Mutagen

Day 128 - 5:42 PM - Haddon Heights, Camden County, New Jersey United States of America

Receiving the very last thing that might give her any clues about the whereabouts of her parents, Felicia hurriedly sat to read it.

Just the handwriting on the letter was enough to make her tear up. It was from her mother. Felicia did not doubt it.

The unfortunate thing, however, there was barely anything of importance that could be made out of the letter.

If it was left out somewhere in a proper manner, even if it took years, the writings on the paper should still be readable.

However, not only that the paper was found inside the fireplace filled with soot and ash, it seemed that whoever threw it there tried to burn it. In that case, it was already fortunate that the paper did not burn entirely.

The only intact part of the letter was the top part of the paper. On the other hand, two thirds towards the bottom were entirely illegible.

Nevertheless, for Felicia, just to see her name among the names of her siblings was enough for her to feel guilty. She did not contact them for years, and yet, they did not forget to include her in the letter. It was even though there was no tangible possibility that she would be able to return here.

Felicia tried hard to read the letter. It was for naught.

"What did it say?"

Arnold asked, seeing Felicia's expression.

In response to that question, Felicia only shook her head in dismay as she handed the letter to Arnold.

As he read the letter, he could only frown. He even moved towards the window to use the remaining sunlight to see if it would reveal more letters.

The sun was already setting, though. Thus, it did not help much. Not to mention that the area was filled with trees, further blocking the sun that was about to set.

"Use this."

Mark suddenly said as a crystal flew towards the table. Everyone was amazed by the magical sight. The children even wanted to touch it. Of course, the adults prevented them from doing so. The crystal then released a bright light at Mark's snap. 

Ignoring the magical sight, Arnold moved the letter to the crystal.

Because it was burnt, it was still unreadable. However, the light managed to reveal some words that they were not able to see earlier.

Aside from the intro stating how much Felicia's parents loved their children, they managed to make out the crucial keywords like "evacuation," "Y.A.L.E.," and "military" at the burned part of the letter. There were some mentions about the neighbor too. It was probably about the infected neighbor in the basement, but it was unreadable.

"A military evacuation, huh..."

Mark voiced out after he was handed the letter to see it.

As Mark said that however, except for Mei, the others stiffened.

"Military evacuation," these two words were something they longed to hear about in the past four months of their struggles. Some of them were trapped in a casino while being surrounded by the infected. One was caught and was being used as a toy by the raiders. Who would not want to hear such words that could give them salvation?

Unfortunately, they never saw a single soldier appear to help them, not even their shadow. Thus, these words should mean salvation but felt foreign to them now.

Ignoring their stiff reactions, Mark asked.

"Do anyone here know what Y.A.L.E. meant?"

And to that question, pretty much every one of the survivors from Bally's Casino reacted.

"That's the learning school for special children, right?"

Ernst said while a bit unsure. It seemed that while he knew, he was not too familiar with it.

"That should be it. There are various campuses around here, after all."

Sandie voiced out.

"I see," Mark said as he turned to Felicia. "Do you know where is the nearest one?"

Wiping her tears, Felicia stared at the table to think.

"It's been years. I don't remember exactly. But I think there should be one in Audubon."

Mark took out his phone and started to search for the map. Unfortunately, nothing turned out on the search. It was because Mark did not expect to find himself in this place before the outbreak. While he downloaded the most data he could for the maps of the Philippines and countries he was interested in, the data on the other countries was the bare minimum.

Nevertheless, he managed to see the potential area using the satellite image.

"I guess we'll be checking it tomorrow."

Mark voiced out as everyone turned to Mark.

"What?"

Mark asked as he questioned them for their expressions.

"Nothing," Felicia spoke. "We're just surprised that you want to help me find my family."

After hearing those words, the others nodded in agreement.

"I don't really mind since it's nearby. If any of you ask me to go to another state or a different direction from where we are going, you can go alone."

Mark then handed the letter back to Felicia and continued.

"Besides. It mentioned the military. I want to get more information, especially about Philadephia. I don't want us getting delayed further just because we ran into a threat there that we don't know of."

"But you Sir should be able to handle it, right?"

Ernst suddenly spoke. Though what he said was met with a glare.

"Don't try to flatter me. You can consider me as someone strong, but I'm not the strongest."

To the eyes of these survivors, Mark might already be a godly being. The prowess he showed them was not something that just anyone could contend to.

That was because they had not seen anyone stronger.

Compared to many other things that Mark encountered before and the entities in Freed's memories, he was still way weaker than many of them.

The Great One, the founders of Auraboros, Bathala, The Deity of Bloodshed, Gar'Vlam, and the Eyes, all of them were far stronger than Mark.

Going back to it, Mark only managed to absorb The Deity of Bloodshed using unconventional means. He tried to possess him, and that was why he won. If they actually fought until the last ounce of their strength, he would surely lose.

It was the same for Gar'Vlam, the volcanic deity. He only managed to defeat him because he was still weak after he was summoned back to the surface and the conflicting nature of their abilities. If they fought when Gar'Vlam was at his peak strength, there was no guarantee that Mark would have won.

"Prepare dinner and rest early."

Mark then said as he took Mei out with him. Felicia and the others had not finished cleaning, after all.

***

While cleaning the house, they were mostly silent. They were thinking about what Mark said to them earlier.

Even though he fought with hundreds of mutated infected that they struggled to fight even a dozen, he was still not confident with his strength. They could not help but think of what creatures could possibly be more powerful than him.

But then, since nothing could enter their minds, they just decided not to think about it too much. There was no point in thinking about it since they were sure that they would never reach Mark's level.

Freed from those thoughts, Sandie turned to Felicia, who was sweeping the floor.

"Felicia, I'm just curious."

"What is it?"

"How come that you did not see your parents for years? The distance from here and Atlantic City is not really far back then."

"That's..." Felicia hesitated to reply. "I don't have the face to meet them."

"Why?"

Sandie asked. Although it might be inappropriate to ask, her nature as a regular housewife was irked.

Felicia was hesitating to answer. It was the memory that she did not want to relive. It was the memory that she tried to lock down inside her mind.

However, she also wanted to let it out. Locking it inside never did anything good to her. Back then, even if she wanted to tell her story, no one would listen. That was why she did not bring it out until now.

Now, however, someone was willing to listen to her. There, the hesitation vanished.

"Well, if you are willing to listen to how this unfilial b*tch trashed her life. I guess... I don't mind not sharing it anymore."

Sandie was stunned. In that sentence, Felicia's guilt, regret, and self-hatred gushed out. She even addressed herself with an unsightly name. Because of this, Sandie regretted bringing the topic out.

However, she already asked. There was no point in backing out. The only thing she could do was embrace Felicia.

"Dear, don't call your self like that. Look, everyone is looking at you, worried."

Tears welled up on Felicia's eyes once more. How long did she wait to be consoled like this?

***

Felicia was the second child among three siblings. She was also the first daughter. Her parents did not treat any of them ill, but being the second child and the first daughter gave her more privilege than her two siblings.

Thus, it was not surprising that she grew up quite spoiled and rebellious.

Despite that, however, everything was fine. Felicia was a smart child. She was not at the top of the class. However, she was still hovering at the border of the intelligent and the average.

In her last year of high school, however, things started to turn.

Felicia found a boyfriend that she loved the most. There were no problems with it, except the fact that her parents did not like him.

The next year became harder when she entered college. Her parents did not stop telling her to leave that man.

It was until her parents told her that they saw him with another woman. Felicia got angry, thinking that it was another plan of her parents to foil their relationship.

Felicia got into an emotional fight with her parents. That very night, she ran away from their house and eloped with her boyfriend.

That was the first time she experienced hardships. She did not want to drop out of school and decided to take on jobs that she was not used to. 

Luckily, her appearance made it easier for her to find work. Sometimes, though, she was being hired with ill intentions behind it for the same reason.

After she was almost raped at her last job, she finally dropped out. They decided to move to Atlantic City by the suggestion of her boyfriend as there should be more opportunities there.

That was the worst thing she could have agreed on.

Atlantic City... The actual reason her boyfriend chose to move here was because of his other lover.

Felicia saw them together, flirting several times. However, she was afraid to lash it out to him. She did not want him to leave her.

One day, however, her boyfriend did not return home.

After waiting for another day, thinking that he was spending his other woman, she decided to find him in her place.

The woman was also gone.

There was no need to ask anything. Anyone would know what happened.

Crying, she returned to their apartment.

Only to find it trashed with several men in expensive suits waiting.

There, she learned the horrible truth.

Her boyfriend incurred millions of debts in the casino. Now that he ran away, there was only one person left to pay for it.

It was the girlfriend, Felicia.

Thus, she ended up working at the casino, to the point of selling her body to wealthy customers for money.

She even got pregnant once. With nothing else she could hold onto, she wanted to keep the baby. It was even if the father was unknown. But the casino ordered to abort it. She tried to resist, but she was drugged. The next thing she knew, after she woke up, the baby was gone.

Inside the casino, she was seen as one of the best merchandise. Outside, she was seen as a disgrace to women.

Years passed like that.

Thus, until the outbreak came, she was working there with both mental and emotional scars.

With this kind of life, what face could she let her parents see?