Mutagen

Day 128 - 8:11 AM - Atlantic City Expressway, Hammonton Township, New Jersey, United States of America

VRROOOMMM!!!

Early in the morning, a loud sound of the vehicle echoed along the expressway.

The snow had already stopped. The sun shined brightly at the slightly cloudy sky.

After a cold night, the group prepared to leave early. With Mark's instructions, they packed up as many supplies as they could from the convenience store. They managed to carry too much into the vehicle that it was full. Even the roof was not spared from being loaded.

Having a vehicle felt better than walking. Furthermore, since it snowed last night, it would be much colder going on foot.

Still, Arnold and the others were feeling a bit uncomfortable every time they remembered the uncanny surprise they had after waking up.

Last night, they remembered that Mark drove a Toyota Hiace Minibus. Even before they fell asleep, they could still recall that it had the appearance of a regular vehicle.

Although there were rails on the windows and the bumper was a bit modified, it was still a regular vehicle.

When they woke up, however, the regular vehicle was gone.

The insides of the vehicle were still the same. But outside, it was already a tank with reddish-black armor.

A sturdy ram was installed in front. Windows were more secured. The sides and even the wheels were covered for protection. There were even weapons that they, the passengers, could utilize from inside the vehicle when needed. Below the windows, several compartments were present where they could latch guns unto and fire outside.

At the back of the vehicle, metal gas cans made with the same reddish-black metal was affixed. The roof also had a protected carrier that enabled them to securely put supplies in it.

They could not fathom how it happened in just the span of one night. Furthermore, they could not think of where Mark got the material to modify the vehicle to this degree.

Nevertheless, despite the discomfort, they felt safer inside the vehicle.

Mark had demonstrated how strong the armor was, shooting a gun at it.

They also had no problem with food and water. 

There was also enough fuel to go further than where they needed to go.

Mark also brought back weapons and ammunition.

Unlike their state from before, this was like heaven.

If Mark did not appear in front of them, even if they survived that onslaught caused by their vice-leader, they would have died of hunger.

Still, while they thought that Mark could do almost everything, they could not help but become surprised that he was not able to do something properly.

Mark was an awful driver. Even Hannah could confidently attest to this. It was not like he could not drive. Even though Mark knew how to, Mark was like highschooler playing on a racing arcade machine. If he was the one to drive, it would not be long for his passengers to have a heart attack.

That was why this time, the one driving was one of the survivors from Bally's Casino. He was called Otis. Apparently, he was a chauffeur from the casino, before the outbreak. 

He was not able to drive anything after the start of the apocalypse. Even so, his skills had yet to rust.

And Otis was glad that he could contribute something to the group since he was not adept at fighting.

It was also best for Mark to not drive as he was the main fighter of the group. With Otis around, even if he needed to go out and fight, there was no need to stop the vehicle.

In fact, it was the best choice. The vehicle was not a very silent one. Since it was the only one making noise along the highway, the sound of the car was severely multiplied.

Along the way, it had drawn the attention of every danger they could come across the highway.

And there, Otis had shown his driving skills after adjusting to the vehicle.

They still had to stop after encountering large and fast-moving animals and mutated infected. For most of the infected, however, Otis was able to swerve the vehicle safely.

Having a vehicle was surely more convenient along the expressway. Even with the dangers and abandoned vehicles along the way, in just one hour, they managed to travel a fourth of what they walked yesterday.

Of course, it was not a smooth journey, especially when they had to manually remove the entangled vehicles that crashed against another at the intersection.

There was even an upturned trailer truck that Mark had to destroy before they could pass.

***

Inside the vehicle, Mei held onto the egg of the dragonfly carefully. Seeing this, Mark could only smile.

"You really like it, don't you?"

Mark said, making Mei blush a bit.

Mei rarely asked Mark for anything aside from his company. She did not want anything, except Mark and her current family. 

Thus, Mei's current appearance was quite a sight to look at.

Mark had Chaflar, it seemed that Mei finally found hers. Once the egg hatched, they could ask Annica to connect Mei and the dragonfly nymph that would hatch from that egg, if ever it hatched.

Well, considering the heightened vitality of evolved animals, it was very likely that it would successfully hatch. Unless an accident happened, of course.

Last night, Mark actually asked Mei if she wanted to catch the gigantic dragonfly. One yes from her would make him jump into action.

However, she shook her head.

The dragonfly was not an enemy, after all. Furthermore, it gave Mei an egg.

Looking at the egg, Mark could not help but think.

Mark already heard the story of the events that happened last night while he was gone. Thinking about it. There was nothing that Mei had done to be awarded such a valuable egg. Once it hatched, it could be anyone's powerful pet and ally. Considering that the mother was an intelligent evolved animal, it was reasonable to expect that the child would be smarter than the mother.

But if one was to look at another angle... The angle of the mother dragonfly...

This egg had no value at all.

Dragonflies were known to lay their eggs somewhere and leave it to hatch by themselves. The larvae had to survive by themselves in the environment filled with predators.

In fact, most insects, even some animals, did not value their children. In the worst cases, they would eat their eggs and offsprings.

So, this egg was nothing but a thank you gift for the food that it was given and nothing else.

Or maybe, from what Hannah said, the giant dragonfly might be the beast that frequented the area as its territory.

Territorial animals of the same species tend to compete against each other for the best habitat.

If that was the case... It was also likely that the dragonfly was getting rid of its future competition for its territory.

That was very likely considering that since the dragonfly was a uniquely evolved animal, there was no way for it to have a mate. At least, not immediately.

This egg might even be inside the dragonfly's body when it evolved. And might be the only one that survived the evolution.

Mark scratched his head.

The more that he thought of the egg, the more possible reasons, and theories were popping up without concrete evidence.

It seemed like it was better not to think of anything and just accept what was given as it was.

Unknown to Mark, he was partly right in everything he thought of.

The egg was of no value to the mother and the only egg that survived the evolution.

It was also the only competitor that the mother could have in the future for her territory.

Thus, it was given to Mei for that amount of unnecessary corpses.

It was not for gratitude or anything.

The giant dragonfly was just shirking future troubles.

***

Driving through the outskirts of Hammonton Township that was filled with farming plantations, they had to stop.

It was not like there was another blockade on the road, or there was a threatening enemy.

Just the fact that the place was surrounded by plantations of edible fruits and vegetables was enough for Mark and Mei to stop by.

After all, after the battle with The Great One, the fields around their base was devastated. They needed seedlings. And of course, more variety of fruits and vegetables.

Driving off from the expressway, they took a turn at the right corner and entered an area surrounded by farm fields.

Stepping out of the vehicle, Mark looked around.

"I guess... This should be expected..."

Mark could only say that wryly.

Winter had just passed by in New Jersey. Of course, there would be nothing but weeds now growing at the farm fields.

And instead of farmers, infected and dog-sized pests roamed the fields.

"Gege, should we check the storehouses?"

Mei suggested as they eliminated the infected and the insects that started to attack them.

Mark had the same thought. Maybe, they would be able to find things inside the farmhouses or the storehouse.

Taking out his phone, Mark checked the map.

There, he saw something.

"Let's check somewhere first."

Mark said as they boarded the vehicle once more.

Driving further the road and a single left turn, they arrived at the destination that Mark saw on the map.

It was a farm with a storehouse near the road and several greenhouses on the other side of the street.

And of course, there were some infected. In the least, there was lesser than the first area.

"Mei'er, guard everyone. I'll go check the greenhouse."

Mark said as he patted her head.

As Mei nodded, Mark left towards the greenhouses behind the farmhouse.

Waving his swords along the way, Mark killed every infected that came running towards him.

Arriving at the back area, he saw six greenhouses of different sizes.

Unfortunately, among the six, four were obviously destroyed.

Despite that, Mark still decided to check.

He did not care much about what or how many he would find. At least, he wanted to find something to start in restoring their fields around his base.

It was more preferrable if he could find seedlings. After all, even seeds did not have a hundred percent guarantee of growing.

However, it seemed that he was out of luck this time. He searched the five smaller greenhouses and found nothing but dead plants.

Finally, he decided to check the last one.

Why did he put the largest one last? It was not because he was not expecting to find anything inside it. And rather, from outside the greenhouse, Mark could see that the plants inside this one were overgrown.

Overgrown in a very odd way that the plants had broken through the confines of the greenhouse.

Nevertheless, none of the plants sticking out of the greenhouse resembled an edible plant. Instead, Mark found it rather alien-like.

Curled vines as thick as a child's arm, strange bulbs as large as an infant's fist, there were a lot of things to question.

Carefully, Mark opened the door of the greenhouse. The strange overgrown plants made the door hard to open. Mark had to carefully cut off the plants to open the door with making much commotion.

As Mark opened the door open, the insides of the greenhouse were revealed in his eyes.

Mark frowned.

At the center of the greenhouse, there was an infected. However, even if Mark was seen by it, it could not approach to attack at all. No, there was no way for it to do so.

It was rooted in place, literally.

"This is new..."

Mark murmured as he stared at the abomination in front of him.

It had been a very long time since he last saw a plant-based mutation among the infected. This time, however, it was more grotesque.