at the man wearing all black with fear in his eyes as he saw the eyes of the man glowing red. The man pulled his body off the railing and made him lie down on the roof behind the wall with his neck bleeding painting the roof with blood. With the loss of blood and the blood blocking his lungs, it did not take him long before he died.

Looking at the dead man, the glow in Mark's eyes vanished. He had just used his emotion induction to reinforce the curiosity of the man and make him peer unto the back of the wall without alerting the man. Making two sounds in a row would sure make the man alert and such he resorted to this move which made it more successful.

Sensing the people on the second floor, he jumped towards the second floor after ensuring that no one would see him from below. He hurriedly made his way towards the stairs while crouching. Hiding behind the wall beside the staircase, Mark waited for a few seconds before swinging his machete once more.

Another of Dominador's men was making his way up to the second floor. When he reached the corner, he saw something black swipe towards his neck. He tried to step back but black thing was too fast. The next thing he knew was the pain in his neck as he saw the black thing pass through his neck. With that, the man fell with his eyes open that remained until he stopped moving.

Mark pulled the body of the next victim and placed the body next to the first man on the roof like fish being dried under the sun. Because of their bleeding necks, the blood started to flow down the roof and drop by drop, fell into the ground below.

Returning back, Mark ignored the hallway that was stained by blood as he made his way towards the last room on the second floor. It was the room where Dorothy was being held up and the reason why there were guards on the second floor despite the fact that the place supposed to be secure.

As there was only two people in the room, Mark made his way in. There, he saw the familiar ten year old girl. He knew that it was Dorothy. There might be no interaction between Mark and this girl but as Rollan's friend, he saw her from time to time. Also with the fact that this girl share the same birthday as his, he would never forget her.

However, the other person in the room was shocked seeing Mark enter the room. Mark also recognized this person. She was Mara who was Janette's little sister and a member of Nikky's group that he encountered earlier. Both Mara and Dorothy was tied up and gagged but Mark could not help but detect the guilt in Mara's subconscious. Furthermore, it seemed that unlike before, she could not look at him eye to eye.

Considering the possibilities, Mark though of something after seeing her like this.

Mark made her way towards the two and removed Dorothy's gag first.

"Uncle, who are you? Are you here to help us?"

Hearing that, Mark almost spurted out blood. It was fine with Emika calling him uncle but with Rollan being his friend and Dorothy being the latter's cousin, it should be just big brother or something along that. After all, this girl also addressed Rollan as brother if Mark remembered it correctly.

Ignoring what she had just addressed him, Mark spoke.

"I'm your Big Brother, Rollan's friend. I'm here to take you out of here."

Mark then proceeded to untie her.

"Big Brother? Where is he?"

"He's back with our friends. If you don't believe me you can ask that woman later."

Mark pointed at the still tied up Mara.

He then paused and looked below. It seemed that Nikky had left already. He felt that he needed to hurry even more.

After making his way towards Mara, he removed her gag and untied her.

"Just leave me here."

Surprisingly Mara said that as guilt overwhelmed her.

"So, it's really you who brought this little girl here."

Mark spoke under his breath making Mara tense up.

"That Dominador probably proposed something to you and you fell for it didn't you. It's likely about your sister right?"

He continued while Mara looked at him with wide eyes.

"Don't ask how I know."

Mark proceeded to untie here.

"If you knew about it, then just leave me here. I deserve it."

"Nope. If there were people to judge you, then it will be Nikky and Rollan."

Mara stared at her, tears started to flow from her eyes.

"Why? It's because the girl behind me don't want to leave you here or else she won't come with me."

Mark said. There was no need to ask that to the little girl. As she did not know Mark even if he introduced himself, there was no way that the girl would just go with him after leaving Mara here. If Mark was to ask, it was likely that he would leave Mara here and escape with Dorothy but as Rollan was within his group, incurring the ire of even just a single person that would join him in the future could potentially ruin the harmony within the group. In that case, it was better to prevent it from happening.

"Follow closely behind me."

After being untied, Mark led them out of the room. The three crouched on the hallway and stealthily made their way to the roof of the former college.

"Hey! What are you people doing there?!"

A bellow was heard while Mara was jumping over the railings of the second floor.

***

One of Dominador's men sleeping on the opposite building suddenly woke up and the first thing he saw was a woman jumping over the railing of the second floor. The man immediately picked up his assault rifle and tried to fire on the suspicious people but before he could do so, his body was already drilled with holes. His body slumped down bleeding profusely. Still, his bellow alerted everyone in the buildings around and even Dominador who was still at the first floor of the building where Mark rescued the two hurriedly walked out.

Seeing what happened, Dominador looked up and saw shadows on the roof top of the former college running out of sight.

His men had just died and it would be a blow to everyone's confidence. Since that was inevitable, Dominador could not let the perpetrator get away.

His body bulged and his business suit tore up. His arms covered in monkey fur were revealed and his muscles became more distinct. In his mouth, his first pair of cuspids grew longer like fangs of a beast while his neck and jaw started to be covered with long fur.

"RAAAAAA!"

Dominador bellowed as thumped his chest with both fists. He then jumped towards the second floor of the building and grabbed the railings with his nimble hands and propelled himself towards the roof of the former college.

"So, you're a weremonkey."

Dominador heard a voice the moment he landed on the dome shaped roof.

There, he saw a person that could not be more than familiar to him standing on the middle of the roof waiting for him. He would not forget this person that confronted him earlier.

"So, you are the culprit!"

Dominador said with a rough and nasal voice.

"I am. So, what are you going to do?"

Mark said with a sneer.

"What are you sneering for? Die!"

Dominador charged towards Mark.