Mutagen

Day 147 - 8:44 PM - Western Coast, Codon, San Andres Catanduanes

It should be just any regular night of the apocalypse for the soldiers stationed at the outpost at the western beach of Codon. Those scheduled for the night watch held their torches as they patrolled their designated locations.

From time to time, evolved animals from the sea would come ashore. Those events were of no issue except for occasional larger animals. Nevertheless, it was the soldiers' job to get rid of such threats.

This time, however. The soldiers did not know that they would be facing something that never happened in this settlement before.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The continuous sound of the alarm bell echoed along with the gunshots from the western coast. Although the gunshots alone could already put the entire settlement on alert, the bell's rhythm would identify the current threat that they were facing.

And sure enough, the continuous sound of the bell portrayed an extreme threat to the settlement.

"SHOOT THE FASTER ONES FIRST!"

The officer in charge roared to his subordinates. The soldiers were frantic as the enemies came ashore from the gulf.

And the enemies were no other than the infected, of course.

It was not just one or two.

There were hundreds.

The worst part, however, was not their number. It was that all of these infected were mutated.

There were hundreds of mutated infected charging from the gulf. It was a scene from a nightmare.

There were different variants of mutation, but one thing was consistent in them, all of them were able to run fast.

"Sh*t. Are all these attack type infected?"

One soldier said in a shaky voice as he fired his assault rifle.

"Who the f*ck cares what they are?! Just shoot! Shoot the head!"

Another soldier retorted the first one.

Shooting the heads, that was the standard and most effective way to kill the infected. Nevertheless, it was easier said than done in this kind of situation.

Only a few would be able to maintain his calm and accurately shoot while facing an army of mutated infected. Even the soldiers were the same. Although some of their shots would hit the target, not all of them would.

In the first place, the fifty soldiers stationed at the outpost by the beach was nowhere enough to deal with this situation.

"AHHH! HELP!"

Finally, the first casualty happened.

It was due to the darkness of the night and the flashes of their guns combined. A camouflaged infected managed to slip their sight.

It was a naked infected, with skin that looked similar to sand. Unlike most of the others that came ashore that ran on two feet, it ran on the ground like a wall lizard. Spotting this creature among its horde was no easy task in these conditions of the environment.

More than anything else, it was a [Predator Type]. It was the kind of infected that would not charge upfront and ambush its prey when it was unprepared. While the soldiers were focused on the other infected in front of them, it slipped at the side, scaling the outpost's walls. It then attacked the soldier furthest from everyone else.

The soldier fell on his back, arms pinned down, his gun was rendered unusable. He cried for help as he tried to resist the enemy. Unfortunately, despite the enhancements of Mutagen to people, he was just a regular human. He was neither an Evolver, much more a Mutator. There was no way for him to fight against an infected that traversed the strong underwater currents of the gulf.

In the first place, this infected was not just at a [Level One] Mutation. It was currently at [Level Two]. There was no way a regular human would be able to contend against it with just raw strength.

The soldier's comrades that heard his cry immediately tried to help. Unfortunately, it was too late.

One thing that could differentiate [Predator Types] from others was their fast movements and sharp claws. Those characteristics were far more than enough for the infected to pierce through the soldier's unarmored neck and kill him before the others could help.

The soldiers started shooting the sand-skinned infected. With it being busy with its prey, its body caught all the bullets. It staggered away from the soldier's body before its head was penetrated by a clean shot of an assault rifle.

One of the soldiers that tried to help hurried to check the victim's body. That soldier could only shake his head towards the other soldiers as he sensed to pulse. With a heavy heart, he grabbed the blood-covered dog tag on the victim's neck before unleashing a ruthless kick on the dead infected's head.

The first casualty impacted the other soldiers heavily as they returned to the battlefield.

Unfortunately, that was not the end of their remorse.

Despite being outnumbered, these soldiers were still holding onto their post. Although a few infected managed to reach the outpost's walls, it was still far from being destroyed.

But then, from the gulf, the second batch of infected arrived.

The new ones were far slower than the first group that emerged from the seawaters. Nevertheless, among them were, without a doubt, [Armor Types]. Although the outpost was not ill-equipped against armored monsters from the sea, there was no way they had enough explosives to deal with more than fifty heavily armored infected. Some of them were even as large as a bungalow.

That scene by the sea made the soldiers start to lose heart.

"Where the f*ck are the reinforcements?!"

One soldier cried out loud.

There was no answer to that question for a while. It was until the newly stationed commander angrily stomped out of the communication room along with the soldiers stationed there.

"God damn son of a f*cking b*cth." The outpost commander cursed under his breath before he started shouting. "Abandon post! I REPEAT ABANDON POST! THERE ARE NO INCOMING REINFORCEMENTS! WE ARE ORDERED TO RETREAT BACK TO THE SETTLEMENT ASAP!"

Those words caused confusion to the soldiers holding the line of defense.

"SIR! WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?"

One soldier bravely asked back.

"THE PORT IS ALSO UNDER SIEGE BY THE INFECTED! IF YOU ALL WANT TO LIVE, HURRY UP AND RETREAT!"

The commander replied as he led the preparation to leave.

"Sh*t."

The soldier that asked the question cursed which those that heard him could only agree.

The event they were facing was definitely a sh*tty situation.

As per orders, the soldiers started to leave the outpost.

But of course, not without leaving a gift.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

To cover their retreat, the soldiers fired rockets and threw grenades unto the horde. Accompanied by explosions, blood had splattered, and body parts had scattered.

That was when the sound of several vehicles could be heard, moving out of the outpost. Leaving the threat behind them, the soldiers hurried back to the settlement.

***

Day 147 - 8:51 PM - Port Area, Catanduanes Settlement, Codon, San Andres, Catanduanes

The current situation at the port was not that different from the western coast of Codon. In some parts, it was even worse.

Atop the walls, the boardwalk, and even the buildings' roofs, the soldiers found defensive positions. They all faced the port, which had the least defense in contrast to the other parts of the settlement.

In the first place, aside from evolved marine animals, it was where the least attacks were expected from. Even the rebels would not go this way as there was no cover for them to take.

Unfortunately, it became a threat this time as infected capable of traversing the seawaters came. And not only a single individual but an organized horde.

Yes, that was right. It was organized.

"Damn it! Find the [Leader Type]!"

Andrew shouted fiercely while firing his M60 Heavy Machine Gun atop the walls.

The infected that was attacking the port was moving in an organized pattern. The [Armor Types] stood in front while the other types of infected would slip out at every opportunity.

With remorse, soldiers could only watch the boats parked at the port sink as the gigantic infected mauled the obstacles broken.

There was no doubt that there was a [Leader Type] leading this group. Furthermore, the [Leader Type] appeared to have developed intelligence to pull an attack like this.

The worst part, however, there was no sign of the [Leader Type] among the infected that was invading the port. It was very likely that it was hiding somewhere while commanding its minions.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Suddenly, several splashes appeared from the ocean water as several mutated infected with long distorted limbs shot out of it. Like gigantic arrows, they threw themselves from the water towards the soldiers standing at the boardwalk.

Some attentive soldiers managed to dodge. Those that were unfortunate, however, the long-limbed infected clutched unto their bodies and instantly dragged them unto the seawater. With their bodies constrained, they could not even flail their limbs as the soldiers were drowned and bitten to death.

The appearance of the long-limbed infected forced the soldiers to abandon the boardwalk, retreating their whole line of defense towards the boundary of the coastline. That, however, allowed the infected to step on land and charge faster towards the settlement.

At the same time, gigantic infected, about the height of seven meters, emerged from the sea. Two rock-skinned infected started walking towards the beach, making large splashes on the seawater.

"Open the gates! Deploy the tanks!"

General Padilla saw the situation and ordered in his radio. Opening the gates to the port might be risky with the infected charging at the beach, but it would be even more dangerous if those two infected reached the walls.

The loud clanging sounds of the old tanks echoed as four FV101 Scorpion tanks drove into position.

TOOM! TOOM!

With the roar of the 76mm cannons, the four tanks shook. Four balls of light flew towards the two giants.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Two shots for each giant, the four cannons hit different parts of the two giants' bodies.

One giant was hit on its shoulder and stomach, causing it to stagger backward. The other was not that lucky as one cannon penetrated its eye, exploding inside its skull. Its large body caused a huge wave as it fell.

Unfortunately, the fell of that giant was not the end It was just the start.

***

In the sky, a thunderbird flew, overseeing the scene below.

"What in the world." Berrak could not believe what he was seeing. "Did I really cause this mess?"

He then asked, turning his head to the people with him behind his flying pet.

Of course, he was not asking anyone else but Mark.

"You don't seem to know but the infected are highly sensitive to magical energy," Mark replied. "That is why we're not using too much of it while traveling. When you summoned your flying serpent this afternoon, you caused quite a ripple. It's no surprise that the infected would feel it."

"Did you expect this to happen? Is that why we camped out instead of staying in the settlement?"

Berrak asked with suspicion.

However, Mark titled his head.

"No really. We already planned to camp out even before the thing this afternoon happened. But yeah, I somehow anticipated this."

Mark then looked below, watching the war at the port as he added.

"I did not expect this scale, though."

Although Mark expected that the infected would be alerted by the magical fluctuation this afternoon, this scale was too large. With Catanduanes being surrounded by the sea, even though there would be those infected that would make it, there should only be a few.

In hindsight, Mark could not help but look towards the western beach. He understood what really happened.

Like a wave in the ocean, without obstacles, it would reach far. And at the western beach, the west direction was completely clear of obstacles. It was very likely that the ripples of Berrak's magical energy reached farther than anticipated.

Berrak looked below once more, feeling guilty about what was happening. He then turned to Mark.

"If this is my fault, can I go and help?"

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