Mutagen

<strong>Day 58 - 7:22 PM - University of Perpetual Help System DALTA - Las Piñas Campus, Alabang-Zapote Road, Barangay Pamplona Tres, Las Piñas, Metro Manila</strong>

"What the actual f*ck?"

Gifre cursed with an unbelievable shock as he witnessed his men on the rooftop of the other building fall off one by one. As they were already discovered, the sounds of guns firing from there were already fine. However, just how panicked the screams and how unorganized the sounds of guns firing could tell anyone how grave the situation there.

Furthermore...

The cause of all that chaos was just a little girl.

"Royce, what is the meaning of this?"

Gifre questioned the scout they sent as they never received any report about this girl. Nevertheless, Gifre could see the deep frown on Royce's face even in this dark night only faintly illuminated by the moon.

"Boss, sorry but I really don't know anything. Only those two in my report fought properly before while the others only ran away from the infected in each encounter." But then, Royce realized something and clicked his tongue. "Boss, perhaps we've been had."

"What do you mean?"

Gifre asked in a slightly enraged voice.

"I don't know how but it is likely that they knew that we've been targeting them but feigned weakness to draw us in."

"What?!"

Not only Gifre but everyone else around them were shocked.

"Aren't they of how many we are to lure us in?"

Vem exclaimed.

"Well Miss Vem, what if, you see... The little girl is already decimating our men on that roof... What if all of them who I didn't see fight is all like that."

The thought Royce had poured a cold bucket of water on the greedy minds of the people here.

"Boss, should we retreat?"

Logan asked.

"No." Gifre bluntly shot down the suggestion. "We are already here so and we lost several of our men already. If they have powers, then, let's confront them with powers."

While they were talking, however...

VRROOOM!!!

The loud unmuffled sound of a vehicle was heard. They hurriedly turned their heads below and saw the vehicle they wanted charging towards their men.

BAM!

A parked vehicle was pushed back sandwiching several people behind it on another parked vehicle. Some managed to retreat in time but most of them hiding behind that car were not able to.

The armed men below were all reluctant to do a move since Gifre wanted the vehicle and to break in a firefight was not something they would want to happen. Nevertheless, the gunshots and horrified screams from the roof along with the sounds of the bodies of their comrades hitting the ground from the second floor started to push them to the limits.

BANG!

Finally, one of them opened fire towards their target vehicle.

To their horror...

PING!

Instead of a crashing sound as the bullet hit the front window of the vehicle, they heard a metallic sound. And the window, it was unscathed.

Following the first guy, bullets rained unto the vehicle but it remained unscathed.

"Shoot the wheels! Shoot the whe-"

One managed to think of a rational move but...

TSST!

A bloody hole was suddenly formed on his forehead as a sniper bullet pierced through his brain.

Still, the desperate men heard the man's suggestion. Ignoring the fact the man kicked the bucket, the other men started to aim at the wheels.

To their horror, however, the wheel guard and the fender around the wheels of the vehicle lowered down leaving just less than an inch space between the lowered parts and the ground. With the wheels covered like that, they had nothing to shoot anymore and could only watch as the huge metal beast decimated them all.

"What the hell..."

Gifre and his men on the roof were all speechless at the spectacle below. They now knew that they literally kicked a steel plate now. However, a retreat was not an option. They have to make up for the loss they already incurred.

"Logan, you go down and stop that steel monster. Royce, you go to the other rooftop and stop that little girl. Vem, go and deal with the people remaining in that building. As for me..."

Gifre suddenly turned at the tree beside the building they were at.

"Are you done watching?"

He spoke with immeasurable hostility.

Everyone on the roof could not help but turn to the tree just to see a silhouette standing on a large branch and leaning on the trunk of the tree.

"Well, I'm not done yet, I guess? You all are free to do what you want. I'm just here to ensure that no one will escape."

"You..."

Royce was shocked. He knew that the person in front of them was the same person who he saw fighting clumsily before. Now, however, it was obvious that this person was the mind behind this mess their group was in.

"Royce, Logan, Vem. Take the others and do what I told you. I'll confront this man here."

Hearing that, everyone else literally jumped down from the roof to the ground leaving Gifre and a few people to face the enemy in front of them.

"You made us face a loss here. How are you going to compensate for this?"

Gifre spoke confidently.

"Why should I care for your loss? You are the ones who came after us. It's your mistake. You are too greedy for your meager capabilities. That's the issue."

"YOU!"

Gifre was immediately infuriated. He was a greedy person and he had no qualms about being called one. However, what he hated the most was his capabilities and skills being questioned and ridiculed.

As Mark already killed the conversation, Gifre roared.

His skin painfully cracked open revealing reddish-orange scales. The irises in his pupils contracted vertically and the pupils changed from dark brown to an eerie yellow color that glowed in the dark. Two boney flaps grew by the side of his skull right in the middle of his temple and forehead.

The canine teeth of his mouth grew into two-inch fangs and his tongue elongated before the tip split into two.

As for his body, the nails on his fingers became crooked like claws, his muscles became more buff as his clothes became more fit looking and at the lower back of his body, a long scaly tail grew.

The transformation of Gifre was not pleasing to the eye as it looked like he was in too much pain. Nevertheless, the outcome was rather intimidating that even his men that stayed with him stepped back just from the dangerous aura he exuded.

Finishing his transformation, Gifre looked at the man on the tree wanting to see his intimidated and fearful reaction. To his total dismay...

"Are you done?"

The enemy asked with a bored expression while cleaning his nails.

Gifre's confidence was crushed as it all turned into anger.

He slithered, no, he charged forward at a very fast speed as he tried to maul the enemy with his scale-covered fist.

***

Mark jumped off the tree as the ferocious attack came.

As the punch from Gifre missed its target, the fist connected with the trunk of the tree he leaned on before.

SNAP!

The trunk of the tree that was as thick as a fully grown man snapped at the impact.

CREAK! BAM!

A loud sound echoed in the parking area as the tree from the midsection fell down to the ground.

While in the air, falling, Mark looked at the leader of the preys who surely wanted to be the predator. He was not intimidated from the enemy's transformation in any way. However, he was rather surprised by the coincidence.

The greedy enemy transformed into a snake man and snakes was a representation of greed in many cultures. Mark started to think, what if it was not just a coincidence? This thought was quite unnerving.

Mark turned towards the other direction. There was also that lustful woman and that gluttonous stout man. What kind of entertainment would these insects give him? He could not wait to see.

BAM!

Gifre kicked off from the remains of the tree towards Mark who was still midway his fall. He was even more infuriated to see that his current opponent was not even paying attention.

His jump was fast and punch was fast. Unless his the enemy could do the same as that little girl or fly, there was no way to dodge it.

The enemy really did not jump midair or fly...

Gifre's punch passed through the opponent's body, however.

His attack missed once more and this time, his charge propelled him further. Of course, there would be no problem for him to land even if he missed but...

A heavy kick was felt on his back. The kick was strong that his shoulder plat sunk in. Because of the kick, instead of being able to land properly, Gifre crashed unto a parked vehicle crushing its roof.

On the other hand, Mark used that kick to propel himself back onto the roof. The remaining men there, surprised, shot a volley of bullets towards him.

As the bullets were about to hit, Mark lowered his body forwards before he vanished into a puff of black mist.

Mark then appeared and flashed behind every one of the men. As he appeared once more at the edge of the roof overlooking Gifre that had a hard time freeing himself from getting stuck on that vehicle, the men behind fell one by one. It was all bloodless kills as Mark only dislocated their cervical spine area. A method commonly used as animal euthanasia.

He did not want to waste their blood and spill it outside their bodies. This way, there would not be much waste and they would also not turn into infected by accident.

That was also the reason Mark chose Abbygale as his companion for this fight as her killing method was similar and bloodless. Well, most of the time. There were circumstances that the little girl was not able to control her kicks well and the enemy's head was ripped off from their bodies.

Now, it was time to restrain Gifre. He wanted to see what show the other members of this group of fools would bring him.

***

In the other roof, Abbygale continued her rampage.

Although most of the men here were already done for, there were still others that were able to resist till now. They seemed to have better instincts and reflexes than the others as they frantically dodged Abbygale's attacks. Some of them also started to throw their useless guns aside and tried to restrain the little girl by grasping the timing of her attacks. Unfortunately for them, the moment Abbygale was about to get caught, a small invisible force would block their actions enabling the little girl to kill them easier.

As Abbygale charged forwards another enemy, she felt danger.

She hurriedly stopped and jumped toward another direction and looked around.

Nevertheless, she could not see anything. It was quite strange though that she noticed a pair of shirt and pants bloated while lying down on the roof.

As a child, she did not think much of it and continued to attack the targets she had. However, the same feeling bugged her making her suddenly turn and retreat and at times jump away or dodge blindly.

And yet, all she could see was the same bloated clothes lying on the roof not far from her.

She finally noticed. It seemed like the clothes were following her from behind.

As frustrated as a child could be, she ferociously kicked down on the clothes. A hole was even created on the roof because of her kick. Yet, the kick missed what she wanted to hit. Comedically, she saw the bloated clothes float while running away.

Finally, she saw a figure emerge from those clothes as the color of the roof was different from the color of the surroundings.

"Tsk, even kids are hard to fool these days."

Royce voiced out as he looked at the little girl with annoyance on his eyes.