Rebuilding the World

4 What we left behind

We first reached my house.

I slowly opened the door. The place was just as I left it. I went in and took my backpack, took out my stuffs and filled it with food instead.

“Where’s you mom?” Pamela asked.

“I dunno. But wherever she is, she’ll be alright.” I said.

We left immediately and went to Pamela’s place next.

“Oh gods..”

The whole place was a mess. As we killed off a few zombies to their house, it was clear that whoever was there earlier was long gone. There was blood everywhere even a severed arm.

“Let’s go.” I said, pulling Pamela back into the pick-up.

As the others tried to calm Pamela down at the back, I drove to Merlin’s place next.

“I am not going to waste my time going there.” Mark said as we stopped in front of Merlin’s house gates.

There was a crowd of zombies walking around the lot aimlessly.

“Yeah, they’d probably be dead by now anyways.” Merlin said in a bitter tone.

I drove to Mark’s place next.

We got out and as Mark called out for his family inside the house, I kept the zombies at bay.

Mark entered their house carefully, but went out immediately shaking his head.

“Let’s just go check on the others.” Nero said as we pulled out of the driveway.

“You’re not going to check your house?” I asked.

“I can’t bear to see them dead.” Nero said.

“Fine, JC first?” I said.

As we drove to JC, I noticed that I’ve been seeing lesser and lesser mortals. The zombies came out in packs, solos and just random numbers.

We stopped in front of JC’s place.

I carefully opened the door to their house and found it locked.

“JC?! Are you in there?!” I shouted.

There was no answer.

“Hey, I got an idea.” Merlin said. He took out his phone and dialled JC’s number.

As he called JC’s cell phone, there was a ring from afar.

“Isn’t that JC’s ringtone?” Pamela asked.

We followed the sound and came to a jeepney crashed to a wall.

“Let’s go.” I said.

The cell phone was ringing beside the mangled body of our friend.

Back in the pick-up, we were all feeling down.

“I don’t think I’d like to check up on the others anymore.” Pamela said. “I’ve seen enough bodies to last me a lifetime.”

“Me too.” Mark agreed.

“So where to now?” I asked them

“Let’s just hold fort back in our school.” Merlin suggested.

“The place is swarming with zombies remember?” I said, remembering Percival’s sacrifice.

“The school has a large and sturdy gate! We know the whole place by heart. Where else can we have a better fort?” Merlin said.

“Fine.” I said.

We rammed passed the zombies on the patio in front of the school and I got out to open the gates.

After the pickup got in, I closed the gates immediately without locking it, just in case we’ll need a quick escape.

After making sure that the whole campus was clear of zombies.

“Me and Mark will check out the canteen for more supplies.” Pamela said.

“Okay, just make it quick.” I said.

We decided to hold fort in the principal’s office. It was near the gates for a quick getaway and besides, it has an air condition.

Merlin took some sleeping bags, pillows and flashlights from the Scouting room and placed it on the floor.

“I remembered when we used this.” I recalled our senior scout days.

“Yeah, the tents are still in there.” Merlin said.

Pamela and Mark returned with two plastic bags of food and medicine.

“We checked the clinic on our way.” Mark said explaining the medicines.

After eating the food we salvaged for dinner, Nero took the first watch beside the gate.

"I can't believe this is happening.' Mark said in almost a whisper. "It's like a nightmare"

"Well, we'll just have to make it through somehow." I said in encouragement

"I hope this is just a dream and I'll wake up any moment now." Pamela said

"Yeah, me too." Merlin said

I heard a sob and as I try to look around in the dark, I saw Mark's dark silhoutte wiping his eyes.

"We'll be alright." I lied.