Mutagen

Day 153 - 6:12 PM - Principal's Office, Madrijelos National High School, Barangay Madrijelos, Municipality of Algeria, Province of Cebu

The meeting continued after Doctor Janice briefly explained her findings and Officer Emilio summarizing the crucial points of his conversation with Mark.

Nonetheless, it all boiled down to one single question.

"Can we trust them?"

The fisherman, Caudillo, asked.

Even though Doctor Janice said that they were a powerful group...

Even if their goal was to deal with the Tamawos, as Officer Emilio mentioned...

There was still the issue of trust.

And Officer Emilio's answer, of course, was...

"I can't say for sure that we can trust them."

Officer Emilio shook his head.

It made everyone sigh but also relieved. Officer Emilio was a cautious leader. He would not just trust anyone they met shortly. He was not careless towards himself or his people.

Nonetheless, Officer Emilio continued with an argument that none of them would be able to deny.

"I don't know if we can trust them, but... They are our only chance of getting past that accursed town. And maybe save the people enslaved there along the way."

Everyone fell silent in a disheartening way.

After their settlement in Liloan suddenly fell because of that monster leaving less than ten percent surviving the tidal wave, everyone could barely cling onto any hope that was left.

They manually carried all the supplies they could find. They even put the injured into ragged carts and carried some on their backs. They used what was left of their strength to travel north.

Using vehicles before the outbreak, the distance between Liloan and Madrijelos would only take a little bit more than an hour to traverse. But for the survivors of Liloan Settlement after its collapse, it took them more than two weeks.

They could not travel continuously because of the injured and their limited supplies. The survivors had to stop and find shelter at different intervals to have rest and replenish their supplies. It was hard to maintain enough water and food for several hundred people, especially with most of them injured because of the settlement's destruction.

And the attacks they received from both infected and evolved animals in their journey made everything worse.

After those hardships, they reached this place. It was barely halfway their estimated route north. But no one expected that the road would be blocked by some hostile creatures from the urban legends.

The group tried to reason that they would only want to pass by, only to have spears pointed at them. Luckily, those Tamawos were also afraid of the soldiers' guns and did not provoke any kind of battle. Nonetheless, the survivors were not allowed to pass through and were driven away.

It had been about a month since that happened. Since then, the survivors were stuck in this place. They had no choice but to find an opportunity to pass through that town occupied by the Tamawo.

Fighting their way through? It was easier said than done. They observed the Tamawos stealthily using various methods. They learned that the Tamawos enslaved the people that lived in the town. They also used their legendary charm ability to beguile the women to become their partners.

The worst part was that... The useless people were actually turned into food for these vicious creatures.

Learning about what happened to the residents, the soldiers and the survivors were angry. However, they were also helpless about the situation.

The survivors in this place were in the worst situation.

There was also no way for them to go on a different route. From this school, instead of going north, they could take a detour eastward. However, it was far more dangerous than staying stuck in this place.

Although it was a paved road, the route east would go through the mountainous center of the province. It would be expected for them to encounter evolved animals on a regular basis. Furthermore, safer places where they could stay would be far distant from each other. It would be likely that they would need to camp out every now and then.

That would be the worst thing to do in the middle of the mountains during this apocalypse.

Not to mention that going east would bring them closer to the territory of the infected. Having too many people traveling near the infected territory would definitely draw the infected to their group.

That was why they were here, stuck.

Now, Mark's group appeared. Trustworthy or not, that strange group was their only hope in their hopeless situation.

"Even if they are powerful, will they be able to succeed against those human-shaped monsters?"

Denver asked.

"We can't say for sure." Officer Emilio replied with a sigh. "Even so, we will have nothing to lose in supporting them. We all know that, sooner or later, we will have to take even more dangerous measures to survive. Our supplies won't last forever either. This might be our last chance."

The meeting continued on with this decision. And even though Mark's group said that they only needed information, Officer Emilio and the others decided that they would prepare as a backup in case something unexpected happened.

***

Unknown to them all, just outside the window of the principal's office, Mark was listening to their meeting.

"They're pretty decent, aren't they..."

Mark nodded in commendation. The leaders of this group were pretty decent ones, although one seemed to have some hateful quirks.

"I might want to take some of them in, especially that doctor. She had such an interesting ability. To think that she could see Mutagen forming patterns. Her ability is useful for studying Mutagen. It's a pity, though. She seemed to be unable to see Psypathogen. Probably because it's an entirely different pathogen despite coming from the same root."

But then, Mark shook his head.

"I'll just let nature take its course."

Recruiting people with concrete goals will be hard unless there was a good opportunity. It was like with Berrak, Geronimo, and Padua. The three joined his group due to circumstances around them. It would not have happened if there were no good opportunities at that time.

"I don't need anything else from this meeting. I better go back. Crimson and Ignis are about to return."

With those words to himself, Mark turned into a surge of black mist. The black mist then flew across the window in the darkness of the night.

***

"Huh?"

BANG!

Suddenly, Doctor Janice stood up from in the middle of their meeting. Her chair even fell causing a loud bang on the floor.

Everyone fell silent and looked at her only to see her rubbing her eyes while staring at the window.

"What happened?"

Officer Emilio asked the doctor.

"I thought I saw something outside the window." Doctor Janice said as she picked up her chair. "I must be seeing things."

Someone went out to check. However, they saw nothing.

"Then, let's get back to the topic."

Officer Emilio said as they continued after the slight intervention.

However, Doctor Janice was silent, still staring at the window.

'What in the world is that?' Doctor Janice thought. 'Mutagen? No... It looks too different!'

Of course, Doctor Janice was out of her wits. Although she said that she might just be seeing things, she was sure that she saw something. She saw a mist emitting bright light that flew past the window. And rather than a pattern, it was more like it was emitting waves of bright light.

It was strange as it was the first time Doctor Janice saw something like that.

***

"Huh? Did she saw me?"

Mark said as he appeared on the roof of the building. He could feel that Doctor Janice seemed to be shocked.

"It doesn't matter,  I guess. I'm not invisible when turning into mist, after all."

And there, Mark vanished once more, finally returning to the room that Officer Emilio brought them to.

***

In the middle of the forest northeast of Mardrijelos, a shadow was traveling from tree to tree.

The shadow then landed near a strange group of trees that seemed to encircle a wide patch of clear land.

Moonlight shone on the man's body as he walked into the open.

With a spear in his right hand, it was a handsome man with white skin, pointed ears, and tribal tattoos on his body.

It was Pefile.

Pefile stopped for a bit but then proceeded to step forwards with his left hand stretched in front of him.

Suddenly, his hand touched something invisible. As he touched it, it caused water-like ripples in the air.

And there, he walked through the ripple, making the scenery change.

The clearing turned into a small village with houses made of misshapen trees and fauna.

"It had been a long time I've been in this place," Pefile murmured as he observed the surroundings. "Barely anything changed."

Village of the Exiles. That was what this place was called.

As the name stated, it was where the exiled go. To be specific, the exiled Tamawos of his tribe.

Unlike their tribe's homeland concealed into a pocket of space, the village was only hidden using an illusory barrier. Furthermore, it was a barrier that would make mortals stifled and stay away.

As Pefile entered the barrier, the villagers immediately noticed his presence. The ripples on the barrier spread out across the entire village. It was a defense mechanism that would allow everyone to react to intruders and danger.

Tamawos went out of their houses. There were also human females present hiding inside their homes. With spears on their hands, they were ready to confront the intruder.

But then, they saw a Tamawo standing at the border of the village. It was the intruder.

"WHO ARE YOU?! HOW DID YOU FIND OUR VILLAGE?!"

A young Tamawo leading in front of the group bellowed at the intruder.

Along with the question, the group of young Tamawos was ready to attack if the intruder made any threatening movement.

Unexpectedly, the question was ignored. The intruder did not pay attention to the young Tamawos at all. Instead, he was looking around nonchalantly.

The young Tamawo could not accept that and led the attack. The other young Tamawos also charged towards the intruder.

What the young Tamawos did not realize was that their fathers and the other older Tamawos were staring at the intruder in shock. It was already late when they noticed that the younger ones began attacking.

The older Tamawos wanted to stop the young ones, but they saw the intruder glance at them with a slight shake of his head.

BANG! BANG!

Within a few seconds, the group of young Tamawos, composed of thirty individuals, was lying down on the ground with shocked faces.

"These young ones lacked discipline don't they, Erille?"

In intruder spoke, mentioning a name that everyone in this village knew.

"You don't have to be that harsh, Pefile."

An old Tamawo stepped forward from the crowd. This Tamawo was too old that the handsome features of their race already wrinkled with time.

Everyone heard Erille, the chief of this village, call the intruder's name.

All of them, even the young Tamawos, were shocked. Despite the pain after being beaten, the young Tamawos forced themselves up.

Pefile stood there with a frown as he watched everyone kneel in front of him.

"WE GREET OUR RIGHTFUL KING!"

Everyone bellowed in unison with Erille leading them.

"Erille," Pefiel glared at the village chief. "I am not your king. I am nothing but a wanderer."

"No matter what you say, you are the only king in our hearts! Not your brother that forced himself into the throne of our tribe!"

Erille cried out.

It was not only the chief, the other older Tamawos were looking at Pefile filled with reverence.

"That is all in the past," Pefile argued. "I'm here for a different matter."

"It is for the queen, I presume?"

Erille asked.

"She's not your queen. She's just a regular human."

Pefile frowned.

"Mortal or not, she had the king's marking. The king's other half."

Erille stood strong in his belief.

"I don't care about what you think," Pefile grumbled. "How is she?"

And to Pefile's question, Erille looked down.

"Because of the king's marking, not a strand of her hair was harmed. However, I can't say that she's doing good."

Those words made Pefile grasp his spear tightly.

"What happened?"