Mutagen

Day 69 - 6:18 AM - 2nd Floor, Maryhill Retreat House, Ortigas Avenue Extension, Dolores, Taytay, Rizal

The soldiers tended to their duties early while most of the other people were already preparing for departure.

It was when the scream of a man was heard.

Everyone was disturbed by the sudden scream that echoed across the whole building.

The other night, everyone heard a woman's scream. This morning, it was a man's.

Nevertheless, because the soldiers disclosed the truth to everyone about the previous instance, everyone went into their alert mode as this happened.

However, it was not the end of it.

"AAHHHHH!!!"

"KYAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

Frightened shrieks of two women followed the man's scream.

The soldiers, armed with their guns, rushed towards where the screams came from.

Unexpectedly, the screams came from where the survivors they rescued from the Municipal Hall of Taytay were resting.

The soldiers kicked the door open and rushed in as they thought that it was an emergency situation. As the soldiers entered, however, they saw that the survivors seemed to be safe.

Still, the situation seemed to be quite odd.

Aside from the two women, who seemed to be the ones that screamed and were now huddled in a corner, frightened, everyone else stood facing a particular direction. All their faces were unsightly and even looked disgusted.

"What happened here?"

Lieutenant Baller came in and questioned Harold, who was among the survivors.

Among everyone else, his face had the most unsightly expression. It was as if a large part of his plans fell out of its algorithm.

As for the question of the lieutenant, there was no need for anyone to answer. Since everyone was looking in the same direction, he reflexively turned his head towards what they were looking at.

There, the injured Prince was on his bed. He was asleep, no, by the manner his eyes were opened wide and rolled up, it was more like he fainted.

However, that was not the most pressing issue. Everyone knew that the person was Prince, but no one could recognize him anymore. At least, not by his facial appearance.

His face... was unrecognizable.

Parts of it were swelling, some places were putrefying, and the broader areas were actually rotting.

The handsome face he was proud of was awfully destroyed.

***

Mark entered through the window being welcomed back by Mei and the little girls.

Turning towards the window, stretched his back while he looked outside the window that faced the steep side of the hill. Even if the city was already devoid of people, the scenery from his place was something to admire. No, perhaps, the lack of people was the element that made it look this way.

The girls were already preparing to leave like the others. That was when most satisfying screams he had not heard for some time echoed throughout the building.

"Gege, those screams..."

Mei asked as she saw Mark's satisfied expression.

"Don't mind them," Mark replied. "Someone annoying just received a punishment he deserved."

"Okay."

Mei nodded with a smile. Of course, she realized whose voice that scream was. And she was also glad. It seemed Mark made a move to get rid of the disgusting stare being aimed at them. She was sensitive to those kinds of stares aimed at her. It was impossible for her to not notice, and she was already feeling very uncomfortable.

As Mark started to help to move their things out of the room, his mood was quite lighter than before.

Releasing his annoyance and anger last night was worth it.

***

While some of the soldiers stayed on their lookout duties and everyone else rested, he slipped into the room of the survivors on the second floor.

Using his [Shadow Mist Movement] and [Optical Camouflage], unless someone around was sensitive to temperature, sounds, or smell, he was undetectable.

Without anyone able to notice, he stood in front of the bed where Prince was resting.

Because it was still the duty of the soldiers to watch over these survivors, the medics already tended to Prince's injuries. His arms were splinted and bandaged while his back was covered with cold press. He also had other wounds he got from being smashed on the ground hard.

The soldiers actually wanted to use a bottle of [Regeneration Medicine] that Bay City successfully replicated from the research Mark delivered. However, Mark forbade them to do it.

When they asked for the reason. Mark replied with a logical thing they could not refute.

"It was better to reserve the medicine for the soldiers in fighting in the frontlines. Giving it to a survivor that is only being protected is just a waste."

What he said was right in a sense, and the soldiers could only agree. While Prince was a Mutator that might be of help, they were still survivors that they rescued. Instead of making them fight, the soldiers rather put them in protection. Making them participate in the battles were just a last resort.

As such, Prince did not receive any treatment more than he deserved.

It was not like these survivors knew about the medicine either.

When Mark saw Prince, he was disgusted.

Beside Prince on the bed, two women slept soundly. It seemed that this narcissist already managed to seduce these to on becoming his women. Unfortunately, his heaven turned into hell last night.

One by one, Mark touched the heads of everyone in the room.

Harold seemed to have felt some danger and woke up a bit. He returned to sleep almost immediately after seeing nothing. That allowed Mark to touch his head too.

In every touch, Mark released the same surge of Miasma he used to make Vem, the Mutator of Lust, sleep. This ensured that no one would disturb him as he punished the annoying fly.

The worst punishment that a narcissist like him could receive.

To destroy his handsome face to the point of no return.

Silently, miasma covered the fly's face. As Mark needed to control it that he would not accidentally kill the bastard, it took about ten minutes to finish.

When Mark was satisfied, Prince's face was already a collage of swelling, putrefying and rotting skin.

Of course, that was not the only thing Mark did, there was another thing, and he also left a souvenir, which made him snicker before turning into black mist and vanishing from the room.

When Prince woke up, Mark was actually watching outside the window. His face might have been too painful as Prince woke up abruptly.

Prince was confused as to why he felt uncomfortable and his face hurt a lot. He wanted to wake up the two women sleeping beside him but opening his mouth made his face hurt even more. That was when he noticed a mirror sitting on the table beside his bed. He was sure that that mirror was not there when he slept.

The mirror was placed in a way that he would be able to see his face clearly.

He then saw a horrifying monster in the mirror. Since it was a mirror, he was confused at first. When he realized what he was looking at, the frightened scream came out of his mouth before his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Mark almost burst out laughing at his comedic reaction. The impact had been too great that Prince's brain felt like it was fried.

The scream of the fainted fly woke up the two women beside him. That was when the next set of screams were heard. Luckily, Prince already fainted. If he was still conscious, the disgusted screams of the women he conquered would surely make him blackout in shame.

***

Soon, Mark received the report of what happened from Lieutenant Baller. Since Mark did not even hide his good mood, it was easy for the soldier to realize what happened. Of course, he just stayed quiet. The lieutenant himself was annoyed with that guy.

As Mark and his group did not interact with that person, they did not experience how that guy boasted about his looks and compared himself with the shoddy looking soldiers.

They also heard him comparing himself to Mark for the latter to be surrounded by beautiful girls. As these soldiers respected Mark and his group, they were offended by that.

"We will proceed with the schedule. We are already delayed by a day so we can't postpone it again."

Mark said.

"Yes, sir."

What they were talking about was about delaying the journey for another day. Harold requested such because of Prince's current condition.

The Lieutenant himself would not want to, but he still needed to undergo the right procedures even if it was just for show. That was why he still asked Mark.

***

Receiving the order from Mark, Harold clenched his fist. There was no doubt that the commander was suppressing them. However, there was nothing he could complain about. It was all brought upon by Prince himself.

The time for departure was already here. Because Prince was still unconscious, the men in their group had to hold back their disgust as they tried to help Prince up.

The moment they made Prince stand up, however...

SPLAT!

Something fell out of his shorts. He was wearing a rather loose one because of his bruises on his feet and legs. It made it easier for the thing that fell to slip out.

Everyone around looked at what had fallen for it to make such sound.

"URP!"

Everyone felt their stomachs turn upside down.

Frightened and disgusted shrieks came out of the women's' mouths. Kate was not an exception.

What had fallen was nothing else, but Prince's complete set of rotting manhood.

***

Finally, they left the Retreat House after they got delayed for a day.

A small congregation of infected had already gathered by the main gates. Nevertheless, the number was still small that Gifre and Chaflar dealt with the infected without effort. Besides, most of them were the slower Eaters for some reason.

If they spent another day, it would be a different thing though. The infected numbered about a hundred or two already. More time spent would surely bloom this number into thousands.

The convoy left in a rather awkward manner.

Since the screams this morning rattled everyone, many of them inquired about what happened. They immediately regretted asking.

Everyone that heard the answer could not help but imagine the scene inside their minds. They shivered. That was the case especially with the group of survivors Harold led. They saw everything with their own eyes after all.

Even when lunchtime came, none of them had the appetite to eat. It was even if they covered Prince's face securely to avoid seeing it.

For some reason, the lunch distributed had canned meat in it.

It made them lose their appetite even more.

***

"Big Bro is in a good mood isn't he?"

Jaeya spoke while looking outside through the window of their vehicle. She could see that there was a slight smile on his face and he was even chuckling.

Case and Kaira who were allowed to sit inside the [Exceed: Personnel Carrier] could not help but also look. They were still quite timid since they were new to the group. The luxurious appearance of the vehicle inside made them even stiffer as they did not want to break anything. The two were also curious about Amihan and Aephelia who were both sylphs that should be only found in fairytales.

To what Jaeya said, Aephelia sighed.

"Yeah, Master is in a good mood. He's having fun tormenting other people."

Everyone inside the vehicle agreed with that. As if they would not realize what Mark had done. He even gave orders to the soldiers about the food that would be rationed out for lunch.

As for Case, however, he felt gratitude.

He knew that what Mark did was not for him or Kaira. However, Mark did something that he was not able to do and he was thankful for that.

Prince got what he deserved. There was no way for him to recover.

With a lightened mood, Case and Kaira watched the sceneries outside the window pass by. They managed to choose what path they wanted to take. Unlike back in the municipal hall where they had no other choice but to wait and suffer if they did not want to submit.

While they had those things in mind, the day passed with the longest travel they had since the apocalypse started.

The battle on the road was quite intense and there were quite many roadblocks to clear.

And finally, everyone cheered as they reached the edge of the Cityscape and entered the Marikina-Infanta Highway before sunset.