Chickens and pigs

Seeing the depressed face of Mark, Tyler felt a bit more happy, but turned his attention back to the computer.

[Tyler: He has an ability, but it seems useless.]

[Malcom: What's the side effect?]

Tyler looked at the kid and asked, "What's the side effect of your ability?"

A few seconds passed but seeing that Mark said nothing, tyler continued, "Look kid, you are done for, we can make this the easy way, or the ugly way. I can break all your teeth, fingers, all the bones in your body, then rip your skin apart. You will beg me to stop and even say all your secrets, but that will be too late for you, because even knowing what I want, I will not stop."

~sigh~

Mark gave a long and depressed sigh and let his head fall. He was right, he was done for, he could not do anything and if didn't give the information, he would only make his suffering increase.

"I can't eat normal food, only mutated animal meat" said Mark, still with his head lowered.

Hearing that, Tyler's brows went up, as if a realization hit him, "So that's why you entered the forest! Now things are starting to make sense.... You could not eat the army rations!"

Tyler turned back to the computer and continued typing.

[Tyler: He can't eat normal food, only mutated animal meat]

[Malcom: We can't have a soldier depending on that, it's too troublesome during missions, even more for an useless ability]

[Tyler: What do I do? Just kill him?]

[Malcom: No, I have a better idea. Send him to the lab. After the chicken guy died, they need new guinea pigs]

[Tyler: Roger, Out]

Tyler closed the notebook, and turned it off, then looked at Mark once again, and said, "It seems you are lucky, because you will start working on the lab." Than turned his back to Mark and while walking toward his tent, said, "As a guinea pig! HAHAHA!"

...

Five days later,

"So, you are the famous Jane that Mark always talked about?" asked John, looking at the brunette beauty in front of him. The girl was just perfect for John's taste, but unfortunately she was too thin for him. He preferred women with a bit more 'meat' to hold, but she was damn pretty. That he could not argue.

Jane pushed her black hair behind her ears and said, "Famous? Does he talk a lot about me? What he said?"

'Oh... so she has a thing for Mark? That's why she came to this base?' thought John, seeing the reaction of Jane, then to help his good friend, he said, "Well, he said you were a beauty, a good shooter, and someone he could trust his life, you know Mark, he rarely says what he really thinks about others, and just by that, I can tell that he really likes you"

"Do you think he likes me?" asked Jane, almost blushing from the cheeks to the ears.

"Of course, he likes you, I can tell that for sure!" said John

Jane's eyes grew in exasperation, but she suddenly remembered why she came to the base, and changed the subject, it was not time to think about that. She had to quickly find Mark, and this chubby nerd in front of her was the only one that seemed to know about Mark's whereabouts.

"Talking about Mark... Did you see him lately? I asked around, and they said that he was always with you. I already searched the entire base, but didn't find him." asked Jane, now in a serious tone of voice.

"Yeah, about that.... He went on a transportation mission a few days ago. That bastard didn't even say goodbye. Can't you believe?" said John, but then quickly remembered about something important and continued, "Unfortunately its seems your trip was wasted. That mission is not coming back for at least a month for what I heard. It's a multi-base mission. If you wait for a month or two, you may see him again, but I'm not sure."

'That fucking bastard! I run all the way here and now he leaves on a transportation mission. Why Mark? Why? Dammit!' thought Jane, remembering that the moment Mark asked her about mutations she immediately took a mission to come to this base, but then she remembered it was her fault, actually. She never told him she was coming. 'How could he guess? I should have told him, you stupid bitch, always fucking things up!' thought Jane, but refrained herself from cursing aloud, because the last time she cursed in front of Mark, he called her of 'tsundere', she didn't know what that word meant at the time, but once she learned what the word meant she vowed to never curse again.

"Thank you...." said Jane, trying to remember the guy's name.

"John, you can call me John. Will you stay on the base?" asked John.

"I'm not sure now. I came all the way to see Mark, but he left....." said Jane, as if pondering over the matter, but then remembered something else, something that connected with Mark's departure.

"Those trucks that arrived yesterday... What was all that commotion? Are they from Mark's mission?" asked Jane, talking about the dozens of vehicles that entered the base on the same day as she came in.

"I'm not sure. I asked around, but people only said that it was a mission to capture a traitor. You know how the army is with those kinds of things... They rarely say anything about." said John, shrugging.

Hearing that, Jane's brows furrowed, but she didn't say anything and immediately left.

The stunned John could only complain while shaking his head, "Why people are not polite anymore? No one says goodbye, good morning, tsk," and left to do his daily tasks, but thinking about the reaction of Jane left a 'bad feeling' in the back of his head. He knew that things were very strange on the base in those last few days, then Mark left, and another mission left the base and only came back now.

John could feel in his bones that something major was happening.