70 The Night Before and the Departure (1/2)

Day 2 – 6:07 PM – City Mall Bacoor, Basement Parking, Central Area

The party was still not over for the survivors and the soldiers when 1st Lt. Rafael came down to the parking and started ordering the soldiers. The soldiers immediately left the group and went back to their posts while some had gone running up the stairwell on the East Wing.

Apparently, the rescue squads dispatched was arriving in ETA thirty minutes. The military planned to imitate what Mark and his group did last night to lure away the infected from the entrance of the Basement Parking. The only difference was they also planned on thinning the numbers by throwing explosives unto the lured infected. It was reasonable as it would be harder to leave the mall afterwards if the number of infected was not lessened even a little.

The announced arrival of the rescue squads lifted the spirits of the survivors even more. They could finally go and leave this place into a several times safer environment.

As the rescue was arriving, Mark also started to move. He told Odelina to let her children wait inside the vehicle together with Abbygale as they went back to the TechZone to gather their things and other stuff. Abbygale actually wanted to follow but her Papa gave her the important duty of guarding Odellina's children. Though she looked sullen, she did not want to disobey her Papa and patiently sat on the vehicle. Since she obediently followed his instructions, Mark promised to find her some sweets and toys when they return.

***

Back in the TechZone, Mark tidied up the network of Laptops he set up yesterday. Still, he only planned on bringing three laptops with him. One was a small compact Netbook that he could use for miscellaneous things, a larger one which he could use to play games whenever he wanted to and another one for reserve in case that the other laptop broke and he could not find any replacement. All of the three units he decided to bring was the most expensive and had the highest specs in the whole TechZone.

When he checked the laptops, he was quite disappointed. Not all the games he downloaded were finished in time. The internet was already down several hours before. Fortunately, the games that were not finished downloading could be found in game stores in some malls and he would be able to acquire a copy if he just gave it some effort.

Mark also did not forget to bring some gadgets that would be useful for them especially the USB gadgets they used before. He also brought several expensive cellphone units, two-way radios and solar chargers.

While Mark was scouring through the TechZone stores, Mei and Odelina were in charge of gathering clothes and other essentials like soap and medicine.

Their group went back and forth to the vehicle using the cargo elevator and loaded the things into the back of the vehicle. As for the food, they just drove the vehicle to the entrance of the warehouse and get the supplies from there.

Inside the warehouse, they happened to come across a large box about the size of a computer CPU in the electronics storage area. On the surface large box, there was a picture of a squre shaped quadcopter. It was actually a camera mounted remote controlled drone. Of course, Mark decided to grab it. It was a must. Then, Mark thought of it. When they went to the toys area to get some toys he promised Abbygale, they also grabbed some remote controlled cars and flying toys they could get. There a lot of possible ways to use these toys in the apocalypse other than just for fun.

The car was filled with supplies even under the seats and the compartments. Estimating the amount of food they carried, it would last them at least two weeks if eaten moderately.

The rescue squads had long arrived before they could even finish their preparations.At the Central Area of the Basement Parking, several large trucks were parked along with more than a dozen military vehicles.

Now, it was time for Mark to get the last thing to bring. It was the docile infected he kept in the storage in the TechZone. Mark went to get a pet collar, chains and a biker face mask. When Mark returned in the room, the Biter was already awake but like before, she just looked at them without any notion to attack. Mark put the mask to cover her mouth and tied the collar on her neck connected to the chains. They also replaced the wires that tied her arms with a tie-down strap and fully removed the wires on her legs.

Mark also asked to change the clothes and clean the Biter's body as to not dirty the insides of the vehicle.When Mark tugged the chains, the Biter quietly followed making the process much easier.

When Mark brought out the Biter, he heard a familiar voice shouting in surprise.

”Jannette?!”

It was Julie. One of the two college students Mark helped with Paula when they went to find medicine for Sariya. Breandan was also surprised but it seemed that he managed to control himself.

”What are you doing to her?!”

Julie shouted getting the attention of the people around. The employees knew who the tied girl was and did not question Mark and his group about what they were doing with her but the newcomers were starting a commotion.

Julie tried to rush and free the Biter she called Jannette but he was pulled back by Breandan. It looked like she had not noticed yet.

”You know her?”

Mark ignored the hubbub of the gallery and questioned Julie.

”She's my best friend! Why did you tie her up! Release her!”

As the commotion grew loud, it also caught the attention of the soldiers. One of the soldiers came close and questioned Mark about the tied up girl.

”What are you doing?! Do you that what you are doing against the law?!”

Mark looked strangely at the soldier. It seemed that this soldier just arrived along with the rescue squad. He did not think that any of the soldiers that came with Ange's brother not know him.

Seeing that Mark was just staring at him like an idiot, the soldier was enraged. He was about to raise his gun at Mark when a voice interrupted him.

”Jonas, stand down.”

There were several soldiers who just entered the TechZone being led by three people. The two was familiar with Mark's group. They were Ange's brother and the high school boy with them this morning. Mark could not recognize the other person though. It was that person who made the angry soldier stop. Looking at his insignia, he was also a rank higher than Ange's brother.

”What happened, Jonas? There was no need for you to raise your gun at people.”

”I'm sorry Captain Theo. It is just this group had a girl with her mouth covered and tied up like a dog.”

Hearing what Jonas said, Theo looked at Mark's group and then at the tied up girl. His eyebrows then rose.

”That's a Z-type 1 is it not?”

Hearing what his captain said, Jonas looked at the tied up girl. The captain then continued.

”Strange, it doesn't seem to be aggressive.”

Now, even Rafael, high school boy and the other soldiers was shocked. It was a non-aggressive Z-type? On the other side, Julie was embraced by Breandan crying. She also realized. Her best friend was no more. The one standing in front of her right now was nothing but a husk of her past self.

”You're Mark I presume? I'm Theodore Cruz, the Officer in charge at this rescue mission.”

”Don't tell me that it's another recruitment offer?”