Mutagen

9:06 PM – City Mall, Bacoor, Central Area, Basement Parking

Mark and Ange entered the part of the Basement Parking that was under the Central Area of the Mall with their guns in their hands, ready to shoot whatever was the cause of the Massacre. As they stepped into the area, there was an unknown pressure that enveloped their bodies. It was not a feeling of being watched or being stared down by a beast but rather, entering a territory of a terrifying monster.

They were less than thirty meters away from the entrance of the basement parking but the pressure they were feeling made them feel that the distance was even further.

Mark looked at the direction opposite of the entrance and spoke to Ange who was behind him with a low voice.

"Angeline, go towards the entrance and find the control for the shutters. Tell them to not enter with the survivors they brought or they might become a hindrance."

"How about you?"

"I'll stay here and lure whatever this thing away if it tries to attack."

"Alright be careful."

Ange looked one more time at Mark and hurried towards the entrance without making too much noise.

Mark kept staring in front of him trying to detect any movements. The intense emotional fluctuation increased when they entered this area but Mark could not determine the exact location as there were dim areas inside the parking area. It seemed that several lights were busted or might even be deliberately destroyed as Mark could make out several broken pieces of LED bulbs on the ground.

He then reached into the right side of his helmet and turned on a device he attached to it. It was a small Bluetooth Camera that was connected with his phone. He found it boxed in the shop he was made his base in. He started recorded for various reasons. One, for research purposes and another was for documentation of how he died if ever it happened.

Blagam!

A few seconds after Ange left, a dead body of a man was thrown away not far from Mark's position. As Mark was already waiting for any movement, he did not flinch from the sudden appearance of the dead body. It also made him determine the position of the creature that he was looking for. He could see a silhouette of a woman walking on the dark side of the parking lot in the middle of two cars.

The creature sluggishly walked out into the light and Mark finally saw it.

It was a woman about several years older from his age only wearing her lingerie. She had a long black hair and a good looking face. Well, the left half of her face was the only good looking part now though.

On the right half of her body, from her foot to her face, a grey colored armor which had a texture similar to human bones enveloped her. There were several black pointed bones protruding from some of her joints on the right side of her body like her right knee, right elbow and right shoulder. There were also several pointed bones on protruding from her chest and even pierced through her right breast which looked like parts of her rib cage. Her right eye was glowing yellow and staring straight at him as if was something insignificant. Her body and armor was stained with blood. At the end of her fingers, there was also black colored claws growing where her nails was supposed to be.

She walked while dragging her left foot and tilting her head to her left. Drops of blood fell from her chin and claws to the floor.

On the uncovered part of her body, her black colored upper and lower lingerie was exposed and her skin was stained and dripping with blood. Even the left half of her face was smeared with blood.

Mark was dumbfounded, her face was not smeared with blood not only from other people but also from her own. Her left eye was still dripping with tears, red blood tears and there were also traces of blood coming from her mouth.

Mark reached for his collar and played a song from his phone. He made sure that the volume as just enough to hear the song while still being able to hear the sounds around him so he would be able to hear when the entrance opened.

The song started to play. Mark's eyes then dilated and he immediately jumped and rolled to his right.

At the instant he rolled away, several black flashes appeared where he stood before.

Fast!

The instant he played the song, the woman covered in bone armor traversed about 10 meters in an instant!

Even though the woman's speed was fast, Abbygale was still faster. Mark could only see a red shadow before but Mark could still somehow react to the movements of this woman.

After rolling to the ground, Mark stood up and jumped back before firing his shotgun towards the woman.

BANG!

'Dammit!'

Mark cursed in his mind.

This mutant woman had better instincts compared to the mutant zombies he encountered before! When Mark fired his gun, the woman immediately jumped up using her right armored foot and propelled herself towards the ceiling.

That was about 7 meters distance from the ground!

The woman pierced her claws towards the ceiling, spun her body forwards and kicked the ceiling propelling her body towards Mark.

Mark wanted to fire at her once more when had to dodge towards his left as he did not dare meet her attack head on. If he did even once, he will become minced meat! His armor would not be able to protect him from something that could effortlessly pierce through the concrete ceiling like the claws of this woman!

After he dodged, he was facing the woman's armored side. The woman fell on the ground as she swiped her claws through the empty air.

BANG!

The mutant woman tried to jump again to dodge the shot that was aimed at her head but as she was in close range, she was not able to fully dodge it. The pellets from the gun hit the woman on her right shoulder making her flew back as she was not in contact with the ground.

'You got to be kidding me!'

Mark stared in disbelief as he saw the spot that got hit. There were dents on the armor covering her shoulder but it was mostly intact!

The woman turned towards him glaring in rage with her glowing eyes and jumped towards Mark.

The sudden explosion of emotion that came from the woman made Mark's eyes blurred for a little less than a second. Still, that short time he lost focus made him lose his chance to dodge the woman fully.

Mark jumped and rolled to his right but three of the woman's claws managed to swipe across the glass covering of his helmet. His helmet now had three gashes in front of it. Fortunately, the glass cover of his helmet was made with Plexiglass or else, his face would already be covered wounds from several thousand broken glass fragments if it was not.

He almost died to that attack. He should brace himself from this woman's wild fluctuations or his ability as an Empath would be the one to pull him into his grave.

BANG! BANG!

Mark shot twice in succession. One hit the woman on her armored waist but managed to dodge the second shot as she jumped away. However, it was what Mark wanted. He did not want to kill her with those shots but he wanted her to get away.

He jumped back after the second shot and ran behind a nearby Sedan. He decided to remove his helmet that was of no use at his current battle and was now a hindrance due to the slits on the glass cover.

Mark removed the Bluetooth Camera on the helmet and stuck its hook unto his collar.

He then ran away from the car as he heard the roof of the car dent after the woman jumped on its roof.

BANG!

Mark shot the woman on the roof of the car making her jump towards the ceiling. She then kicked the ceiling again and propelled herself towards Mark only to meet his unexpected attack.

He threw the helmet towards the woman charging at him. The woman slashed the helmet into pieces but lost the opportunity to attack the Mark who was waiting in front.

BANG!

The woman's body spun backward as the shot hit her face. Mark did not rejoice however as the woman turned the unprotected half of her face away in the last moment making the shot hit her right armored cheek.

The woman lied down on the concrete floor but Mark did not press the next attack. He ran away behind another car while his right hand reached into his belt bag.

He needed to reload!

Strange enough, he finished reloading and did not receive any form of attack.

"AAAHHHHH!!!"

Mark heard the mutant woman scream. It was not a scream to warn her enemies and not a scream to attract other zombies. It was a scream of pain.

He peeked from behind the car and saw the woman standing unsteadily while flailing her arms. She tried to move forward towards Mark's direction but he noticed that the unarmored part of her body was holding her back.

"Run…"

Mark was surprised. The mutant woman spoke! Her voice was weak and unsteady.

"Run!"

She shouted as her left human eye stared at Mark.

The light on the woman's left eye started to dim once more and stopped speaking. The armor on her body started to grow leaving only a quarter of her body left. The claws grew longer and her mutant yellow eye grew brighter. Her left eye was now halved in color.

She then moved in for another attack. A more ferocious, more powerful and faster attack.

Mark jumped away from the car and the woman's attack hit the vehicle making the 2.9 ton car skid towards the other car parked beside it.

Mark now knew that time was the crux to survive this. It would be either Ange managed to let the military inside as fast as possible and to kill this mutant before her body was fully covered in armor.

He knew that when that happened, this woman would be in her strongest form.