Mutagen

Day 3 – 4:07 PM – Citta Italia Main Road, Citta Italia Pvt. Subd. , Molino III, Bacoor City, Cavite

The cold wind blew while Mark sat on top of the MB Sprinter. His pupils were dilated and his senses were all opened. He kept on staring at the row of houses to the north as if his sight penetrated through them. Huge movements could be detected by him along with the faint stomping sound of the concrete coming from that direction.

They were about to pass through the last branching street. After that street was a short bridge that goes over a creek and the closed gates could be seen even further. Mark knew that the Mutator Dog would appear at that last corner as it was its last vantage point to attack. Pulling out the radios once more, he ordered.

"All vehicles! Overtake us and head for the gates first! That huge dog is going to attack at any moment!

Odel! Reduce the speed and we'll be on the tail of the group! We'll counter attack after the other vehicles passed through that bridge!"

After giving out his orders, the vehicles immediately went into formation. There was no hesitation aside from the newcomers as they all knew that only Mark's group would be able to handle the situation.

Still, all of the survivors on the other vehicles could not help but feel even more nervous. They could see the closed gates on the distance. Once they reached the gates, they would have no choice but to stop. And that situation would be grave for them with the threat of the huge dog behind their backs.

Inside the MB Sprinter, Sundra and the clumsy woman could not help but feel the cold sweat on their backs. They knew nothing about Mark's group aside from having a connection with Carlo and being their saviors. The two women could not understand how these people could think of making that three meter tall dog as a pet. To them confronting that monster was just suicide.

Just as expected, when they passed through the last branching street, a three meter tall shadow jumped over a two story house. The huge dog landed just behind the MB Sprinter with a loud stomping sound. Frightened yelps could be heard from the survivors inside the vehicles when they heard the sound when the Mutator dog landed.

It snarled as it landed behind the convoy. The loud snarls it made gave everyone chills on their backs. Unfortunately for the dog, Mark saw through its plan and his vehicle was the one at the tail of the group. His simple order saved several lives since if the convoy continued on the same formation as before, the vehicle that should be behind would easily fall into the fangs of this animal without being able to fight back.

TSST! TSST! TSST! TSST! TSST!

The moment the Mutant Dog started to chase, Mark immediately unleashed several bullets. Unfortunately, it seemed that the huge dog could already distinguish the muffled sounds coming from his assault rifle. Given how higher the senses of animals compared to humans, it could discern the sound even from a distance. The moment that the first shot was released, the dog immediately jumped to the side making the bullets hit nothing but air. Nevertheless, it made the dog late to start its chase. Mark also noticed that the wounds he inflicted this dog had already healed. There were still traces of blood on its fur but there were no wounds to be found.

The convoy passed over the bridge and soon reached the closed gates at full speed. Without any other choice, the whole convoy stopped. Upon the stop of the convoy, the police immediately went out their vehicles except for those who were injured from the dog's attack before. They immediately went into position to protect the other vehicles while two of them went to open the gates. However, the two people who were about to open the gates stopped abruptly. They could see several infected wandering on the other side of the gate. However, what worried them wore was that further in the distance, they could see nothing but silhouettes of the infected lurking around the area.

Behind the convoy, the black armored vehicle stopped horizontally blocking the road. After that, Mark jumped down from the roof while Abbygale and Odelina came out of the vehicle. The three immediately went to block the Mutator dog lagging behind due to Mark's interference.

As the survivors on the other vehicles were not informed, they were surprised that Mark's group planned on confronting the huge dog. They were all confused to what they had to do so. Furthermore, they were baffled to why the female driver of their vehicle also went out to confront the dog. At that moment, under their watchful eyes, the female driver removed her jacket and the tank-top she was wearing revealing a black tube swimsuit covering her chest. The woman then hurriedly threw the clothes she took off into the vehicle.

"Odel, what are you doing?"

Mark asked with a confused expression. He could admit that Odelina's body shape looked good but it was not the time to display that.

"Master, you said that we will go all out. If I put on my armor while wearing those, the clothes will get ripped apart."

Mark nodded. He remembered that time that she lost control, she was partially clothed and on the video, she was practically naked after Freed saved her. He then noticed several wounds on her lower back. It was the place he managed to shoot her that night.

"It hasn't healed yet?"

Mark frowned as he looked at the wounds he inflicted to his servant. Noticing where he was looking at, Odelina let out a helpless expression.

"Master, I'm not like you whose broken bones could even get fixed after several hours of sleeping. Also, my recovery is already fast."

"Papa! Papa! The doggie is already watching us!"

Mark did not manage to reply to Odelina anymore as Abbygale was tugging forcefully at the hem of his jacket.

Actually, even if he was looking at somewhere else, he was carefully monitoring the emotional intents of the dog in front of them. It did not dare to come over immediately as it was baffled for their existence. Even if the majority of the emotional fluctuations of the Mutator dog were occupied by fierceness, Mark could still faintly discern its intents. However, he could not deny that his head felt heavy and was hurting too much.

The huge dog was slowly stepping forward towards the three in all cautiousness. It was confused to why these puny humans had the guts to block its path but it was also feeling danger from the three for no known reason. Nevertheless, the dog's bloodthirsty nature won and it started to attack despite the danger it felt.

As the vehicles were now stopped and the dog was running straight towards their direction, the ferocious face of the dog was clearly seen by the survivors watching this time. The scene gave them a huge levels of fright specially the four survivors from the commercial center and the two who were saved from WCRonalds. The newcomers really felt fear for the three who were facing the huge dog without a hint of fear.

Facing the ferocious charge of the dog, Mark aimed his gun and unleashed a barrage of bullets making the dog jump back and forth. Mark carefully shot this time while estimating where the dog would land after jumping making several bullets hit its body and made it retreat back while spurting blood.

TSST! TSST! TSST! TSST!

At the same moment that Mark shot, Odelina's body started to get covered in her grey bone armor while Abbygale beside him shot off with inhuman speed. Her sudden burst of speed not only shocked the newcomers but also the huge dog. Before it could even wail in pain, Abbygale reached the spot below its head and jumped. The wail that it was about to let out was swallowed back as the little girl jumped over two meters high and unleashed a ferocious kick towards its chin.

BAM!

Abbygale's attack caused the three meter tall dog to stagger backwards a step. The kick was powerful but was not enough to make the dog fall.

Infuriated, the dog forcefully recovered and its head moved forward aiming to swallow the little girl that had yet to fall down back on the ground. Abbygale's face turned sour as she could smell the unpleasant breath of the dog attempting to swallow her.

TSST! TSST! TSST! TSST! TSST!

At that moment, Mark had already charged forward. He unleashed another barrage of bullets towards the opened mouth of the dog. The dog's mouth was buffeted with the rain of bullets making it whimper and stop its attack towards Abbygale. Upon landing, the little girl immediately retreated. Even if she was mostly fearless and calm, she still felt nervous when she saw the mouth of the dog nearing her.

It seemed that the sudden feeling of fear agitated her and she immediately transformed without her knowing why. Abbygale's hair turned white while her cat ears and tail sprouted once again. Her red colored pupils stared at the dog and she went for another attack.

On the other hand, Odelina closed in. Her speed was also fast but Abbygale was still faster making her late in approaching the huge dog. After the dog recovered from Mark's assault, it saw Odelina and immediately jumped towards her intending to gobble her whole.

BAM!

Odelina unleashed a punch towards the dog's nose. The punch was strong making the dog stagger backward once more.

The dog was dumbfounded. It was being toyed with by these three puny humans. It felt infuriated. It suddenly jumped back by instinct and a while blur pass by a few inches in front of its face. The dog then did another large jump backwards and inhaled deeply. However, before it could unleash its sound wave attack, another barrage of bullets tore holes on its throat. Instead of its ear-piercing sound wave attack, it spewed out a mouthful of blood from its throat.

Humiliated and infuriated. Mark could detect its feeling faintly. The new consciousness on the dogs mind wanted to rule over everything and humans was just food in its eyes. How however, it faced a setback facing a group of abnormal people. Then, its ferocity grew stronger while its golden eyes spew out a faint light.

Mark suddenly fell down on one knee while he held his left hand on his head. The dog started to exude an astonishing amount of emotional fluctuation. He noticed that the original consciousness of the dog was growing fainter. That was when he realized what was happening.

"Odel! Gale! Don't stop attacking! It's undergoing its final mutation!"

RINNNNNNGGGG!

Mark's eyes glowed red and he started hearing a ringing sound in his ears. He stretched his left hand towards the dog. This time, he was unleashing as much mental energy he could unleash. He should not let the dog finish its mutation or it would be impossible for them to subdue it anymore. Furthermore, the situation might become dangerous once it mutated fully. Who knows what kind of ability would it be able to unleash?

The mental attack abruptly stopped the howl of the dog and it lowered its head while shivering. It then glared at Mark fiercely. The huge dog knew that the attack came from him.

At this time, Odelina finally caught up to the dog and she hugged its large right foreleg. With a strong tug, the huge dog that was still affected by Mark's mental attack did not manage to resist and fell down on the ground. It tried to stand up once more and Odelina was struggling to hold it down when a white shadow fell unto the dog's forehead unleashing a ferocious front flip heel kick.

BAAAAM!

The concrete underneath the dog's head cracked after the head of the dog slammed gravely on the ground.

Abbygale jumped off from the dog's forehead.

SPURT!

Mark spewed out a mouthful of blood. The backlash on doing that mental attack and unleashing too much mental energy from what he could control was too severe. Added that he was affected by the mental fluctuations that the Mutator dog was exuding, he had a hard time to successfully pulling that attack.

Odelina let go of the dog's foreleg and clutched on the dog's neck preventing it from moving. Abbygale also guarded beside the dog to stop it from retaliating.

At this time, Mark approached the huge head of the dog. It was still conscious but it was breathing heavily and it was obviously weakened. Mark was also in the same condition though. He looked pale and his breathing was also ragged. His nose and ears also had traces of bleeding.

The two Mutators guarding the dog looked dumbfounded seeing Mark's condition.

"Master! You…"

"Papa!"

The two called out to Mark in worry but he just signaled them to continue guarding the dog.

He then pressed his hand at the forehead of the snarling dog and tried to weaken the foreign consciousness. It took him several tries causing his nose and ears to bleed further. Even his eyes started to have traces of blood.

The dog started to resist and wanted to escape but Odelina tightly clamped on its neck not letting it go. Soon, the foreign consciousness calmed down and the original consciousness started to fight back once more. At this moment, Mark's eyes glowed with white milky light as he attempted to increase the rate of recovery of the dog's original consciousness.

After a minute or two, the foreign consciousness was finally extinguished. The size of the dog started to shrink and the huge dog ended up about a few points less than a meter tall in height. However, the spikes, the golden sheen on its fur and the golden glow in its eyes remained. The dog that had just returned to its normal size was visibly weakened. Even though it was conscious, it laid on the concrete road without moving.

Knowing that they succeeded, Odelina retracted her bone armor but Abbygale maintained her appearance since she still could not control her transformation. In front of the dog, Mark inhaled and exhaled deeply. He could finally relax.

It was then that he felt a stinging pain on his head. His body became weakened and he started to lose his balance. Finally, he fell down.

Odelina hurriedly caught him and looked at him with worry. Abbygale felt the same as she hurriedly went to his side. Mark was still conscious and he saw the worried faces of the two. He felt something and looked towards the direction of their vehicle, he could see Mei running towards them with a worried face. That was the last thing he saw and everything went black.

When Mark lost his consciousness, Odelina started to feel discomfort while holding him. She reached towards Mark's forehead. He was burning with a very high fever.