Mutagen

Day 3 – 11:04 AM – Bacoor City Hall Rooftop, Molino Boulevard, Bayanan, Bacoor City, Cavite

BAM!

The huge house cat flew several meters away and rolled on the roof before stopping. It was only about two to three meters away from the northern edge of the rooftop. Due to Mark's action, it received the full brunt of Abbygale's kick causing the scene.

Mark looked at the little girl with white hair, fluffy tail and cat ears in front of him. The little girl turned to him and he could see her worried eyes and her pupil that also changed color into a red hue. Seeing this, he forgot about the pain in his arm. This surely was a stunning sight.

He already expected something like this somehow. From the information the military disclosed, the Mutagen altered the mutators bodies. It was pretty much like Odelina's condition before. Her body was covered with grey bone armor. He felt that it was strange that Abbygale did not seem to have that form. Still, when Odelina turned into her normal appearance, Mark then concluded the possibility of Abbygale being the same.

However, he did not expect that her mutated form would be like this.

As her Papa stood there staring at her, Abbygale grew more worried and even scared. She was worried about her Papa's bleeding wound and was scared that her Papa would hate her since she looked like this. She remembered it vaguely. During the time she fell unconscious that time, she turned into this appearance and killed the infected around her without her knowing. Still, she did not know how she returned to normal. She did not know what other people would react to her looking like this. Like a monster. The eyes of her grandma who always looked at her with hate were deeply ingrained in her young mind. What if her Papa looked at her like that?

Mark stared at her for a bit. He was confused why Abbygale was worried about him but was afraid to come over. He could sense it vaguely since the subconscious emotion of this little girl was still occupied by calmness. The energy leaking out from her other emotions were too weak.

His confusion cleared up as he thought about it. He approached the little girl who even stepped back subconsciously.

Mark shook his head and continued approaching with a smile. His smile however was different to his usual bitter and indifferent smile. The distance between them was short, just about four meters which Mark easily traversed while his wounded arm dripped blood on the path.

The first thing he did after arriving in front of the little girl was to kneel down to her eye level and caress her head gently. He could feel the triangular ears on her head. The sensation was similar to patting a cat's ear. At this moment, his gentle movements erased the fear on the girl's eyes.

"What are you afraid about?"

"Papa won't hate me?"

"Hate you for what?"

"I look like this…"

Abbygale showed her tail and waved her fingers that had two inch long claws.

"Why will I hate you for this? It looked cute alright?"

Mark laughed. In his mind, it was funny. The little girl actually asked an Otaku if he will hate her current appearance.

"Don't worry about your appearance. Even if the whole world will hate you for that, I will the only one who won't."

He gave the little girl a hug while being careful that he would not stain the little girl's beautiful white hair with his blood.

"Let's go. The bad kitty is standing up."

Mark let go of Abbygale and stared at the huge cat that was struggling to stand up. The little girl's kick hit it on its shoulder. Now, it was visible that it was injured as it was having a hard time to stand up and could not use it left foreleg. After it finally stood up, it was limping and its left foreleg was raised every time it moved.

To the north east side of the rooftop, the Mutant Woodman was still struggling to put out the fire but it was not able to. Rather, the fire had already spread to other areas of its body. The Woodman was not a threat anymore. Sooner or later, it would turn into ashes.

Mark decided to concentrate on fighting the huge cat together with Abbygale. This time, he could not use his shotgun anymore and switched his weapon to the pistol on his belt. As Mark was ready to continue the fight, Abbygale also got ready to charge towards the huge cat.

However, when they were about to attack, the huge cat ran away from them. It was a wise decision as it knew that it could not fight the two people in front of it. Another round against Mark and Abbygale would make fall into its death! Still, it did not want to give up on the fruit. When it ran away, the direction it ran towards was the huge tree.

Realizing its intention, Mark shouted.

"Gale! Chase it! Don't let it take the fruit!"

Under her Papa's command, she charged towards the cat. Her speed was about twice as before and her strength was also enhanced in this form of hers. However, the cat was closer to the tree. Before the little girl could reach the cat, it agilely climbed up the three using its remaining legs.

Upon reaching the branch of the huge tree, it immediately lunged towards the fruit. It tried to bite it and eat it in one go. Luckily, because of its injuries, the strength of the huge cat was lessened severely and its jump was shorter than it intended. It failed to bite the fruit and started to fall. In the last moment before the gravity pulled it back down, it spun its body midair with its back facing down. It tried to use its remaining forelimb to reach the fruit which it succeeded.

Pierced by its claw, the fruit was plucked off the branch of the tree and fell with the cat.

RUMMBLE!!

Mark and Abbygale stopped in place. The huge cat was still in midair falling with the fruit so it did not notice. The whole building was shaking.

CRASH! CRACK!

The remaining glass windows and walls of the City Hall on the floors below shattered. The cracks on the walls and ceilings grew larger. The Mutated Woodman that was on fire went out of balance and fell off the edge of the rooftop.

Like normal cats would do, the huge cat landed back on the roof upright while the fruit landed beside it. When the huge cat landed, it became still. It did not try to get the fruit and jumped away like someone stepped on its tail. Just as the huge cat jumped, the roof where the cat landed before burst in rubble as a large root bore a basketball sized hole upwards.

The root started to destroy the roof as it chased the huge horrified cat to death.

Mark looked at the huge tree. It was finally awakened. He could feel that it was really angry.

"Gale! We're going to leave!"

Mark started to run towards the Police Command Center and it was not easy. The whole building was crumbling and more of those huge roots started to pierce through the floors and the roof. The rooftop was shaking wildly and Mark almost lost balance several times.

On the other hand, Abbygale who heard her Papa's shout did not want to abandon the fruit especially since the fruit was rolling towards her position. It was swept away by the force the first root created when it appeared. The little girl rushed towards the fruit and grabbed it before running. It was then that the roots started to emerge under Abbygale's feet forcing the little girl to jump every now and then while running to dodge.

The huge cat that was first chased by the roots had already jumped off the building like a rat jumping into its hole while it was being chased by a cat. It looked ironic and its fate after jumping was unknown. By the height of the building, even if the huge cat did not die, it would receive at least another fractured leg. If it managed to escape, unless it had fast regeneration, its life would still end soon.

***

On the rooftop of the Police Command Center, several people stood watching the situation in the rooftop of the City Hall since the start. Among the people, there was Chief Mallari, Madam Lanie and Charmaine who was being assisted by the Nurse. Despite Charmaine's weak condition, she wanted to know and watch what kind of fight her Big Brother was participating at. There were also the bodyguards and other policemen along with some of the survivors who were curious and brave enough to watch. At the back though, there was a terrified man and his two bodyguards. Their backs were covered in sweat as they watched what was happening.

What the people were watching was akin to the scenes from those fantasy movies. Mark's fearlessness as he confronted the nine foot Wooden Giant was shown in their eyes. The speed Abbygale displayed as she tried to block the path of the beast and the sudden change in her appearance was also witnessed by them. Now, the scene of a tidal wave made of large wooden roots chasing the little girl made them all shiver inside.

'This scene was Unearthly. Are we really still on Earth? If we are, then everyone is screwed!'

Almost all these people alike had those thoughts. It was except for Garcia and his bodyguards. Their minds were filled with fear and panic. They actually offended such monsters! Garcia decided to hide. These monsters in human skin must not see him or he would be dead for sure!

On the other hand, Charmaine was really worried for the two who were fighting on the rooftop. However, she could only clench her palm as she could not do anything but watch them. Also her Big Brother was injured. Just how deep were his wounds for blood to gush out and stain his sleeves?

***

In the rooftop of the City Hall, the danger had not decreased, it had actually increased. Like how the people watching on the rooftop of the Command Center described it, it was like a tidal wave of roots.

It was currently chasing Abbygale who was intensely dodging the incoming roots. Mark watched the scene in a grave manner. The rooftop started to collapse and Abbygale was being chased by countless roots of different sizes.

"Abbygale! Drop that fruit!"

Hearing his voice, the little girl was about to drop and leave the fruit. However…

BOOM!!! RUMBLE!!!

The part of the roof between Mark and the suspended pathway collapsed.

They were stranded on the rooftop!

"Dammit! You're forcing me!"

Mark rushed back towards Abbygale and with a catching pose, he shouted at the little girl.

"Throw it to me!"

The little girl threw the fruit towards her Papa while continuously dodging the roots attacking her. On the other side, Mark hurriedly caught the fruit and rushed towards the west side of the roof.

The roots charging towards Abbygale halted and changed their target. The roots made their way towards Mark with fast speed.

BOOM! BOOM! RUMBLE!

Several roots pierced their way up the roof under Mark's feet but he managed to dodge by running on a zigzag. Once he felt a stronger shaking by his foot, he would immediately kick on the roof and push his body sideways. Mark retrieved a vase and another lighter from his belt. He lit the lighter first before smashing the vase on the roof. After the butane was spread, he threw the lit lighter creating a sudden fire halting some of the roots.

Another root appeared from under the roof and Mark was not in the position to dodge. In that moment, he raised his wounded arm again and his eyes glowed red brightly. His nose started to bleed again though. It was another mental pierce and the target was the tree! Since the tree had some sort of sentience, then, it must work!

Then, the root that was about to hit him halted and started to shiver. The other roots also behaved the same. It seemed that it was severely affected my Mark's mental attack. The huge trees soon recovered but Mark was already at the edge of the roof together with Abbygale. At that moment, the tree did not dare move.

It was because Mark was holding the fruit over the edge of the roof.