Mutagen

<strong>Day 146 - 9:01 AM - Mount Romelo, Real, Quezon Province, Philippines</strong>

Leaving the New Infanta Settlement, Mark directed Chaflar to fly towards the south, maintaining their flight over the eastern coastline of Real, Quezon.

From Infanta, it would be faster if they flew southeast, over the ocean, following Pollilo Strait and soon, Lamon Bay. However, flying straight towards the direction of Catanduanes would lead them to a hundred-kilometer flight over the ocean waters. That was even farther than flying from New Infanta Settlement to Bay City, which only had a seventy-five-kilometer distance.

There was no way that Chaflar would be able to fly that far in one go. Going through a few islands was also an option. However, it did not remove the fact that it was far more dangerous to travel above the ocean than on land.

Well, it might be safer in other kinds of a zombie apocalypse, but not in this one.

On land, one could encounter infected flying animals, infected humans, feral evolved animals, and humans. In most circumstances, these things were threatening enough to drive people to travel on water. The humans that one could meet might also be hostile. In Mark's group, however, that was not the case. Flying on a dragon's back, they would only encounter infected and feral birds. As for humans, only idiots would try to go and approach a gigantic flying lizard that was passing by. And since Mark was here, there was no way that humans would be able to sneak at them without knowing at all.

On the ocean, however, although the main threat would be infected and feral birds, under the waters, however, everything was unknown. Infected fish? Maybe. However, who knows what kinds of mutations they might have undergone. It would not be hard to imagine a school of mutated fish that could snipe birds from the sky.

And thus, Mark played it safe. On their left was the ocean, while on their right were the mountains. He went between the two, making it easier to change direction whenever needed.

The flight was peaceful... Well... Not exactly. They got attacked by flying insects several times coming from the mountains. As there was just one or two at a time, Mei shot them down without getting close.

Along the way, Mark kept on reading the papers he was handed. The information he asked about. Although most of it was the list of survivors they currently had, some of it contained some crucial information.

One paper, in particular, made him frown a bit.

"Gege, what's wrong?"

Mei asked as she noticed this.

"Look."

Mark handed Mei the paper he was currently reading.

"The New People's Army?"

Mei asked, reading just the first paragraph written on the paper.

"Yep. It looks like some of their people found the outbreak an opportunity to rise into power."

Mark sighed. It was not really unexpected.

The New People's Army was the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines or the CPP. It was a principal organization, aiming to consolidate political power from "bourgeois reactionary puppet government" as what they saw. There were several provinces under their influence in the Philippine Countryside.

They had been peace talks in the past, though it had reached an impasse with the current Philippine Government shutting it down.

Presently, the Philippine Government and other foreign agencies designated it as a terrorist group, along with the CPP.

There had been quite a few known encounters between the Government and the NPA, with most of it resulting in blood being shed by either party.

Now, however, it looked like some of them decided that it was their time to take over the country. At least the Catanduanes, where one of their bases lay, for now.

Well, not everyone as it seemed. It looked like among NPA, factions were also present. For now, there were three that were known. One aimed for peace talks, the second planned to drive the Government out of the island, and lastly, the third was focusing on their own preservation.

So far, the peace talks faction was not succeeding, with the second faction creating conflict every time. Unfortunately, the second faction seemed to have the most members, rendering the first helpless. As for the third, they did not care what will be the outcome of the two other factions as long as they could stay alive.

In the past months, it seemed that the second faction was rolling, creating conflict with the Military at any possible time they could. Contesting for supply locations, ambushing Military Transport Convoys, and even soldiers and kidnapping refugees for ransom. Because of this, the Military Stationed there could not have even just a day of peace without worrying when those bastards would attack again.

Unfortunately, the Military there could not just go and wipe them out. Not only that it would risk the soldiers being on the enemy's home ground, but the soldiers were undermanned. If that really happened, it would end up with armed refugees having to fight combat-trained enemies.

A direct confrontation was not viable to the Military's current situation. All they could do was apply countermeasures and minimize the damage.

"It looks like the paper is missing some details."

Mei said, reading the paper halfway.

"General Faustino said that the communication there is quite rough. They're not able to build communication relay antennas over such a long distance. Every time they managed to establish connections, it's fuzzy and short." Mark then showed the other paper in his hand. "Look, the last transmission is more than a week ago."

It was one of the most unfortunate things. Sattelite communication was down, and the Philippine Military had to rely on their third world equipment to transmit information and communicate with other Military Settlements. There was no way that they would be able to establish clear communication.

Even so, the information that General Faustino gave was more than enough for Mark to have a proper insight into the current state of the Military Settlement in Catanduanes.

At this moment, Emika suddenly yelled out.

"Uncle! Look!"

Not only Emika was but Abbygale, Iola, and Miracle were looking in the same direction. The girls were bored and decided to sightsee while flying. Of course, they were the first to spot that thing in the distance.

What thing? Nothing, just a four-meter tall blob of humanoid walking meat. Yes, that was the exact description. Looking at it, it seemed to be a skinless humanoid filled with disgusting toad-like boils all over its fat body.

"Ugh."

Emika groaned as she took a closer look at the creature. It was far more than just disgusting.

"That came out of nowhere."

Mark said, looking down at the creature.

"Smelly Uncle, is that a joke?"

It looked like Emika got what Mark did.

This creature was definitely out of nowhere. After all, they were currently flying in a place where there's only an uncemented road by the shoreline. Basically, nowhere.

"This is the first time we encountered a Failed Mutator after a while."

Mark said, ignoring the noisy little girl.

That was right. It was not an infected by a Failed Mutator.

The last time that Mark encountered one when he turned Vem into one of them.

It seemed that inside heavily populated areas, seeing Failed Mutators was next to none. That circumstance was not surprising since both Failed Mutators and the infected attack each other on sight. Inside cities where the number of infected was overwhelming, there was no chance that an insanely behaving Failed Mutator would survive.

Here in the outskirts of the country, where the infected were lesser in number, the Failed Mutators could thrive and grow. And now, there was this disgusting looking thing roaming the barren outskirts of Real, Quezon.

GROOOOAAARR!!!

A gargling-like roar was heard as the creature spotted Chaflar flying over it. Its mouth drooling with puss opened wide as it tried to catch up to the flying dragon. Unfortunately for this guy, there was no way it would be able to with its unsightly body.

"I don't think I will be able to eat lunch because of that."

Emika remarked as the Failed Mutator roared in fury as its prey got away.

"Good, we can save on food then."

Mark said, going back to the papers he was reading.

"HEY!"

Of course, Emika took that offensive. There was no way that she would skip food on the road.

"Emika." Suddenly, Mei spoke to the green-haired girl. "Just how did you manage to make your mother allow you to come with us?"

Mei asked the question that everyone here was wondering about. By the looks of it, Rosamie loved her children too much. There was no way she would let her go around at times like this.

"I told Mom that I will do what I did back then."

Emika replied. Though she did not seem too proud of it.

However, it just made everyone even more curious.

By everyone's stares, Emika gave in.

"Um... Last year. I ran away from home." She stated. "You see, Dad's too overprotective, and it's choking. We can't play outside, he chooses who we should befriend, and once he met our friends from school, he will start saying backhand comments about them. Saying we should stay away from who. Even during my birthdays, I can't invite who I want to invite even though Dad would invite the children of his coworkers that we don't even know. Then, he will start drinking with their parents."

"At my birthday last year, I sneakily invited some of my schoolmates. Of course, my Dad can't just drive them away to maintain face, but when my birthday party was over, he started scolding me. That's why I ran away."

Mei and the others could not respond at all. Who would expect something like this? What kind of parent was that?

And then, Emika continued.

"I packed up some leftover food from my birthday party and left home when everyone is sleeping. I can't really go to my friends since I'm sure their parents will call home. That's why I stayed in the streets. I don't know how long, about two months, I think?"

"Cough!"

Edzel choked after hearing that.

Not only him, but everyone was looking at Emika like a strange child.

"How did you managed to do that?"

Pearl could not help but ask.

"Oh! I dug through restaurant trash cans and slept with other homeless children. I didn't even beg! Not even once!"

She replied proudly.

"I got good friends there. We all start running away every time welfare workers wanted to bring us away. Sadly, I got caught and they called home. Though it seems that Dad lessened his attitude after that."

"Now we know where you got that bratty, hard-headed attitude."

Mark remarked to the side.

"Hey! I only pester a few people!"

Emika retorted.

"At least you know that you are pestering them, right?

"UGH!"

Emika groaned, glaring at Mark.

"You told your mother that you will run away again?"

Mei asked.

"Yes..." Emika replied sheepishly. "It's boring there. The soldiers are always following us wherever we go and will wait outside the house. It's even hard to play with other children since the soldiers are always watching. The other children are afraid of them, you know?"

"This girl..."

Mark shook his head.

In any case, being under the Military's list of people of priority was suffocating. It was not that different from being in a house arrest. No wonder her mother allowed her to join Mark's group. And since she already had a record of running away from home, she might really do it. That would be dangerous. In the least, she will be safe on their side while traveling.

"Seriously, don't make your mother worry about you."

Mark said, making Emika shut up.

"I just want her to have time for herself," Emika said. "Mom is very busy taking care of us and doing some work. If I'm not there, she might have more time for herself."

"Can't you do things yourself so that your mother will have more free time?"

Mei asked.

"I can! But I'm bad at housework! I always end up worsening things than helping! That's why I wanted to participate in fighting but they won't let me either!"

She complained.

No wonder, no wonder.

If this girl was around helping at home, their mother might end up doing more work.