UNITY

The REAL Chapter 1

"Stay indoors, lock all entryways, and stay safe. We're coming to get you, Uni--"

The sound of my father's voice has been replaying on my phone for a while now, me listening to it as I ate my last ration of canned tuna and half cup of rice.

I wanted to cry right then and there, but I remembered I'm a boss-bitch, so I didn't.

That was the last voicemail my dad left me two weeks after the outbreak. It has reached the city of Pampanga first before theirs, and they were trying to drive their way home to this house. Last I heard, they were denied entry by the military as Pampanga was declared a no-entry zone by the government.

They tried to contain it. But what happens if you try to contain something? That's right, the more you contain something, the more it resists. The more it resists, the more you lose control over it. Which was exactly what happened here.

Soon, it reached multiple places all at once and in waves, destroying mankind and turning them into mindless zombies as it did so.

And yes, there are no other ways to call them other than the word zombies, because frankly, who the fuck cares? And who the fuck still hasn't watched any zombie movies in this day and age?

And damn government, still shitty as ever.

I heard whimpering from under the table and I sighed as I mixed the leftover rice and tuna in its can and brought it underneath the table. The grateful chomps of my half-breed golden retriever and I don't know what else filled the silence as I contemplated what to do with my life right now.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm in a crisis, okay? But yeah, it's exactly like that.

My dog, Tootsie, my dad named her that by the way, is a 10-month-old half golden retriever half Aspin, is way smarter than I give her credit for.

She was given to me when she was just 2 months old, barely able to stand, and was purposefully weaned off from her mom. I remembered staying up all night and rocking her gently in my arms, like how I would to a baby until she stopped whimpering.

Well, here she is now. All grown up and sharing what I eat. My food would've lasted me longer if it weren't for her, but I didn't have the heart to let her get eaten by those ravages outside.

A soft bark, equivalent to a whisper, came from my dog.

"Are you done?" I signed to her. She put her paw on my right thigh, telling me that she was, in fact, done.

The past 8 months weren't wasted on just eating and sleeping. What do you take me for, a lazybum? Of course, I am also that, but I can be productive as well!

I trained Tootsie to bark loudly or softly on my command, as well as train her on signs that might come in handy when it comes to surviving outside. Of course, we haven't tried it yet on the actual setting, but we'll find that out later.

I commanded her to sit as I went and fetched the dog bowl, her one functioning eye following me. I forgot to mention that her right eye had a defect even when she was just a puppy, a condition that I left untreated because there was simply no money put aside for her.

I stood in front of the water dispenser to dispense whatever water we have left. This is also one of the reasons why we have to leave. Not only do we not have any food supply left, we don't have water as well. They just cut off the water supply in this subdivision a few days ago, it honestly surprised me how long I lasted with the limited water supply I had.

I left the dog bowl in front of Tootsie and waited for her to look at me, when she did, I signaled,

"Drink."