Mutagen

Day 153 - 5:11 PM - Madrijelos National High School, Barangay Madrijelos, Municipality of Algeria, Province of Cebu

It had almost been an hour since their leader entered the waiting room. The soldiers around were becoming a little impatient.

Since the waiting room was initially a classroom, the soldiers could see what was happening inside. They could see that their leader was talking to the group.

Strangely, though, the soldiers waiting could not hear anything at all from the conversation. It was even though the room was small and average speaking voices should reach outside.

It was one of the reasons why the soldiers were becoming impatient.

The only time they heard Officer Emilio's voice was when he drove the younger soldiers away from peeking through the window. The young buggers had been peeking and staring at the beautiful woman in the group. It was clear that it was inappropriate. That was why the younger soldiers were now waiting further away.

As for the older soldiers, they were more concerned about the situation than paying attention to appearances. If something dangerous were to happen inside, they would bust in guns upfront.

But by what it looked like, that would not happen.

From the window, they saw Officer Emilio stand up from his seat. He then walked toward the exit. The group also followed behind him.

The soldiers outside the room surrounded their leader. 

"Sir." An older but lower-ranked soldier spoke. "They are?"

"We will talk about this later." Officer Emilio replied. "Arrange for another meeting an hour later. This meeting will be important. I'll meet you all there."

"What about you, Sir?"

The soldier asked.

"I'll personally guide our guests to where they will be staying. They are important guests. Make sure that everyone is informed not to cause them trouble."

Sure enough, the soldiers were taken aback at their leader's words. First was Doctor Janice. Now, it was Officer Emilio that was behaving oddly. Without a doubt, something was strange about this group that they let into this place.

However, they could not just ignore the words of their leader. As such, they followed Officer Emilio's orders, leaving a few trusted soldiers as his guards.

"Let's go." Officer Emilio turned to Mark. "I'll bring you where your group can stay."

Mark nodded without a word. He led his group to follow the military officer while was observing the surroundings. After all, he was not able to properly assess the place when they entered.

As Mark looked around, he could not help but shake his head. The whole place was a mess, well, not in a literal sense. The school was a mix and match of both good and bad things to live in during a zombie apocalypse.

The school was a large one in terms of land space. It was more than enough to house several hundred people. However, it was too large than necessary for the people currently living here. It was likely that the soldiers were struggling to monitor the perimeter around the school. Aside from the school occupying a wide area, its walls were nowhere enough to defend against a largescale infected attack.

There were even parts of the walls that were already destroyed. The destroyed parts were blocked with barricades that were also questionable if they could last against another attack.

The rooms of the school were also too close to the walls in the back areas. It caused the rooms there to be unusable and was left vacant. After all, it would be too dangerous to live there.

Instead, the residents built makeshift houses in the middle of the school grounds. They might look shabby, but in the least, it was safer than living side by side with danger.

What made Mark commend the people was that they cared about the weak, old, women, and children. Most of the men in this place seemed to have taken the makeshift houses while the usable classrooms were designated to the weaker people. Especially the injured, they were left to recuperate in the most comfortable places.

Mark might not care too much about these things about strangers. However, it was still nice to see these gestures from time to time.

Nonetheless, these things might not last too long. In the current state of the people in this place, they would soon experience breakdowns.

Monitoring the mental and emotional fluctuations of the people in the surroundings, many of them were on the verge of giving up. They had lost their settlement in a very helpless manner, along with their loved ones. In an event where the whole place was swallowed by a raging tidal wave when no one was prepared, surviving with your entire family was like winning a million-peso lottery.

After losing their loved ones, they had to experience a dangerous march north in hopes of reaching the closest settlement.

Now, they were stuck in this place with limited supplies and living in a dangerous environment. It was not surprising if the people already began to riot a long time ago.

While following Officer Emilio, he was gladly being greeted by the residents along the way while having curious glances at Mark's group. Some even bravely inquired about their guests. However, the military officer tried his best not to linger on the topic too much.

There was no doubt. Despite claiming to be allies, Mark's group was still a dangerous bunch. It would not be good if they were accidentally offended by the residents.

Looking at how the residents interacted with Officer Emilio, Mark understood why this place had not collapsed yet. There was a single soldier that kept the place intact with his honesty and virtue. It was hard to see people with this quality.

Officer Emilio aside, Mark's group was definitely gathering attention. Being the first new people they saw for a long time was more than enough for the residents to feel curious. However, Mark's group also had a beautiful woman with them. In fact, a lot of the residents were young males. Some of them were among the people that greeted Officer Emilio and inquired about the group. Their goals were more than obvious.

There were even some idiots who were insistent on introducing themselves to the group, and Officer Emilio and the soldiers were having a hard time making up excuses.

Of course, Mark was also getting annoyed. These bastards were targetting his wife. Mei was also getting uncomfortable. She could not help but grab Mark's arm.

That gesture of Mei, however, made the men's attention shift to Mark in annoyance.

And, of course, Mark would not just ignore those stares.

A heavy feeling enveloped the place. It felt like everyone was being eyed by a ferocious beast. Everyone in the surroundings felt uncomfortable. The idiots were even sweating bullets. Still, no one realized what was happening. The only thing that entered their minds was to leave the place.

Seeing the people in the surroundings leave, Officer Emilio's back was filled dripping with cold sweat. As a Mutator, he was more sensitive towards his surroundings. He could feel that the heavy feeling was coming from behind him.

The soldiers around them were also confused as to what had just happened. It was extremely odd.

"Finally, the pests left. Can we get going already?"

Mark's voice entered the ears of the soldiers around him. It confirmed Office Emilio's hunch about what happened. He could not help but gulp his saliva.

"Let's go."

Officer Emilio forced a smile as he continued to lead the group.

***

"Really... That man is a monster."

On the second floor of a school building a distance away, Doctor Janice was watching the event unfold.

The existence of Mark's group sure instilled fear in her. However, it also made her curious. How come such beings exist? She wanted to know. Nonetheless, she was not someone suicidal to just go and ask. She needed to know their personality first before trying to inquire about her curiosities. She already experienced being on the verge of death twice. She did not want to repeat that again.

"Well, shit..."

Doctor Janice blurt out a swear. She just saw Mark turn his head towards her. It seemed that she was not the only one curious. The opposite party was the same.

"I just hope this will end well for me."

The doctor could only let out a sigh as she watched Mark's group follow Officer Emilio.

She caught the eyes of the devil. That was what she felt.

***

"This will be the place." Officer Emilio spoke, stopping in front of the classroom at the southwestmost area of the school. "It is not the best, but at least it is spacious enough for your group."

Mark looked at the classroom, then at the surroundings.

"The classroom furthest from everyone, huh."

Mark said, making Officer Emilio smile bitterly. The military officer's intention was clear. He wanted to make the residents stay clear of Mark's group.

"Well, it's good." Mark nodded. "I also don't want to stay around ants who don't know their place."

Mark's voice was filled with contempt. This made the faces of the soldiers change. 

The ants that Mark mentioned were still their people. It could not be helped if they wanted to argue with him.

However, before they could even let out a voice, they felt Officer Emilio's gaze. Then, the officer slightly shook his head. This gesture was more than enough to tell them to stop.

Mark just glanced at the soldiers as he entered the classroom with the others.

"It needs cleaning."

Mark said, wiping the layer of dust on the teacher's table with his index finger.

"Sorry about this. It's been a while since the last time we used these rooms." Officer Emilio spoke. "Should I call someone to clean?"

"No need," Mark replied as he glanced at his backpack. "Amihan, you can come out, now."

And there, with shocked faces, the soldiers saw a small winged girl fly out of Mark's bag. There was no way they would not feel shocked about this.

"Ugh... Master, do we need to always do this? I didn't have to hide back in Infanta." Amihan complained. "The bag is too stuffy."

The bag Mark had on his back had metal bracings inside. It kept the bag in shape despite not having a lot of things inside. It also kept Amihan from being suffocated inside the bag. Still, hiding inside an enclosed space was not something comfortable.

"Not all places are safe. We can at least have you as backup, right?"

Mark replied to Amihan, making her shrug. 

"S-Sir... That is..."

Officer Emilio could barely keep his calm.

"One of our companions," Mark replied. "Is there a problem?"

"No, there's none."

Officer Emilio answered Mark's question while his eyes were glued to the fairy-like creature beside Mark.

Ignoring the stupefied soldiers, Mark turned to Amihan.

"Can you gather all the dust in the room in one place?"

"No problem!"

Amihan replied as she began to manipulate the wind inside the classroom. The wind started to blow in one direction, sucking all the dust in the room into one place.

The soldiers watched the spectacle in both amazement and shock.

"Magic! Real Magic!"

A female soldier let out her excited voice. Despite being a soldier, she was still a maiden that grew up with fairytales. She seemed really excited to see true magic for the first time in her life.

"Private Monterosso. Please pipe down."

Officer Emilio warned as the female soldier's voice was getting loud.

Mark then turned to the group of soldiers by the door.

"Don't you guys have to attend a meeting? We can take care of ourselves. We also haven't eaten lunch yet. It will be uncomfortable to have you all watching while we eat."

Being chased away in their own turf felt awkward and strange for the soldiers. However, because of the surprise from Amihan's appearance, none of them were in the state to argue back. Besides, they had other things to do than babysit people.

"Then, I'll leave a soldier to stand guard. Just let them know if you need something."

Officer Emilio said as he picked a soldier to stay behind with Mark's group. Without surprise, the excited female soldier was the one to volunteer.

Mark had no problems with the arrangement. It was also better to have someone to relay messages if necessary.

Now that their dwelling was secured, Mark only had to wait. First was the information that Officer Emilio would provide. The second was the result of Ignis and Crimson doing some reconnaissance work on the town occupied by the Tamawo.

Mark expected to receive the reports before night time. And after the sun had set down the horizon, he would also do his work.