Alternate 2020

Episode 3: The Transport Museum (8)

I could hear Rose and Sam talking but I couldn't make out what they were saying; it was as if their voices were muffled.

"Why are you not telling him?" Sam asked.

"..." Rose slightly turned her head towards Sam. "How... do you know?"

Sam ignored her and stayed silent as I tried to open my eyes.

A white light shone brightly as I gradually opened my eyes. This eerie feeling... I've experienced it before. I turned my head slightly and there she was, looking at me just like that time at Sevco. The familiar feeling as she softly brushed my hair. She smiled dearly; she held a fist near her mouth and chuckled as her eyes slightly water.

I slowly regained my consciousness and she quickly recollected herself bringing her hand away from my hair. She turned away and looked towards the ground in front of the door. I slowly turned my head left and right and looked towards Sam; he was playing chess again.

"Hey. You're finally awake," Sam said.

"Yeah..." I muttered.

"Do you know how long you've blacked-out?"

"No... what time is it?"

Rose turned her head towards me and said, "It's 12 pm now."

"Ah... only a couple hours have passed," I said.

"No." Sam jumped out of the bed and headed towards me. He pushed the phone towards my face and I looked at the time being displayed.

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12:00 pm

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"It is 12 pm," I said.

"Look closely," Sam said. "It's Wednesday."

"Wednesday?" I thought to myself. I opened my eyes wide open as I jumped up sitting on the bed. I took his phone and looked at the time displayed again.

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12:00 pm

Wednesday 22nd January 2020

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"I've been sleeping for... a whole day?" I questioned.

"Yes..." Rose said. "You... fainted yesterday morning. You fell on my bed so I let you sleep on it for a while but it turned into a whole day..."

She looked at me in the eyes. She gave off a worried complexion and I said to her, "Ah... right. Sorry, I took your bed for the whole night. I must have been really tired hahaha."

She shook her head. "No, it's fine. You can sleep here. I will sleep up there," she said pointing towards the top of the bunk bed.

"Nah, you can sleep here, I will sleep up top," Sam said. "I found out that I don't like to sleep down here. Yesterday night and the day before, it was not cool."

"No... but that's not..." Rose started to say but I interrupted her.

"It's alright. I'm fine now, don't worry," I assured her. "You can have this bed back, I'll rest over there."

I got up and walked towards the bunk bed and sat on the lower one.

"Did you eat yet?" I asked them both.

"Yes..." Rose answered.

"Hmm... well I guess you can say that," Sam said.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"We ate a full English breakfast," Sam replied continuing to play chess on his phone.

I turned my head towards Sam and said, "I see... By the way, how come your phone is still charged, Sam?"

It was strange. Two days ago, he was playing on his phone; now, he is still playing on his phone.

"Did he manage to find a way to charge it?" I thought to myself.

I reached into my pockets but I couldn't locate my phone.

"Huh?" I said.

"Are you looking for this?" Rose said handing my phone to me.

"Ah.. yes," I replied.

I looked at my phone; it was fully charged.

"How can this be possible?" I muttered. "It was only at 5% when I last saw it."

Rose noticed my worried expression and said, "Well... you see..." She handed me the power bank. "This was Janda's... I mean, you friend's power bank that he left you. I used it to charge your phone and Sam's phone."

"Yeah," Sam said. "Luck you. Your friend is so thoughtful and even left you a power bank in a situation like this."

"Yeah... I was sorting all the stuff in our bags like the fruits, the food and water... and I found this inside. I remembered it was something we found," Rose said.

I took the power bank and said, "Thanks, Rose."

She slightly blushed and turned her head away.

"Ah, back on to the topic we were just discussing," I stated. "You said you both ate English breakfast?"

"Yes," Sam replied. "But something is not right here."

"What is?"

"After you fainted yesterday, no food was served until later that evening. I told Rose to go check if they were handing out anything."

Rose stuttered as she said, "Yes, I went out to check but they weren't. People were still starving and... a couple of them..."

She stopped talking. I already understood what she was trying to say.

Sam said, "It's as if they were forcefully letting the people starve. It seems suspicious... I think... they might be lowering the numbers."

"But... why would they do that?" I asked.

"I don't know. One thing I know is that they obviously had enough food to serve everyone. That's because we had a 'full' English breakfast. There's definitely enough food to go around. 'They' might be up to something."

"Why are they... playing us like that? Playing people's lives like they are worth nothing..." Rose said while she began to tear up and sobbed.

"There's also another thing..." Sam said.

"Yes... I've noticed it," I replied. "It's the meat. Where are they getting it from? I'm sure most of the meat from the supermarkets were destroyed. Even if they were able to recover them, they wouldn't be able to feed all these remaining people in the shelter."

"Ray, Rose," Sam began to say. "We need to stay low for now. Don't cause any ruckus. Let's stay and play along with 'their' games. Something is really suspicious around here. I need some time to figure it all out."