MUTATION: THE FATE OF A SOLE SURVIVOR

Chapter 16: The Mother of the Plague

I grabbed the maneater's jaws with both hands and prevented it from clapping them together while maintaining my footing. It twisted and whirled it's body in a bid to escape from my grip but failed as I held on to it firmly. With this new profound strength, I effortlessly ripped apart its jaws, killing it immediately. I heard the sounds of men shooting at the maneaters who in turn pounced upon them and tore them apart. Boss Jack himself had already wet his pants and fired his shots in a frenzy. Peter and Lucy were rather composed and faced the creatures head-on, evidently showing no fear.

When Jack noticed that most of the maneaters now focused their attention on us, he yelled at his men, "Retreat! Get me out of here now!".

Peter killed one maneater with a headshot and focused his gun at Jack. "Oi oi oi", he said menacingly like a madman thrusting for blood, "We've still got some unfinished business, don't we?".

"Like hell I'm going to be standing here quarrelling with you a**holes!", Boss Jack retorted while aiming his gun at Peter and was slowly moving back.

Lucy killed the last of the maneaters and pointed her own gun at him, "Drop it Jack".

"Like hell I would! Shoot her!", he yelled while waiting for his men to open fire. However, when his men didn't respond, he looked back and saw that all of his men were dead, their throats slit right open. Behind him was me, blood dripping down from the jack knife, my presence emitting a murderous aura so intense that it was almost enough to choke him to death. He staggered backwards, and found his back against the wall, with all three of us looking like devils ready to devour his soul.

"Seems like it's our win here, you rotten fat pig", commented Peter while he aimed accurately for Jack's head, "So? Any last words?".

Jack breathed very heavily, then bowed his head as though he had given up, but then stared at us back with cowardly pride that refused to give up. "If I die, then you all die with me!", he yelled and bent his aim down a little bit before opening fire at one of the dead bodies of his men which had grenades strapped across the body and also held one grenade on it's right hand. Of course, the bullet went straight for the lone grenade and ignited, blowing up that area. Peter had quickly rush over to Lucy to save her, while the explosion sent me off my feet and crashing into a civilian home. My head hit hard against something and immediately knocked me out.

***

"Why... Why did you do it?", said a voice above me.

My head was resting against something warm and nice. I tried opening my eyes, but I felt so weak when trying to do so. My vision was blurry, but I could make out a female's face and either dark or light pink leaves falling off the tree behind her.

"Why did you do it?", she asked again.

"Do... what?", I asked weakly. I was feeling like someone very worn out and tired, dying for a rest.

"You don't even remember?".

"Your voice... is new. What's your name?".

I first got no response, then heard her cry and felt some of her tears landing on my face.

"Why are you crying?", I asked, expressing some concerns. I tried moving my body but discovered I had no control over it anymore, which was starting to make me more concern about what was going on.

"I can't believe it. After everything that had happened, you still have the nerve to ask me my name", she replied while crying, her voice starting to increase.

I didn't know how to respond to her words, but then I heard her stop crying and kept mute for a while. Then she spoke, "You".

"Me? What about me?", I asked.

"You're the reason why I'm like this. You're responsible for all the suffering I've gone through. So can you do me one favor?", she asked while grabbing my shirt and continuing with a sinister, but familiar voice, "Die for me".

I opened my eyes in terror and sat up straight. I shook my head and recalled what had happened. Part of my clothes were burned but my wounds were gone, and fatigue restored. I heard the sounds of men, women and children getting eaten outside and immediately left the house after grabbing some kitchen knives to deal with the maneaters. I got to a scene where a man was beyond saving as four maneaters were menacingly devouring him from the bottom straight up. I rushed towards the scene and successfully killed all the maneaters. I looked at the man and saw that he was already dead. I sighed and left the place to engage more monsters. The only zombies who invaded the city were the normal zombies and the maneaters. I killed many of them and realized that I was faster, stronger, and more agile than before, which gave me some confidence as I continued killing them

One maneater, however, managed to bite me on my right arm. I immediately drove my remaining knife into its skull and threw it's corpse away. I looked at the place it had bitten and noticed that some strange greenish substance oozed out from the wound and feel on the floor, and there after came the miraculous healing.

Then I heard a strange sound, more like a melody, coming behind me from very far. I listened to it and followed it, for there was something so strange about the song which made it sound so familiar, something I was hoping wasn't true.

I kept going, slowly breaking into a run, ignoring everything else and focused on knowing what was making such a sound. It was mixed with meaningless words, but it was similar to the voice of someone I once cherished. My heart raced faster each time I got closer to this voice, until I stopped dead on my trail and witnessed another wonder of the world.

A feminine figure was dragging herself from the dark smoke that hid her appearance. Her whole skin was dark blue, so dark it almost confused me to be dark purple. Her pupils were red, her long orange hair ever beautiful. She wore bloodstained clothes which hadn't been washed for months, and her appearance would make anyone conclude she was a monster. But how could such a monster be so beautiful, with a human-like nature as she saw me and burst into tears. Even I dropped my knife and walked towards her, shocked to see her in such a state. We embraced each other, with her crying all the more, while I had to man up and fight back the tears trying to escape my eyes while holding on to her tightly. Indeed, I never thought I would find Ana in such a state.

"Is... this really you Joe?", she asked while grabbing on to my shirt tightly.

"It's me Ana", I replied while holding her tightly, "I'll never leave you out of my sight ever again".

"I'm so glad", she replied while holding on to my shirt very tightly. The way she responded was off as well, as if she was expecting this to happen. "He promised to free me once I managed to fine you".

Alarmed, I looked at her and asked, "Who is this man you're talking about?".

"It doesn't matter", she replied while suddenly grabbing me by the neck with her left hand and lifting me up in air. Her beautiful face was twisted into a lunatic face that silently gave out a faint metallic laugh. "Now that I've finally found you, be a good boy and die for me!", she exclaimed while using all her strength to crush my windpipe.