Mutagen

Day 5 – 12:54 PM – Parking Area, Queens Row Elementary School, Queens Row Area A, Bacoor City, Cavite

"Is this the same as that one?"

Harvey hurriedly showed the nail sized pebble that he had just taken to Mark. As Mark asked the soldier in front of them for something like this, it could be given to him in exchange for saving his son. He was still afraid of Mark but considering that he had given his conditions to the soldier in advance, it meant that he was really able to save his son that had gone feral.

Mark took the pebble from Harvey and nodded. He could feel the same energy coming from the new pebble and it was no doubt that it was similar.

"Where did you get this?"

Mark asked the parents.

"We got it from the zombie cat that bit our son and daughter. The cat looked normal except that it had a lot of metal sticks sticking out of his body. It managed to slip into our house last night and bit my children. Out of rage, my wife bashed the cat's head too hard that the brain splattered and this stone flew towards to the wall. We thought that this stone is normal at first but Monique said that she can feel some sort of energy from it."

Harvey narrated how they came to find this odd pebble while also revealing other things.

Hearing the narration, Mark came to realize. It seemed that not only him but other Evolvers could feel this energy. Also Harvey had just mentioned that his son and daughter were bitten. If his son was here and became a Mutator, the sister could either be dead or the infected that was currently sitting inside their vehicle.

"Your daughter is that infected inside the van am I right?"

Mark asked once more causing the color on the face of the husband and wife fade. They did a lot of work using makeup and even putting sunglasses on their daughter so no one would realize that she was infected but how did this man know? Looking at the others except from the people that belong to their group, they did not seem to realize even though the door was wide open when Harvey was searching for that strange pebble.

Hearing Mark, the others were also shocked. What they saw there was a girl about nine or ten years old sitting quietly. It was strange that the girl was wearing glasses but they never thought that the girl was actually infected!

Harvey and Monique might be able to fool others but not Mark. Mark could detect mental and emotional fluctuations from people and he did not detect anyone inside the vehicle. Yet, there was someone sitting on the passenger seat. There were only two kinds of people that Mark could not detect those fluctuations from. First was dead people and the other was the infected. Since the girl was sitting there and was moving slightly, there was no doubt that she was not a corpse which could only mean that she was an infected.

Under Mark's scary stare, Harvey's weak will collapsed and he stammered as he admitted it.

"Y-yes. She's our daughter. I- We know that it's not good to bring her after she became a zombie but please, spare her! She doesn't attack people!"

Mark's eyes shone after Harvey admitted that their daughter turned out to be something like Janette. Though it was really not hard to see since the infected girl was not gagged or tied in any way but was not behaving like those blood-thirsty infected outside.

Seeing how the two paled after their daughter's condition was revealed, Mark shook his head.

"You two shouldn't worry about your daughter. I also have an infected in the similar conditions as your daughter. If you can let me examine her later and give me this stone, I'll assure that I'll save your son."

Mark beamed with a smile. This was really a good thing. Mark was having a dilemma about how he would be able to research what happened to Janette since there was no one to compare her to but this family came this time with a girl with the same conditions. His enthusiasm flared inside as new knowledge about the infected could now be revealed.

When Mark said that they should not worry about their daughter, the felt relived but also surprised that their daughter was not the only one who turned to become like this after turning into an infected. Still, they could not help but hesitate when Mark asked permission to examine their daughter.

"What kind of examination are you talking about?"

Monique asked.

"Nothing much. I'll just compare her conditions to the infected we had. Also I won't hide it since you will see it anyway but the one we had started to lose the infected traits she had."

Mark spoke deciding to reveal some facts that even Captain Dela Rosa's eyes dilated.

The squad captain never thought that the infected Janette looked like that despite being an infected was actually her losing her infected traits. As he looked at Mark and his group, Captain Dela Rosa was being more and more mystified. He would probably believe it if Mark said that he had more knowledge about the infected that the scientists in Bay City had not discovered yet.

"You mean… Our daughter can also be saved?"

Monique's eyes shone with hope but she was bound to be disappointed as Mark shook his head.

"You can't say that it's save. Once a person turned into an infected, there's no going back."

What Mark said disappointed the two but at least it seemed that Mark had no ideas to desecrate the body of their daughter. The husband and wife stared at each other before Harvey nodded.

"Okay, we agree for you to examine our daughter. Just promise us that you won't do anything unacceptable to her."

There was still a hint of hesitation but Monique spoke her agreement. But then, they almost fell down when Mark replied.

"You two have to say many things but it's not like you two can't disagree. Or else, you two will lose your son you know that?"

Mark shrugged his shoulders after informing that others that Monique and Harvey had no choice but to agree to his request. There was no other leeway to it. Even Captain Dela Rosa looked desperate after Mark admitted that he could do something about Failed Mutators which meant that even the military or the government had no way to help. Only Mark had the way to do it, and maybe, not only in this country but in the whole world.

Mark then put Abbygale down beside him and spoke to Monique once more.

"Alright, give me your son."

On Mark's cue, Monique carefully handed her son to Mark.

RRRIIIIIPPPP!!!

A ripping sound of clothes echoed followed by a splash of blood.

After Monique let go of her son, the boy immediately retaliated. Mark's arm was sliced by the boy's right hand claw ripping the sleeve of Mark's jacket and causing three gashes on his arm.

Everyone was surprised to the sudden event making Harvey and Monique's faces pale once more. Their benefactor was actually attacked by their son that he was about to treat. If this man suddenly back out because of this, they were doomed. However, the next line of the man made them slack jawed.

"Ugh. My jacket is ruined again."

Mark looked at the ripped left sleeve of his jacket as he grabbed both of the boy's arms with his right hand preventing the boy from doing another attack.

Looking at Mark who was worrying about the wrong thing, even Captain Dela Rosa could not find anything to say. The wound on Mark's arm was about a centimeter deep and about half the circumference of his arm long with blood gushing out of it that several drops even fell on the ground. Yet, the person with the wound was even more worried about his ruined jacket.

But then under their shocked eyes, the wounds gaping wounds closed at a fast rate. Looking at this, Monique realized why Mark was not surprised about her regenerative ability. It was actually because he also had the same ability and several times higher than hers in terms of speed.

Ignoring the expression of the people around, Mark spoke.

"Mei, Odel, help me with this one. Hmm. Gale you also get inside. Laelaps, guard outside the car and don't let anyone disturb us."

With those words, Mark brought the boy into the MB Sprinter before Mei, Odelina and Abbygale followed suit. After the door closed, Laelaps sat in front of the door like a guard while glancing at everyone around.

Inside the vehicle, Mark made Odelina hold the boy down on the floor. Odelina covered her arms with her bone gauntlet to prevent the boy from swiping his claws toward her arms to escape.

On the other hand, Mark put down his things and removed his jacket. It was quite uncomfortable as his sleeve was soaked with his blood. After he removed his jacket, Mei approached with a handkerchief and gently wiped the blood on his arm.

"Odel, hold him for a bit longer, I'll just remove a few things out of my bag."

"Yes, master."

Mark then took out the jar containing the broken pieces of brain matter. Seeing the jar, Odelina was a bit disgusted but she did not say anything. Mark then took out the bag where he stored the jar containing the crystals and intended to put the new jar into the same bag. It was not like that he was trying to do something with it but he was putting anything he had strange into the same bag. Actually, the strange seed and crystal he received from Mikio was in the same bag too in a different pocket being safely covered with a soft cloth.

Taking out another soft cloth, he put the two strange pebbles into the folded cloth and put it beside the jar for now. He would arrange these things later. Right now, it was urgent to deal with the savage consciousness of the boy first as his original consciousness was getting weaker and weaker.

The boy struggled wanting to escape but with Odelina's grasp, it was not able to. Using the same method he did with Laelaps, Mark started to work after planting his left palm on the boy's fluffy head. Intense red glow exuded from his eyes suppressing the new consciousness. He then used his right hand that was now glowing white and nourished the original consciousness. Soon the boy stopped struggling while his thick cat fur started to regress into his body.

Mark finally let go but his face was a little pale and there were drops of blood coming out of his nose halfway the treatment. Dealing with a Failed Mutator was still taxing but at least, he could pull it off now more easily. It was just a bit time consuming. Mei hurriedly wiped the blood coming out of his nose with worry on her face. Seeing her worry, Mark assured her that he was fine before looking at the boy who was about to wake up.

Now, the boy lying on the floor was not covered with fur anymore. He really looked like a normal four or five year old boy. Well, if not for the two black triangular ears on his head. It seemed that the boy also have the same side effect of mutation similar to Emika's hair and Mikio's bark like skin.

After the bleeding of his nose stopped, he scooped the boy up and went out of the vehicle.

The people outside were all worried about the result. They had been waiting for more than fifteen minutes already after Mark brought the boy inside the vehicle. Harvey was even pacing back and forth not being able to stay put. Monique could not tolerate Harvey's pacing for too long and forced her husband to sit down inside their van.

A few seconds later, the door opened and Mark came out carrying the boy. Seeing boy in Mark's arms, Monique's eyes started tear up. The boy he was carrying pretty much look normal now and a lot different from how the boy looked like fifteen minutes earlier.

Monique hurriedly took the boy from Mark's arms and hugged her son lovingly with a joy filled smile. Due to her tight hug, the boy was woken up.

"Mama it hurts."

Hearing that, Monique panicked.

"Where does it hurt?"

"Mama, your hug. Too tight."

"Ah!"

Monique then loosened her hug on her son. Still she could not help but look at the triangular ears on and looked at Mark in askance. Then, as she stared at Mark, she also noticed how pale the color of his face was and became apologetic.

Seeing her stare, Mark spoke.

"I can't do anything about the ears. That's probably permanent now."

Hearing that, Monique and Harvey that had just approached did not bother anymore. At least their son was back to them and was not some feral monster anymore.

"Thank you very much."

The husband and wife said almost at the same time. It was apparent how much they view this as a huge debt.

Accepting their gratitude, Mark turned towards the squad captain who also waited for the result.

"Captain, can you give these people some place to stay, preferably, near the classroom we are using now."

"There's no problem with that. I'll have it arranged immediately."

After that, Captain Dela Rosa personally escorted the new group towards the military quarters leaving Mark and the others who intended to stay for a bit.

However, the moment Mark turned around to the car, a flash of bright light flared making Mark hurriedly enter and close the door of the vehicle with the others. Inside they saw the jar containing the crystals shining brightly.