Mutagen

<strong>Day 153 - 7:41 AM - Farm House, Coconut Plantation, Labigan, Municipality of Cawayan, Province of Masbate</strong>

Another night had passed. This time, in an unfamiliar land.

Fortunately, the rest of the night was peaceful. Without anything to take them away from their sleep, it was easier to prepare for departure after waking up the following day.

By the coast, Chaflar and Trua stood side by side. It was quite an intimidating sight. It was even if the two magnificent beasts had their bodies lowered, letting the whole group ride unto their back.

"Everyone ready?"

Mark asked as he sat onto Chaflar's back.

"Were good, Boss!"

Berrak replied on the back of Trua.

Behind Berrak were Geronimo and Padua. It seemed that they were still a bit nervous about riding on the back of a giant bird. But compared to yesterday, they looked way better.

On the other hand, Mark's group was ready to go. All of them, with Emika as an exception, were used to riding on Chaflar's back. Well, Emika was more eager to ride than being nervous. There was no problem with her either.

And thus, under the morning sun, the two gigantic beasts flew from the southwest shore of Masbate. Of course, some of the survivors living in the plains nearby witnessed the departure of the two beasts. Those people could only sigh in relief, thinking that the potential danger had left their island.

Leaving the island province of Masbate, they only needed another half the distance of their journey from Catanduanes. If things go smoothly, they might reach their destination a little bit past noon.

The most peaceful part of the journey was during the time they were flying across the sea. It was also the best time for the group to talk about what they were going to do first when they arrived at their destination.

Mark's group began to talk about the situation while Berrak and the two soldiers on the back of the Thunderbird listened through the radio. Mark then took out his tablet that had the offline map saved.

Turning on the tablet and putting the map on display, Mark manually searched the map. There was no internet service available, after all. All had Mark was the map data along with the places already displayed on the map.

"Kawasan Falls... Found it." Mark said as he turned to Pefile. "Where exactly is the place your tribe is living at?"

Pefile looked at the screen of the tablet. Even if he was a Tamawo, he understood how to use these things. Not only he lived near humans for years, but he was also influenced heavily by Mark's group.

Searching in the satellite image of the map, Pefile easily identified the area.

"It should be here."

Pefile pointed at the thick forest southeast of Kawasan Falls.

Kawasan Falls was one of the places where the myths about Tamawos centered. Not only one story but many unfolded at this location.

The Tamawos were known to abduct people around this area. It was mysterious abductions that people never managed to unfold aside from tracing back to the myths of the place.

It was said that Tamawos of Kawasan Falls choose their victims by beauty or those that polluted the waters of Kawasan Falls and the rivers around it. It supported the myths of Tamawos abducting women to be their wives and give birth to their children. As for the undisciplined people that dirtied the waters of the place, they were unlucky. The myths said that they were meant to be sacrificed. It was for their sin of polluting the sacred grounds of the Tamawo.

Regrettably, the beautiful waterfalls already became a tourist attraction. Not only it defiled the Tamawo's sacred grounds, but it also lessened their activities in the area.

It was unfortunate to the Tamawos as humans encroached on their territory. However, with the current world being ruled by humans, the Tamawos could only swallow this setback. It was better to endure than let their tribe become extinct because they gained the ire of humans to an irredeemable degree.

Looking at the area where Pefile pointed, Mark nodded. It was an area thick with forests and had a wide river flowing through its center. The very same river was connected to the Kawasan Falls. The surrounding area seemed to have high cliffs, which could serve as a natural defense against threats.

And considering that the Tamawos were spirits of nature, it was likely that they used the trees by river and cliffs as their dwellings.

"The Tamawo's there had their own sanctuary, right?"

Berrak's voice came from the radio. It seemed that he really knew something about the Tamawo's there.

"Have you been there?"

Mark asked.

"I encountered some of them a few years ago around that area," Berrak replied. "They are pretty hostile. I don't really recommend establishing contact with them. I don't think that any peaceful communication is possible with those guys."

Berrak's words made Mark look at Pefile. The latter could only shrug.

"Don't look at me like that. I may be from that place, but I'm different."

"It seems that you already forgot that you're pretty hostile to me when we met for the first time."

Mark retorted.

Pefile could not make any comeback to Mark. At that time, he only showed a threatening attitude to Mark because he seemed dangerous and was enticing his son. Pefile wanted to say that, but it would put him in a tight spot.

Unable to answer, Pefile turned to Mark, only to make his eyebrows twitch in annoyance.

It seemed that it was Mark's goal to make Pefile slip. Mark could only click his tongue as it failed.

"Anyway, we are not establishing any peaceful contact with them." Mark smiled, going back to the topic. "The person we are going to retrieve is being held prisoner by them. Thus, a conflict won't be avoided. We are not aiming to eliminate them all but don't hesitate to kill if there's no choice."

Mark then turned back to Pefile.

"That's fine, right?"

"Don't worry, I don't have any strong lingering sentiment for the tribe anymore. While it would be uncomfortable if my kind went extinct, killing a few won't affect me."

Pefile stated firmly. He already severed his connection with his tribe long ago. If not for the fact that his wife was in their hands, Pefile would not go back to this place at all.

"Then, what we are going to do is not land at any area near the waterfalls or the  area where Pefile's tribe live."

Mark estated as he drew a circle on the map with his finger. His finger passed through several areas surrounding the waterfalls and the river. The notable thing about the areas his finger passed along, it included a lot of places that seemed to have human activity.

One was the town northeast of Kawasan Falls, another was a village in the mountainous area in the east, and lastly were the villages south of the Kawasan Falls.

Everyone's eyes fell on Mark while Berrak's team listened closely on the radio.

"We can't blindly attack the moment we arrived," Mark explained. "If possible, we needed to establish contact with the locals. If not, look for elementals and spirits in the area. It won't be too hard for us to look for them. We need as much information as we can get."

"Nee, Uncle." Emika raised her hand. "Can't we just ask this silent uncle about his tribe?"

Emika pointed at Pefile. Like Mark, the guy received a nickname from the greed-haired girl.

Pefile did not mind. At least, he was not being called Smelly Uncle by this girl. And to answer Emika's question, the Tamawo shook his head.

"It's been seventeen human years since I left that place,"  Pefile spoke. "The passage of time might be slightly slower inside the sanctuary, but it is still long enough for many things to change. And instead, the information I had might put us to risk."

Pefile's explanation made the others understand why Mark proposed a different approach. Old information, after all, was unreliable. If Pefile knew about a piece of certain information about the tribe, the members of the tribe would also know about it. Since Pefile was in a hostile relationship with the tribe, they could use that information to their advantage.

It was not like the information they would get from the locals would be reliable. However, there was still the chance of it being helpful.

"I'll allocate about three to four days at most to this goal." Mark declared. "We only have a week before everything goes crazy. We can't really spend a lot of time. Before that thing in space hits Earth, we needed to return home."

Everyone could feel the pressure. It was hard to work on a deadline, especially when the deadline was a worldwide disaster. In any case, it could not be helped. It would be harder to do this after the planetary debris hit Earth. It might even be questionable if Pefile's tribe would still exist after that.

Still, there was a question lingering in everyone's mind.

Who were they going to save from the Tamawos?

It was a question that would not be answered until they saw the very person they were going to save.

They continued with the plans as they flew southwest. It did not take them long, and they arrived at the island of Cebu. However, instead of lying over the land, Mark instructed everyone to continue flying along the coast.

Flying over the mountains of any place on Earth was a huge gamble. Who knows what would suddenly come flying out of the mountains and forests to attack them? Better play it safe than encounter more hindrance along the way. It was not like the possibility of encountering any flying infected or evolved animal along the coast was zero. At least, the chance was lowered greatly.

In fact, Mark's group encountered a group of evolved seagulls flying along the northern shore of Cebu. The birds were about the size of an eight-month-old human baby. Regular travelers would be horrified by such a sight. However, it was not a feral group, and the birds all scampered away as they noticed Chaflar's and Trua's presence.

They also saw a pair of butterflies flying above the mountains not too far away. It seemed to be Paper Kite Bufferlies that were endemic to Cebu. However, these two were way far away from their supposed habitat in the southern parts of Cebu.

Butterflies were a beautiful sight. Well, the small ones at least. A butterfly with a wingspan about the size of a family van was horrifying instead of being beautiful.

Like before, they had to take some short breaks. Chaflar had limited time flying, after all. Maybe, after Chaflar grew stronger, it would be able to fly longer and faster.

During breaks, Mark would go around structures by the shore. Looking for supplies was never unnecessary at any given time. If there was an opportunity to look for food or usable items, one needed to grab it.

In exchange, however, Mark managed to encounter some infected here and there. The island of Cebu was never safe from the threat of the infected.

Cebu might only have a single airport, but it was one of the most popular places for people to go during holidays, the start of the apocalypse. With a busy airport like that, having one or two airplanes crashing onto the island was not surprising.

Well, there was no need to wonder.

"Papa, look!"

Miracle exclaimed, pointing at the mountain rock formation at the center of the island. It seemed to be the peak of a mountain with a strange appearance.

Mark could only frown at the scene. Embedded at the rock formation was a huge passenger plane. The plane was already cut in half with only the tail left on the rock formation. The other parts of the airplane should be scattered around the mountain, along with its uncanny mutated passengers.

In any case, it was not their business. Mark's group continued traveling south.

Two hours past noon, Mark's group reached their first destination.

The Coastal Town in the Barangay of Balhaan. It was the nearest town to Kawasan Falls, and the river that flowed down from the falls flowed across the center of the town.

And unexpectedly, there seemed to be non-infected activities within the town, forcing Mark's group to land further away north.