Chapter 173 - Recovery

Suzie looked at Mark's rugged face and sighed in relief. She was the most helpless in the attack as she couldn't use her power and guns weren't her thing. She was also only a lookout during the earlier mission with Steve and Max. She carried Mark in her two arms and walked towards the Jeeps. 

The military sent back all the injured personnel first and Mark was in the first Jeep, along with Kevin and Dereck. Gwen woke up as the war ended and remained silent after seeing the looks she got from David. David, Suzie, and Gwen didn't go with them and had to stay back until all the injured people were rushed to the base. 

Steve and Barns stationed a few people in the area until their replacement came. On the way back to base, everyone was completely exhausted, but all of them had a smile on their faces. The enemy's main base and force were down, all that was left was for them to take care of the scraps left. 

Reaching the base, all three rushed to the medical base in the camp and the doctors were already performing on them. They took out the bullet on Dereck's shoulder and the ones David couldn't take out of Kevin. Mark was kept aside as most of his injuries already healed from his own power, and he was just mentally exhausted. 

Time passed by as Suzie, David and Gwen continued to stay with the base, with Daisy by their side waiting for the three to recover. The first to wake up was Dereck after a complete day. Gwen bawled her eyes out as soon as he did after being silent since he went down. 

After he woke up, it was Kevin and Mark. Both were battered and beaten, especially Kevin who didn't even have powers to heal himself like Mark. After another 3 days did Mark wake up and on the same evening, Kevin did too. Both continued to lay on the bed still exhausted. Mark had headaches from using his power while Kevin was still recovering. 

Mark got discharged after another 3 days of observation while Kevin was still resting. A complete week has passed by since the mission was over and the military was quick in its actions and took out the rest of the rats they could find of the gang. Now the full city was successfully under their control and the only other major obstacles were the zombies themselves in the city which they can't take down anytime soon. 

Mark didn't go to the General after the mission, he was feeling tired and continued to rest. They still needed to do a check-up on Suzie's body, and Suzie and David had to make decisions of their lifetime. They continued to stay in the main base where Kevin was. Mark cleaned his guns and the sword which he used quite a lot during the fight. 

'The mutation doesn't only give certain physical power-ups but also can change the human structure. That guy looked like an ape while his subordinate had cheetah legs. Looks like I'm at least lucky enough to maintain my human form, unlike them.' he made more deductions on the mutation. 

He could feel his power also growing slightly, both the dark and the light one seemed to grow as the locks around the light ball loosened when he went to that space. The grey ball in the middle was also the same as it continued to grow at a slow rate. 

"This one was really tough, the toughest till now. If I wasn't careful, I could have lost my life under that ape bastard. This skid was so tough and I could only shoot at his eye to win the battle. If I am going to face more mutants like this, I'll have a tough life." He mumbled. 

Kevin got discharged after a few days, and they finally went back to the apartment instead of continuing to stay there. Gwen and Dereck separated from them the moment Dereck woke up and got discharged and no one minded them leaving. 

After two more days, they drove back to David's house, leaving the camp. Daisy and Suzie's dad, Ray, also followed them there as both families were still discussing Mark's plan and whether they wanted to stay in the city under the military or follow him. Mark didn't urge them and just asked to be ready by the end of the week, as it was still only Sunday when they went to David's house. 

All of them exhaled in relief when they saw the truck still running and was still full of their supplies. Those were some important essentials, and losing them would have been a huge loss to them. 

In the meantime, Mark took both David and Suzie to David's former working place. After noticing the solar panels were working, there was still electricity for the machines needed. David started tests on Suzie. They spent three whole days in the hospital until David was satisfied with the results and knew there weren't any major changes to Suzie's body except the strength. 

The next day, Mark and Kevin got into the car and moved towards the military base once again to meet the General. Steve told them that the General wanted to meet them when they were leaving the base, but Mark simply told him he would come back later. 

Mark stopped in the parking spot and walked into the building. They climbed up the stairs and stopped before the General's office door. Mark gave a knock and heard Donald's tired voice from the other side and got in. 

Donald had black circles under his eyes and looked terribly tired. He noticed the visitors were Mark and Kevin and his dead eyes gained a bit of color as he asked both to sit and took out some alcohol. 

"You both did such a wonderful job pulling off your mission. If you both failed, we could have lost everyone on that battlefield. I have to give both of you a toast." Pouring drinks into the three glasses.