Mutagen

<strong>Day 36 – 2:15 PM – Port of Real Settlement, Barangay Ungos, Real, Quezon</strong>

The looming danger on the settlement had passed and the joint forces of the military and the private survivor groups of the settlement succeeded in defending the settlement. There were casualties but this was inevitable. Everyone was aware of the danger every time they confronted the infected and deaths were expected. Due to the circumstances this time, the military would award compensation to the families, relatives or teammates of the people that died. After all, they died to protect the settlement.

However, there would be no funeral wake or burial for the deceased. That thing was a total luxury at this time of chaos. The dead bodies will be cremated either joined or separately and the most that the people the dead left could do was to gather together as they spread the ashes over the sea. As for keeping the ashes, only a few would do so. Most people here had no permanent houses and only lived at the places designated for refugees. They did not even have anywhere to store their food securely not to mention the ashes of the dead. In the time of crisis, just keeping a small memento from the dead would do.

Even if the settlement was already out of danger and the intense battle against the horde was finished, the work of the joint forces still had not ended. Most of them moved around the area of battle securing that there were not a single infected from the horde that managed to escape and loiter around the area. Different from the previous circumstances however, the people were more cautious this time. It was because of the existence of the parasites that appeared and the possibility of the parasites taking humans as hosts.

Not known to them, Mark had already taken the last parasite from the horde and the rest were all dead from the battle. Most of them died from the combination attack of needles and electricity while the remaining sacrificed themselves to enable their queen to escape.

While there were people searching for the parasites and possibly remaining infected in the area, there were those that were bashing the heads of the bodies of the mutated infected open and searching their brains for something. Most of the people searching were from the groups of Evolvers and Mutators. If Mark was still here, he would surely know what they were searching for, the black pebbles on the heads of some of the mutated infected.

Normally, no one would do such grotesque work of rummaging around brains of former human beings but they had to. After all, the pebbles that the scientists called [Mutagen Stone] were highly sought by the military and could fetch a good price due to its rarity. No one knew why the military wanted these stones but no one cared too much for the reason as long as they could exchange the stones for a good amount of weapons, food or credits.

Unfortunately, the people searching in this horde were bound to become frustrated later on. It was because among the more than five hundred mutated infected among the thousands of infected, they would only be able to find a very little amount of the [Mutagen Stone].

There were several reasons to this. One was because most of the infected with stones belonged to the mutated infected that hosted the parasites and were already taken away by Mark. The second reason was since the leader of this horde was parasites rather than a highly advanced mutated infected, they were not able to command too many infected with [Mutagen Stones]. It was because most of those that had one were advanced mutated infected. Unfortunately for these parasites, their number was small to be able to host every single advanced mutated infected they encountered.

***

Mark was currently eating his lunch with Amihan inside a room in the laboratory. This room was not his room but a private room Karlene always used during her recovery from her berserk periods. While Mark and Amihan ate, Karlene was sleeping on the bed patient's bed inside the room. Even though there was a bunch of monitoring apparatus inside the room, they were not turned on since Karlene was just asleep.

Yes, this time, it was Karlene and not Karla.

After the battle, Karla fell into a sleep state after consuming all her energy fighting the infected. Her appearance reverted into normal which was Karlene although she would not wake up for some time. The reason was still unknown to the scientists. Even though Karla could wake up instantly, it was different if the one to come out was Karlene.

The scientists could not tell the reason but Mark perfectly knew why. One reason was because Karla's existence could drain the energy in Karlene's body every time she manifests which Karlene needed to recover before she could wake up. The other reason was because the shifting dominance with the two consciousness. Even though Karlene was the original consciousness, her consciousness was weaker compared to Karla and it was harder for her to gain dominance over her body. It was quite ironic but considering that she was a normal human consciousness and the other was a consciousness of a Mutator, it was reasonable.

It would be a different case if it was just an issue of dual identity with a single consciousness but the two of them were different consciousness in a single body which caused the friction about the dominance with the body.

And the reason Mark knew all of this was because he was a host of another consciousness before and because of Freed's memories he inherited. It was just in Mark and Freed's case, Mark remained dominant due to the fact that he was an empath. If not, Freed would be able to take over his body anytime without consequences.

At the floor of the room, six [BloodChildren] were playing. The three he had just received had already recovered at the same state as crimson although they still could not move like Crimson and Oracle. It was also the same for Ivy and the four could only move around by dragging their bodies on the floor. Still, their slow movements did not stop them from playing around like normal children although if their ages were considered, all of them were total infants.

As for the caught parasite queen, it was still in the cage beside Mark. Although it was not crashing its body on the screen of the cage anymore, it was still circling around the cage finding a way to escape. If not for the fact that Mark could not sense a consciousness on the parasite queen, he would likely think that it was an evolved insect rather than an infected one due to its display of intelligence.

Professor Suzuki tried to ask Mark for the infected queen but of course, Mark shut it down. He was the one who caught this and he was also interested in this one not to mention that it was not the first time he kept an infected with him. There was also Janette who was with Mei and the others right now.

Suddenly, there seemed to be a commotion outside the door and the door was opened. Mark glanced at the opened door and saw Joash along with two people. Of course, Mark knew them, Alana and Tyson. They were the two injured friends of Karlene and Joash. While the battle against the horde was ongoing, these two had already gained consciousness. Still, their injuries were not fully healed. Alana had her head bandaged while Tyson had and orthopedic cast on his arm and obviously needed time to fully heal his dislocated arm.

Mark ignored them and continued eating, obviously, these people came for Karlene. Furthermore, Mark was not really interested in them especially as people that worked in local showbiz. A shut-in Otaku like him would likely not mix in with Riajuus.

However, although Joash was somehow getting used to him, the two could not ignore the things inside the room. A stranger, a fairy, an oversized insect and six slimes, of course, no one would be able to ignore a scene like that inside the recuperating room of your friend.

Furthermore, Alana and Tyson had already been informed that his person was the one who saved them from the outlaws. Aside from wanting to thank him, they also were a little interested in the person that helped them. When the two saw that Karlene was still asleep, the two turned to Mark.

"Excuse me."

Alana was the first to speak.

"What is it?"

Mark turned his head slightly to see Alana and asked.

However, Alana suddenly had a strange expression after seeing Mark's face. Although she immediately hid it before she spoke once more, Mark still noticed it.

"We heard that you helped us at the highway. Thank you."

"Bro, thanks for helping us."

Tyson added.

"Don't thank me. You guys are just lucky that I needed information."

It was his usual reply and turned back to eating. Seeing Alana's expression and being addressed as bro gave Mark a bad impression on the two. The woman seemed to have an issue with his below average face while the man was rather feeling close to call him Bro.

Seeing that he did not want to talk, the two left him alone with strange expressions but did not voice anything negative. They went beside Karlene's bed and surrounded her. Still, for some reason, Alana was glancing at Mark while thinking about something. It was like as if she was trying to remember something.

"AHHH!!!"

SLAM!

Alana's shout surprised everyone inside the room aside from Mark that did not even react at all. Furthermore, she suddenly stood up making her chair slam down on the floor.

Ignoring the surprised faces of Joash and Tyson, Alana suddenly approached Mark.

"I remember now! You're Mark, right! We've met several times before!"

This time, not only Joash and Tyson was dumbfounded, even Mark was the same. He started to think if this woman was right in the head or needed to be sent to some mental institution. After being a shut-in, Mark rarely came out without reason. In a month, he would only come out to pay his house bills or if he needed to urgently buy something. The only exceptions were when he was given commissions for making cosplay props which gave him a good amount of income for his expenses.

It was even more impossible for Mark to meet an actress like her. Mark was not that much familiar with local actors and actresses but as he was already informed, he finally remembered seeing Karlene, Joash, Alana and Tyson in some passing online articles and local video recommendations given to him by the mainstream video hosting site. He knew that he never met her before with her appearance.

Seeing the confusion in Mark's face, Alana went back beside Karlene's bed and rummaged on the bag she had brought. Joash and Tyson watched in confusion about what in the world was Alana doing when she took out a worn out baseball cap, a pair of sunglasses and a white face mask and wore them while letting her waist length hair dangle out of the cap. She had a difficulty wearing the cap due to her head wound and bandage and seemed that it hurt a bit but she still insisted.

Wearing those things on her head, she turned at Mark.

"Remember me now?"

"HAH?"

Mark stared at her appearance wide eyed and let out an uncharacteristically odd voice. His surprise had even overridden his blank emotions due to his trait of being a Mutator.

Seeing Mark's reaction, Alana smiled with glee. It seemed that she also never thought that she would meet someone she knew too suddenly. Her reaction upon seeing Mark's face was not because she had issues with his appearance but rather, he looked too familiar to her.

It was really a twist of fate. To think that the two actually knew each other and that they would meet this way after more than a year of not seeing each other.