92 A Short Break (1/2)
Day 3 – 12:50 PM – Day and Night Convenience Store, Niog Road, Bayanan, Bacoor City, Cavite
”Mei'er, can you get me a change of clothes from the back?”
Mark peeked from outside the vehicle and asked Mei who was inside. Of course, she immediately went to the back of the vehicle and brought new clothes for Mark who was still all covered in blood.
He received the clothes from Mei and went back inside the convenience store.
”Gege, where are you going?”
”I'm going to change clothes inside the store. I can't change inside the car with all of you girls there.”
”Oh, okay.”
Mark walked away back inside the convenience store.
On the way, Mark could see the survivors hurriedly emptying the store of its goods. Fortunately or unfortunately, the outbreak came so sudden that no one was able to loot this store and was left basically untouched aside from the scattered items, blood residues and disgusting smell of decaying body parts on the floor. The storage was also full. It seemed that the store had just restocked its supplied before the outbreak came. It was lucky that there would be no infected coming this way for a while. The sound of the City Hall collapsing should have attracted the infected towards that direction.
When the survivors saw him pass by, they stayed away from him like plague. They all saw what he did to Garcia's group and were afraid to step into their graves if they offended him in any way. Also, his performance at the rooftop was also fresh in their minds. Mark could fearlessly fight a nine foot tall monster, to him, they were like ants.
Mark could feel their emotions but he could care less about them. He took a bar of soap and one gallon of mineral water from the back shelf of the convenience store and went towards the toilet. He needed wash off the blood on his body as it was sticky and uncomfortable.
Inside the toilet, Mark started washing his body while contemplating on many things. One of those things was the abrupt change in his mindset. Before the outbreak, he was just a timid loner that shut his most of his connection to the outside world. He could act in front of other people but after the outbreak, his emotions were severely affected and were slowly changing.
It was not just a matter of keeping his act. The bloodlust he was feeling was real. One thing was every time he was using the ability he learned from Freed. He was smiling sinisterly when he used that ability at that fat inmate before. That was very far from his character before the outbreak. He even started to smile during dangerous fights like what he did when fighting that huge Woodman.
”Empath… Mutagen… Bloodlust… Evolution…”
Mark was enlightened. His evolution was faster than most people. The Mutagen evolves all creatures infected by it slowly. The changes in his body was abrupt and so as his emotions.
”Does this Mutagen also affects the emotions of creatures infected by it and brings out their beastly instincts?”
His mind turned towards the condition Odel was before, the savage attitude of Abbygale and even the aggressiveness the huge cat displayed despite the fact that it was obviously a well groomed house cat. All of it enforces his theory.
”I guess, I could also work on this or else, I'll end up becoming a madman in the future. It's a pity that I can't use that calming energy for myself.”
Mark shook his head. He was slowly gaining some understanding towards his abilities. He could absorb other people's emotions and use those emotions as energy and release it. The emotional energy he could release also seemed to vary into two kinds, positive and negative. The calming energy he could release was actually the positive emotions he could generate. It was just that he could not release it without getting into contact with the target.
Along those thoughts, he just wished that the Mutagen in his body could make his fear of people vanish into thin air. It was because trying to keep his act all the time was too taxing for his heart and mind.
Wiping his arm, he could bitterly smile. The wound that he received from that huge cat was almost healed already and it already felt itchy that he felt peeling off the scab covering it.
Looking at his wounds enforced the thought of expecting the unexpected at this outbreak. The existence of that tree and that girl he saw sitting on the rooftop. The two had similar emotional pattern but also different. If that girl was a Mutator, then that tree should also be one. No wonder it had sentience. He thought at first that the huge tree had evolved too much that it gained sentience but that was not actually the case.
”I wonder how I did not detect that girl before…”
Mark murmured as he started to wear the new clothes he brought. If he detected her in the first place, he might have gained another Mutator for his group. However, since the girl did not appear when he and Abbygale were on the rooftop, it was safe to say that the girl did not want to go with them.
”Did she manage to escape the collapse though?”
He asked himself. It was not because of worry but curiosity.
***
While Mark was inside the store, the giggles of the girls could be heard inside the vehicle. It seemed that women were really good at befriending each other. While the children were playing on their phones, the women were chatting about various things like how Mark met Mei and Odelina and about the past of Melissa and Charmaine.
Charmaine looked at the women in front of her. These women along with her were around Mark and staying around him. It reminded her of the time in the college with her Big Brother.
”Charm? Charm!”
Immersed in her thoughts, Charmaine did not immediately hear that Melissa was calling her. When she finally heard her voice, she could see a hand waving in front of her. Charmaine immediately swatted the hand away from her face.
”Charm, what are you thinking about? You just suddenly went blank and silent like that.”
Charmaine shook her head with a smile.
”Nothing, I just remembered my college days with Big Brother.”
”Oh? Can we have more details?”
Melissa pressed on. Mei and Odelina were obviously interested though they did not say anything.
Looking at their interested eyes, Charmaine gave in.
”Well, it's nothing much in particular. It's just like back in college. Big Brother was always surrounded by women.”
The three other women were surprised. Is he that popular before? Even Mei who blindly followed Mark almost everywhere could not believe it.
Charmaine realized what was on their minds and hurriedly explained.
”It's not like what you three are thinking. Big Brother looked like a scary person but he was actually kind and even a bit childish back then. Though, he didn't talk too much and was preferred to be always alone, he did not chase away anyone who wanted to stick around him.
He was dragged into a newly formed group along with us after he participated in a cosplay event in school. Fortunately or maybe not, the most popular girls in the school were also in that group. Not boasting but me and my older sister was included in those popular girls.”
Charmaine puffed up her chest with pride making the other women look at her with slit eyes. Still, none of them interrupted her story.
”Then, the group started hanging out together more often until most of the girls often hangout with Big Brother around including me. You see, other men looked at us like we were eye candy and their stares were always uncomfortable and annoying. There were also times that they would try to make a move on us.”
When Charmaine said that, Mei nodded. She was always in that situation whenever she goes out.
”There was one peculiar person back then though. It was Big Brother. He did not look at us like others. He did not even put his eyes on us. It made us comfortable staying around him and he would also help us if we need some help. Also, no other men would bother us if Big Brother is around.”