Mutagen

Day 128 - 3:48 PM - Haddon Heights, Camden County, New Jersey, United States of America

A white house with a basement and an old wooden playset at the yard, it brought back the good old memories that Felicia had. Even the old picket fence that surrounded the yard looked the same, though most of it already broke because of the infected currently roaming in it.

There were trees in front, at the back, and beside the house. Although the carpet grass at the front yard had already overgrown, it was definitely modest but good looking.

A typical old house in a beautiful looking town, that was the feeling that the house gave out.

The moment the vehicle stopped, Felicia jumped out. She began carefully checking the infected in the surroundings. Once she confirmed that the infected was not someone she was looking for, she eliminated them by herself for trampling their yard.

Because the whole place was quite silent, the vehicle took the attention of the infected in a wide radius. Thus, Mark also joined the fray, though he made sure not to kill any that Felicia had not checked yet. They came to this place to check her family. At least, if they were found among the infected, Felicia had the right to choose what to do with them.

More than a hundred infected were checked and killed around the house and on the street.

Unfortunately, or maybe, fortunately, not a shadow of Felicia's family was found.

None of them could say whether it was good news or bad news.

With a heavy heart, Felicia turned back to the house. Without a doubt, it was empty.

Step by step, she approached the door.

Felicia reached for the knob and twisted it.

CLACK!

The knob was torn off from the door.

"Seems like the house had been broken through."

Arnold said while pointing at the hole where the knob was placed before.

Although it was not noticeable, there were markings that the door had been opened by force before. No wonder that it fell off after Felicia twisted it.

With the knob broken, they could only force the door open with the lock stuck.

After opening the door, the mood grew heavier.

The whole house was trashed. They could tell with just the view from outside the door.

Upon entering, the only thing that Felicia could feel was anger.

The appliances were gone, all the cabinets were left open, and the furniture was overturned. Many things were left on the floor to gather dust. There were even shards of glass from who knows where scattered here and there.

Felicia walked towards the living room. In front of the fireplace, she picked up something from the floor.

It was a broken picture frame with a photo containing seven people in it. In the photo, there were three children standing side by side in front of the adults.

"Are you the one in the middle?"

Sandie, who also looked at the picture frame on Felicia's hand, asked.

"That's me, *Sniff*."

Tears already formed at the corner of Felicia's eyes. Her emotions were in turmoil, with mainly sadness and frustration. However, she did not want to show weakness and tried to hold it in.

"It's fine. Cry it out."

Sandie embraced Felicia tightly.

There, Felicia could not hold it anymore.

Everyone else looked away. This display of hers was not something for them to watch.

While waiting for Felicia to calm down, the others checked the house. It might be disrespectful to the owner, but they should check whether there was danger or things left behind in the house.

Mark and Mei sat on the roof together while they wait for Felicia and the others to check the house. Hannah and the children, on the other hand, stayed inside the vehicle.

Hannah was not close to any of them, and it was inappropriate for her to join them. Thus, Hannah could only wait inside together with the children. Of course, she was keeping her guard up since they were alone with the unconcious Morgan and the restrained [Queen Type].

While looking around the surroundings with Mei, Mark noticed something, making him jump down.

"Gege?"

Mei asked with confusion.

"Wait there a bit. I'm going to check something."

"Okay."

With that exchange, Mark stepped into the backyard surrounded by broken fences. Then, he walked to the back of the house. It was where the outside entrance of the basement was located.

What made Mark approach it was because the cover looked strange. The entrance was blocked by a sheet of metal and heavy things like wood and rocks. That was already strange. However, what made it stranger was that the cover looked like it was placed in a hurry. It was as if the one that put the cover was running away from something.

CREAK! CLACK! TANG!

Different sounds echoed as Mark removed the heavy items on the cover.

Arnold and the others could not help but go out to see where the sounds were coming from. When they saw Mark, they could not help but wonder what he was doing.

Mark then looked at Arnold.

"Can you look inside if there's an entrance to the basement?"

"Ah, okay Sir!"

Arnold hurriedly replied. He immediately went back inside the house to check.

While Arnold checked, Ernst and the others helped Mark bring away the things on the metal cover of the entrance to the basement.

BAM! BAM!

Ernst and the other survivors from Bally's jumped back in fright. The sound came too sudden, and it was from the other side of the entrance they were trying to uncover.

"What the hell, that almost gave me a heart attack."

Ernst complained. The other survivors could only agree with him while looking at Mark, who did not react at all.

Despite that, there was one thing they confirmed. There was something inside the basement. They could not help but become wary.

Soon, while the banging sound continued, Arnold came back.

"Sir, there's an entrance, but the way to the door is blocked with a lot of things. Some are nailed to the door."

Mark nodded and looked at the others.

"All of you should get away a bit."

He warned.

Most of the heavy things were already removed. Mark could open the metal sheet by pulling it away in one go. Once he did that, whatever was making the noise inside would surely rush out.

BAM!

As everyone watching retreated, Mark pulled the cover away.

The moment that the entrance was opened, a shadow rushed towards Mark ferociously.

Mark took a step to the side, avoiding the attack entirely.

​ As the attack missed, the attacker was stopped and turned, facing Mark and the others in a ragged manner.

It was an old woman who was heavily emaciated. She almost looked like skin and bones. Her eyelids almost stuck to her eyeballs, and her cheeks took the shape of her gums and teeth.

Due to her being too thin, her remaining clothes were hanging too loose, revealing her chest that was nothing but ribcage. As for her hair, there was barely anything left. If not for the fact that she was not wearing anything below anymore, no one could tell that this infected was a woman.

Furthermore, without a doubt, it was a mutated one. The infected's nails were like claws, and despite her appearance and stature, she moved like a cat.

The infected woman charged towards Mark once more as he was the closest to her.

Mark took another step to the side, making the attack miss once more. This time, Mark shot a [Blood Whip] around the woman as he dodged her attack. It immediately turned into metal, which disabled the infected woman from moving.

As the woman fell down to the ground, Mark pulled her up and turned to the survivors once more.

"Arnold, hold this. Then, call Felicia. Since this is imprisoned inside their basement, maybe she knew her."

Mark then handed the infected to Arnold, who looked too repulsed to even get close to the infected woman. However, since it was Mark's orders, he could only accept.

While they waited for Felicia, Mark entered the basement.

The first thing that Mark noticed was the awful smell coming from inside. It was the smell of mixed blood, feces, and urine. There was also the smell of rotting flesh. Almost all infected smelled this way, especially the Biters. Thus, if they were enclosed in a small space like this, this repulsive smell would seep inside that space if not cleaned regularly.

Covering his nose, Mark peeked inside. It was dark, and he had to take out a flashlight from his [Space Ring].

Actually, with the infected woman running out, no one would try looking inside. However, that infected woman was a Mutated Biter. She was a living infected. That meant that she had something to eat inside the basement that made her last long. If not, she should have turned into an Eater long ago for dying from hunger.

Mark was not wrong. With this rotten smell, there was definitely a source of its food.

The question was... was it a what, or was it a who?

There was also a chance that it was an animal, after all.

The basement was surely dark. Mark could only walk slowly, in order to not step on anything disgusting.

And there, at the corner, Mark found the source of the foul rotten smell. It was a decaying rat about the size of a huskie. Fortunately, there were no human corpses inside.

If there was a human corpse here inside the basement, there would be a huge chance that it might be one of Felicia's family members.

Mark soon went out. Outside, everyone had already gathered around. And from the atmosphere, it seemed that Felicia knew the infected woman. She was kind of feeling down.

"So, you know her?"

Mark asked, pointing at the infected woman struggling in Arnold's grasp.

"Yes," Felicia replied. "She's our neighbor. She lives on the house on the other side."

She said while pointing at the abandoned house just on the other side of the road.

"She's a kind woman. She and her husband could not have children. So, she often played with me and my siblings when we were young."

Felicia knew the woman. Fortunately, although it was someone close to them, she was not one of her parents.

"Sir, did you find anything else inside?"

Felicia asked. After all, even though just corpses, her parents might be inside.

"There's nothing aside from a rotting dog-sized rat."

Mark said with a shrug. That, however, was sort of good news for everyone.

"It won't be long before it gets dark. Let's just spend the night here. Is that okay?"

Mark asked Felicia. After all, it was her parent's house.

Felicia nodded. Rather, she had no reason to decline. Even though the house was already trashed and empty, she wanted to spend the night in her parent's house for one last time.

While clearing the house to be suitable enough to stay for the night, time passed by quickly.

They could not help but wonder why Felicia's neighbor was trapped inside their basement. However, no matter how they think of it, they could not find any answer.

Looking at the clues like the heavily barricaded door to the basement inside the house and the hurriedly covered entrance outside, Mark had a hunch. Of course, it was nothing but speculation.

And then, while sweeping the living room, Amy, the girl among the three children, came across something. It was a crumpled piece of paper that was inside the fireplace.

Most of it was charred, but a large part was still intact.

Out of curiosity, the girl opened it.

The contents were barely readable because of being partly burned. But there was one thing for sure...

"Miss Felicia!"

Amy immediately called out and ran towards Felicia. She then gave the crumpled paper.

It could not be read clearly. Furthermore, it seemed that it was written in a hurry. But definitely, it was a letter.

...A letter for Felicia and her siblings.