Mutagen

Day 131 - 7:22 AM - Audubon High School, Audubon, Camden County, New Jersey, United States of America

The night had passed without any noteworthy events aside from a few Mutated Infected that wandered outside the school.

Last night, Mark fell asleep beside Mei's bed. It was after an hour and a half that Mark woke up as he felt that Mei was about to wake up. From there, dinner and other things happened like using the crystals to absorb the Mutations from the heads that Mark stored inside his ring. He wanted to do this as soon as possible.

It was quite unpleasant to think that severed heads were rolling around the space inside his ring together with the other items. Time was not stopped inside the ring, either. If he left it alone for too long, these things would start to rot. That was why in the span of the night, he was busy collecting the Mutator abilities from the heads of the outlaws and disposed of them using his black fire.

There was the urge to use the crystals he wanted immediately. However, it was not the appropriate time to do so. It was better to do this stuff after they reached the safety of their home.

Now, Mark was preparing for departure, and everyone coming with them was boarding the vehicle. And now, the members of the group were changed almost entirely. Why?

It was because last night, Ottis and the other survivors from Bally's Casino pleaded Mark that they would stay behind. It was not that they did not want to go with Mark as per what they decided before. However, seeing Felicia reunited with her family made them jealous and hopeful. They wanted to stay behind and hope that they could find their families alive and reunite with them.

Mark had no reason not to let them go. In fact, he quite expected this to happen. What he wanted from these people if he brought them to his base was loyalty. That was quite hard to achieve if they now had these kinds of thoughts.

As Mark let them go, the only ones left were those that were sure that they had no family or relatives left. Sandie, Arnold, Ernst, and the three children were the only ones left in the group along with Felicia and her family of five. There was also Hannah, the unconcious Morgan, the female cultivator, and the [Queen Type] with the [Empress Spider] latched on her head.

While Otis decided to stay, he still served as their driver for the past days. Thus, Mark decided to give him a crystal that he got from one of the outlaws. He also gave one to Captain Morrison as he would need it to protect the people in this settlement.

The two were quite confused as to why Mark was giving them strange jewelry in private. Mark did not bother to explain too much and just said that they needed to swallow the crystals if they wanted to get stronger. Of course, not at the time that he gave them the crystals but after their group left.

Aside from everyone, there was also a new girl. Her name was Mariella Hopkins, and she was following Roan.

Mark had no problems with Mariella joining in. But to say, Roan and Felicia were in kind of similar situation. They definitely were siblings. After all, Roan and Mariella were not in any romantic relationship, even though they liked each other. It was the same with Felicia and Morgan.

Despite his young-looking appearance, Roan was already in his early thirties. Yet, he was single. It was quite surprising since having a good appearance run well in the blood of their family. There must have been dozens of women that would fall in love with him at first sight. However, because of the missing Felicia, Roan became focused on supporting his family instead of having his own. Now that Felicia returned, he might be able to start with the other aspects of his life.

On the other hand, with Ottis gone, Roan replaced him as the driver. Arnold could also drive, but it was a better decision to let Roan, who had better reflexes, to drive the vehicle instead. Of course, if the need came, the two would switch.

There was also a problem that popped out, though. It was quite expected for Mark, and he was not troubled. However, Roan was rather displeased with it. After all, the problem was Elise.

And the problem with her was... She was sticking around Mark like a shy little sister.

Even now that they were about to leave, Elise was behind Mark, grasping the hem of his shirt. And to say, it should be Roan's position.

It was not surprising, though. Elise's memories went back to the time that she was pretty much neglected by everyone. Then, she woke up not remembering what happened to the world. It was like she was transported to an Earth she never knew.

But then, Mark came to calm her. And like when she was with Ellse, the times she could not remember anymore, Elise could not hear the annoying voices when she was around Mark or Mei. It made her comfortable to stay around the two. She even started calling them elder brother and elder sister. That made both Roan and Felicia a bit jealous.

And sometimes when Elise was like this, Mark would smirk at Roan, annoying the guy to the bones.

Since the preparations were done early, it did not take too long before they left.

Not everyone was okay with Mark leaving the school indefinitely. The people that were saved from the outlaws wanted to follow Mark like worshipers. Of course, Mark did not want it. And even if they followed, they would not be of use because of their emaciated bodies. It was better if they stayed behind.

Nevertheless, all the others here in the school were confused. They could not understand why these people were behaving like that towards Mark.

As the gates were opened, the black, armored vehicle rushed out.

The freed prisoners waved to their savior while the soldiers saluted for the things that Mark did for them, especially getting rid of the Outlaws.

The vehicle drove out of sight, leaving those things behind.

***

Inside the vehicle, Mark was skimming through the notes that he asked Captain Morrison. It contained what they knew about Philadelphia after the outbreak. It was not that much and was just ragged information that could fit three pages of a small notebook while loosely written. However, it contained possible routes and dangers that they could possibly encounter.

From Audubon, they had two routes they could take to enter Philidelphia. The first was Walt Whitman Bridge that was a bit closer, while the other was the famous Benjamin Franklin Bridge that was still some ways to the north.

However, both had pros and cons if one wanted to travel through any of these bridges.

The closer and smaller one of the two, the Walt Whitman Bridge, was barricaded by the armed forces of both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Of course, it was already abandoned by the military. Still, going through it would become a hassle because anyone that wanted to pass through the bridge needed to remove the barricades out of the way first.

There was also one thing. The abandoned military outpost and barricades on the bridge seemed to have been occupied by an armed group. Since Captain Morrison and his soldiers lacked the equipment to survey the bridge before without getting caught, they refrained from doing it.

Aside from those, however, the route using Walt Whitman Bridge should be safer in the long run. It was because the road connected to it, the Schuylkill Expressway, was a long stretch of road almost entirely isolated away from residential areas using concrete barriers, fences, and flyovers. The number of infected they would likely encounter was smaller. The expressway also travels outside South Philadelphia, away from the center of the city.

On the other hand, Benjamin Franklin Bridge was also subjected to road blockade by the military of both states. However, the barricades had already fallen before it was finished and it as abandoned first compared to the other bridge. The main reason for this was because the bridge led to the center of Philadelphia. Being the main bridge in the city, most people tried to cross it when the outbreak came. And so, the infected followed the evacuation causing its collapse.

That was also where the main problem with this route. It would go through the center of the city, where most of the infected resided. That area was pretty much an uncharted land for the survivors. The route was filled with residential buildings, business establishments, markets, and parks.

In short, it was a very dangerous route.

Just Atlantic City that could not even compare to a fourth of Philadelphia had a [Queen Type], it might be safe to assume that there could be one or two in this place.

"So, Boss, what route will we go?"

Roan asked, turning his head towards Mark, who was sitting behind. He started calling Mark Boss not out of respect but spite. It was quite childish of him, so Mark did not bother to correct it.

"Go to Benjamin Frankin Bridge. We are going across the city."

Mark smiled.

That decision made Abraham and Roan a bit worried. It was a dangerous route, after all. On the other hand, Felicia and the others that knew Mark first could only sigh. They started to have a grasp of Mark's personality. It was expected for him to choose the more dangerous route.

"Don't misunderstand me," Mark spoke as he opened the map application on his phone. "Using the infected as a gauge, the south route should not be any less dangerous compared to the other. Do you know something notable close that route? It is a very large facility that is directly tied to the outbreak."

That question made the people inside the vehicle think. However, none of them were too familiar with Philadelphia, well aside from Abraham, it seemed.

"Are you talking about Philadelphia International Airport?"

Abraham asked.

To that answer, everyone here understood what Mark was talking about.

Airports were directly tied to the outbreak. It was because it all started when the airplanes started crashing, containing its mutated passengers.

And near airports, more of these aircraft could possibly crash.

Compared to the infected that Mutated in the middle of the outbreak, the infected that came from those crashed aircraft were far more threatening.

Four months after the outbreak started, the infected grew in strength as they Mutated. Then what about the Mutated Infected from those crashed aircraft? They could only shiver as they thought about it.

The center of the city might be filled with infected. In the least, encountering an infected that had the strength to flatten an army was far lower.

"Is there anything we should take note of when we enter Philadelphia?"

Roan asked another question. He was the one driving, and it was better if he knew what to watch out for on the road.

Mark flipped the notes to the last page. There was a list of early mutation types that the military encountered before the radio communications failed.

And to say, while there was the same kind of Mutations that Mark encountered earlier in the outbreak, there were quite many kinds of infected that he had not heard of.

"There's nothing much to take note of," Mark replied. "Most of it is just infected. We can deal with them on the way without problems."

Hearing those confident words, everyone smiled. In the least, everyone here could feel assured in this travel. Almost everyone here already knew how strong Mark and Mei were. Roan and the others here were also Mutators.

If it was any other group, this kind of atmosphere would not appear at all and everyone would travel with their minds on the edge.