Mutagen

Day 1 - 10:06 AM - Bacoor City Mall 2nd Floor, Central Area

A man sat on a bench that was placed around the circular terrace at the center of the mall. He wore a set of black clothes. Black shirt, slacks, jacket and rubber shoes, everything was black colored. Even the loose beanie he wore over his unkempt almost shoulder length hair was black. His face was average looking. He had uneven sized eyes which would give other people a different impression of him depending on which side they of his face they were looking at. His right eye looked a little sleepy while the other looked quite sharp. His nose was quite tall and was slightly wider than average but it complimented his long slightly pointed face.

Most people won't notice or even pay attention to him due to his average looks but some people could not help but glance at him. It was because aside from the way he clothed himself, he was emanating a dark aura as if he was telling people not to bother him.

In one way or the other, he looked like a person that who was about to commit a crime.

***

Mark slumped on the bench while fiddling with his phone. While listening to the Japanese song he played on his phone, he thought of how his day started too badly. Getting stuck in a heavy traffic, waiting in line for hours and not being able to pay his electricity bill, his bad luck did not end there. When the mall opened, he decided to visit the arcade center at the third floor of the mall to pass time and cool down his head. When he finally saw the arcade, he slapped his head in frustration. The door of the arcade was blocked with metal shutters and the shutters were padlocked from the outside.

To his dismay, the arcade center was closed. Furthermore, there was not even a single notice pasted on the metal shutters to tell why they were closed. It seemed to be an unintended closure.

However, he could not help but notice that the arcade center was not the only one but rather, about half of the stores he passed by earlier were closed while some were barely open.

Many of the employees and staff of the mall he saw had anxious expressions. Some of them held their phones while trying to make calls when they should not be as it was against the protocols during their working hours.

Mark took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down. There really was nothing he could do about these circumstances. He could only blame his luck.

Still, he could feel the heavy atmosphere enveloping everyone which was really surprising. It was as if something devastating was happening and was affecting everything.

"I just hope that it's nothing too troublesome."

Discarding the negative thoughts in his mind, he stood up and made his way towards the stall selling drinks and snacks nearby.

BAM!!!

Mark had just paid and received the bottle of soda from the clerk when a loud explosion-like sound that came from the floor below disturbed everyone's minds. Most people might not be familiar with that sound but Mark knew exactly what that was.

That was the sound of a gunshot. To be precise, it was the sound of a shotgun being fired.

Then, the gunshot was followed by a number of loud terrified screams.

Many people from the upper floors heard the uncanny noises and grew curious as to what was currently happening. Those people moved and started peeking over the terrace while trying to have a clear view of situation below.

What they saw left them speechless.

Mark also watched the scene as he took a sip of the bottle of soda he held in his hand.

Several gunshots echoed across the mall while a large number of people were running below. They were running towards the western part of the mall, away from where the gunshots were coming from. Most of them ran away while screaming in fear. Some people even pushed the ones in front of them in hope to get away faster while some pulled away their companions who ran slower together with them.

The people below scrambled in panic and fear and the people above watched the scene with disturbed expressions. The sounds of gunshots in the background continued in different intervals.

Sounds of yelling, screams, curses and gunshots… There were a lot of noises that could be heard but what was the cause of all these commotion?

"Just what in the world is going on?"

A man that stood near Mark voiced the sole question inside everyone's mind at this very moment.

At first, what was all they could see were the people running away from the eastern side of the mall. As the people running below got fewer and fewer, the sounds of gunshots came closer and closer. Mark also noticed that the people on the East Wing of the mall on the same floor as his started to panic and ran away.

Soon enough, the security guards of the mall who were firing their guns entered their view. The guards continued retreating backwards as fast as they can while shooting at something.

Even though the people watching at the higher floors were terrified by the gunshots, their curiosity got them better as many stayed and watched the commotion below. They even ignored the people that were already panicking who had already seen what was going on below. The few people who were cautious and those who noticed the incoming danger already left to escape.

"Sh*t! What the hell are they?!"

Mark heard one of the guards below him curse in a very loud voice. This just showed overwhelmed the guard was under his own emotions.

It was then that another guard who was reloading his gun fell down while screaming. No, rather that falling down, the guard was pounced on as another person covered in blood was currently above his helpless body.

"F*ck! George!"

CLANK!

The guard who was cursing out loud saw what happened to his companion shouted. He immediately aimed his shotgun at the attacker to shoot but there was no sound of gunshot, rather, all he heard was a clanking sound coming from his gun. He was also out of ammo!

Panicked, he shakily reached for his pocket to take out more shotgun shells for his shotgun. Some shells fell on the ground as he took out his hand from his pocket. He then attempted to reload his shotgun with the ammunition in his hand.

Unfortunately, he was late.

Before he could even close the chamber of his shotgun, the loudest and final scream of his companion entered his ears. He froze as he slowly raised his head looking at the bloody corpse of his companion. Fountain of blood gushed out onto the floor as attacker mercilessly tore the other guard's neck with a ferocious bite and chewed the flesh in his mouth hungrily.

Filled with rage, the remaining guard held his weapon tight as he ran towards his fallen companion and shot the attacker on the head without mercy. Bits and pieces of brain matter and blood scattered as the body of the attacker fell into the floor.

It was then that he felt severe pain on his back as he saw the floor get closer and closer in his eyes. Only the unknown pain from behind his neck and confusion filled the guard's mind as his sight slowly faded to black.

By the moment that the first guard died, the remaining people watching were now truly terrified. Like bats disturbed from sleeping in their caves, the people ran away in every direction finding ways to escape. Those who had weaker stomach ran away with pale faces leaving traces of vomit on their initial spot.

While the people around him scattered in fear, Mark remained standing in his spot near the terrace as he watched the second guard being bitten brutally. He then saw the body of the other guard that died first twitch for several seconds before standing up once more while staggering. The guard's head hung to the side revealing the bitten part of his neck dripping blood and staining his prided uniform.

Mark furrowed his brows when he saw that scene but the glint of twinkle in his eyes betrayed his expression. Inside, he felt excited as his lips unconsciously curved into a refreshing smile he never showed to others before.

"Zombies?"

He asked but of course, there is not a single soul to hear or reply to him.

If anyone were to hear his voice as he said that, they would likely notice that his voice was not filled with fear but rather, was filled with anticipation.

Taking his sight away from the scene below, he looked at the people who were making their way down the escalators and stairs in panic. All the escalators and stairs were filled with people.

He spotted several college students within the crowd. The males wore dirty-yellow colored uniforms and black slacks while the females more the same colored blouses and dark-green slacks. Their uniforms slight caught Mark's attention as he looked at them for a few seconds as they ran down the escalator. He saw a female with wavy chestnut colored and shoulder length hair among the students. She looked against running down the lower floors but she was pulled away by her friends.

Trying to measure the situation one last time, he turned his sight back towards the scene below. The staggering zombie guard is already gone while the body of the other guard lying on the floor started twitching.

Around the body of the guard were figures of people ran either staggering or ferociously. Some of the figures were even running at the speed faster than what their physiques were capable of.

Mark then started to move, but not following the waves of people escaping towards the lower floors and out of the mall. He rushed towards the stall where he bought the bottle of soda he was currently holding.

Seeing that the clerk of the stall was already gone, he picked up a plastic bag from behind the counter and started filling it with drinks and food. It was afterwards that he started running towards the opposite direction of the fleeing people. He countered the flow of people and climbed up the escalator going to the third floor with great difficulty.