SOMBI

Sombi CHAPTER 3

            “Upo ka dali! I’ll make tahi na, hihi. Buti di ka marunong magtagalog, ayan nauuto kita. Ang tanga tanga tanga ng pasyente ko!”

            I just nodded as she spoke in Filipino.  And there it was, a very unbearable sensation that I felt in my entire body. Amanda stitched a small wound and made it worse.

            Needless to say, I shouted my lungs out. But thanks to that painful memory I learned the basics of stitching up wounds.

            “Pointy thing goes in, pointy thing goes out, pointy thing goes in, pointy thing goes out…” I sang.

            I was surprisingly tolerant of the pain, maybe because I was too concentrated on singing. After a couple of stitches the pain became more painful. But still I was concentrated on patching myself up. I completely forgot about the dog behind me. I turned around and he wasn’t there anymore. I wondered where he was but I wondered not for long. He lay beside me; from the look on his face and the wag on his tail I could see that he was actually happy.

            “How long have you been here?” I asked the dog but he didn’t reply.

            I thought that this dog could be hungry judging from the growling I heard in his stomach so,, after stitching up my wound, I gave him one of my canned food. He chowed this down in a matter of seconds. So I gave him another can.

            And another.

            And another.

            And 5 cans later, he looked full.

            Just as I thought, this thing is going to drain my supplies. But I don’t intend on bringing him along. I’ll leave him first thing in the morning. Time to get some shut-eye.

***

            “Yung asong yan ang sasagip sa mundo? E di siya pala ang sisira sa mga plano ko! Patayin yan kasama ng mga batang yan. Ako ang maghahari sa New World; ako ang diyos nyo at di ko hahayaang magamot at Phi Virus. Minions… Patayin ang mga hangal na yan”

            “Joe ano na? Yari tayo saan tayo!”

            “Di ko alam, kumalma ka. Akong bahala saten. Di ko hahayaang masaktan kayo ng panot na yan”

***

I woke up to a kiss from the dog. Not a smack, a torrid kiss. And it was awful. Kadiri shit. But what was that dream? I saw no faces; I only heard voices. One of which sounded like me and I spoke in straight Filipino. It’s a shame that I can’t translate the words said earlier. I forgot them in an instant. Maybe it was a vision; maybe it’s something important.

As I lay the dog looked at me like he did yesterday. It was getting annoying. Luckily I’ll leave soon. I’m not letting him tail me. The only thing this dog can do is entertain me— which I don’t need. I need an ally, not a clown.

I left him another can of food, grabbed my stuff and went out the tent without saying a word. After a few steps I looked back. There he was again following me. I told him to stay and he bowed down. Then I proceeded to walk. And again he followed but this time I didn’t tell him to go away.

“Alis!” I shouted.

Maybe he understood Filipino because after my shouting that word, the dog looked down and got depressed all of a sudden. It’s a sad sight but I’ll have to ignore it. I hope that this isn’t an act that he’s putting up. I heard somewhere that Huskies are smart. I hope that he doesn’t follow me the moment I turn around. I’ll lose my patience if he does that.

I walk away from the tent. I didn’t bother going to MOA. It might be more zombie infested. I stealthily walk the highways again. This time I walk along Roxas Boulevard. The zombies from yesterday are gone. There are a few in sight but not as much as yesterday. They’re not as aggressive either.

This time he didn’t follow me. I was a few blocks away now but still the DOH tent was visible. The dog never left the spot where he stopped. It looked kinda sad actually. I should really avoid the habit of looking back; it gets me in trouble.

When I looked forward, a zombie was already in front of me. I was blindsided and this was no regular sized zombie. It was huge and I didn’t have time to smash its head in with my weapon. It took me down and a struggle ensued. I was avoiding his bites and they were damn close. I wish I could shout for tulong but I couldn’t. No one was there to aid me and, to make it worse, I might attract more zombies.

He was heavy and he smelled sweaty and dead. He was the ugliest zombie I’ve seen… Well not really, I’ve come to notice that things that try to kill you instantly become the ugliest thing you’ve seen. Like the jeje’s earlier. Boy were they ugly, but now this zombie on top of me is the ugliest of them all.

“Antanga tanga ko. Bakit ba antanga tanga ko!” I said… Wait, where did those words come from? What kind of adrenaline rush is this?