415 The Road Back, A Bumpy Ride Around and Across the Mountains (1/2)

Day 71 - 10:21 AM - Marikina-Infanta Highway, Barangay Alas-Asin, Santa Maria, Laguna

Early in the morning, Mark and his group left New Infanta Settlement. The officials of the military and even the soldiers that participated in the mission were in complete attendance to see them off. There was also Emika and her family. Emika and Mikio seemed to want to come along. However, they could not.

Differently from when they arrived, the soldiers and their families were not with the group anymore. They were replaced by Pearl and the Salvador family joining the group. Unexpectedly, there were a few people that remained loyal to their family despite abolishing their power and joining the military settlement. Aside from the five members of the Salvador family, there were also four Mutators with them.

Of course, Mark had no problems with these four to join in. In fact, they already proved their personalities for being loyal to Darren's family even if they did not have any authority within the settlement. Mark also did not detect any ill intent from them. Rather, they seemed to be more excited as they looked at Mark like seeing a popular actor.

They left New Infanta Settlement a few minutes after sunrise. However, the drive back alone was long. They just arrived at the barangay where they left Chaflar to guard the supplies could not carry anymore.

There was a small town here in this barangay which seemed to be untouched since the start of the apocalypse. However, it seemed that the cause of deaths in this place were mutated animals than the infected. Traces of blood could be seen everywhere but the dead bodies were almost non-existent. This was the difference between the behaviors of the infected and Mutated animals.

The infected might eat dead corpses on the spot, especially the Biters. Still, they would leave a huge mess of an unfinished meal after they felt full. On the other hand, Mutated animals were more prone to drag their meal somewhere safer or their nest before eating. That was the reason for the non-existent corpses in the area despite the traces of deaths almost everywhere.

Reaching the place where they left the supplies taken from the mansion, they immediately saw the dragon sleeping like a log. As for the reason of its current state, just looking at the bones and blood scattered around the area, anyone would understand.

\”Hey, you lazy dragon.\”

Mark started kicking Chaflar on its side to wake it up.

Feeling something heavily hitting its scales, Chaflar annoyedly opened its eyes. Seeing Mark, it hastily opened its eyes wide and bounced back in surprise. The dragon was like a dog caught doing something bad.

Well, Mark had no plan to blame it at all. Even though Chaflar was a reptile that did not need food too much, it would still love to eat. Back within the confines of the city, there was no way for it to eat live animals that could satisfy it enough. Being back in its natural habitat, it might have gone and hunt as much food as it could before falling asleep.

Seeing that Chaflar was already awake, Mark spoke.

\”We're going to get some of the supplies but you will stay here, alright? We'll be back for the rest of the supplies later. Guard this place properly.\”

Seeing that Mark was not angry, Chaflar felt relieved. It nodded intently though it just looked like a huge lizard bobbing its head.

\”Big brother, your dragon is really well tamed, isn't it?\”

Annica suddenly came to look at Chaflar. This made the dragon look at the girl since she was quite unfamiliar.

\”What I did with this dragon is different from your ability. Mine is only applicable to those intelligent enough. Your ability is more useful even to those with lower intelligence. So, expect that you will need to use that ability a whole lot at the base.\”

Mark replied.

\”I don't mind. That is in exchange for our protection, right?\”

Annica said without hesitation. She knew her role well it seemed.

Mark looked at everyone loading as many supplies into the vehicle as possible. Because most of the people of the Salvador Family knew how to drive, they managed to request three pickups from the military. This way, they would have more space to transport supplies.

The loading of the supplies took longer than before. Without the soldiers, their manpower was severely lessened. Because of that, they decided to eat lunch first before continuing on the road.

Of course, this time, the road was different.

After leaving Chaflar behind once more, they entered a branching road going away from Marikina-Infanta Highway. It was not a concrete road, however. It was a dirt road going up a hill and would lead to some of the most rural places in the area.

The road was not too bumpy, however, it was still an uncomfortable ride. Because of the road going up and down, the speed of their travel was rather inconsistent.

There was another road which was flatter and was more developed. They would have used that if not for the fact that they would need another hour or more of travel to get there and the entrance to that road was way closer to the termite nest. This was the shortest route they could take right now.

Along the uneven road, they encountered quite a number of mutated animals and insects. Nevertheless, aside for a few feral ones, most of them ran away at the sight of several vehicles and Gifre.

As for those that tried to hinder the group, they would become the menu for dinner. Of course, the animals and not the insects. Even though the insects had already gone larger, not all people would want to eat these insects unless they were too desperate for food.

***

Day 71 - 1:32 PM - Makaira-Daraitan Road, Madilay-dilay, Tanay, Rizal

After almost an hour at the dirt road, they reached Makaira-Daraitan Road, the only road that would lead to Barangay Daraitan.

It was the main road in this area. Nevertheless, despite being the main road towards Barangay Daraitan and the tourist spots nearby, the road was pretty much an isolated one.

There were very few houses on the roadside and there was more flora to be seen along the way. Furthermore, there was barely any vehicle abandoned by the roadside. Most of the vehicles were even parked properly which meant that the owners did not manage to use these vehicles to leave at all.

Despite those, not a soul could be seen around. Not even a single infected on the streets.

Nevertheless, Mark and the others managed to notice something odd.

Mark went down the vehicle to investigate some stores they passed by.