Mutagen

Day 154 - 1:15 PM - Reading City, Pennsylvania, United States of America

As Louis stood atop the ragged wall of concrete he created, Felicia also did her share of work. There was not only the infected within the horde in the area but also some wandering stragglers. She might not be much of help in handling large amounts of infected at once. Nonetheless, she was the most effective in one-on-one battles.

"Felicia, Louis, how is the situation there?"

The radio strapped on the waist of Felicia sounded with Huey's voice as she twisted an infected's head with a powerful kick.

Without letting her attention stray away from the infected, Felicia picked up the radio.

"The situation here is pretty much under control," Felicia replied on the radio. "Louis already blocked the road, and there is only a small number that can climb up or jump. If needed, we probably can eliminate them, but it will take some time and effort."

"There is no need to kill them all," Huey replied. "Just deal with those that can possibly become a threat. If not possible, just leave them be. Don't waste too much time and energy since we only need to delay them for another two to three hours. We might even need to pull back earlier than expected."

"Okay, got it," Felicia affirmed and turned to Louis atop the ragged concrete wall. "You heard that, right? So don't push yourself too much."

"Hah... Alright." Louis replied with a shrug and murmured. "We haven't even committed ourselves to each other, but she nags like we're married for years..."

"Did you say something?"

"I didn't!"

***

Day 154 - 1:20 PM - Warehouse, Lombard St., Reading City, Pennsylvania, United States of America

At the warehouse southeast of the school where Alana was positioned, Huey was overseeing their final operations in this place. Since their base was the Pagoda atop Mt. Penn, it would be a waste of fuel and time to go back and forth, especially if the scavenging run did not fill their vehicles. Thus, they decided to use this warehouse as a dropoff. Then, they would move the supplies up the mountain.

There was also another problem. The only road that would lead up to the Pagoda was on the east side of the mountain. It became an issue since the main city areas were on the opposite.

They had no choice but to make this place a drop point for the supplies they collected. It also allowed them to manually carry the supplies up the mountain through the trekking paths behind the Pagoda.

"Hurry up! Move faster!"

A loud voice urged the workers to move faster. It was no other than Ed, the masculine man among Huey's group. He was watching the workers as they filled his metal cart with supplies.

"Yes!"

The workers replied with serious faces.

"Don't push them too hard. It would be a problem if the workers collapsed."

Huey called out to Ed from the roof of the warehouse.

"We are fine, Sir!" Instead of Ed, it was the workers that replied. "We do need to move faster, or we might have no choice but to waste some of the supplies."

"You heard them"

Ed added.

Huey could only shrug, but it was with a good expression.

Ed and the workers continued on their work while Huey resumed monitoring the surroundings. It was at this time that some people climbed up the roof.

"Welcome back. The infected in front had been dealt with fast."

Huey greeted, looking at the group.

It was Jolleen, Halley, and Nicole. They had just returned after killing a small group of infected that wandered near the warehouse.

"We're back. It's not a big horde so we managed to dispatch them quickly."

Jolleen greeted back.

"Ugh... I smell bad." Halley complained as she sat down on a nearby chair. "I want to take a bath."

"I told you not to burn the infected you are fighting," Nicole replied to Halley. "But you still went and did it."

"I can't help it, alright?" Halley argued. "Something disgusting tried to jump on me."

Huey shook his head as the two bickered.

Following the return of the three, another two people climbed to the roof, carrying two plastic containers filled with lunchboxes and water bottles.

It was Trisha and Ron.

"We brought lunch for you guys!"

Trisha announced as she put the container that she carried on a table.

"Here's the water."

Ron said as he put his container by the leg of the same table.

Huey smiled, looking at the noisy group around him and also glancing at Ed below.

Who would have thought that the remaining people in the group of animators chased up the mountain by a feral tiger would end up like this? That group of afraid, dying regular people was no more. Now, they were powerful people capable of fighting the infected without fear.

It was fortunate that they chose the right decision when they met Mark.

With those things in mind, Huey suddenly whipped his head to the sky. He detected something.

"Something wrong, Huey?"

Jolleen asked, noticing the odd expression of Huey.

"Those guys from Auraboros are watching again."

Huey replied, staring at the Red-Tailed Hawk that was circling in the sky.

"They aren't even hiding it anymore, huh."

Jolleen said, also staring at the hawk.

It was not the first time that the group from Auraboros who stationed themselves at an apartment building south of mount pen spied on them. First, they tried stealthily infiltrating the Pagoda but got caught many times. Then, they began sending animals.

However, all of the attempts were either caught by either Huey or the illusion of Tikbalangs. Soon, they stopped trying to infiltrate the Pagoda and started tailing the scavenging groups using small birds. It was quite hard to discern the birds, but, once seen, it could be easily deduced that the birds were being manipulated.

In recent days, the manipulated birds stopped hiding and would blatantly circle in the sky, watching their activities in the area. It was effective as the birds were quite hard to hit, even with guns.

It was an extreme annoyance. No one would feel comfortable being watched like that. However, since they had more important things to do, Huey and the others stopped intercepting the birds.

And as it seemed, the members of Auraboros were just watching. They seemed to have no intention to even have a proper interaction with them, peacefully or hostile.

"In any case, we're leaving this place," Huey said with his eyes leaving the hawk in the sky. "Today will be the last time we will see their birds spying on us."

"True."

Jolleen nodded.

"Hey, you two." Suddenly, Trisha called out. "Eat your lunch immediately while we are free. If another infected horde came again, it would be late to eat."

The two could only agree to what Trisha said and grabbed their lunchboxes.

***

Day 154 - 1:25 PM - The Pagoda, Mt. Penn, Reading City, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Inside the first floor of the Pagoda, a wide portal floated at its center. Piles of boxes and cases were accumulating in front of it. It was because the workers were dropping the supplies they carried from the warehouse in here.

As for transporting the supplies through the portal, another group was handling it. Those workers were currently passing back and forth, carrying carts of items, through the portal connected to the warehouse on the other side.

At the corner of the first floor, near the stairs, Spera sat watching the portal.

Because of the crystals that Mark gave her, she was now able to maintain the portal open for an extended amount of time. Her current longest record was five and a half hours straight. However, the time would shorten drastically if the portal did not remain open continuously. It was no surprise since opening a portal cost her more effort and energy than maintaining an already opened one. There was also the condition that she could not move away from the portal or it would close immediately.

If Spera could move away from her portal, she would not be here watching other people work.

At this time, two large creatures arrived outside the Pagoda. The two were too large that they could only stand by the door. One was had a snake body while the other a giant, fat man adorned with an orange armor-like exoskeleton.

It would have been a frightening sight if none of the people here knew who these creatures are. Not to mention the two were carrying boxes of food that made them less scary. It was Gifre and Logan, the mutated infected controlled by one of Mark's maids, Aephelia. The maid that just appeared out of nowhere with only Mark's closest people knowing where she came from.

At the arrival of the two monsters, the workers immediately approached to move the boxes they were carrying. The maid, herself, entered the Pagoda.

"Bored?"

Aephelia approached Spera, who was sat hugging her knees.

"...Yeah." Spera stared a few seconds at Aephelia before replying. "There is nothing to do but watch or sweep the floor. I already cleaned it several times, but the others stopped me since it's just going to get dirty again."

That reply made Aephelia shake her head a little. This girl in front of her was a slave at birth. Then became a tool of Auraboros after she gained her powers. Spera was a girl that did not know how to enjoy life.

Since Spera was the inheritor of Maurellfel, a good friend of Aephelia back in Eriellis, she could not help but look after her.

"Why not borrow one of Master's laptops?" Aephelia suggested. "I'll ask Miss Odelina later. Let's borrow the one with anime movies in it."

"Anime? That's cartoons, right? Isn't that for kids?"

Spera replied, tilting her head.

"If master heard you say that, he will be disappointed." Aephelia shrugged. "I do not think that an entertainment medium that involved gore and other sensitive topics are for children, though? And even cartoons had their own show of violence. Well, Master said before that there is a fine line differentiating violence anime and cartoons."

"Aren't you too enthusiastic about what Master likes?"

Spera said, staring at Aephelia.

"I can not be helped. It's a duty for us maids to know our master's preferences."

Aephelia replied.

Spera could only shrug as she accepted the suggestion. After all, watching childish stuff was better than staring at empty air. The question was when would Odelina return, though. She was current outside, also dealing with another horde. Her children, Seigfried and Odette, and her niece, Hannah, were with her.

Remembering that, Spera could not help but think of how strange of a person Odelina was. Not only was she capable of many things, but she was also adamant for her children to follow her steps. Now, she brought her children to fight a horde and train them at the same time.

***

"WH-WHAT IS THAT?!"

At this time, a commotion was heard from the workers outside the Pagoda.

Actually, it was not just around the Pagoda. Even Huey's group in the warehouse, the pair of Felicia and Louis, and even the group led by Alana saw the event.

Aephelia and Spera heard the commotion and went to see what was happening. Then they saw everyone outside was looking up at the sky.

Aephelia and Spera did the same, and their eyes opened wide in surprise.

In the sky, they could see several groups of circular objects floating. They were moving together synchronized. Some even had blinking lights that could be seen clearly despite the brightness of the afternoon sun.

The scene looked threatening, not to mention one of the objects should be as large as a cruise ship.

"An alien invasion all of a sudden?"

Spera blurted out. As a former member of Auraboros, she was not new to the existence of extraterrestrials on Earth. But to see them move like this all at once was a first.

"No, I don't think so."

Aephelia replied, observing the movements of the unidentified flying objects. Eriellis itself had its oddly shaped spaceships. Thus, she could tell what was happening by the flight pattern of the UFOs.

"Instead of an invasion, it's more like they were leaving this planet in a hurry."

That was Aephelias words as they watched the UFOs fly up the clouds all at once and vanish from their sights.