Mutagen

Hearing his shout, the females started to take action. Paula lifted the child in her arms while Ange helped the mother stand up. As the mother tried to walk though, she almost fell down again. She did not fall and managed to stabilize herself. The mother tried to walk but she could only drag her left foot as she grimaced in pain. As Ange saw this, she immediately pulled the mother's left arm and put in on her shoulder.

BANG! BANG!

Mark continued to shoot the incoming fast zombies with better accuracy as he got used to the recoil of his shotgun. His gun then ran out of ammo. After opening the chamber of the shotgun, he immediately fetched several 12 gauge shells from his belt bag and reloaded the gun calmly while retreating step by step. Still, he could notice that their retreat was too slow and he saw Ange assisting the woman in order to move.

"What happened?"

Mark asked as he glanced behind him while not taking his attention away from the zombies.

"She sprained her leg."

Ange answered as she furrowed her eyebrows.

Grimacing in pain, the mother then spoke with tears on her eyes.

"I can't run anymore, please just take my daughter and leave."

The two girls and the man following Mark was surprised when they heard what the woman said and her child on Paula's arms started to cry.

"Mommy! NO!"

The child violently squirmed trying to escape out of Paula's arms and almost fell. Paula had no choice but to crouch down for the child to avoid falling off her arms accidentally. Still, the child did not stop trying to reach out to her mother.

"Not a chance! We're not leaving you behind!"

Ange heightened her voice in determination.

"But-"

"No buts!"

Ange then continued to assist the woman not letting go even a tiny bit.

Seeing Ange's determination to help her, tears started flowing out of the mother's eyes. She did not want to die, she was totally scared of dying of on the fangs of these rabid beasts and she did not want to leave her daughter behind even more. But in this case that she injured her leg, she would just drag her daughter and these good people to their demise. She did not want to be like that man who made the already dangerous situation even worse for her.

The employee who followed Mark also had tears at the corner of his eyes as he watched this scene.

Then a snort came from the direction behind them.

"What are you people being dramatic for?! This isn't a drama series and we don't have time for you all to make a scene!"

Ange wanted to say something in retort as she thought that he wanted to abandon the woman but Mark did not let her and turned his eyes towards the employee behind him. Seeing Mark looking at him, he gulped his own saliva for some reason.

"You think you can carry her?"

Mark gestured towards the mother. The employee looked at the woman who had quite a short build which was about several inches less of five feet and reluctantly nodded.

Seeing that the man was quite reluctant, Mark was confused. The man's build showed that he was used to carrying heavy stuff but he actually showed such expression towards carrying the woman.

Still, following what Mark said, the man put the fire extinguisher on the floor and took the woman from Ange lifting her on his arms in the position Mark knew as princess carry. The mother also showed a little bit of hesitation and embarrassment being carried like this but she also knows the urgency of the situation and did not resist.

As she thought wrongly, Ange also had a bit of embarrassment on her face as she looked at Mark who was now holding a bat which was not dripping with blood. It seemed that they are too engrossed with the situation of the woman and they did not notice that their savior already took down several zombies. In front of him, there are several bodies that either had blasted heads or smashed skulls.

The scene of blood and gore in front of him is totally sickening and scary but his face did not show any of such emotion. Among the bodies, the man who grabbed the woman's leg can also be seen with a deep dent on his head and his orifices bleeding.

"Shouldn't it be easier if you carry her on your back?"

Mark asked as he swung his bat at the face of another zombie who lunged at him.

The man did not answer but only looked at Mark with a pleading expression on his face. Seeing this, Mark finally came to a conclusion and did not urge the man anymore.

TAM! TAM! TAM! BLAM!

It is then a sickening loud sequence of metal sounds clashing with a final sound of heavy metal falling on the floor sounded.

"Shit!"

Mark's expression changed as he cursed out loud for the first time in his life when he heard that sound.

He was not a person who was fond of cursing. Even people who knew him never heard him curse even once. Mark view cursing as something unethical and makes a person look uneducated and thus he never did. But now, he could help but do so.

The females together with Mark are confused to his reaction towards that sound but the face of the employee who just lifted the woman also paled.

"What happened?"

Ange noticed the ugly expression of the two and asked.

"Hold this for a little bit."

The employee seemed not to hear her question and Mark did not answer either. Instead, Mark held his bat towards her.

Ange did pursue the question anymore and received the metal bat. Mark then took the fire extinguisher and bashed its bottom on an incoming zombie which caused it to stagger backward. At that opening, Mark pulled the safety pin of the fire extinguisher and squeezed the trigger aiming at the bashed zombie's face.

The zombie who had its face covered with sticky white foam started to ran towards its target once more without even trying to remove the foam covering its eyes. Trying to attack, it pounced, but not towards Mark but towards the terrace. The zombie's shoulder hit the railing but the rest of its body passed over the terrace. With the momentum of its jump and the railing stopping the force on its shoulder, the zombie kept rotating midair as it plunged to its death. With a loud splatting sound, it hit the ground two floors below.

Mark's eyes shined a bit as he then proceeded to spray the contents of the fire extinguished across the floor. And the result, the incoming fast zombies that already had bad sense of balance slipped on the foam sliding on the floor covering their bodies with even more of the foam especially the zombies' hands and feet as they try to stand up again. The sliding zombies spread the foam even more and the started having a hard time to stand up as their hands and feet slipped on the floor every time they did.

Still, even if they slipped repeatedly on the floor at this moment, they are still advancing forward and this situation would not last too long.

"Okay! Run!"

As Mark gained more leeway for them to run, they all rushed back to the TechZone leaving the struggling zombies behind.