Mutagen

Day 5 – 5:40 PM – 4th Grade Building, Queens Row Elementary School, Queens Row Area A, Bacoor City, Cavite

Ignoring the guy outside who did not stop from complaining, everything inside the classroom was fine.

Looking around, Mark was surprised and relieved that his close classmates in college chose to join him. He could not help but raise an eyebrow though seeing how Mei was staring at Joan. Still, he could not just chase Joan out since she was very close with Suzanne. Compared to all of his classmates before aside from two people who were the closest to him, Suzanne and Saime came following those two. As for men, he did not have close male friends in college aside from two people and Mar was one of the two.

Why was that? It was because most males in college were unruly and fond of cursing. Mark was not fond of those traits at all and aside from the two who shared some hobbies with him and did not curse too much, he did not like interacting with the others.

Due to his dislike in cursing and swearing people, he was inclined to spend time with females since most females were not as vulgar as males in many ways.

"I didn't expect that all of you will come."

Mark said when he approached Suzanne and Mar who were sitting side by side talking before Mark entered. These two along with Suzanne's husband, Loreto knew each other even before Mark knew them so it was not surprising to see them talking comfortably. All of it was because the three played the same online RPG game before in high school.

Hearing Mark said, Mar and Suzanne drew up bitter smiles.

"What's wrong?"

Mark asked seeing the two did not immediately reply and only smiled bitterly.

"We were told that it was better for us to come with you."

Mar said before looking at the others on the other side of the room.

"Looking at the people with you, it seems that what we were told were all true."

Mar and Suzanne looked at Odelina and the others with a hint of jealousy. Looking at their ragged state after leaving the refugee building and comparing their state to the members of Mark's group, they felt bitter. They looked dirty and did not even take a bath for several days only relying on a bottle of water and a towel a day to clean their bodies. Mark's group on the other hand looked clean as if they were just in an outing. The atmosphere around Mark's group was also good comparing to them who were despairing at their current state.

"By the way, you were told? By who?"

Mark asked.

"We don't know her name. The one who told that to us is a female soldier."

Suzanne replied.

"Female soldier, it should be Irene I think."

Mark murmured in contemplation.

He then turned to Saime who was looking after her sleeping son.

"Sai, where are your sisters and brother? Also, your cousin, mother and aunt?"

Mark asked because he knew all of them. Saime's mother was a kind person who let them intrude and spend time at their house even though they were quite a handful bunch.

Saime who was just listening to Mark's conversation with Mar and Suzanne was surprised when she was suddenly asked by him. Then, her complexion turned sad.

"I don't know where they are now. Sarah, Mari Jo and Lemuel went out to shop at PureGold Mall in Molino before the infected came. That's all I know. Mama, Aunt and Yanyan, they're all gone."

Tears started to drop from Saime's eyes. Rodel, her husband, who was sitting beside her started to console her.

Looking at Saime, the other classmates of Mark also felt sad. Not only Saime lost the member's of her family. They were the same. It was already lucky that they were able to save their partners and children keeping their own family intact.

Mark talked to his college classmates a bit more before he left them. It was strange but Joan seemed to be silent all the while. Mark then noticed that Mei's eyes were boring holes on her all this time. Pulling Mei away, Mark made his way to the men who were with Arvie and Rollan.

There were two men new here at the moment. They were Jason, Arvie's brother and Kevin who was one of Mark's male friends from high school. When Mark was with this group, he felt a little inferior. The faces of these guys were way better than his and yet, these guys hang out with him back in high school. It was only because they went to different colleges that they separated but they still hanged out from time to time until Mark stopped stepping out of his house.

"You two going to join us?"

Mark asked Jason and Kevin.

"Why not?"

Kevin replied. It looked like that these two were not against the idea at all.

"It's surprising though that you became a leader of your own group. Furthermore, it's a group composed mostly of women."

Jason said while his eyes panned from Mark to the members of his group.

To that, Mark sighed.

"It just came this way."

That was true. His group just got like this without his control.

As men close with each other, there was not much to be talked about. Kevin and Jason also did not ask about Mei who was closely following behind Mark though she was hiding behind him when Mark approached his male friends. Furthermore, Arvie who came here first had already gathered a lot of things from Mark's group and he had already relayed it to the two lessening the questions to be asked.

When Mark approached the original members of his group, he immediately turned to Melissa who was taking care of the still unconscious girl.

"How is she?"

Mark asked. The state of this little girl was too crucial for him. If the girl did not wake up at all, it meant that his experiment failed miserably.

"Boss, she's fine. Her fever also went down about an hour ago. She's just sleeping right now."

Melissa replied.

No one however noticed that every time Mark spoke, the little girl's closed eyes would quiver for some reason.

Odelina then relayed what the military planned to do. It was the reason Captain Dela Rosa and Irene were here before Jason and his gang came. As Mark was not here, the squad captain relayed everything to Odelina. According to what he said, after the preparations were finished, everyone would abandon this settlement tomorrow afternoon. Even though they were gathering vehicles at the moment, there were not enough vehicles to transport all the people which had caused the preparations to get delayed. Another issue was that the other squad that was supposed to join them was running late.

'I still have time to prepare then.'

Mark thought as he heard the details.

While Mark was speaking with Odelina, the unconscious girl's eyes slowly opened.

"Boss, she's awake!"

Melissa immediately called out getting everyone's attention towards the poor girl.

The girl opened her eyes and saw all the people she did not recognize looking at her. That was not the main issue however…

"Are you okay? Does anywhere hurt?"

Melissa gently asked the girl who she helped to sit down as the little girl continued to silently pan her sight to everyone. Her eyes landed on Melissa who asked her the question.

"I'm… Not hurt?"

'Why was that a question?'

Everyone lamented. It seemed that something was wrong with this girl.

"What's going on? I think, there's something wrong with her."

Carlo asked.

"Everyone here can see that there's something wrong."

Sundra told her boyfriend.

"Is it because of the trauma she received?"

Anna said her thoughts. Considering what happened to the girl, it would not be surprising if this girl received a heavy mental trauma causing her to behave this way.

Mark however, seemed to have an idea why.

"Melissa, ask her name."

Everyone was confused to Mark's instruction. Why did he have to ask Melissa to do it and not ask himself? Not only that but what does the little girl's name had to do with the situation? Nevertheless, Melissa could only comply. It was the Boss' order after all.

"Little girl, what is your name?"

Melissa asked the girl gently.

"I don't… know?"

The girl replied while tilting her head cutely as she tried to remember her name. Unfortunately nothing came up.

Everyone watching the girl was flabbergasted. Considering the age of the girl, she should already be a grade two student. For her to not know her name…

"How about your mama? Papa? Brother or sisters?"

Melissa suddenly asked as the girl's condition suddenly dawned on her.

"Mama? I don't know?"

The girl replied with another question which confirmed her condition.

It was likely that the girl had amnesia and did not remember anything of her past anymore. For her to have this condition was also acceptable. The girl was pushed to the door of death by the evil deeds of Dominador and his men. The cause of this could either be mental trauma or even physical trauma.

However, her next actions and sentence flabbergasted everyone that even Mark's classmates had their mouths open in shock.

After saying that she did not know her mother, the little girl looked at Mark.

"Papa?"

Mark could not speak as his back started to sweat. He did not expect that it would turn out like this. Back in the vehicle, he questioned himself if this girl was his kin now that he used his blood to blend in her body and turn her into an Evolver. Since the girl received his regenerative ability, he was sure that his blood and genes fused with the girl's body perfectly.

Considering that the girl lost her memories becoming a blank slate, she was only answering using what she knew and feel. Since she looked at Mark and uttered those words, there was no doubt that the little girl felt that Mark was her Papa. She must have felt a sense of connection with him due to his blood.

"Gege, what is going on?"

Of course, Mei was the one to react first on this. For Mei, Abbygale was one thing since she saw it when Mark brought the strange little girl back from the first floor of the mall. This little girl however, suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Even though Mark said the story before, for the amnesiac little girl to call him Papa was too strange.

Mark was contemplating while everyone was looking at him with strange expressions. Not only the people in his group but also his classmates and friends.

"Hey Mark! You're always silent but we never knew that you were spreading your seeds already!"

Joseph shouted through the window making Mark frustrated. The idiot outside was making everything worse.

He did not want to tell the others about the experiment he did to the girl but he did not want these people to think things that never happened! Even though he did not talk too much and did not care for his brutal reputation, he did not want this unnecessary kind of lascivious reputation at all!

"Hey Mark! Did you hear me?!"

Joseph continued to shout making Mark turn to him.

"If you don't stop being noisy out there, I'll throw you not just out of the classroom but out of the settlement! I'll make sure that your wife and children will come with you out there!"

Mark spoke making Joseph shiver. It was very rare for Mark to get angry like this so Joseph clasped his mouth and hid below the window.

"Papa, papa. Big sister?"

Abbygale went towards her Papa and asked while pulling the hem of his new jacket and pointing at the girl that had just woke up.

However, the little cat girl's question only made the stare of the people around intensify.

Mark then decided. With a deep breath, he spoke.

"You all can say that she's my daughter I think? I can't say whether its biologically or not though."

Mark decided to accept the girl as his daughter due to his experiment. It was not entirely wrong though. When a scientist created something whether it is a living creature or just bacteria, or even just a device, the scientist would treat it as his own.

"Boss, what do you mean?"

Melissa asked.

Mark's revelation confused everyone. His daughter but not biologically? Was the girl his adoptive daughter?

"She did not become an Evolver naturally. I turned her into one and I used my genes from my blood as catalyst to turn her into an Evolver. If I'm correct, a part of my genes fused in her body now."

What he said made everyone more confused. Mark's classmates already heard about Evolvers from the military but… He actually turned this little girl into one?

Without saying anymore, Mark took out a hand sized kitchen knife he always had in his pocket. He approached the girl and pulled out her right arm. Everyone one watched but no one tried to stop him. As Mark called this girl his daughter, with how protective he was to Mei and Abbygale, they were sure that he would not do harm to the little girl.

The little girl on the other hand did not mind the knife nearing her skin. Rather, she felt at ease when Mark grabbed her arm.

SLIT!

Blood started to drip as Mark slit a two inches wound to the little girl's arm.

Everyone looked at the blood in horror. They did not know why Mark would do that! They looked at the girl. Strange enough, she did not cry in pain. The girl was only staring at the blood on her arm.

Shortly after the knife left the girl's skin, the gaping wound started to close with absurd speed. A few seconds later, the wound was gone and what was left was the remaining blood on her skin.

Mark then pulled the sleeve of his jacket up and slit the same size of wound on his skin. His blood also started to drip but his wounds also closed soon after.

To everyone's shock, the rate that the wounds of the two healed were exactly the same.

"You can turn people into Evolvers now?"

Melissa could not help but ask.

"What? You also want to be my daughter?"

Melissa choked. She did not mean it like that at all!

Ignoring the nurse's speechless expression, Mark spoke.

"I experimented on her alright. I tried to turn her into an Evolver but her own genes could not help speed up her evolution so I used my blood as catalyst."

"Experiment? That's inhumane."

Melissa could not help but berate him with a sharp look. After all, she was a medical practitioner and unethical and unlicensed human experimentation were highly loathed by them. Mark did not mind though and looked at her.

"I did not tell all of you but that girl was dying when I took her from Captain Dela Rosa. Whether I failed in my experiment or not do it at all, she will die. I succeeded and you see her there, alive."

Melissa stopped staring at him. He was right. What he did maybe inhumane but he did save a life.

"Can you turn anyone into an Evolver now?"

Carlo could not help but ask. He was an evolver himself but his ability was not of combat type and he could not do anything about that. Still, it would be good if his girlfriend could turn into one.

The question Carlo asked stirred everyone inside the classroom as they stared at Mark waiting for an answer.