Once Mark finished cutting the fish open, he carefully took off the fish guts and all the internal organs of it.
'Nothing,' thought Mark after almost ten minutes of careful examination.
'If this fish did not mutate, that means that not all animals born in the last year mutated too,' Mark was not one hundred percent sure that this fish had no mutations, but he would not test it by eating it. It was too risky if he grew fins or scales or anything that could easily stand out.
'I don't want to become a freak too, that's it. If someday I find any mutated animal again, I will only eat the ones that do not change the appearance of the body, or anything like that.'
Mark threw the guts and the rest of the small fish inside his fireplace and set it on. It was better to burn any remains of it than take the risk of a rat eating it.
'Well, at least I will save three credits today too.' thought Mark, already thinking about the dinner at Douglas house.
Mark currently had 94 credits on his 'account'. It was not much, but it was better than the average people. Credits could be used to eat in the barracks, take a shower, recharge the phone, and anything else. Mark had little to do with his credits apart from the daily needs and because of that, he had accumulated a little for any emergency.
He still remembered the day that a friend of his broke his leg. The treatment was free of charge, but after that he had to almost beg for food because he could not do any missions until his leg was fully healed. In the end, Mark gave him all the credits he had and took a transportation mission to his current base. It was the worst type of mission, because it was the most dangerous of all regular missions.
That friend was Frank, and just by knowing that he could connect in the chat app, Mark knew things were going fine with him. After all, a phone costed a fortune in these days.
Mark had nothing to do for the rest of the day and the sun was still shining brightly in the sky. Thus, he decided to check the missions in the hope he found anything related to the research building.
He hoped that by staying inside the research building, he could hear something related to the mutations or maybe fish some information from the guys in white coats.
'It's a long shot, but it's worth it.'
Information, right now, was the most precious asset because everything was too new and the general people were still in the dark about the mutations.
Mark was also concerned about the side effects that those 'superpowers' could have. He didn't feel any worst after eating that rabbit eye, nor was his body behaving in any unusual way, but what would happen after a long time? Will he still be healthy? He was not sure, and that kept tormenting him.
"Less thinking and more doing! Let's go!" said Mark aloud, as if trying to shake the ugly thoughts about any side effect that consuming the mutated animal parts could have in the future.
After a few minutes, Mark reached the main building and found a very odd mission that he could do inside the research building.
'Waste elimination?' Marck furrowed his brows. It was the only mission available that was inside the research building. 'What kind of waste?'
Mark shook his head, grabbed the paper, and went to Isabelle.
"Oh! Mark, doing another mission today?"
Mark passed the paper and said, "Yes, an inside mission. The water mission was faster than I expected and I'm free all day."
Isabelle grabbed the paper and read it, but Mark noticed her brows furrowing and asked, "Anything wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just... this mission. You know what kind of waste it is?" asked Isabelle.
"Lab waste? I dunno," said Mark, shrugging his shoulders.
"Erghh, it's more like... human waste, Mark" said Isabelle, making a thin line with her lips, and Mark could see a glimpse of compassion on her face.
'Human Waste?' thought Mark, 'What kind of... ohhh right... that kind'
"Dont tell me it's what I'm thinking it is?"
Isabelle nodded but didn't try to explain further.
'Human Shit! Feces! Why put a fancy name to it? Waste elimination my ass!' thought Mark, already regretting wasting time coming to the main building, He would not be able to gather any information by burning feces, the only part that would involve the lab was going there to collect all the shit from the containers.
~sigh~
"forget I bring this, I will put it back myself. It's not worth the 2 credits paid by this mission," said Mark, already grabbing the paper from Isabelle's hand, but at that moment, the two hands touched.
Feeling the soft and warm touch, Mark quickly withdrew his hand. He didn't want Isabelle thinking bad of him and having any misunderstanding. After all, she was leagues above Mark, and he knew he had no chance with her.
"Ok" said Isabelle, lowering her head and blushing, but Mark never saw that. He was way too nervous and had already left the place in a hurry.
'What were you thinking? What the heck? Touch her hand? Shameless!' cursed himself Mark.
"Dammit! I even forgot to put the paper back in the wall!" shouted Mark while looking at the paper in his right hand. 'I'm not coming back now. I prefer to fight a beast than to face her again today.'
Apocalypse didn't help Mark in loving affairs. After all, he was barely 19 now, and before the apocalypse, everything was a bit chaotic due to school and starting college. He never had time for that, and now in the post-apocalyptic Earth, things were a lot harder.
~sigh~
Mark sighed heavily, trying to calm himself. He had other things to worry, now was not the time to think about woman.
'What should I do now? The lab rarely has any mission because most people there have permanent jobs.'