249 The Circumstances in the Base, Uncovering Miracles Secre (1/2)
Day 37 – 4:01 PM – Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon
About an hour before Mark arrived back in the base…
Nicole and Hallie who were left in charge of the settlement stood on top of the walls overseeing the situation outside.
This was the third day after Mark left and two important events happened that could not be handled carelessly by the two of them. Move over, both events happened the day that Mark left. First was the strange event with Miracle who fortunately had woken up while the second was the arrival of a group of people who gambled to traverse the mountains to escape away from the city.
When noon arrived after Mark left the base, Nicole was playing with the [BloodChildren] when she found out that Miracle was already. She did not know when she exactly woke up because she did not make any sound or movements. Nicole even freaked a little bit when she saw the supposed to be one year old baby quietly staring at her while she was talking with the mischievous little critters.
Nicole carefully approached and lifted the baby up and she did not make any movements but just stared at Nicole in a manner that should not be present in an infant. Considering that Mark already told them that even though the [BloodChildren] where newly born, their mentality was close to two year old children which was why Nicole ignored the strange behavior of the baby girl and carried her out to show her to the others with the exception of Ed and Ron that was unconscious after taking in the crystals that Mark gave them.
When everyone was happy that the sleeping cutie had already woken up, the baby in question was just staring at everyone, obviously observing them. Afterwards, the normal routine was made for the [BloodChildren]. They did not need to eat and only needed to absorb blood at least once a day with the exception of Miracle that was asleep. Miracle was not drinking the milk they prepared so they thought that she was still a [BloodChild] and brought her too at the chambers where Mark kept the Biters he captured from the barrio.
They were correct and Miracle extended several flesh tentacles towards the Biters to absorb their blood.
Unexpectedly, they lost control of the situation and Miracle totally dried up three Biters of their blood. The Biters ended up turning them into Eaters after they died of literal blood loss. Since eaters were dead and would not replenish their blood, Jollene had no choice but the kill them. Since it already happened, all that they could do was to capture other infected to replace the three that died. After that event, Miracle fell asleep for the whole night and the next day.
That night was a sleepless night and a worrisome day for the girls. A strange thing happened to Miracle and her body started growing. Her growth was witnessed by the four girls and her growth only stopped near sunset yesterday. At that time, she already looked like a three year old girl. The most surprising thing was that… She started to speak. The first words she said was a question.
”Where is father?”
It dumbfounded the four girls who lacked sleep and rest. They did not know what to do with the strange child anymore. Still, it seemed hat she still needed blood and fortunately, the incedent perviously did not repeat anymore and Miracle did not grow incredulously once more.
As for the survivors, they arrived about two and a half hours before sunset yesterday. It was really not surprising since Hallie and everyone in their group managed to get here and luckily meet Mark. If they were able to, it could be the same to other people. The surprising thing however was that four of the people in the group that arrived were among the people that they left in the hotel.
It became harder to not let them into the base because of that and one of those four was a close acquaintance of Huey. However, this was Mark's base and they had no reason to let other people in without his consent. In that case, they lent the survivors some tents they looted at the barrio. Luckily, many tourists that came there was planning to camp in the mountains. They only needed to wait a day or two. After all, Mark said that he would likely return after three days.
However, it seemed that everyone did not need to wait that long.
”What is that?”
Huey suddenly went out in the open as his sensitive hearing managed to pick up faint strange sounds. It was like sounds of huge wings in flight.
That was when everyone saw the silhouette of a large creature flying above the mountain top to the north east.
”Everyone! Prepare for battle! Warn the people outside and make them hide!”
Huey took command in preparations for a defensive battle. Everyone inside the base went up the walls and stood behind their wall mounted needle launchers and was ready to fire while the people outside the walls scrambled away in fear.
When they could finally see what the creature was, everyone knew that they would not be able to win. Who would think that the one approaching was something like a dragon? It seemed like the base would fall before Mark was even able to return.
While everyone was losing hope, a small figure jumped up the wall and ran towards the direction the dragon was coming from. Everyone was dumbfounded. It was because Miracle was waving and shouting at the dragon…
”Father!”
That gave them hope. There was only one person that could be the one Miracle was calling father and that was Mark. If she was shouting at the dragon like a child welcoming her father that had gone home from work, it was likely that the dragon was an ally.
They were not mistaken with that. The dragon did not initiate any battle and landed outside the gates of the base. At the back of the dragon was three people and the one leading the three was Mark.
***
Mark made Chaflar land outside the gates south of the base. Although there was still enough space for the dragon to land inside the base, the wind that its wings would create as it landed would surely wreck the things inside. Another reason was to intimidate the people outside which made Chaflar rather satisfied.
The moment Mark stepped down from the back of Chaflar, he saw Miracle jump off the wall despite its height and bolted towards him like a bullet. Mark did his best to catch her but he still had to make several steps back to fully mitigate the impact. It was not just a childish tackle but more like a weakened cannonball. And there, an about three year old little girl was effortlessly hanging on his body sticking like glue.
”Father… Father...”
This clinginess, there was no doubt that she was a [BloodChild]. Every single one of them behaved like that towards Mark who changed their bodies using his blood.
”Your blood daughter?”