Mutagen

Day 127 - 6:40 PM - Hamilton Commons, Mays Landing, Hamilton Township, New Jersey, United States of America

The battle between Gregor and Mark ended with the former escaping with two of the most important people among the raiders.

That end, however, left the remaining members fearing desperately for their lives. And like how narrow-minded they were, in their minds, they started blaming the three that managed to escape for the demise that they were facing.

There were a lot of them left. Nevertheless, no matter how many they were, they could only feel that they were no less than ants at the enemy in front of them.

In horror, they could only watch at the enemy caught one of them on his neck and scrape his bloody face hard unto the cement. Even in this darkness, they could distinguish the bloody color left on the ground as the face of their comrade started to thin horribly. The skin on both his cheeks was gone. Even his nose and lips were torn to shreds.

That was when they realized, the guy stopped moving.

Mark lifted the guy up. Sure enough, he was already dead.

"Tsk." Mark clicked his tongue. He failed to control his strength and ended up crushing the guy's neck accidentally. The guy died too easily. He was lucky.

Mark turned to the others, causing them to flinch. The unsightly death of their comrade in his hands was enough to give them a deep mental scar. They all wanted to flee. However, without the capability of flight like Gregor, there was no way for them to leave this place.

The only thing that they could do was to wait for their demise while watching the man in front of them.

Mark, on the other hand, seemed to have another idea.

"You, you, you, you..."

One by one, Mark pointed at eleven people. Each of them could not help but shiver as they were pointed out. After all, they were the guilty ones of what Mark said before. They were the lookouts and curious ones that lingered the roof, ogling at Mei this afternoon.

Mark then smiled.

"Those I didn't point out, let's play a game."

Everyone became silent by reflex. As bloodthirsty raiders, they were not new to this kind of term. Giving their victims a chance to live as long as they were entertained.

"The ones I did not point at, you will be the hunters. The others were targets. The hunters can bring me an eyeball of those the targets, I'll let them leave this place alive."

Hearing that, the ears of the others perked up while those that were guilty of the crime started to back off.

"S-sir... Will you really let us go if we did what you just said?"

One of the raiders bravely asked Mark.

"I'm not like you people. I will keep my word. One person per eye. I will not kill them and let them leave."

Hearing that, those that were not pointed out by Mark turned towards those that he pointed at. Their eyes were not looking at their poor comrades. Instead, they looked like hyenas eying their prey.

"Oh, by the way..." Mark added. "Take their eyes without killing them. Remember that."

They heard what Mark said. Nevertheless, their bloodshot eyes did not waver. What was in their minds was solely their own survival. They would follow what Mark said to live, disregarding the heightened difficulty of the task.

"Well, then. You guys can start now."

Mark said as he walked out of the way. He climbed the back of the military jeep to oversee what was happening.

And there, the chaos ensued.

Everyone readied their weapons. Although this time, they were aiming for their own comrades.

The guilty ones immediately grouped up while retreating. They had the same circumstances at the moment. It was better for them to stick their backs at each other.

While they retreated, they did not hesitate to fire at the others, forcing them to hide and take cover.

Mark watched the play with a smile. With the rules he gave, barely anyone would manage to live.

All of them had guns. However, the group aiming for the eyes would not be able to use their weapons to their maximum efficiency. Mark said that they could not kill the targets. Thus, they could only aim for their arms and legs.

On the other hand, the targets could kill anyone as long as they could.

Because of that rule, even though the hunter group overwhelmed the target group with numbers, they could not get any advantage. More than that, since they had more people on their side, it was expected for them to have a lot of casualties.

PLOP!

As Mark was just thinking of it, the first casualty appeared. One of the members of the hunters was shot directly on his forehead as he tried to peek out of his cover.

Despite that, however, that guy's death did not matter.

One death meant one less competition. There were only eleven targets, twenty-two eyeballs. Only twenty-two people would be able to leave this place.

A mutator among the hunters used a different tactic and circled the targets. He succeeded and got a clean shot on one of the targets. However, the shot hit the target's head, causing him to immediately die.

Nevertheless, the Mutator did not care. Using his dirty hands, he scooped out the dead target's eye.

But then... before the Mutator could rejoice... His view spun, and he managed to see his headless body holding onto that bloody eyeball he took. That was the last scene before everything went black.

Everyone froze. They saw Mark appear behind the Mutator and sliced his neck off. He then caught the head and like magic, put it in a black hole in front of him.

"As I said, take their eyes without killing. The eyes from a dead target will not count. One already died. Only ten targets remain. Meaning, only twenty might be able to leave this place alive now."

Hearing that, the nervousness of the hunters grew. They stamped clearly in their minds that they should not kill any of the targets. Not only that they would die, but even the quota would also decrease.

Because of that, the hunters became careful with their approach. On the other hand, the targets managed to get a breathing room.

As the raiders were concentrated in the battle, none of them realized that Mark already entered their base, leaving them on their own.

Mark really did not have much interest in watching the chaos he created. And rather, he wanted to see what he could loot in this place. Besides, he could monitor them without watching using his [Empathic Detection].

And another thing, aside from that Jersey Devil, he was detecting another person of interest.

The person was not like Gregor, though.

Without a doubt, the person he was detecting was human. The person was not a psychic or an inheritor either.

In fact, Mark was not sure about what he was detecting and wanted to confirm it first.

Following his [Empathic Detection], he ended up at the very same building that Kesser and his henchmen used. The whole place was dirty, and garbage could be seen everywhere.

Ignoring the unsightly appearance of the interior, Mark continued walking.

Along the way, he managed to encounter some raiders hiding. 

Not all the raiders in the building had gone out, after all, and some hid inside the mall instead.

And those that hid, Mark killed them without mercy.

Soon, he arrived at what seemed to be a staff room of the mall. As he peeked on the glass window on the door, he could see that the staff room had already turned into a prison cell.

Mark broke the lock and entered through the door.

Inside, there were eight women. All of them were around teens to about the late twenties of age and were above average regarding their looks.

Unfortunately, their beauty was already covered in bruises, dirt, and scars.

Despite the weather, all of them wore thin, ragged, and dirty clothing. The only thing that was protecting the women from the cold was their thin, torn blankets.

Three of them turned to Mark while shivering. Fearing the next thing that would happen to them. On the other hand, the eyes of the five of them were already empty, without any will to live. They only stared forward, not minding their future.

Disregarding the other seven, Mark turned to a young girl shrinking herself on the corner of the room.

Knowing that the attention of the person that entered was on her, the girl shivered from both cold and fear. Furthermore, the gunshots that they could hear from outside fueled their fear even more.

That fat demon just played with her, and she was still in pain. She would not be able to take it if she was played with again. She could only cover her face and hide. Withing that the person would go away.

But then, everything went silent in the room.

Normally, when one was taken out of this room, there would be some resistance. The only exception was the five women that had already given up.

She peeked out of her blanket.

And to her extreme horror, the man was squatting in front of her, staring at her.

But then, a question from the man, made her wide-eyed in shock.

Squatting in front of the frightened girl, Mark asked.

"Do you know someone named Odelina?"

Unable to believe what she heard, despite her fear, she asked.

"C-can y-you... Can you say that again?"

"I said, do you know someone called Odelina. Odelina Nadasia."

After hearing that name, tears poured out of her eyes.

"W-who are you?" She asked. "Why do you know my Aunt's name?"

That question made Mark shrug his shoulders.

When he closed into this mall, he could not help but detect two interesting fluctuations. One came from something not human. The other came from someone familiar.

The emotional fluctuations that Mark could detect were like DNA. Those that were blood-related had similarities in it. The closer the blood-ties, the stronger the similarity. Of course, it was not always accurate. Sometimes, some fluctuations felt similar even though the two people were not related at all.

That was why he had to confirm what he felt first. And it seemed that he was not mistaken.

"Then, what about Siegfried and Odette? Do you know them?"

Mark asked one last question.

"M-my cousins..."

The girl replied with even more shock.

"Haahh... what a small world this is."

Mark said with another shrug. He then faced the girl.

"Want to come with me? I'll take you back to my base."

Hearing that question, the girl hesitated. Although it seemed like this man in front of here did not belong to the raiders that caught her, it was not easy to just follow him.

However, he mentioned the name of her relatives. It was something that she would not be able to ignore. Nevertheless, if it could bring her out of this hellish place, it was better. Grasping the last bit of hope was better than rotting in this place.

As if knowing her intentions, the man in front of her reached his hand out. Slowly, she accepted the hand, and with his help, she stood up.

Mark escorted the girl out of the room, passing through the other women.

Seeing what happened, they wanted to catch the man's attention. However, their fear overwhelmed them more.

When the man reached the door, however, he spoke.

"The guys that caught you all will die tonight. All of you are free now, but don't leave this place immediately if you women don't want to die."

After that, Mark and the girl left. The other women already lost the opportunity to ask for help and take them with him.

At the main area of the building, Mark asked the girl.

"What's your name?"

"H-Hannah..."

She replied.

"Well then, we better find better clothes for you first before finding a vehicle."

With that Mark took Hannah for a change of clothes before going outside.

Hannah could not help but stare in front with shock and wonder.

Everything was in chaos. And among the raiders, only eight remained standing. Among the targets, only seven were left alive, either unconcious or wailing in pain from their empty eye sockets.

Those that remained were all injured. Nevertheless, they were still in a condition that could leave this place safely.

"Then, go."

Mark said as the wall of Miasma in front of them opened up.

The eight remaining raiders hurriedly rushed off, not even thanking Mark for the mercy he gave.

Well, Mark did not need it anyway.

Hannah, on the other hand, could see the sinister smile on Mark's face as he closed the wall once more.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

The frightened screams of the eight raiders echoed in their ears.

Mark kept his promise. He let them leave the place alive.

However, outside, there was the battlefield of the infected and the evolved animals.

They were destined to die no matter what.