Mutagen

Mark looked around as he ran. Estimating the numbers of the zombies, there should be around twenty or more Eaters but the numbers would not exceed thirty. He ran past and dodged the Eaters attacking him charged towards the two nearest Biters who were also closing in.

As he ran, crackling sounds can be heard from his feet as he stepped on the broken pieces of glass on the floor. The also side stepped and jump lightly a few times to avoid stepping on the bodies and pools of blood on the way.

When both parties got into attacking range, the first Biter tried to pounce on him. Mark side stepped to his right dodging the pounce before he turned his body counter clockwise. He swung his machete as he turned around and slashed diagonally towards the Biter's nape. The body continued sliding on the floor due to the momentum of its charge before stopping and the Biter's head rolled a distance further. The headless body and the severed head scattered more blood to the already blood stained floor.

While lopping the head of the first Biter, he did not stop his body from turning around and even continued after the Biter died. His machete also continued to swing along with his body and Mark exerted more force during the second half of the swing. Using the momentum when he turned his body and the force he exerted on his swing, he slashed the next zombie before it could even attack him. The swing came too fast that it took almost two seconds before the head detached from the body after being slashed as it fell down.

Mark then did a low sweep of his right foot and tripped an Eater who was about grab him. The Eater fell flat on the floor before its neck suddenly snapped with a crunching sound.

Lifting his right foot from the nape of the dead Eater, Mark stepped back and let a charging Biter run past him. The Biter immediately turned around as it missed its target but what all it was able to see before its sight blacked out was a blade of a machete approaching its neck.

The third biter was dealt with. Mark saw another one that already lunged towards him wanting to take a bite out of his body... As there was no chance to dodge, he raised his left arm and shoved it between the Biter's teeth. Unfortunately for the Biter, it could not bite through the armor covering Mark's arm. He then pushed the Biter back and lopped its head before pushing the headless body and bashed the severed head away with his ankle.

"Four down."

He muttered as he kicked another Eater away.

The problem now was the remaining four Biters were charging at him together. Mark then retreated. Not to run away but he started kiting the four.

He ran around a display case leaving the four Biters with no choice but to lineup as they followed Mark around the corner. Seeing that chance, he immediately hacked the neck of the Biter in front. He managed to kill the Biter leading the line but it also gave time for the other three to attack him at the same time.

When the three Biters charged at him once more, Mark made a light jump backwards. Then, the three stepped on what Mark jumped over. Two of the Biters suddenly lost balance as the stepped on a dead body that was soaked in a pool of blood.

Mark immediately attacked the Biter that continued charging at him and slashed its neck. He also lopped the heads of the two Biters that slipped on the floor before they could recover.

He then started dealing with the Eaters around him while glancing at how the others were doing.

***

The Eaters were approaching the group of pale faced people. Calvin stepped up in front of everyone and attacked. It looked like he was the least affected by the disgusting scene in front of him.

Calvin stabbed his spear unto the forehead of the incoming Eater. The spear pierced through the skull of the eater and it fell down on the floor. He was doing well but it looked like he was not satisfied. Even if he succeeded in piercing through the forehead, the damage he dealt was too shallow.

He then approached the second Eater. This time, he stabbed towards the right eye of the Eater. The spear went through smoothly and the Eater plopped on the floor before he could even pull his spear back.

He then glanced at Mark's direction. They all saw how Mark killed the Biters attacking him and they could not help but feel inferior. While he was already splashed with the blood of the zombies, they were still pacifying their churning stomachs.

Now, they could see Mark carefully going around the broken display cases and counters. He was letting the Eaters follow him around as he picked them off one by one.

***

Mark could feel the gazes set upon him but did not mind it. When he looked back, he could see that Fernan, Bernard and Paula had joined the fray.

He looked at Calvin who stabbed his spear at another Eater. He aimed at the Eater's mouth and stabbed the spear upwards. Mark could only say that Calvin knew his stuff.

Bernard on the other hand had good arm strength. An axe like the weapon in his hands need much precision in order to slash a zombie's head or neck but to Bernard, it does not matter too much. Even if he missed and the bit of the axe slipped behind the neck of the zombie, being struck by the handle of the axe he was using would still be fatal.

Fernan was also doing fine with his makeshift machete. It looked like he was copying the moves he saw from Mark. It was not like Mark would mind it either.

Paula was struggling a little. The smaller machete that they made for her had a good quality but was really not too suitable for combat. Because of this, Mark lent her the fire axe he found. It just weigh less than three kilograms so she should be able to swing it fine. But the problem was that she was missing her swings and there were times that it was the handle of the axe that struck the Eater in front of her. She was not missing because she had a bad accuracy but because she could not grasp the erratic shambling of the Eater.

Seeing her predicament, Mark shouted.

"Paula! If you can't hit it because it moves too much then knock it down first! Aim for the knee or the ankle and hit it however you want."

Paula was surprised hearing him shout but she kept concentrating on the zombie in front of her. She followed what Mark said. She swung the fire axe in her hands towards the knee of the eater. The handle hit the side of the knee making the zombie loose balance and fall. With the short moment that the zombie faced the floor, Paula raised her axe and swung it down with all her might.

The axe almost split the zombie's head into two. It looked like she shivered as the sensation from her first kill entered her body. Still, she did not falter. She steeled her heart and a hint of determination blazed in her eyes.

Mark nodded at Paula's reaction and commended her in his mind.

The members who were fighting were doing a good job. They are even capable enough of to avoid being caught by the strong arms of the Eaters. They even started to adapt their movements to their attackers. If the zombies got too close, they would step back or to the side, they would even try to push back the zombies when retreating was not possible.

He then coldly looked at Joseph and shook his head.

The guy stood behind the group leaning on the wall. His face was pale and his legs were wobbly. It even looked like that he will puke again at the slightest push.

'What did he even come here for?'

Well, he was actually inclined to bringing him here where he could see him. This guy had been glancing at Mei from time to time. Even though Mark could tell that there was no malicious intent behind his gaze, Mei reacts to his gazes negatively.

When he realized what he was thinking, he froze for a bit which almost got him grabbed by the Eater that was chasing him.

'Am I getting overprotective?'

As he could not think of how to answer his own question, he decided to throw the thought away.

His concentration weakened somehow as insignificant thoughts entered his mind. He then found out the reason. The battle song playing on his phone already ended and what was playing was a Japanese pop song about a whimsical princess.

He could not help but become confused as to why this song was included in his "Battle Songs" playlist.