Mutagen

<strong>Day 6 – 8:04 PM – E3 Expressway, Parañaque, Metro Manila</strong>

One meter thick, sixteen meters wide and a hundred meters long…

That was how large the structure was in front of them blocking the entirety of the less than a hundred meter expressway. The whole structure was made of pure concrete along with its metal foundations. Aside from that structure that used to shelter that actual toll ticketing booths underneath it, there were also a large number of abandoned vehicles that littered the place. Even under the large structure, there were a lot of remains vehicles that were crushed by its weight.

There were three lanes of the toll area that was free of vehicles and the vehicles outside those three lanes were seemingly pushed aside. It had just meant that before the structure collapsed, there were people that passed this place. After shortly investigating the area, they concluded that the people that passed by should be the convoy led by General Perez' son 1st Lieutenant Rafael.

They were sure about that because they also received that report and the bullet casings that were left scattered in the area had serials belonging to the military. The soldiers were also sure that the collapse of this structure happened just recently considering how much dust could be seen in the surroundings. There was even a lingering smell of concrete in the air despite not closing in towards the collapsed structure.

"Should we call unto Bay City for assistance?"

Captain Dela Rosa suggested to Major Lopez who was beside him. They looked at the structure and around the area to see if there would be any alternative routes they could take. To the east side of the expressway, there was a small emergency road that should only be accessed if there were emergencies at the expressway. That same road now was filled with abandoned vehicles. The dump trucks had no way to push those vehicles aside as there was no extra space to push the vehicles to. That was how narrow that road was. They could remove the vehicles one by one but it would surely take a lot of time to do so.

Past the safety barriers of the expressway, the west side was a forested slope directly connected to Manila Bay while the east side was a highly forested block. Breaking the safely barriers on either side was not plausible either. Going back and finding another route was not possible either. The nearest roads going the same direction were all two lane streets. Those narrow roads would disrupt the formation of the vehicles and a lot of areas on the convoy would be vulnerable to attacks. It was because the narrow roads would prevent the military vehicles from moving freely.

Calling for assistance from Bay City was all that they could do.

Bay City was still more than four kilometers away from this place. If they could hold their ground till the assistance arrived, they should be able to find a way to deal with the collapsed toll plaza.

***

Mark wore a backpack filled with magazines that had just been filled by everyone inside the vehicle. While Mark and the others were fighting outside, the work of everyone inside was to fill in the empty magazines with the right ammunition. After they left the heavy traffic area near Zapote, Mark started to pack up the filled magazines into his backpack and took out several guns from the back of the vehicle.

When the convoy stopped, Mark finally stood up with three guns hanging on his body. None of them could understand what their leader was going to do with all that weapons and ammunition. The last time some of they saw him do that was back then when he retrieved his things from his house facing thousands of infected alone.

Melissa looked outside, Anna and the others who thought the same also looked out of the window. The place was rather empty and the soldiers and police were already dealing with the infected around the place. Why was Mark preparing this much?

Not saying anything to them, Mark walked out of the vehicle. Mei followed behind him and Odelina on the driver's seat did the same. As if sensing something ominous, the two little girls did not want to get left behind.

Stepping outside the vehicle, what Mark did first was to look at the sky and unto the southbound lanes of the expressway. The moon was already shining above them illuminating the whole place. However, this only made Mark frown even more. He them made his way to the back to unchain the motorbike from the back of the vehicle.

"Gege, is this the place?"

Mei asked while looking around. Odelina was doing the same. Remembering what Mark told them last night, their hearts were pounding with nervousness. He told them that everyone would die once that monster he saw in his dreams appeared. If it was before, Mei would not be afraid of dying but she felt that it was different now. She did not want to die anymore.

To their dismay, Mark did not speak but nodded in agreement.

He had no way of seeing the whole environment in his dream due to the circumstances and the flames that surrounded the place. One thing he was sure however, was the red bus on the right most lane of the southbound half of the expressway. It was the same red painted bus that he leaned his back on as he watched everyone being slaughtered one by one.

Nevertheless, Mark kept on feeling that something was not right that he had to glance at the moon every now and then.

The moon was already shining at the center of the sky. In his premonition, by this time, he should be already in his life and death struggle. Before he was almost squashed to death, the last thing he saw was the moon at the center of the sky.

"It's late."

Mark muttered. Actually, if it was like this, most people would already rejoice that the disaster seemed to have passed already and nothing happened. Still, he could not shake off the foreboding feeling.

He looked at Odelina and took out a phone and told him a combination of numbers.

"Master, what is this for?"

"Open it. There is only one non-system default application installed there. Every two hours, that application will request for a password and you have to input the numbers I told you. While the password is not inputted, the application will lock up and if the password is not given for another hour, the application will delete its data. Remember that unless something happened to that phone, you have to keep it from deleting the saved data."

"Why?"

Odelina was confused.

"The content of that data is something the scientists in Bay City will surely want. I'm sure you can use that to exchange for something important from them. Keep that phone and if something unexpected happens and all of you need the aid from General Perez or from Captain Dela Rosa, you can use that phone in exchange for their help."

Odelina remembered what her Master said with great importance.

"Master, are you sure this will work?"

To that question, Mark shrugged his shoulders while he pulled down the motorbike.

"Who knows? Maybe it could, maybe not. At least, there's more possibility that it will than it won't."

RUMBLE!!!!

A loud rumbling sound echoed across the place taking everyone's attention. The sound seemed to have come from the buildings quite a distance away to the east from their position. The sound of rumbling metal and concrete filled their ears even louder than the sound of the gunshots.

DRAAA!!!

KROOOAR!!!

Two roars of unidentified origin followed the rumbling sounds. Those coarse, ferocious and loud roars made everyone's hair stood up on ends.

BAM!!!

RUMBLE!!!

The roars were followed by a loud sound of something big crushing unto a building and by the sounds of a collapsing structure.

The sources of the sounds were still far away and they could not see anything but it made the soldiers clutch their guns ready to fight anytime. Roars and sounds of collapse continued and was getting louder and louder. It was as if the sources were closing in towards them slowly.

"Master, I thought, you say that there should only be one?"

Odelina frowned facing the direction were the loud sounds were coming from.

Mark was also frowning. There should only be one and he was sure of that. One of the roars they were hearing was familiar to him. It should be the one that supposed to appear here and annihilate them.

Hearing the frightening roars, Mei could not help but clutch Mark's arm. Not because she was afraid but she suddenly felt that Mark should not follow his initial plan anymore. The things happening now were far from what he told her and Odelina.

Seconds and minutes passed and the sounds became louder and louder. With uncertain event that was about to happen, the soldiers instructed everyone to move the vehicles into the further lanes and assume a defensive formation. For some random coincidence, Mark's vehicle, the MB sprinter, was actually placed just in front of the red bus.

Without the lights coming from the houses and the streets, the moon fully illuminated the place.

Everyone's hearts was pounding as they all faced the same direction.

Finally, the first building just on the other side of the forested block collapsed in a loud rumble. They finally had a glimpse of the source of those roars.

Two terrifying monsters were in a struggle fighting each other.

The first one was what caused the collapse of the building. It threw the other monster towards the building showing its unfathomable strength. It was humanoid at a shape of a female but it stood on its fours, no, rather than its fours, it did not have its hind legs. She was using her stone clad hands to drag her body forward. However, even though she was crawling, her height on that position was already staggering three meters. Her skin was covered in rough stone. Due to her massive size she was not too fast moving but her body structure was enough to make people looking at her freeze.

RUMBLE!!!

The second monster stood up from the collapsed building scattering dust and debris around. The monster was actually larger and taller that the first one. It was about as tall as a two story house which should be about five to six meters. Its head was too large and was shaped like a frog with its gaping large mouth. The monster's stomach was bulging and its arms and legs were all obese looking. However, what was more noticeable was its rough skin with a metallic luster.

After standing up, the frog headed monster charged towards the stone woman. It was fast moving despite its size and weight. It opened its mouth lashing out its long tongue towards the face of the stone woman. The blade covered tongue hit the stone face causing a display of bright sparks but the stone woman was rather unscathed. The stone woman countered with a punch but the frog headed monster jumped up agilely dodging the attack.

"We're not watching a movie right?"

A question from one of the soldiers slipped through the loud sounds of the fight between the large monsters.

They all wished that they were just watching a movie right now.

The two monsters in front of them were fighting but no matter which one win…

They had no way to fight it.

Turning back where they came from? It was even more impossible. Surely by this time, that horde of millions of infected should have already reached the entrance of the expressway.

They were all stuck here waiting for their deaths unless they could find a way to survive this horrifying event.