Mutagen

Day 36 – 6:01 AM – Port of Real Settlement, Barangay Ungos, Real, Quezon

It was very early in the morning and the sun had barely left the horizon but the military section in the Port of Real Settlement was already bustling with activity. With Karlene losing sanity and breaking out of the laboratory once more during in the middle of her laboratory examinations, the alarm was sounded and the soldiers were gathered to catch her.

This was not the first time it happened. The current situation had been repeatedly happening since two weeks after the outbreak commenced and this was the third time it happened just this recent week. Every time this happened, there would be people injured and precious property damaged. It was the worst during the first time where two scientists and a dozen soldiers were severely injured and the outer wall separating the settlement from the mainland was broken by her.

However, even if the damage was done by her, she should not be killed due to her being the daughter of a Major and a very important subject of research.

The current situation in the Port right now however was unprecedented. An unfamiliar person stopped Karlene in her mindless rampage and was obviously tamed by him. She was crying like a child on his embrace even though it more looked like a demon possessed woman was being appeased by this man.

"Mark… What? How?"

It was not only the soldiers in the area were in a stupor but even the father of the woman in question. He could not even think of what to say or ask correctly in this situation.

While everyone was watching the strange and surprising scene, a group of scientists came out of the laboratory and a minute later, several vehicles came into the area. After the people from the vehicle alighted, everyone around saluted to the man in a formal military uniform that came out of the vehicle.

"General!"

The soldiers around the vehicles shouted with their salute.

"What is the situation? Why is everything quiet? Don't tell me that Karlene managed to escape?"

The General asked with a frown. After all, they received the report of Karlene breaking out of the laboratory once more but what he saw here was his soldiers standing blankly around something.

"Sir! It is not what you think."

The soldier the general asked replied in a panic.

"General, look there first. That man is really something isn't he?"

Jones tapped the General's shoulder and pointed at a certain direction. The general had a height of an average Filipino so his view was obstructed by most of the soldiers but Jones being a foreigner had a taller height. He could see more from their position.

The General and his entourage waved through the encirclement of the soldiers and onlookers and saw the situation. Of course, he was also surprised to see Mark who was one of the subjects of their adjourned meeting and Karlene who was in her berserk state on his embrace.

"General!" A scientist in his white lab coat stained with a bit of blood approached the General Faustino. "Who is that person? I don't think I saw him here before?"

"That person…" General Faustino massaged the bridge of his nose once more. It should have been several times already just in the span of this morning. "Let's talk about him later. Do you know what is happening, Professor Suzuki?"

"That's the HUGE question here general!" Professor Suzuki answered with an exaggerated action of his arms. "No one knows what is happening. I already asked the soldiers that were here to catch Karlene. Their answers were clear but none exactly explains it. We can only ask that man there. Look, even Alfonso is at a loss."

"This is not the place to talk. Her examinations today are not over yet, right?"

"That is the case General."

"Alright." General Faustino then turned to Jones and Captain Garcia that came with him. "Jones, invite Mark to the lab. Since it looks like she had control over Karlene, we should ask him for cooperation. Garcia, do the clean up here. If needed, give the injured some of the medicine."

"Yes Boss.""Yes Sir!"

Jones replied with a lax and lazy manner while Captain Garcia promptly replied.

With the general's order, everyone started to disperse while Jones approached Joash and Major Bautista who was in front of Mark and Karlene. It looked like there was also a situation between the four since Karlene was hiding behind Mark like a scared child from her concerned father and friend. Just who was Karlene's real family here and friends here?

***

Being invited to meet with the General and get a tour of the Military Laboratory, Mark really had no reason to refuse. Rather, it was one of the things he wanted to do the most this time.

At the entrance of the laboratory building, Mark was met with an old man wearing his formal military uniform who was unnecessarily surrounded by armed soldiers and a number of white coated scientists. Since the old man's insignia was open for him to see, Mark knew that he should be the general in charge of this settlement.

"I'm Zackaria Faustino, the Officer-in-Charge of this settlement. Mark, right? I heard a lot about you."

General Faustino extended his right hand for a handshake which obviously made Mark troubled. Not only that he hated this custom due to various reasons, he was also holding "Karlene's" hand right now. Since this "Karlene" was afraid of everyone and obviously did not want to enter the laboratory, Mark had to hold her hand to make her feel secure. Once he did so however, her hand was clamped on his and did not want to let go. She even retracted the claw shaped armors on her fingers so she would not hurt Mark's hand. More than that, she was even stronger than Mark physically. Just pulling his hand away would be impossible.

Seeing the situation, the people around had strange expressions on their faces. On the other hand, the general read the situation and retracted his right hand and extended the other.

Without any other choice, Mark accepted the handshake and asked.

"What do you mean by hearing a lot about me?"

The General nodded in understanding and replied.

"Let's talk as we enter the laboratory."

With the general in the lead and Mark and Karlene walking beside him, they entered the building while being surrounded by the soldiers. Of course, these soldiers was not only here to escort them. Mark could tell that they were on guard against him. Among the people, Jones and Joash were also present. It seemed that the status of Joash was also not low within this settlement.

Mark thought that they would need to wear some protective suits as they entered the laboratory but it did not seem to be the case. As long as they only stayed within the main corridors and some specific areas, it was fine with their current attire. They only needed to wear protective suits and lab gears when entering testing and experimentation areas specially the ones that handles genetic samples and chemicals.

About Mark's question, the general answered it. He was surprised that Bay City actually sent out a notice to every settlement to have an eye to look out for him.

Inside the laboratory, rooms after rooms separated the parts of the building. The outer windows had been sealed while the interior of the rooms could be seen through a window from accessible in the hallway.

On the first floor, the laboratory handled the evolved and strange animals they captured in the wild and at the sea. These animals appeared after the outbreak. Some animals looked like a mutated variant of animals before the outbreak while some were totally new species. This reminded Mark of the wolf like fox Nicole brought back as her pet.

"By the way. What happened to her?"

Mark took the opportunity to ask about Karlene.

Hearing the question, General Faustino turned his head first towards Major Bautista. Seeing that the latter nodded in consent, the general narrated Karlene's circumstances and introduced the professor and head scientist in the lab, Masaki Suzuki in the process.

It all started with the fact that the soldiers that established this settlement came from Metro Manila and not from any closer areas. They were only designated in this area after the emergency measures were taken.

Back in Metro Manila, Major Bautista lost his wife and son, Karlene's mother and older brother, in the initial burst of the outbreak. It was because their home was near one of the ground zeros. Even with that fact, the poor major still proceeded to perform his duties.

Fortunately, Karlene was out of the city that time and was around here in Quezon to shoot a drama series. Yes, unexpectedly, Karlene was a popular rising actress. Mark had no idea at all since he was more interested in Japanese actors and actresses than local ones. The TV in his home was not even used for more than two years before the outbreak.

In order to find Karlene, Major Bautista requested to be designated in this settlement which was approved with the help of General Faustino and Professor Suzuki who was actually a close friend of the Major. Luckily, he found Karlene safe and sound. Although she was found stranded and surrounded by the infected, the military made it before it was late.

Unexpectedly, four people among the drama crew became Evolvers on the first few days of the outbreak and they were Karlene and her three friends which were also actors and actresses in the drama crew. They established a group that helped in a lot of things in the settlement.

Unfortunately, Karlene was involved in a breach that happened while the wall at the south of the settlement was being built. In order to save a child from a mutated infected, Karlene fought the infected. She managed to save the child and killed the infected but in exchange, she was bitten.

She was turning and since she was the only family left of Major Bautista, he did not want to lose her. Not to mention that the breach caused a dozen of soldiers to be bitten by the infected. They resorted to drastic measures, Human experimentation. It was unethical in the field of medicine but they had no choice.

Since it was found out early that the [Unstable Strain] of Mutagen alters the people bitten genetically, they focused on the genetic experimentation of the victims of the breach. Cutting the genetic strands, altering the genes and even planting a foreign gene on their genetic makeup, they conducted different methods and even methods that had never been tested before to each of the victims.

Both fortunately and unfortunately, only Karlene survived the experimentation. As for the other subjects, it was already lucky if they died. Most of them turned into hideous monsters that needed to be put down for the greater good. However, Karlene's case was not a total success either. Her personality drastically changed that she almost felt like a different person. Not to mention that she had episodes where she transforms and loses control of herself like what happened earlier.

At this point, everyone glanced at Karlene who was silently and timidly walking beside Mark while tightly holding his hand. Although she was still armored, her purple hair was still waving as if unaffected by gravity and her eyes glowing with purple light, the fierce expression she had as she tried to escape every time was nowhere to be found. All this was done by the person in front of them right now.

All of them were curious as to how he did it but no one dared to voice it. The general had already instructed them not to say anything and try to offend Mark.

While everyone was thinking that, Mark suddenly stopped in front of the window of a room which enclosed a certain animal in a cage. It looked like a hybrid of a snake and a lizard while having a size of an adult alligator. Its head looked like a snake's and it had a longer neck than normal proportions while its body was shaped like a monitor lizard. The scales of the lizard were like large stones embedded on its body.

Seeing the animal, a though hit Mark's mind as he remembered the ability he acquired from the boss of the outlaws.

'I want to make a dragon. I want a dragon mount.'

His eyes shone with desire.