Mutagen

Day 3 – 10:42 AM – Bacoor City Hall Rooftop, Molino Boulevard, Bayanan, Bacoor City, Cavite

While the Mutanted Woodman was struggling to climb up and Abbygale was having a staring contest with the Huge Cat on the branch of the huge tree, Mark was fiddling with his phone and could be heard murmuring.

"Gunland… Swordland… Ignite… Storm and Fire…"

Mark was organizing his music playlist!

As everyone was at a standstill and the Mutant Woodman had not climbed to the roof top yet, he had enough time to select which songs would be suitable for the incoming fight.

Why did he not start the fight immediately? It was because the survivors at the floor below had not finished evacuating from the city hall yet. While he was fiddling with his phone, he was actually scanning the floor below. Once the last survivor inside left, he would start attacking. Once the fight started, he did not know how long the building would be able to handle it.

It was not because of him, the huge cat nor Abbygale. One minor reason was the Woodman, its weight and strength but the major reason was the huge tree in front of them. It should be in a sleeping state but would it get disturbed once the battle between non-humans started? It was very likely that it would! Once that happened, it was likely for the building to collapse!

While Mark was arranging the songs on his phone, the last person inside the City Hall left and the Mutant Woodman finally climbed to the rooftop almost at the same time. Mark immediately played the first song and stored his phone onto one of the pockets on his belt.

After the Mutant Woodman climbed up, it displayed the common trait of every infected. It was to charge at their target. Every step of its heavy wooden feet created a mild tremor on the rooftop as it made its way as fast as it could. And the person it was charging towards was actually Mark!

Mark looked at the approaching infected and then towards the huge cat that was not making any moves nor having the notion of snatching the fruit in front of it. It was strange but it was a situation to Mark's favor.

It was a cat and a bigger mutation of a house cat. Just the speed of a normal cat was already hard to predict and react to then how about this cat in front of them? It would have a speed that was several times faster.

"Gale, guard that huge cat. Can you do it? Leave that large guy to me."

Looking at her Papa, Abbygale nodded. This was the most reasonable tactics. Only her speed would be able to react to the speed that cat could display.

Actually, Mark could just abandon the intention to fight and just evacuate the area along with the survivors as planned. However, his Otaku instincts pushed him to not give up the fruit unless there was no other choice left. The fruit with golden color was very mysterious. From what Odelina said before, this fruit would benefit them. Then, it was a must to contest for it. There was also the feeling that it would not turn out to be a good situation if this huge cat or this Mutant Woodman was the ones to get the fruit.

Leaving the little girl and the huge cat on their staring contest, Mark did not wait for the Woodman to arrive and charged towards it. Mark did not activate his adrenaline rush and decided to confront the Mutant Woodman in a normal combat. It was not because he did not want to but because there was no need to. The Woodman was large and strong but its weakness was its very stiff movements and very slow speed.

If it was put in video games, this kind of creature was only suitable in attacking buildings of enemies. It was more of a tank than an attacker.

As Mark arrived near it, the Woodman swung its huge wooden arm down in attempt to squish him. Mark dodged to the left but the tremor on the rooftop slightly affected his footing and almost fell down.

'I need to be careful with the shaking.'

BANG!!

Mark had drawn the weapon he brought for this encounter. It was a standard issue shotgun for the Philippine National Police, a Remington 870. From his experience with the woodmen when they arrived here, his M16 Assault Rifle and his Biretta 92 Pistol did not have enough fire power to penetrate the skin of a normal Woodman, what more to this Mutated one?

After dodging, he shot the infected.

CREAK!

Creaking noises sounded the as pellets from the shotgun sprayed on the wooden body of the infected. As Mark expected, hitting the larger wooden body would not affect the infected. Still, he tried shooting the bullet invulnerable body to test and also to attract it further.

SWOOSH!

The Woodman swung its large wooden arm to swipe Mark away. Mark on the other hand already retreated away from the area of the attack. As a gamer, it was easy for him to pinpoint where its attacks were coming from. Every time it attacks, it would pull its arms away before attacking giving him a leeway to anticipate the attack and dodge. He would be an idiot if he got hit by this unless some unexpected situation happened.

BANG!

Mark shot again but this time, the shot was aimed at the smaller humanoid figure dangling at the center of the large wooden body. It should be its true body!

BAM! BAM!

The body was hit and the pellets from the shotgun shell buffeted the body. However, that was it. The pellets only bore shallow holes on the tree bark skin of the Woodman. The only thing noticeable was it actually retreated two steps backwards making two loud banging sounds on the roof.

CREAK!

"Well, darn it."

Mark immediately retreated backwards. Those two unexpected steps of the Woodman made the rooftop let out creaking noises! It would be dangerous if the roof suddenly collapsed!

Thinking of a plan, Mark glanced behind him. His eyes lit up. He began to retreat towards the eastern side of the rooftop. Why? It was the roof at the eastern part of the City Hall was barely affected by the growth of the tree. It was the roof directly above the reception area where the survivors stayed before and there were no noticeable cracks on this area of the roof.

The infected that had just recovered from being shot charged more ferociously. Mark could not feel any emotional fluctuations from the infected but the way it behaved showed that it was angered somehow. Its speed and strength even rose visibly.

SWOOSH! BAM!!!

The Woodman slammed both its arms towards Mark that had already anticipated the attack. Mark agilely dodged but his back was feeling cold after that attack. It was good that he already lured the Woodman to this side. That attack just now should be able to demolish the area of the rooftop where they were fighting before!

Mark ran towards the left of the Woodman trying to circle to its side. However, the Woodman swiped its right arm towards its right forcing Mark to retreat further and halting his intended attack.

As it was not possible to circle it, Mark aimed his shotgun forward and shot the smaller body once more.

"What!"

The shot did not hit the intended target. The left wooden arm of the Woodman protected the true body from the shot!

'Dammit, this guy is learning things too fast!'

This Woodman did not only learn how to climb! While fighting Mark, it was learning how to defend its self!

As the fight was getting tougher, Mark remembered another video game where the players fight humongous beasts and defeat them. Was not his situation the same?

Mark started to smile. The madman was starting to enjoy the fight!

BANG! KACHA! BANG! KACHA! BANG!

Circling to the right this time, Mark emptied the ammo of his shotgun before retreating. Since this guy was using its left arm to cover its true body, it was not able to swipe that arm when Mark circled to the right.

"Since you're learning how to defend, then, remain on defending!"

The true body was hit by two of the shots. A large number of holes were created at the true body of the Woodman. It stumbled backwards several times causing mild tremors on the rooftop.

Using the time that it was pushed away, Mark hurriedly reloaded the shotgun and charged once more. He was not going to give the Woodman another chance to attack!

BANG! BANG!

Mark shot twice. One was blocked while the other hit the true body once more. The Woodman retreated further.

'Good!'

If it continued to retreat like that, Mark could push it to the edge of the rooftop and make it fall!

Still, would that be easy?

Mark suddenly looked at the area under the huge tree. The huge cat finally made a move. Mark could see two blurred shadows chasing each other around the trunk. He had a bad feeling as he saw their movements.

'Well shit.'

By the looks of it, he was also the target of the huge cat and Abbygale was preventing it from moving towards him!

He needed to deal with the Woodman fast!

However, when he looked back towards the Woodman, he was stunned. The wooden body of the Woodman slowly opened up and the hole swallowed its true body and closed up immediately! Now, the Woodman looked totally like a Treant!

"What am I going to shoot now?"

Mark smiled bitterly. He reached out to his belt and took out a small cork sealed glass vase about the size of his palm. It contained clear liquid inside. Flipping his belt, he had five of these glass vases. It was one of the things he prepared earlier after he decided to take that fruit. These glass bottles were from the mayor's office. These vases was put on a display cabinet there as decoration. As for the contents inside the vases, he was the one who filled the bottles.

These bottles was actually for saved for the huge tree in case that it woke up and sudden situations arose from it but he had not thought that he would need to use one on this wood man.

After swallowing the true body inside its large wooden body, it charged at Mark once more.

SHOOOSH!

Mark immediately jumped back as the Woodman smashed its arms from above towards Mark again. The roof shook once more. After the attack, the Woodman raised its arms once more to attack. At that moment, Mark actually charged forward at an inhumane speed and had thrown the glass vase in his hand towards the part of the body of the Woodman where the true body was swallowed. The vase smashed spilling its contents on the body of the Woodman. After the vase was thrown, Mark used the same speed to retreat as the arms of the Woodman swung down once more.

Full Adrenaline Rush concentrated on his feet!

He finally decided to use this ability! Added with the fact that his legs were the most evolved part of his body, his speed could not be compared from the time he fought the berserk Odelina!

At the moment that the arms of the hit the roof, Mark charged once more while he took out an electronic lighter. The lighter had a thick rubber band tied on its igniter to make the igniter stuck once the lighter was lit. Mark pushed the igniter and the lighter immediately let out a small flame. The igniter was stuck by the rubber band and the fire was not extinguished even after Mark let go of the igniter. With that, the lighter was the next thing he threw towards the body of the Woodman.

BLOOGH!

A loud sound was heard as the part where the liquid from the vase was spilled immediately burst into flames! Since its body was made of wood, flame was the bane of it!

The Woodman started going berserk. It was struggling to put out the fire but since it did not have elbows like humans, it could not reach the burning part of its body! It started to wildly swing its arms while trying to put out a fire. Still, the fire soon became weaker since the body of the Woodman was not made of dried wood.

If that was the case…

Mark took out other vase and threw it adding fuel to the fire! The liquid inside the vase was actually butane! It was the contents of the two butane spray mark brought with him!

He felt that it was a loss since these vases was for the huge tree and surely was not enough but he needed to use up two vases for this guy.

While the Woodman was having a hard time putting out the fire, Mark gained the time to take a breather. But the situation did not let him to do so.

His pupils dilated and he suddenly looked behind him.

"Papa!"

"Gege!"

Mark heard Abbygale shouting! He could also hear Mei shouting from the radio in shock!

When Mark turned around, he could see the claws of the huge cat approaching his face!