Mutagen

Day 131 - 1:19 PM - Vine Street, Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Vine Street that was devoid of the infected. It felt somehow safe and dangerous at the same time.

It was the main stretch of road going through almost the entire center of the Center City, from east to west. It connected the Benjamin Frankin Bridge and the Logan Square near the exit on the west side of Center City.

Vine Street was a vast stretch of road, consisting of four car lanes, both eastbound and westbound. However, that was not all. In between separating the four lanes from the other was an expressway, going through a lower elevation, tunneling through the intersections. 

The distance between the sidewalk on the north side and the south side was about sixty meters. That was how wide this street was.

It was a place bustling with activity, especially during the rush hours. It was the center of Philadelphia, after all. Traveling across this road and looking at the side, all one could see were high rise buildings and business establishments.

Nevertheless, it was a beautiful city filled with life, culture, and opportunities.

Four months after Mutagen invaded Earth, it became a dead stretch of a road, devoid of humans. Abandoned cars littered the majority of the road, mostly arranged to face a specific direction.

There, metal fences were set up, as if it was intended to regulate the number of vehicles to pass through.

It was now no wonder why Benjamin Franklin Bridge was not that crowded with abandoned vehicles. It was because the remaining ones were left stuck in this street.

Sitting on the roof of the vehicle, Mark observed the surroundings cautiously. And to say, he might really be right about his assumption. For some reason, their group was being invited into the city.

Every time they passed by an intersection, they would see the horde that blocked it. The weaker infected would not pay attention to Mark's group as if they did not notice the moving and noisy vehicle. On the other hand, the stronger Mutated Infected would creepily follow Mark's car with their malevolent-looking eyes. But of course, like the weaker ones, none of them would do anything more than stare.

What was the enemy? A strong human? A paranormal creature? No, the being that was most likely to be able to do this kind of thing was either a [King Type] or a [Queen Type].

"I guess... It's better to lump the two in a single category instead. We should call them the [Monarch Types]."

Mark murmured.

Roan drove the vehicle carefully. Their movement was slow since the whole stretch of road was filled with abandoned cars and wreckage. 

If not for the current event that was happening, they might have chosen another road to pass through instead.

CREAK!

The vehicle shook, and the creaking sounds echoed every time it pushed aside the abandoned cars blocking the way.

But then, the vehicle suddenly stopped.

Mark immediately jumped down. He also felt what was wrong, and he opened the door.

There, sitting on the seat beside his, the [Queen Type] was panicking. She was staring at Mark with anxiety and trepidation. She was chained, so she could not move from her position. If she was not, she might have jumped toward Mark already.

"Gege, what's wrong with her?"

Mei asked as she noticed the stare that the [Queen Type] gave Mark.

"I don't know. Let me check first."

Mark replied as he hurried back into his seat. Slowly, he removed her chains. It was because the chains seemed to be affecting what she was feeling right now.

The moment she was freed from the chain, however, she rushed at Mark to everyone's surprise. When they thought that she wanted to attack Mark and was about to interfere, they were dumbfounded.

The [Queen Type] was hugging Mark intensely while shivering. Her helpless appearance somehow made them pity her. Even Mei, who behaved jealously against the [Queen Type], did not say anything.

"What is wrong?"

Mark asked the [Queen Type]. Although she was not a talkative kind, be she could understand some words and speak. It was better to ask her what was happening.

"Someone... calls... strong... Don't want to... go..."

The [Queen Type] was desperate.

It was not wrong that at first, she only saw Mark as a candidate for mating and the other humans as food. Spending time with this group, however, although she still had some of the urges that the infected had, she started to change.

She wanted to try what it was like to become human.

But now... Someone was calling her to return to the side of the infected.

She did not want to.

Mark patted the [Queen Type]'s head that was burrowed into his chest. It was kinda hard to do with the [Empress Spider] on the way, though.

With that, the [Queen Type] started to calm down. But then, she froze with her eyes dilated.

SPLAT!

Blood splattered inside the vehicle causing everyone to panic. That blood made Elise scared, and her mind started to become chaotic once more. Mei immediately held onto her, suppressing her negative energy that began to riot once more.

Mark, on the other hand, grabbed the cause of this mess.

On his hand, he clutched on a spider that was larger than his fist.

It was the [Empress Spider].

Despite sharing the same body, the [Queen Type] and [Empress Spider] were still two different entities.

The [Queen Type] wanted to resist the voice that was calling unto her. On the other hand, the [Empress Spider] that had lesser intelligence and consciousness decided to follow it.

With the conflicting thoughts between the parasite and the host, the parasite that could not control its host anymore decided to leave.

As the [Empress Spider] removed its legs that were drilled into the [Queen Type's] head, the latter's blood splattered around.

Catching the [Empress Spider] that jumped off, Mark immediately restrained it with his [Blood Metal]. Putting the resisting spider aside, Mark started to tend to the [Queen Type] that was bleeding.

There was no way for him to cure the wounds instantly, but he could at least stop the blood from flowing out.

After the [Empress Spider] left her head, the [Queen Type] felt weak and slumped on Mark's arms. Mark immediately took out a [Regeneration Medicine] from his space, making her drink it.

Mark already found an interesting infected that wanted to return being a human. He would not let her die. He wanted to see how far she could go. Now that the [Queen Type] was separated from her parasite, there was now another reason to save her.

The [Regeneration Medicine] sure was miraculous. The holes on the [Queen Type's] head was a very severe wound. However, with two vials of it, the injury started to heal.

As the wounds closed, Mark slowly removed the [Blood Metal] he used to stop the bleeding. Leaving it plugging the holes as it healed would not be a good idea.

Several minutes passed, and the [Queen Type] was healed of her wounds. However, she was weakened and fell unconcious.

On the other hand, the [Empress Spider] was still struggling in its restraints. Going wild was even an understatement to its current behavior.

Mark also had to calm Elise after what happened. It was the first time she was this close to blood after she lost her memories, after all. Her panic this time was understandable.

Still, what the adults here were more worried about was how the three children did not even react to the sight of blood. It would be fine if they felt scared, but they just looked at it as if it was nothing.

"This is quite a blessing in disguise, isn't it?"

Mark smiled. One of the problems he had before was how to separate these two. He tried to do that before, but the [Empress Spider] would not budge from its position. Mark did not try to force it off as it might leave implications.

Now, the [Empress Spider] left on its own. And aside from the wounds on her head and feeling weakened, the [Queen Type] seemed to be alright.

The smell of blood inside the vehicle was quite unpleasant. However, Mark and the others did not have time to clean it right now.

Urging Roan to move on, they continued to travel through this barren road.

Nevertheless, they noticed the change in the infected that they could see at the intersections.

All of them, weak or not, stared at the vehicle with bloodshot eyes. Their faces reflected the anger that the one controlling them was feeling.

After making sure that the [Empress Spider] could not escape his small cage, Mark returned to the roof of the vehicle to keep guard.

Mark felt better. The [Queen Type] was loyal to his group, and she was freed from the urges of the [Empress Spider]. Maybe this time, the [Queen Type] would stop seeing him as a candidate for mating. It was an urge mainly from the [Empress Spider], after all.

More than that, seeing the warped faces of the infected was uplifting. Maybe, it was just Mark's imagination, but he could see the warped face of a suitor rejected by the woman he was interested in from those faces.

Without a doubt, the danger they were currently facing was from a [Monarch Type], a [King Type], to be exact.

Then, Mark felt a strong presence that entered his detection area.

"Found you."

Mark murmured as his glaring eyes turned towards the buildings on the south side of Vine Street.

How would he not notice? As they passed by another intersection, he saw a humanoid silhouette jumped from the top of a building labeled as Hahnemann University Hospital towards the top floor of a garage parking building on the other side of the street.

This guy... was insanely powerful.

This guy... just leaped over a sixty-meter distance without a sweat.

While Mark watched that silhouette, he was sure that the [King Type] was also watching him. Mark could feel the [King Type's] glare as if it was boring a hole on his body.

That intense stare, it was itching for a fight as it was filled with anger and denial.

Mark could not understand why this [King Type] invited them instead of attacking directly. It was because of the [Queen Type] without a doubt.

Maybe, it was not the only reason.

However, it was the largest factor that turned the entire situation into a more hostile environment.

After all, the [Queen Type] rejected the [King Type] to the point of injuring herself.

For the infected, that was pathologically violent. It was already amazing that the [King Type] was still able to hold back the urge to attack.

In any case, the actual reasons would be revealed soon. Mark only needed to wait a bit more.

Their travel across this road littered with cars and debris was quite long. They wanted to hurry, but it was impossible without turning everything into an accident. Carefully and cautiously, Roan had to maneuver the vehicle a lot to find a better route to go to.

Everyone was on edge. It was not surprising since the intense glare and killing intent of the [King Type] was focused on the vehicle. Only Mark could see the [King Type] watching atop the buildings, after all.

Still, Mark felt unpleasant how the [King Type] was above as if he was looking down on his group, both literally and ideologically.

Soon, they reached the part where even the road in front was blocked by the infected.

They had no choice but to change directions, being led away by the infected.

And there, they reached the Logan Square. A wide patch of land with several parks separated by the roads intersecting at the circle in its center.

It was a good place to relax when one had the time to idle around.

However, Mark could not help but frown. Everyone inside the vehicle felt shivers.

The place did not look like a park anymore but a slaughter ground.