138 The Aftermath (1/2)
Day 5 – 9:27 AM – 2nd Grade Building Rooftop, Queens Row Elementary School, Queens Row Area A, Bacoor City, Cavite
Mark jumping off the roof like that made everyone tense up. Most of them hurried to the edge of the roof to what Mark wanted to do.
BUZZZZ!!!!
Halfway the fall, they heard a buzzing sound as the beetle tightly clutching Mark's body flapped its wings slowing his decent.
TSST! TSST! TSST! TSST! TSST! TSST!
As Mark descended, he started shooting the infected that were attracted to the sound of the beetle's wings. As soon as he landed, the beetle detached from his back and flew back to the roof leaving Mark to fend for himself alone facing several dozens of infected. Without a change in his expression, Mark drew his machete with his right hand and held the sub-machinegun on his left.
Blood of the infected splashed into the air and spurted to the ground as Mark started to eliminate the infected coming to attack him. Body after body, the infected fell at a constant rate.
CLICK! CLICK!
Failing to keep count on his ammo, the sub-machinegun finally ran out. However, instead of retreating, he kept pacing forward as a smile started to bloom on his lips. He started running faster and faster hacking every single infected that came across him.
During the time he killed Dominador, he made Laelaps throw in the infected from the outside. All in all, there should be at least thirty thrown in. Adding Dominador's men that turned after being bitten after subtracting those he killed, there should be at least a hundred infected here now. Still, the number did not faze him but he even felt more and more exhilarated as the battle lasted longer. The feeling was similar back then at the rooftop of the City Hall when he fought that huge woodman.
On the roof, Captain Dela Rosa and the others were watching Mark with a stern expression. As he could not help it, the squad captain turned towards Nikky and Rollan.
”I heard that you two knew him before the apocalypse, am I right?”
To the captain's question, the two nodded.
”I knew him since first year high school. Why do you ask?”
Rollan said with a confused expression.
”Can you tell me what kind of person he is before the outbreak?”
”That's…”
Rollan hesitated to answer.
”If it's inconvenient, then it's fine if you don't answer. I'm just curious because he can kill living people and the infected without batting an eyelid. I'm thinking if he had some criminal records involving killing people or at least, getting involved in fights often.”
Captain Dela Rosa said making the others listening nod in agreement. There was no way for a normal person to display the behavior Mark was exhibiting.
”Please, don't judge our friend like that.”
Nikky interjected with a frown.
”I didn't mean it like that. I'm not judging him or anything. It's just peculiar.”
Captain Dela Rosa tried to appease her.
It was then that Rollan spoke while shaking his head.
”Mark… He didn't have any criminal records for sure. And for fights, it's even more impossible. You won't probably believe me but Mark is a timid person.”
”Timid?”
Irene could not help but ask and then she looked at Mark below who was smiling while he slaughtered the infected.
”Yes, timid. He doesn't like talking to people and would stay away from anyone as far as possible. Even to us, his friends, his vocabulary is very limited. If he doesn't even interact with people, how he would be involved into fights or even kill someone. For the past three years, he even shut himself away from the world only spending his time inside his house and barely going out.”
Rollan replied while shrugging his shoulders.
”That's…”
It was now time for Captain Dela Rosa to frown. It was because looking at Mark and his actions. How he killed the infected and wiped out Dominador's men. There was not a tint of a timid person on him. Rather, there was only a silhouette of a blood thirsty person.
It was then that Rollan spoke once more while looking at Mark below.
”Well, there are instances that he displays that sharp eyes and smile though.”
Hearing that, everyone looked at him urging Rollan to continue.
”Back then, I'm the one tending at my aunt's internet café and Mark was a frequent customer there before he became a shut-in. When he is playing zombie survival games, war games and everything that involved killing monsters and other players, he will start to let out that expression once he started to get too immersed in playing.”
Rollan then sighed before continuing.
”Looking at that expression of his, it makes you feel that he belong to the world of the game that he is playing than being just a player in front of the computer. His current expression and the expression he had back then… There is no doubt that it is similar. It's as if he belongs to this chaotic world now.”
As Captain Dela Rosa heard Rollan's explanation, he came into a realization and pity could be seen in his face.
”What's wrong Captain?”
Irene asked as she saw his expression.
”I think, I know the answer to the question in my mind now and thought that it is a pity.”
”Pity?”
Irene asked once more while everyone waited for his answer.
Captain Dela Rosa then looked at Rollan.
”Your description of Mark coincides with what I have in mind. If I'm correct, he is similar to those people who were born for a chaotic world. They are mostly quiet people and tend to stay away from crowds. However, when chaos comes that they needed to spring into action and fight for the benefit of themselves or the people around them, their potential is unleashed. Their prowess is higher than common people and even some of them despite living a normal life can rival a fully trained soldier. At the face of threat, instead of cowering, they can still let out a smile and the more they are cornered, the more their prowess increase.”
Looking at the bloody scene below, Captain Dela Rosa stared at Mark's expression before continuing.
”This is also why I asked if he had a record of killing someone or if he gets involved in fights often. It's because people like those in the modern society can only be found in the military, private armed groups or criminals. People like them in the military can easily climb up ranks and criminals with the same traits tend to become slippery and notorious. By how you described Mark, it seemed that he managed to rein himself by immersing in video games. Nevertheless, the traits are similar. I heard from my son before that there are ranking in those kinds of games right? How did he fare when he started to behave like that?”
Captain Dela Rosa turned towards Rollan waiting for his answer.
”When he smiled like that while playing, he's like a rampaging madman. He starts to dominate the game room and if he was playing first person shooters, he tends to get kicked out of the room due to the very high level of skill he was displaying.”
”It's a pity right? If he's in the military, he'll probably have a very high rank now. Might even be higher than mine.”
Hearing that, everyone on the roof could only accept Captain Dela Rosa's theory.
While they were talking, they heard Mark shouting from below.
”What are all of you talking about? Get down here already!”
Jolted away from their thoughts, they saw that all the infected below were all killed already. They were too immersed about what Captain was saying that they neglected what was happening below.