Mutagen

<strong>Day 148 - 12:15 PM - Warehouse, Factory Area, Rebel Base, San Pedro Poblacion, Municipality of Viga, Catanduanes</strong>

Like mannequins, everyone inside the warehouse was frozen stiff. There was no distinction whether they were the rebels or the forced workers. All of them were under the frightening effect of Mark's Emphatic Ability.

Even his sister included. Of course, unlike the others, he controlled the effect on Marian.

Nevertheless, it did not remove the fact that it was a frightening situation similar to everyone experiencing sleep paralysis at the same time.

But Mark did not care.

Shaking, they could only watch as Mark started walking around the warehouse. The first he approached was another group of rebels at the corner tasked to guard the workers.

Of course, they were panicking.

They wanted to flee, but their bodies refused to move. There were those with a stronger will. However, the only movement they could make was to fall flat on the floor.

Mark waved his right hand. Those that still stood fell with their heads rolling away and blood creating a pool on the floor. Mark then looked down and waved his hand a few more times. The rebels that fell to the floor in resistance followed the demise of their comrades.

They died with eyes opened wide, unable to voice out their horror.

Sure enough, their voiceless deaths stirred up everyone present. They started to believe that Mark was not a human but a monster.

Nonetheless, some thought otherwise. After all, Mark was walking past the panicked women. He was only aiming at the rebels that were supposed to keep an eye on them.

But then, the confusion came as Mark raised his hand at the next group of the horrified armed men and stopped a bit before waving his hand once more. However, while most of these men fell with decapitated heads, one remained standing, shaking violently in fear.

Mark stared at the man for a second before turning back. That was when the sensation on the man's body returned. He fell kneeling to the pool of blood of the killed rebels beside him. The man could only look at Mark's back without even a shred of will to raise the weapon on his hands. But then, to the surprise of everyone, a woman at a table nearby regained the ability to move. Instead of running, however, she unexpectedly rushed towards the man spared by Mark.

Fearing for their lives, the two could only embrace each other. It was clear that they had an intimate relationship.

"If you two want to live, don't move from that spot."

The people around heard Mark spoke to the two. Of course, there was no response aside from their confused stare with eyes filled with fear. But even so, the two did not want to die. Thus, they could only stay put, even if they were kneeling on the blood of the dead rebels.

Ignoring the two, Mark made his way toward the last group of rebels in the warehouse.

It was the group guarding the workers in charge of cooking and distributing lunch.

And, of course, they all died without resistance. Now, aside from the spared man, the only ones remaining in the warehouse were all women. After all, it was the area where the captured women were all forced to work.

As for the men, those that were capable got forced into the ranks of the rebels. On the other hand, the ones incapable of fighting got sent to the field for farming. Thus, none of them were here.

After clearing the warehouse of rebels, Mark spoke out loud.

"I'll let all of you move now! Stay put, and don't make a ruckus, though I don't mind if any of you want to follow these guys."

As Mark said his threat, he kicked a severed head into the air like a soccer ball, splattering blood at the trajectory it traveled. And to the horror of some, the blood fell on their bodies.

"URPH!"

Some of the women could not help but feel nauseous, getting her face splattered with blood. It was not surprising since some of them here were not used to such gore. They wanted to vomit out the food they had just eaten. However, the fear of Mark forced them to hold it in.

Mark monitored everyone's emotions. Knowing that they decided to stay put, he released his coercion, allowing these women to regain their movements.

"W-what are you going to do with us?"

A courageous woman asked Mark.

"Don't worry," Mark replied. "I'm only here for the rebels. After this, you are all free to go wherever you wanted."

When Mark said that, it immediately exploded into a commotion.

"HMMM?"

Mark then tilted his head threateningly, causing a sudden silence to enveloped the warehouse.

This silence should have allowed Mark to speak more.

But then...

BAM!!!

The metal wall of the warehouse was punctured by a sniper bullet.

At the same moment, Mark swiftly moved his right arm, making his right hand block his temple.

CLANG!!!

Mark's armored hand closed and shook violently with a loud metallic sound.

The women panicked. It was obvious that Mark was shot at.

It was when Mark opened his hand, letting a flattened tip of a sniper bullet fall to the floor.

"Damn it. My hand hurts," Mark said, shaking his hand because of the pain. "Looks like they had some experts, huh."

Mark turned his head, looking at the punctured metal wall near the entrance of the warehouse.

***

In the watchtower at the walls, a man equipped with a sniper rifle could not believe what he had just seen. He was a Mutator with thermal vision. Furthermore, his sight could pass through thin metal walls like the ones used to build the warehouse. Although the sun could affect his eyesight, it was still usable as the temperature in the surroundings was cooler even during noon. As such, he could see what just happened clearly.

"Jules, what happened? Did you kill the intruder?"

Another man asked the frozen sniper.

"Shit! No! The bastard caught the bullet with his hand!" The sniper hurriedly said as he snapped back to reality. "Quick! Report to the others that we are not dealing with just some intruder right now! I will go ring the bell!"

"Good!"

The other man replied without question.

Well, that was his last word, though.

PANG!

Before the man could jump off the watchtower, his head was blown off.

"WHAT THE F-!!!"

Jules' eyes turned wide as he saw his comrade's body fall in front of him. He cursed as he tried to duck. Unfortunately for him, it was too late. A bullet pierced through the wall of the watchtower and hit him. The bullet punctured his lungs and liver, indicated that the shot came from higher ground.

***

Back at the warehouse, everyone was silent.

"Looks like they're dealt with." Mark shrugged. "But the others were already alerted, huh. Do they have someone with abilities like Huey, I wonder."

Mark was murmuring as he detected a large number of rebels started to surround the warehouse.

***

All over the rebels' base, the watchtower bells were all ringing violently. These rebels were a proper organization. The rings of their bells indicated a message. Usually, they had rhythmic ones indicating incoming infected or military. The violent ringing, however, indicated urgent emergencies like the base being infiltrated.

It was not the first time that this happened. As such, the rebels were quite fast to respond. Most of them ran to a designated place to learn the situation before rushing to the area where the intruder was located.

Because of this system, although most of them did not arrive at the scene together, they gathered fast. In hindsight, a large number of the rebels gathering at one place might sound overkill. However, since the last one was actually a mutated animal that was hard to kill, it could not be helped.

Right now, about half of the armed forces of the rebels were already gathered outside the warehouse. They were being led by their combat commander, Renz.

"THE INTRUDER INSIDE! GO OUT OF THE WAREHOUSE AND SURRENDER! OR ELSE! WE WILL SHOWER THE WAREHOUSE WITH BULLETS!"

Renz shouted using a megaphone.

Normally, they would not do this kind of threat. It was because the ones that infiltrated them so far were mutated tricky and mindless creatures. But now, it was clear that the intruder was sentient. From what they knew, the workers inside were still alive.

"Are you sure that the workers are still alive?"

Renz turned off the megaphone and asked the man beside him.

"Aside from one, our men inside the warehouse are all dead. All the workers we captured as all fine."

The man closed his eyes, sensing the situation inside the warehouse as he replied.

"TSK." Renz clicked his tongue. "It could have been easier of those are dead."

If the workers were already dead, they could just storm the warehouse and riddle the intruder with bullets. However, the workers were still alive. If they just shot their guns recklessly and killed the workers in the process, their leader with her stupid virtues would definitely skin them alive.

Renz hated that woman to the bones. However, it was not worth it to confront her over some worthless people. It was not the right time, either.

Suddenly, a commotion started among the rebels. It was because the intruder actually went out of the warehouse. That sinister appearance gave them nothing but bad news.

***

Mark walked out of the warehouse without care. Of course, he made sure to warn the women inside to lower themselves to the floor just in case.

Looking at the rebels that had their guns pointed at him, Mark smiled.

"Just like I wanted. It is easier to eliminate these guys if they gathered like this."

Mark then stretched both his shoulders to the rebels' bewilderment.

Renz saw those actions and raised his megaphone once more. Like a third-rate villain, it seemed that he was about to start a useless chatter.

And Mark was not really fond of that.

As such, without waiting for any words to come out the mouth of the guy with the megaphone, Mark leaned forwards.

BAM!

A loud sound was heard as the cement under Mark's foot cracked. And then, with a blur, Mark appeared in front of the nearest rebel.

SWISH!

Unable to react to Mark's fast movements, a slit appeared on that rebel's neck after Mark's hand swiped at it.

But that was just the start.

The other rebels beside the first one followed suit.

Most of the rebels froze, unable to process what just happened. It was until someone fired his gun. Unexpectedly, it was no other than Renz that had already thrown his megaphone away in irritation.

"WHAT ARE YOU F*CKERS DOING STARING LIKE IDIOTS! SHOOT!"

Renz roared as he stared shooting Mark like a madman.

The other rebels followed the order and shot Mark without hesitation.

Unfortunately, for some reason that none of them could understand, all their bullets missed. They continued shooting, emptying magazine after magazine. But not a single bullet made contact with their target's body.

On the other hand, the intruder had already killed more than a dozen of their comrades.

"SH*T! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"

A rebel cried out as he started retreating. Mark was already close to his position, and he could feel death looming over him as he entered Mark's line of sight. In the end, he could not help but abandon his position, and run away like a chicken.

However, it was late.

One thing that a person should not do was to turn his back to the enemy.

That rebel could only gape his mouth as he lost the sensation of his body. That was when he realized that he was now nothing but a dying head that was about to roll to the ground.

Finally, the rebels realized that their guns were useless. Some started to abandon their weapons and transformed while the others made their retreat.

"These rebels sure had some organized way of dealing with enemies, huh."

Mark smiled under his mask as he saw the Mutators of the rebels charge at him.