Mutagen

Day 126 - 2:11 PM - Parking Space, Absecon Blvd., Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States of America

The survivors of Bally's Casino walked behind Mark and Mei with utmost vigilance. They finally left the main Island of Atlantic City. From behind, they could see the silhouette of the collapsed bridge connecting the main island to the mainland of New Jersey, the Absecon Blvd. Bridge.

It was the line that every single one of them wanted to cross ever since the apocalypse started. In the end, there were only thirteen of them left from their whole group that managed to reach that goal.

Many died, sacrifices happened. It was all for the sake of surviving,

Now, however, even though they managed to get out of the hellish cityscape, most of them felt empty.

Like the others, they thought that getting out of the city would be the end of their suffering. Like in that movie where the whole city was locked down, and the outside was still safe and sound until several years later.

Contrary to their thoughts, the goal they wanted to reach was the actual beginning of their journey.

And the worst thing, aside from the ragged clothes they were wearing, they were not able to bring anything with them. Not even a single candy to eat or a fork to use as a weapon.

Furthermore, it was fortunate that they were traversing the road they were on right now during the day. If it was during night time, they would not know how they died.

From that collapsed bridge, the whole road they needed to traverse was grassy planes and small forests. To the next city, they needed to walk around five kilometers of this deadly road.

Fortunately for them, Mark and Mei, who saved them, had been leading the way.

Since the moment they arrived at the road, they had been attacked for more than a dozen times already. Even though the way was rather desolated in appearance, many abandoned cars were strangely piled up in the middle of the boulevard.

The appearance of the vehicles and the number of infected on this side of this Absecon Boulevard Bridge only led to one conclusion.

Many thought that the island of Atlantic City was a safe place being by the coast and was isolated from the mainland with bridges. That thought only led to them being trapped in this road and were left to die with nowhere to run.

As they said, the grass is greener on the other side.

Unfortunately, not only that the road to the other side was cut off, but it was more dangerous in a deadly way.

Nevertheless, the only issue was the number of infected. In fact, even these survivors that managed to live inside Atlantic City all this time felt that the infected here was weaker than those that they encountered before.

That was how their lives were honed by a more dangerous environment.

The survivors were wary of the surroundings due to the danger. Mark, on the other hand, was watching out for the infected because of a completely different reason.

Right now, Mark was pulling a black metal cart behind him. On the cart, the restrained [Queen Type] lay while struggling.

However, the cart was rather small and unbalanced.

This cart was made using the blood of the infected they were encountering on the way. However, since the ratio of conversion was still on the low side, it was hard to complete a whole cart with just a few dozen infected. Especially when the infected had lesser blood flowing through their veins because of starvation.

Of course, due to Mutagen, the Biter Types would not die of starvation that fast. However, they would still have complications like this. Furthermore, if they actually died, they would turn into Eater Types, which did not seem to require blood at all in their bodies to continue moving.

"By the way, Sir. Where are we going? Where is your base located?"

Arnold, who was carrying Morgan on his back, asked. Although they agreed to follow Mark as they had no other choice at all where they would survive, Mark never told them where his base was located.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you guys," Mark replied while looking above his shoulder. "Our base at Quezon Province in the Philippines."

"Huh?"

Everyone froze, except Mei, froze.

"Can you please repeat that again?"

Arnold could not register the answer in his brain and decided to ask once more.

"Quezon Province, Philippines."

Mark replied with a bit of a smug look. He rather liked the shocked appearance of the people behind them right now.

"Philippines? Not Philadelphia, right?"

Ernst asked in a very awkward manner.

Finally, everyone, aside from the three children, could not believe what they had just heard.

To think of it. Now that both Mark and Mei's faces were revealed to them, they did not look like locals at all. Although there was that. But it was also possible that they were tourists like some of them.

Still, the Philippines? Philadephia was already far enough from this place on foot. Just how were they going to the Philippines? Furthermore, they felt quite unsettled, hearing that they would be going to a country on the opposite side of the globe. All of them here had never stepped into an Asian country, after all.

With those things in mind, their eyes fell on Mei. They remembered that Mei suddenly appeared in front of them out of thin air.

"What you guys are thinking is wrong. We have a different way of going home. It's just we needed to go to Reading, Pennsylvania first since we can only return from there."

Everyone felt mystified. However, considering the display of the two earlier, it was not wrong to believe that Mark and Mei could do many things that were far from their imagination.

GRROOOWWWLLL...

Every one of the survivors flinched and got ready to fight. Well, everyone aside from the little girl who was now red-faced.

,m There was no danger around, and they found out where the growling sound came from soon after.

The survivors could not help but laugh. It was a good atmosphere changer. Nevertheless, it made everyone realize that all of them were hungry. Furthermore, since their supplies were dwindling, they already ate a little this morning.

Now, they did not have anything to eat at all. The eyes of the survivors fell on the abandoned cars on the road. Maybe, just maybe, there was still food left in some of the vehicles.

"Don't bother looking. Here."

Mark suddenly spoke to them as a black hole opened in front of his hand. His hand entered the hole. And when he pulled it out, a medium-sized plastic bag filled with things was magically on his grasp. He threw the bag towards Ernst, and he clumsily caught it in surprise.

Opening the bag, they were surprised to see that it was filled with luxury chocolates.

"Just make do with those. We'll eat later if we find a suitable place."

Everyone could not say anything and could only stare at Mark in amazement.

This strange couple was filled with mystery.

That was the only thing they could think of.

Everyone continued walking while eating the chocolates they received from Mark. To say, these chocolates never tasted as good as before. Not only these chocolates were free, but they did not have to risk their lives to get a single bite of it.

They remembered one time that just to get a small box of candies from a stall at the rooftop of the opposite building, they lost one of their people. They could only wish that they would not go over that experience once more.

"Uncle, are you and big sister wizards?"

Everyone was too focused on watching out for danger and what they were eating that they did not notice the eight-year-old boy that already pulled the hem of Mark's tattered shirt.

Mark and Mei were their only lifeline here. Thus, they were trying hard not to offend them in any way. They even refrained in asking more private information and just followed behind attentively.

Furthermore, Mark did not look like someone approachable at all. That caused them to be surprised when the boy did this.

What made them afraid, however, was that Mark and Mei were obviously lovers. Yet, the boy called Mark as Uncle and Mei as Big Sister. It would not be surprising if it was received as an insult.

To the boy's question, Mark and Mei looked at each other. With a shrug, Mark turned to the boy who was not even afraid of approaching him. Not to mention that he was pulling a cart carrying a very dangerous infected.

Then, Mark replied, honestly.

"I'm not a wizard. I'm a demon."

He did not bother about being called Uncle. He was used to it.

"Demon? But demons are bad guys."

The boy asked once more. The others in their group already wanted to pull the boy away. However, Mark shook his head to them in mischievously.

"You don't believe me?" Mark snickered. "Look."

With those words, Mark's eyes glowed red, his fangs grew, and two horns sprouted on his forehead.

Along with the pressure that naturally comes when he transformed, everyone felt afraid. They could even see the evolved animals in the grassland fleeing from fear.

But then...

"Coooool!!!"

The boy was staring at Mark with his eyes shining brightly as if an avid fan saw his idol.

This made Mark undo his transformation while looking at the boy in confusion.

Although he toned down the pressure so that it would not injure the boy who was standing next to him, it should still feel heavy and frightening.

Still, the boy stood in front of him like it was nothing.

Now to think of it, it was also this boy that approached him and asked if they were already dead, and he was there to pick them up. It was even though the bloody scene was enough to make the two other children freeze in fear.

Mark turned back to Mei, it seemed like she was thinking the same.

This boy was odd.

Then, Mark made another test.

His eyes glowed red as he targeted the boy with his [Emotion Induction].

But...

The boy stood there unmoving. Blinking innocently, as he stared directly at Mark's glowing eyes in amazement.

Sure enough, even his [Emotion Induction] was not working on the boy.

Mark's eyes returned to normal, and he ruffled the boy's head.

"What is your name?"

"Caelum! My friends call me Cael!"

The boy energetically answered.

"Alright, I'll call you Cael then. Go back to those two. They look worried. Don't run around and keep following behind us closely."

Mark said as he gently pushed Caelum towards the two other children.

"Yes!"

Caelum nodded with a smile as he returned to the grasp of the two.

"Looks like we unexpectedly found another treasure."

"Yeah."

Mark and Mei exchanged as they glanced at the boy that was being scolded by the two other children.

To not feel the pressure from Mark and being unaffected by his mental attack, the boy was absolutely strange.

Still, Mark could not fathom what was strange about the boy. Was he incredibly insensitive to the flow of magical energy? Or maybe, he had the ability to negate it?

Mark and Mei had those questions in mind as they walked all the way. After more than an hour of long, abandoned road, the clear visage of the next city was in sight.

From here, the road would be more dangerous. Of course, Mark did not plan to go on foot. The next thing they needed to do was to find a good place to hide while he searched for a vehicle they could use.

As they exited the boundaries of Atlantic City, Mark looked behind.

The drones stealthily following them also stopped.

Mark glared at the drone and shook his head slightly. It seemed that the soldiers got his message and finally retreated.

Now, before sunset, they had to find a good place to stay.

***

VOLUME 8 END

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