Mutagen

<strong>Day 6 - 9:05 AM – Blue Ave., Camella Springville North, Molino III, Bacoor City, Cavite</strong>

Technical Sergeant Joey Cadunggan led several teams composing of both members from 7th and 11th Rescue Squads as the on-site commander. The order they received was of course, not to make a direct clash with the horde but to aid the scouting groups sent before in delaying the horde as much as possible.

When the Queens Row settlement received the news about the sightings of the horde and the estimated number and time before they arrive at the settlement, the military immediately organized these small groups to be sent out.

They arrived two and a half hours ago and entered the modern styled house at the very southwest corner of the subdivision which was also the house being used as the front outpost of the scouting groups sent yesterday. Standing at the third floor of the house at that time, he felt that his heart stopped for a second as he stared at the both amazing and horrifying sight.

About thirty-thousand infected? The scouting groups were not overestimating things, rather, that seemed to even be the lowest estimation. Why? The number that was reported was the only part of the horde that seemed to be headed their way. Further down the horizon, to the south and the west, there was countless number of infected going towards different directions. That number of thirty thousand was only those that had the possibility of going through the Access Road and enter the subdivision.

Four million eight hundred thousand, that was the lowest estimation of all human population last year here in the province of Cavite and Bacoor City having six hundred thousand or twelve percent of it. With Bacoor being at the Northeastern border of the province, it was not wrong to say that they could be facing an attack of infected from the cities and municipalities of Cavite to the south and to the west of Bacoor. Not to mention that there were also a few provinces beyond those directions.

Among those numbers, the animals and insects were not even included.

A horde of thirty thousand infected was just a small fraction to the entirety of the real number. Even if there were survivors that managed to survive, just how many would they be?

Remembering all those things, Joey could not help but feel that they were fighting a losing game here.

It was lucky that there were creeks, canals and ditches surrounding the southwest area outside the subdivision only leaving small roads and bridges limiting the advance of the infected. When Joey and his men arrived, all they could see was the horde of infected behaving like water in a waterfall. Majority of them were falling unto the canals and creeks without control filling the canals and creeks with rabid beasts hunting for flesh.

To the southern edge of the Access Road, a canal ran through the side along the whole length of the road. At the edge next to the canal, several cars with blinking lights inside the dashboards were parked at fixed intervals. Apparently, this was the idea of two younger cadets who had just graduated from the Philippine Military Academy last February. Both these men were new to the military and needed more training but had been dispatched to the lack of personnel.

Unlike older soldiers, these two, due to their age had more interaction with the new trends and pop culture, specifically, video games and zombie genre media. The two suggested putting vehicles with car alarms with shock or vibration sensors on the edge of the canal. The plan was for the horde reached the vehicles, the alarms were likely to activate and attract the infected at the vicinity luring most of them towards the vehicle. As the infected crowd the vehicle, it would be likely for a number of infected to fall into the canal.

This plan was not too optimistic for others but it was worth a try since they were lacking options. If the plan worked, not only it would delay the horde a little but would also reduce the number. The time the vehicles could delay the horde might be short and the number of infected to fall would be small but no matter how short or small it were, it was a large help.

Half an hour after they arrived until now, their defensive against the infected was still ongoing.

RATATATATATA!

Joey heard another round of gunshots. From his position, he could see that several large cockroaches and spiders climbed up the ditch to the western side. The bodies of the cockroaches and spiders had broken parts especially on their legs and backs making their advance slow. Yet, these insects had really grown huge. The cockroaches had sizes that ranged from the size of a human head to the size of a human torso. The spiders also had similar sizes but looked a lot larger due to their long limbs.

WEW! WEW! WEW! WEW! WEW! WEW! WEW! WEW!

Loud rhythmic sounds suddenly went off on the far side of the Access Road. Joey could hear the two young soldiers behind him who were also observing their suggestion make a high five with each other.

He took out a pair of binoculars and looked at the direction the sound was coming from. There, a red sedan was releasing the sound of the alarm attracting the infected around it. Lured by the sound, the infected crowded around the vehicle trying to find out where the sound was coming from. The infected pushed each other with some tumbling in the middle of the road and some actually falling unto the canal.

To think that it would actually work!

Then, the sound was suddenly cut off causing Joey to immediately focus on the front part of the car. The windshield and the insides of the dashboard seemed to be melted and were still emitting smoke causing the alarm to stop. On the hood of the vehicle, a lean bodied hunched man stood. The thing that called Joey's attention however was the bulging stomach of the man and there was also a bulging sack on the man's neck.

The man opened his mouth that seemed to be melted causing a large clump of white liquid to spill out onto the hood of the car. The color of the vehicle's hood was immediately scraped by the liquid leaving it smoking. The metal making up the hood seemed damaged but it did not seem to be melted.

Joey immediately picked up the radio. Since the vehicle alarms were working, they should eliminate that infected first. There was no doubt that it was an acid spitting kind of Mutated Infected.

"Team Alpha! Get your snipers to aim at the red sedan southwest! Eliminate the Mutated Infected with bulging neck and stomach!"

He bellowed on the radio calling for the team on the western outpost which had snipers with them.

BANG!

A loud sound of a gunshot echoed, however, it seemed that the shot missed. Joey who was observing the mutated infected with great attention saw that another larger infected accidentally blocked bullet with its face.

BANG!

Another gunshot echoed and it finally killed the target. The mutated infected that could release that white acid fell down with its exploded head. Also, it seemed that the hunched body of the infected caused the bullet to also hit the bulging sack on its neck. The sack burst like a balloon splattering the white liquid on its body and on the infected around it. It was followed by another larger burst after its bulging stomach also exploded after getting in contact with the white acid.

All the infected that were covered with the white acid started to fall down as their bodies deformed and melted due to the strong acid. It was as if the acid were eating their bodies and turning it into a pile of disfigured flesh.

Joey's eyes lit up seeing that and tried to look around. To his disappointment, he did not see any other infected with the similar appearance.

WEW! WEW! WEW! WEW! WEW! WEW! WEW! WEW!

Another car alarm sounded breaking the sounds of continuous gunshots.

The car alarm of the second vehicle also worked as intended. It lasted longer than the first one but still did not last too long. The vehicle was smaller than the first one and due to the number of infected crowding the vehicle that it was slowly pushed to the edge of the road until it fell unto the canal. The car was damaged falling front first and the alarm stopped.

Soon, another car alarm sounded and the alarm slowed the advance of the infected once more. Still, Joey was not happy about what was happening. Not because the car alarm method was not a good strategy, it was because for every alarm that sounded, it just meant that the horde was closer to them.

"TEAM DELTA TO COMMAND! TEAM DELTA TO COMMAND!"

The radio in front of Joey sounded with a soldier screaming along with sounds of gunshots at the background. Joey frowned.

'It didn't sound good.'

The Team Delta should be guarding at the eastern side of the subdivision away from the horde. They were there to monitor the area once the horde was directed to the east side of the subdivision. It was one of their plans to delay the horde once they breached the blockades at the southwestern side. At this moment, there should be few dangers that team could face there aside from the infected roaming the place.

'Did they encounter a strong Mutated Infected?

Picking up the radio, he spoke as calm as possible.

"Command speaking. What is your status?"

"Sir! We've lost three men! We need back up!"

Joey was shocked. For the soldier to not report the situation first, it was obvious that he was panicking.

"I repeat, report your status."

Joey said. His voice and expression turned stern.

"Sir! Thousands of infected appeared at the southeast roads! There were a lot of gigantic insects with them! Many of them could fly! There were no tall buildings here and our vision was blocked by the tall walls on the other side of the canal. The infected came from behind the walls, probably from the road leading to the south!"

Hearing that, Joey could not help but shiver. It seemed that the there was also a portion of the large horde coming from the southeast. This was not good news and it was the worst news they could have right now.

"Command to Team Delta, take all your men and retreat to second point. I'll send Team Echo to your next position."

Joey threw his instructions.

"Yes Sir!"

The voice of the soldier on the other side of the radio sounded relieved.

Joey took out another radio. This one was connected to a different waveband that was directly connected to the radio on Captain Dela Rosa's possession. The settlement should hear about this as soon as possible.

BOOM!!!

A loud explosion sounded at the Access Road. It was the last blockade they set up in the middle of the Access Road using propane tanks and highly flammable materials. His men needed to ignite the cans of gasoline set up at that barricade to light up the flammable materials with fire and heat up the contents of the propane tanks and cause a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

After the first propane tank exploded, the second, third and fourth explosions sounded. The sudden rise of temperature and damage to the remaining propane tanks caused by the first explosion and the fire made the chain reaction happen. The explosion sounds did not stop until all the propane tanks set up in the barricade exploded and flew towards many directions in great speeds where most of the flying pieces of propane tanks decimated the infected blocking their way.