The Cunning Muscled Infected

Day 5 – 11:42 AM – Main Gates, Eastern Bacoor National High School, Bacoor City Cavite

"Sh*t! What the f*ck are these infected!"

One of the soldiers cursed as he shot the infected that landed directly in front of him.

"Migs! Mind your language!"

The soldier who seemed to have higher rank than the soldier that cursed reprimanded.

"I know sir but what in the world are these! They are climbing the walls and throwing infected at us!"

"Don't question it now! Just shoot!"

The soldiers lined up on the elevated area in front of the guidance room and principal's office. Some of the soldiers were positioned on the second floor classrooms and were continuously shooting the infected outside especially the ones climbing up the walls.

With the exception of Mark, the always calm Abbygale and the golden dog Laelaps, everyone else were surprised with the behavior that the infected were displaying. It was then that they saw Mark hurriedly aim towards the metal railings on top of the wall.

After Mark muttered his intention, Mark intended to shoot the only infected not trying to haphazardly climb up the wall. Rather, the infected was peeking inside looking at the position of the soldiers.

BANG!

The sudden deafening sound overwhelmed the sounds from the assault rifles that the soldiers were using and took their attention towards Mark who shot his sniper rifle towards the wall. The moment the soldiers turned their heads, they saw him click his tongue as his sudden shot missed with the Muscled Infected jumping back away from its previous position.

It seemed that it detected his killing intent despite how sudden his shot was.

The soldiers on the other hand that saw Mark felt relieved. They recognized him who was the person to wipe out Dominador's faction that had been too much of a headache for them. Since he was here, they felt more assured. Furthermore, even the soldiers were in a state of panic right now. Even though they encountered Mutated Infected before and even nearly decimated by an Unknown, they never saw infected that were able to climb up walls. More than that, it was not only one but several hundreds.

WOOSH! WOOSH!

Another two infected were thrown inside. Both infected were thrown towards Mark's direction. He prepared to dodge but before he could do so, a red shadow and a golden flash ran past his both sides towards the direction of the two bodies currently falling towards him.

BAM! PGSHK!

Abbygale and Laelaps jumped up towards the two infected. Abbygale kicked the infected to the right making it fly back towards the gates while Laelaps impaled the forehead of the infected to the left with her horn before throwing the body to the side.

Seeing how the two coordinated to protect him, Mark smiled.

However, everyone else was dumbfounded. It was a mystery for them for Mark to bring a little girl with him when he was going to a place like these being attacked by the infected. Now however, seeing how the little girl was able to kick a full grown adult several meters away and run in fast speeds, it was no wonder he brought his daughter here!

SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH! SWOOOSH!

Still, it seemed that seeing Mark made the Muscled Infected go haywire as it started throwing the infected in like there was no tomorrow. Furthermore, it was throwing the infected in random directions that made everyone scatter their attention away from it.

"Quick! Deal with the infected inside!"

One of the soldiers shouted as one of infected that was thrown in ran towards him after it managed to stood up.

Seeing what happened, Nikky and her group joined the fray. As their group did not have guns, they only dealt with the infected inside lessening the pressure on the soldiers. Until…

SWOOOSH!

A large body was thrown in. Seeing that, Mark's eyes dilated. Because the large body was a body of a fully bloated Dozer!

It was not a problem even if something was thrown in like that if it was just Mark was here but the soldiers were not in their clearest minds and were shooting everything moving that was thrown in!

"Don't shoot it!"

Mark bellowed. He was not late and some soldiers heard him but of course, not everyone was able to. Several soldiers on the second floor aimed at the Dozer without thinking.

"Gale! Everyone return! Laelaps! Pick up the others and retreat!"

Mark bellowed as loud as he could and also went behind the building. The two he instructed immediately followed. Abbygale hurriedly ran towards her Papa while Laelaps turned her body bigger and picked up Nikky and Delia who were the nearest to the Dozer before retreating. As Mara and Maverick saw them retreating, they also followed despite not knowing the reason.

Joey and several soldiers also retreated after they realized what that huge infected falling from the air was.

The Dozer landed on the ground and was immediately shot several times by the deranged soldiers.

BOOM!!! CRASH!!!

A sudden disgusting smell of methane and burnt flesh assaulted their noses as a loud explosion ensued breaking the glass of the rooms in front of the gate. Even the glass of the windows on the second floor was not spared. Several soldiers were caught in the sudden explosion. Some of them were flung away while some rolled on the floor groaning in pain.

On the second floor, the soldiers next to the windows were also injured with the broken glass buffeting their bodies.

The soldier nearest to the Dozer had the worst injury. His clothes and skin were burned especially on his back as he tried to run away from the sudden explosion. The others nearby also received burns on their bodies but their injuries were not as severe as the first one.

As for Mark's group, they were all fine due to Mark's prompt orders.

The remaining soldiers were dumbfounded. Hearing Mark shout made the soldiers on the first floor not shoot it meaning that the shot should have come from above!

"Damn! What are these idiots doing! They are trying to kill their own people!"

Maverick could not help but shout.

 SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

It seemed that the Muscled infected outside was still not done. It continued to throw in infected over the walls and gates.

Seeing that they did not have much leeway to idle, the remaining soldiers grouped themselves into two. The first group was to tend with the injured while the second would not stop dealing with the infected. As for the soldier who caused the catastrophe, their punishment would surely be in line after they finished dealing with this mess.

The soldiers were barely hanging on. As the soldiers were scattered around the settlement to deal with the sudden buildup of the infected, the number of soldiers dealing with these strange infected was not enough at all. Moreover, the sneaky Muscled Infected outside kept on making the situation even worse!

"Nikky, can your group stay here and help the soldiers? I don't know if any of you know how to use guns but if any of you can, ask the soldiers for spare guns. They should be able to lend you guys some."

Mark spoke as he shot another infected that was about to climb over the wall.

"Is that fine?"

Nikky asked.

"It should be. If not, then tell them that it's me who instructed you guys to."

"Alright, but how about you? You said that my group will stay so you will leave?"

"That's right. We'll deal with the sneaky bastard outside throwing the infected in. If we don't go out, that guy will continue. If we go after that guy, we might be able to kill it or at least chase it away."

Mark said in a serious tone. The infected neighbor of his was too troublesome to deal with. Furthermore, even though the normal infected it was throwing inside was not much of a deal, for it to throw Mutated Infected inside could be very dangerous. What happened just now was a great example of this.

Seeing how Mark spoke like he was familiar with these strange infected, several questions popped up in their minds but none of them stepped up to ask questions. It was not the right time to do so and they could only nod to his instructions.

As everyone came to a consensus, Mark turned towards the gate and took out a grenade. As he was holding his sniper rifle with his left hand, he held the grenade with his right and pulled the pin with his teeth. After spitting out the pin, he threw the grenade over the gate. He properly aimed a distance away as he was aware that damaging the gate or the walls would be a good idea.

BOOM!

The sudden explosion took the attention and raised the tension of the soldiers once more as they were afraid that another exploding infected was thrown in but when they saw Mark's posture and where the explosion occurred, they all felt relieved. They did not think that Mark would have grenades in his possession and their supply of grenades for their mission had all been used up. As for Dominador's armory, it only contained guns and ammunition. It was not surprising since if they had explosives with them, they had already eliminated the opposing factions.

Mark throwing the grenade fulfilled his two goals. One was to hinder the advance of the infected outside and to stop the soldiers from shooting even for a short time. If the sneaky bastard was also affected by the explosion, it would be good but it was not the case unfortunately as another body was once again thrown inside after the explosion died down.

"Laelaps, full form! Gale, let's go!"

"Arf!"

"Uhn!"

Mark bellowed followed by the agreement of the two.

With that, under the shocked eyes of everyone around, Laelaps' size inflated to three meters. She then lowered her body and let Mark and Abbygale climb unto her back with the golden spikes on her body as support.

Mark readied his sniper rifle as he sat on Laelaps back with Abbygale sitting atop Laelaps' head.

"Lae-Lae! Go!"

Looking excited, Abbygale shouted which was followed by the three meter dog running and jumping over the wall out into the streets.

The moment Laelaps landed, Mark aimed the sniper rifle while he looked for the Muscled Infected within the horde. The moment he saw it hiding behind another fully bloated Dozer, Mark fired.

BANG! BOOOM!

Mark did not fire with the Muscled Infected as target but the Dozer which immediately caused an explosion. The Muscled Infected got caught up with the explosion. Nevertheless, its injuries were too light with just a few burns and scorched marks on its body. It was because the moment Mark fired, it immediately backed up avoiding the brunt of the explosion. This mutated infected's ability to sense threat was really top notch.

It seemed that the appearance of Laelaps' three meter form made the Muscled Infected feel threat as it stopped throwing the infected around it over the walls. It jumped back several meters away and grabbed unto a movable school zone sign and threw it towards the gigantic dog's direction. Of course, Laelaps dodged the heavy sign thrown towards her. However, it seemed that the goal of the Muscled Infected was not to hit Laelaps but to distract her. The moment Laelaps jumped to dodge, the Muscled Infected started to run away.

BANG!

Mark tried to shoot the fleeing mutated infected but shooting from the back of the jumping Laelaps with a fleeing target was easier to be said than to be done.

"Laelaps chase it!"

Mark ordered.

Laelaps then lunged over the infected in front of her and chased after the fleeing Muscled Infected. In the process, she knocked over dozens of infected further halting their advance into the settlement.

Inside, Nikky's group and the soldiers looked at the three meter golden dog as she and her two owners disappear from their sight. It was like a dream for them. They already thought that the golden horned dog was already strange but to see its body change into a three meter one was even more odd and unexpected. If not for their need to fend off the infected climbing up the walls, they would have stared at the dog with shocked expressions on their faces. Even the injured soldiers could not help but forget about the pain they were feeling due to the shock they felt.

"Don't waste time thinking about necessary things! The bastard that had been throwing the infected inside is being dealt with! Clear up your senses and shoot! The infected are still climbing up the walls!"

Joey who led Mark and his group here shouted. His shout woke up the other soldiers that were overwhelmed by shock over what they had just witnessed.

On the other hand, Nikky and her group approached Joey to borrow weapons which was immediately approved without hesitation. What they needed now was manpower and they would surely not shirk to accommodate the help of a group of Evolvers.

While Nikky's group and the soldiers were dealing with the remaining infected outside the gates, Mark and Abbygale atop Laelaps' back were intently chasing after the Muscled Infected. Nevertheless, it was hard for the big bodied Laelaps to catch up.

The cunning infected jumped over walls and even roofs of houses unto the opposite street. It was hard for Laelaps to catch up because of her large body. Even if she could jump over houses up to two story ones, she could not jump over anything higher. Also she could not jump unto roofs as her feet punches holes on the roofs making her paws stuck. Furthermore, unlike in private subdivisions where power lines were built higher, not only the power lines in this area were built lower, it was even poorly maintained. One careless jump and Laelaps could get entangled with the wires.

However Mark could not let this infected escape. He needed to kill this infected. If possible, catch it. He needed to think of a way to do so.