Mutagen

Day 129 - 11:04 AM - Third Floor, Audubon High School, Audubon, Camden County, New Jersey, United States of America

Stunned by the slap she received from her younger sister, Felicia stood blankly in place as Elise escaped. Their father, Abraham, and their mother, Candace, were also surprised by the scene. Still, their expression was more of remorse on their faces rather than shock.

Not only their family, but everyone who witnessed the scene was surprised.

Usually, reunions, after the apocalypse started, would be filled with relief, happiness, and tears of joy. This situation was the first time that many of them seen a reunion filled with resentment, especially from a sibling.

"Licia, are you alright?"

Abraham approached her daughter, patting her back gently.

Felicia slightly nodded, though her face was still blank.

Seeing that, Abraham helped Felicia sit down.

"Licia, you shouldn't mind it too much. It's my and your father's fault."

Candace said while looking down on her bed.

It seemed that this would be the start of family talk between Felicia and her parents.

"Should we leave them alone?"

Arnold asked.

That question made Ernst and the others nod. It was not their place to intrude in other family's business.

Mark then turned to Captain Morrison.

"Do you have someplace we can stay? We might need to stay here for a day."

Hearing Mark's words, Captain Morrison's eyes lightened. Who would not want Mark's group? Even if it was just one day, it still a day of the settlement's safety was being guaranteed. Furthermore, with what happened earlier, there was a high chance that the outlaws would return to take revenge and for other dangers to come.

"We still have a lot of rooms unused. We can prepare one immediately for your group."

"Then, please guide them to where they can wait for a while."

Mark then turned to Arthur and Otis.

"Get morgan out of the vehicle, also keep an eye on her."

Mark handed the chains that restrained the [Queen Type] behind him that had been gathering a lot of attention since earlier for having a large spideraccessory on her head.

"How about you, Sir Mark?"

Arnold could not help but ask as he received the chains.

"We'll stay here a bit." Mark then turned back to Captain Morrison. "It's fine, right?"

"There's no problem. I can leave someone to guide you when you want to leave the ward."

"No need." Mark declined. "It's also likely that we won't use the door, anyway."

Captain Morrison was confused. Nevertheless, he did not want to ask any more questions and annoy Mark. Thus, he left with his men, leaving one of the soldiers. Even though Mark said that there was no need to, they still needed to keep an eye on them since they were strangers, to begin with.

Mark did not bother about the soldier that Captain Morrison left. Together with Mei, Mark approached Felicia and her parents.

"You two are...?"

Candace asked as she saw Mark and Mei approached.

"This is Sir Mark and Miss Mei. They are the leaders of the group Licia belongs to. They were the ones that brought her here."

Abraham introduced Mark and Mei since Felicia already did the same while they were walking towards this place. Felicia's mind was too boggled to do the introductions this time.

"Is that so?" Candace smiled. "Thank you for taking care of our daughter."

Mark could not help but scratch his cheek. Felicia's parents were too sincere that it felt uncomfortable for him. It seemed that they really loved Felicia. It came with a price, though.

"You don't have to thank me. Your daughter is now one of my people. It is just convenient to pass by since this place was near the road we wanted to take, and by coincidence, you all, her family, are still alive."

"So, Licia is going to leave again?"

Candace asked, looking at Felicia, who was still silent.

"No..." Mark shook his head. "I'll go straight to the point. We will take you two and your children with her. We will bring you somewhere safer than this place."

"That's..."

Felicia's parent's looked at each other. Of course, they would hesitate.

"Can we think about this first?"

Abraham said. Unexpectedly, Mark shook his head.

"I'm not asking you. Whether any of you want it or not, we will take you all out of here. The only time I can give you is whether you will come willingly or not. If not, I will have to use force."

"You..."

Candace was about to say something offensive. But Abraham held her hand and shook his head. He could tell that Mark was only being nice was because they were Felicia's parents.

"Why are you going this far to do that?"

Abraham asked.

"I already said. Felicia is already one of my people. I give my people the best as long as it is possible. Keeping her family around her would be the best for her, right?"

"So, you want to keep us around so that my daughter won't leave you?"

"What?"

Mark was confused.

"Do you want to keep our daughter as your woman? That is why you want to keep us?"

,m Mark was flabbergasted. Did he really look like that kind of person? Mark scratched his head, making him see his reflection on the window. Forget it, he really looked like one.

Unexpectedly, Mei, who was silent until now, stepped forward and spoke.

"Pardon me for interrupting, but please. Felicia already has someone else in her heart. And MY HUSBAND won't be interested in humans."

Mark was surprised though he liked the sound of that. He patted Mei's head.

"Yep. I'm not interested in Felicia as a woman, so don't worry. Look at my wife. If your daughter can surpass her beauty, then I might put her in my eye."

TCH!

A lot of clicking tongues were heard inside the room, along with envious killing intent. There were more men than women in this room, after all. Most of them were injured soldiers that were single.

Both Abraham and Candice choked. What kind of reasoning was that? Furthermore, what did Mei just said? Not interested in humans? Were they not humans?

Felicia's parents were speechless.

"What the hell am I doing?" Mark scratched his head. "In any case, don't worry. If you really want a reason, it's because of your daughter's current sweetheart."

Hearing that, Abraham and Candace turned to their daughter once more. Nevertheless, it seemed that she never heard anything or noticed what was happening around her.

"She's too shaken, isn't she?"

Mark spoke as he reached his hand towards Felicia's head. Then, her parents saw his hand glow with white milky light.

"What are you..."

Abraham was stunned.

"Don't worry, I'm just calming her down. You won't be able to talk if she's like this."

It did not take long, and Mark removed his hand.

"Huh? Ow..."

Felicia snapped out of her trance, the first thing she felt was the pain on her cheek.

"Did you calm down now?"

Felicia heard Mark's voice. She looked up and nodded. Although she could not understand what happened after her younger sister slapped her, she was calm now after feeling that comfortable sensation on her body.

"Well then, you should talk about things first."

Mark said as he led Mei away, leaving the three. But then, he suddenly turned his head back at them.

"By the way, should I pick up that other daughter of yours?"

Mark asked Abraham.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing much. That brat just ran off out of the school grounds. I don't know her abilities, so I'm just asking if there's a need to pick her up."

Felicia's parents were stunned, especially Abraham.

With what happened earlier, it was very dangerous to leave the school grounds. Not only the enemies might have sent people to keep a lookout on the school, but there would be infected that would be attracted to the smell of blood.

And that was the most dangerous part.

The area around the school was devoid of infected due to the soldiers eliminating them constantly. That was why the infected that would be attracted to the smell of blood would come from other areas. And the first ones to arrive were those with stronger and faster mutations. Even the soldiers sometimes struggle to deal with them.

"C-can you please bring her back?"

Abraham was in a panic.

"I'll go."

Felicia stood up to volunteer.

"You better not." Mark looked at Felicia. "You are the reason why she left. She might run away again after she sees you."

Hearing that, Felicia could only sit back down slowly. Mark was right, it would not do any good if she was the one to go.

"Alright, we'll bring her back."

Mark said as both he and Mei nodded at each other.

The two of them then ran towards the same window that Eliss went through and jumped out.

Everyone in the room was surprised. The soldier that Captain Morrison hurriedly ran towards the window as he should be keeping an eye on the two.

Peering through the window, the soldier was stunned. It was the same for those that followed suit in curiosity.

The only thing they saw was Mark and Mei sprouting wings on their backs and flying away.

"What in the world..."

Who knows who murmured that. But that was the only thing all of the people that saw the scene had in their minds. It seemed to be the first time for them to see Mutators capable of flight.

Mark and Mei flew across the sports fields causing many people to witness them. Fortunately, Mei's appearance was kinda hard to forget, and many of the people that saw them before recognized her. The soldiers that participated in the fight earlier also recognized Mark.

"It's the first time."

Mark suddenly spoke as they flew, making Mei look at him.

"?"

"You called me your husband just now, right?"

Mark teased. Obviously, Mei's face turned red.

"You're starting to get more possessive, aren't you?"

He asked.

"Sorry..."

Mei felt a bit down. Maybe, she did something wrong.

"Why are you apologizing?" Mark reached for Mei's hand. "I actually want you to be a bit more selfish. You don't ask me for anything that I don't know what things you will like."

Hearing that, Mei smiled. Her smile was bright and refreshing.

"I like anything that Gege gives me."

That smile and reply made Mark smile bitterly.

"If you say so."

"By the way, Gege."

Mei changed the topic.

"Hmm?"

"Why did you stop Felicia's sister earlier?"

"You noticed?"

"Of course."

Mei nodded. Earlier, when Elise had a burst of emotions after seeing her sister, things were about to get ugly. She was already blinded by hate and anger, and she might have ended up either injuring herself or her sister in the process, an injury in physical, mental, and emotional aspects.

With that kind of outburst, that crisp slap was not enough to stop her. Yet, she suddenly snapped out of it and realized what she had done, causing her to escape.

No one noticed since it looked natural. However, at that time, Mark's eyes let out a red glow, targeting Elise.

"Well, physical injuries can heal with medicine, and scars can be covered. Mental and emotional ones are hard to heal, and there's no medicine for it. Only time can mend it, and time is what we don't have now. It is better if they can sort their problems peacefully.

"I didn't think that I will hear that from Gege..."

Mei giggled.

"I know, I know." Mark shrugged. "Well, they are Felicia's family, so it's we really can't settle things with violence. We need her to ensure that Morgan will give us his loyalty once he woke up. I don't want to take the ability from someone with talent like him."

Then, Mark smiled. A smile with a hidden sinister thought.

"Besides, there are traces of manipulation on that girl's emotions. She might have run off to meet the cause of it."