Mutagen

<strong>Day 43 – 1:45 PM – Government Official's Residences, Central Business Park, Bay City, Parañaque, Metro Manila</strong>

When Senator Estrada spoke those words, every person in the room looked at him in silence. The expression and aura the senator was exuding was more than enough to make them shudder. Behind the senator, there was also his bodyguard who was continuously releasing a strong air of blood. Even though they were all here forming an alliance, they could still feel that these two people were the most dangerous in this settlement.

Raver seemed to have disagreement with those words however but he could not speak his will right now. He totally took fancy with the girl named Mei Xiao. Not only was she beautiful and skilled but also the princess of the renowned Xiao Industries. The only problem was that it seemed that her family neglected her and only valued her as a bargaining chip before. Even before the outbreak, he had already known her through business events and parties but even though he was a business prodigy, he was still far from the eyes of the president of Xiao Industries. There was no way for him to pursue her.

Now however, he had all the chance he wanted and as such, met with her several times. Just to be rejected. He had all his influence and even people but his existence did not even enter her eyes. She did not even face her, not even once.

"What are you going to do with Xiao Industries? That "Fairy Sniper" is their princess. Everyone knows that."

Congressman Escobar spoke.

"There's no need to bother with them. They might have some private forces but there's nothing they can do if we made our move. Besides, their family mostly moves inside the settlement, they don't make too many movements outside. They don't even participate in military commissioned missions. They are just a bunch of cowards. There is also that issue, their princess didn't want to have anything to do with them now. The amount of things they could do to interfere is very minimal."

Senator Estrada spoke with a grin befitting a schemer. Even his arms were bent over the table and his fingers on both hands were crossed.

"Movements outside… Are you perhaps…"

Senator Asucena voiced his realization.

"There will be a mission in a few days. Of course, the military has yet to announce it. Another infected nest is found in the NAIA Airport. As all of you know, that is not far from here."

Senator Estrada spoke with confidence.

Then, he revealed information that no one else knew aside from the higher-ups of the military. It was an obvious display of how deep his connections within the military despite the scuffles between the government officials and the military that already started to come to light to the public.

"Are you confident about this?"

One of the men who kept silent until now spoke. He was a lean man with strict looking eyes. He was the retired Senator Osmeña.

"You all don't have to worry about this. In a day or two, this will come in public. With the information we have, we can prepare and take advantage of the situation."

"Wait, are you all sure about this. There is a rumor that that group is somehow related to an Evolver that have prowess on Par with the Unknown."

The other silent person also spoke. He was Congressman Montesoro. Of all the people here, he was the one known for being cautious.

To those words however, Senator Estrada frowned.

"As you said, those are nothing but rumors. Those rumors included that the person you are talking about is a vengeful person. However, nothing happened to those that harassed their group until now. Think about it. Those baseless rumors could be deliberately spread by the military to get people away from that group."

That made Congressman Montesoro silent. While the rumors were there but there was also the fact that nothing happened to those that supposed to be suffering due to that person's revenge. In fact, not a shadow of that person was seen for the whole month that group stayed here.

"What do you want to do?"

The last person spoke. He was the youngest among the politicians here, Congressman Anders Santiago.

"It's like this…"

Their meeting took more than an hour before it finished. Everyone else moved out of the room before Senator Estrada since this was his residence.

"Are you really sure about teaming up with those useless people?"

The man standing behind Senator Estrada spoke. His voice was deep and had a chilling vibe. It would make anyone with the faint heart feel fear. Although his appearance was similar to those bouncers that could be seen in cliché nightclubs, the faint bloodlust he was emanating was too thick. Even those that had no experience in these fields would be able to tell that he had killed many people before.

This person was not just some body guard Senator Estrada hired. He was a mercenary from an international criminal organization.

"Devon, although they might look useless, they still have some uses."

"I really like your line of thought."

Devon smiled. He and this Senator had been working together for a long time now. The mercenary could tell that those useless idiots would become scapegoats if things get awry. Still, those six idiots seemed to have no idea, no, there seemed to be two who were able to catch up to some extent.

"What are you going to do with those two? They might bite you back."

Devon asked. He was talking about Raver and Congressman Montesoro.

"What's the use of your men if they could?"

Senator Estrada replied with a smirk.

To those words, Devon moved his hands as a signal. There, six people appeared as if they left from the shadows of the room. These were surely not normal people.

"You six go and observe those people."

With Devon's words, the six melded into the shadows once more and vanished.

"You're men are really convenient. No one would have thought that such people exist in the modern world. But are you sure that they won't fail like that Alderick?"

"You don't have to worry about that. Alderick is just a rookie and someone who was picked up from the road side. Those six are different. They were trained assassins from the organization. We have all sorts of people there from real witches to actual cryptids."

***

<strong>Day 43 – 2:12 PM – East Walls, Central Business Park, Bay City, Parañaque, Metro Manila</strong>

"We have visuals on the horde, requesting permission to fire!"

The voice of the captain of the soldiers that positioned themselves on the buildings outside the walls could be heard on the radio.

While the meeting of the schemers was on going, the soldiers and other survivor groups were waiting upon the arrival of the horde of infected.

"Wait for orders. There is still the possibility of that horde being capable of flight. We can't stir the nest just to get stung by the bees."

The officer calmly replied on the radio. Since the situation was still not urgent, they were still able to communicate with roundabout words. Of course, everyone that heard that understood what he wanted to say. If these infected were really capable of flight, it would be better to sweep them in one go than let them scatter around like flies.

Soon, everyone on the walls could see the infected horde.

The horde was small, just more or less a hundred individuals. They all looked like normal infected. However, there was a feature prominent to each of the members of the horde. On their backs, bat like wings were present. Since the horde was seen traversing the road on foot, they still had not confirmed whether those wings were just for decoration or not.

While the horde advanced towards the walls on their own pace, the soldiers and the survivors waited on their positions with their hearts pounding.

Hundred meters, fifty meters, twenty meters…

The horde closed into the ambush point.

However…

The horde stopped ten meters before the ambush point.

At the ambush point, there were explosives installed to deal massive damage to the horde and the people only needed to deal with the remaining infected. With the horde stopping more than ten meters before the ambush point, the traps were rendered useless.

Still, the permission to fire was not given. There was still the possibility that the horde would continue. That was just a wishful thinking though.

"SHOOT! QUICK! SHOOT!"

One of the survivors bellowed and his group shot before everyone else were able to. It was because the Mutator they had who was able to see far managed to witness a horrifying sight.

The male infected leading the group…

He was smiling.

At the same time, every single infected opened their wings and flew off. The group who fired first was able to hit a few but the rest flew up in fast speeds that the naked eye could have a hard time to see.

The military also fired when they witnessed the movements of the wings of the infected but they only got several infected.

"Shit! They are fast!"

A survivor said with his eyes wide. He was trying to shoot the infected but his aim was always late. The way these infected flew was similar to flies that were disturbed from their food. They were hard to see and it was hard to predict which direction they would fly.

"WAAAHHH!!!"

A soldier positioned atop one of the buildings outside was grabbed and was pulled off from the building. Due to the sudden situation, the sniper rifle he had was left on the building. The soldier was experienced and only screamed due to surprise. While he was hanging on the air, he waited before he saw a place he would be able to land on and used his pistol with great difficulty to shoot the infected that grabbed him.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three shots were given and the infected started to fall. The soldier tried to grab on the railings of one of the windows of the building leaving the infected to fall on its own. However, he was grabbed by another infected. He tried the same tactic as his shoulders were grabbed by the strong hands but before he was able to, he felt a tugging sensation on his waist.

The next thing he knew was the feeling of pain as his body was torn apart. He was still alive and saw the lower half of his body from his waist was taken away by another infected that flew off to another direction.

He was the first casualty in this confrontation.

Because of the sudden unprecedented situation, the people that were supposed to eliminate the horde fell into disarray. Although they made their best to shoot the flying infected, it was easier said than done. The flight movements of the infected were too erratic. Even though there were just less than a hundred of them now, it was harder that fighting a thousand normal and mutated infected on land.

There was also another thing. These infected were not behaving like normal. Unlike those that would only charge towards their prey, these infected seemed to be baiting them and attack at unexpected angles. They were displaying a great level of teamwork.

Due to the sudden turn of events, the General Perez and the officers that were initially among the people atop the walls were advised to take shelter. The situation this time was dangerous and the people managing the settlement should not fall here.

Even though General Perez did not want to abandon his men alone in this fight, it was also his duty to stay alive. And thus, he could only follow together with his entourage.

The alarms continued to sound and announcements inside Bay City for everyone to take shelter were released. Due to that, the people frantically ran towards any structure they could hide. After all, the flying infected mostly attacked by sight and those who were spotted outside were more likely to be attacked. They all learned this the hard way.