RPAGF Chapter 321: Mutant
Chapter 321: Mutant
Watching the boy rally the villagers and methodically direct them to take the grain back, Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick departed.
"That kid is impressive. He has leadership skills at such a young age."
"I just took a look around. Besides a few elderly people, this village is full of children. The youngest are four or five, and the oldest are thirteen or fourteen."
’Young children and the elderly are seen as a drag, a burden.’ In the apocalypse, the ones who died in the greatest numbers and were the first to be abandoned were always the children and the elderly.
Back in the vehicle, Evelyn Ford glanced at the time. "Let’s go. We’ll drive through the night to Mount Caldera."
Getting to Mount Caldera required taking a different route. Once they were on the main road, they saw more and more freight trucks. The traffic was terrible near the service and gas stations, with people knocking on their door offering food and lodging. The two of them ignored everyone.
"I was hauling fifteen tons of coal, and the bandits at Mount Caldera seized three tons of it. The authorities don’t even do anything about them. It’s infuriating."
"You think that’s bad? I got it worse. I got beaten up just for looking at the guy collecting the ’toll’ for a second too long. Lost three teeth."
"I’ve got it the worst. I hauled a truck full of cabbage from Frelia to the Varden base, and they seized two tons. Now the base manager is making me pay for the loss."
"I wish an earthquake would just hit Mount Caldera and kill every last one of those sons-of-bitching bandits."
"They even kidnap people. A refugee’s son and daughter were both snatched and taken up the mountain. The bandits beat the man to death right there. I saw it with my own eyes. It was brutal."
...
Evelyn Ford and Ronan Kendrick exchanged a glance. It seemed Mount Caldera was undeniably a den of bandits.
Several drivers got out of their trucks to chat, all complaining about how outrageous the bandits on Mount Caldera were. Two of them were bruised and swollen.
"The authorities probably can’t suppress the bandits on Mount Caldera, so they’re turning a blind eye. Ronan, your guess must be right. Those people... they’re definitely not ordinary."
"There must be more than two thousand people on Mount Caldera. First, we’ll wipe out all the failed subjects in one fell swoop. But now I’m thinking of something else."
Ronan Kendrick’s expression grew serious. "They’re kidnapping people and taking them up the mountain. What if they’ve set up a new human experimentation lab up there to create new test subjects?"
Evelyn Ford raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t even considered that possibility.
"But don’t test subjects need to be genetically modified from the start?"
Ronan Kendrick shook his head. "Blood can alter genes. Test subjects created using the blood of failed subjects... they could be trouble."
"Stronger?"
"No, they could become mutants—monsters that are neither human nor ghost. They might bite people, drink blood, and have no thoughts of their own, becoming extremely aggressive."
Ronan Kendrick fell silent for a few seconds before continuing, "What’s more, they might go on killing sprees against humans. The slaughter excites them."
"Is there a way to kill them quickly?" ’A gun? A knife? Poison? Or explosives?’
"Toss in some Smoke Bombs. Best to dismember them or take off their heads."
Evelyn Ford frowned, then nodded. "Understood."
"But there’s another possibility," he added. "The genes of the failed subjects might be too degraded from repeated mutations and alterations to be effective. In that case, the mutants won’t be viable. They’ll be useless, even afraid of light. You could kill them as easily as any normal person."
...
The traffic began to move again, and the chatting drivers returned to their trucks. Evelyn Ford took out a thermos and handed it to Ronan Kendrick. It was filled with sweet pear tea.
The snow on the ground, mixed with mud and coal dust, was rutted with tire tracks. Evelyn Ford got into the driver’s seat and immediately started the engine.
Night fell quickly. The two didn’t stop to rest, instead staying close behind the truck in front of them.
At 11:30 PM, just as they were about to enter the Mount Caldera area, the truck in front of them suddenly stopped. The driver got out for a bathroom break. His truck was hauling a load of daikon radishes, supplies destined for the Varden base.
"People ahead. We’ll head up the mountain from here," Ronan Kendrick said, glancing out the window. It was pitch-black out, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
Evelyn Ford nodded, opened the door, and got out. Seeing no one in front or behind them, she stored the vehicle in her dimensional space, and the two began hiking into the mountain.
At the checkpoint ahead, the truck driver was stopped. Dozens of bandits were stationed there and began forcibly unloading his cargo. The driver, seething but too afraid to speak, could only stand to the side with his head bowed.
The mountain was fenced in with barbed wire, which was also electrified.
Ronan Kendrick glanced at it, pulled on a pair of insulated gloves, and simply tore an opening in the wire. The two of them slipped through and entered Mount Caldera.
The path up the mountain was treacherous, and every two hundred meters, they encountered another barbed-wire fence.
After walking for nearly forty minutes, they finally reached the outskirts of the Mount Caldera camp. It consisted of many small, two-story buildings, all encircled by more layers of barbed wire.
"They have a lot of guard dogs here. Give me two packs of needles," Ronan Kendrick said as he took care of the barbed wire.
Evelyn Ford handed him two packs of sewing needles. After Ronan Kendrick silently dispatched several of the guard dogs, he started toward a tall, circular building to the right.
"I can smell their scent. They should be in there."
Evelyn Ford, clutching a combat knife and a gun, followed close behind Ronan Kendrick. This building was completely different from the others. While the rest were only two stories high, this one stood ten stories tall. Not only was it cylindrical, but the entire structure was windowless, sealed up tight like a beehive.
"The smell of disinfectant."
Ronan Kendrick nodded. "There must be a laboratory in this building."
The entrance door was locked with a keypad. Ronan Kendrick simply ripped the door off its hinges and smashed the overhead camera for good measure.
The entire building was pitch-black, without a single glimmer of light. Ronan Kendrick stood before a door on the first floor. The instant he turned the knob, he drew his knife, rushed inside, and eliminated the person lying on the bed.
When Evelyn Ford entered, Ronan Kendrick was staring down at the person on the bed.
"He’s a failed subject." Ronan Kendrick picked up a nearby cup. The heavy stench of blood still lingered inside.
Other than a single bed, the room was almost completely bare of any personal belongings.
Evelyn Ford stored the dead failed subject in her dimensional space, and they moved on to the next room.
"What time is it?"
Evelyn Ford checked the time. "One o’clock in the morning, exactly."
"I can’t believe I forgot. Some of the failed subjects have a two-hour hibernation period, from one to three in the morning. No wonder that guy didn’t make a sound."
Evelyn Ford’s eyes lit up. "Then let’s finish this quickly."
No one could have imagined that the infamous bandits of Mount Caldera would all be eliminated in their sleep.
Inside the laboratories on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors, hundreds more test subjects were also hibernating.
Ronan Kendrick did a sweep. Over a hundred of the test subjects had already begun turning into mutants. Veins bulged on their faces, and their pupils had turned a ghastly whitish-blue.
Without hesitation, Ronan Kendrick killed all the test subjects on the verge of becoming mutants.
"None of these test subjects are viable. They’re sluggish, and aside from a thirst for blood, they have no real ability to kill."
Hearing Ronan Kendrick’s assessment, Evelyn Ford relaxed. She had been worried these mutants would get off the mountain and massacre the refugees.
Evelyn Ford also stored all the laboratory equipment in her dimensional space.
"Watch out!"
Just then, a figure lunged at them from behind. Ronan Kendrick shoved Evelyn Ford out of the way and immediately began grappling with the attacker.
Evelyn Ford immediately drew her combat knife, looking for an opening. The moment Ronan Kendrick pinned their opponent to the ground, she rushed forward and slit its throat.