Chapter 5: 5

“Are you saying we won’t see them anymore?!” She’s looking very upset and very close to burst into tears.

Before I say anything, Kaley hugged her tight and said, “He’s just looking out for us, I also brought a picture of us too, see? I think this will fit in your wallet.” She pulls up a small picture of them when they were much younger and handed it to her sister. Olivia kept quiet and took the picture, then she carefully placed it in her wallet.

She walks up to me and said, “I’m sorry for yelling, and um- thanks.”

I patted her head and said, “No worries.”

“I’m not a child you know!” she shouted and she became lively again.

Kaley facepalmed and said, “So what I got packed are a couple weeks of clothes, a few blankets, cans of food, a few candy bars, a pack of coffee and tea, a gallon of water, my M70 rifle, the pistol you gave me, a box of ammunition for the rifle, two flashlights, a couple packs of batteries, a few personal hygiene products, all the medicine supplies from the cabinet, my laptop, my phone, my power bank, my chargers, my wallet and my keys to this home. I hid a few supplies where the rifle was placed.”

“That’s great.” I nod approvingly and then I looked at Olivia.

“Umm, I too brought a week of clothes, my phone, my charger, my pocket Wi-Fi, a few snacks and this!” she raises her hand and what looked to be a small stun gun is on it.

*crackle* *crackle*

She tested it a few times and she gave me a grin. “Cool, huh?”

I raised an eyebrow and gave a faint smile.

“It’s cool but it won’t be able to do anything to those things.” I said to myself.

“We need to bring the frozen products and other stuff in your refrigerator or in your pantry that might spoil. We’re going to turn off the electricity here with the main switch. Last thing we want is your house burning down, we leave a few cans here for your parents when they come home, just in case.” I told them.

“Oh! We have a generator here.” Kaley mentioned. “I think we have a few containers of gas here somewhere.” she went to the back of their house.

I saw their generator with three gasoline containers beside it and said, “This is good, but we have solar-powered generators at home, we could leave the generator here for now but we could take two cans of gasoline and leave one for your parents. The generator seems full and it could last for a while if they use it when the power goes down, let’s go now.”

We head outside and we started to place the bags at the back of the ambulance. I opened the door and there’s a lot of tools here that could definitely be of some use, it has a stretcher, a wheelchair, an oxygen tank, a few IV drips and even a defibrillator along with a few other medical supplies.

“Looks like we hit the lottery.” I said to myself.

As we are about to finish packing, a door swung open from next door and a figure started to walk out erratically which managed to catch my attention.

“Recognize that guy?” I pointed to the figure walking outside.

“Hmm?” Olivia looked behind at the figure.

“Wait, don’t come near him.” I said to Olivia as she takes a step forward to take a closer look.

“I think it’s Mr. Tan, I remember him trying to push the homeless guy off Mrs. Tan earlier. I saw him get bandaged by one of the Medics.” she said to me.

Time seems to slow down. I noticed Mr. Tan from the glass window of the ambulance door began to turn his head violently and picks up speed towards us. Kaley is in the middle of getting the last bag, walking towards the vehicle while Olivia is in the middle of the vehicle walking towards the guy. I noticed that Kaley saw the guy too. Olivia is in the middle of me and him and I cannot get a proper line of sight since the door of the ambulance and Olivia is blocking my view. I pulled out my pistol and I walked diagonally, away from the vehicle to avoid grazing Olivia.

*BANG*

However, I saw a flash of light followed by a loud bang, the next thing I saw is Mr. Tan sprawled sideways on the ground. Kaley took the first shot; I saw her running towards Olivia and holding her tight. I walked towards the guy and saw it slowly stand up.

His right cheek is torn, blood flows continuously from his mouth and black lines are visibly jutting out, starting from his arms towards his shoulder then to his neck, his right eye is bloodshot and his iris is starting to deform from the perfect circle.

A few residents who heard the shot went outside and some who are already outside let out screams or hurriedly went back to their houses. But the ones who watched saw a man with a dismembered face crawl up and decided to swipe his arms around me. Fortunately, the distance is much closer now and there are no obstacles for the shot.

So, I pointed my pistol at him and I took the easiest shot in the world.

*BANG*

One clean shot to the head, his head blew back from the impact and his body limped as it fell down.

“Oh my god! What happened? Did that guy kill Mr. Tan?”

“No, I think Mr. Tan tried to attack Olivia from next door.”

“How could Mr. Tan move like that though, he’s over 80, right?”

“I don’t know, I saw him get shot earlier by Kaley, then he stood up again.”

“What?! For real?!”

“Saw that too, It’s like the movies.”

“You mean Mr. Tan is a zombie? Stop kidding yourself.”

“Well, how do you explain the homeless guy earlier who attacked Mrs. Tan?”

“…”

“I’m going to call the cops.”

“I’m going to gather my things and move out; it’s going to be dangerous here if what you’re saying is real.”

The residents started to talk among themselves as I see Kaley guide Olivia through the vehicle’s passenger side. I raised the badge I took earlier from the guard at the airport.

“Everybody ears up! There are a series of reported violent behavior occurring across the country, the government is doing its best to maintain the order. Lock your doors and gather your supplies and start to preserve them as much as possible. If you see a person exhibiting strange behavior do not let them in! Make sure to guarantee your safety and those close to you as well. As long as we prepare and stay calm, this thing will be over soon.”

I almost cringed as I paraphrased what a security detail from the movies would say to civilians. But there’s no more choice here. It would be better to not have everyone fall into panic mode as their thinking capacity would suffer if they do. I just hope that everyone adopts a clear state of mind and prepare for the worst. I could only help people as much.

Before I entered the vehicle, I grabbed the mic from the ambulance and said one last thing, “If you have to fight one of them, aim for the head. Good luck to you all.”

“It’s up to yourselves if you could survive this thing.” I said to myself.

A lot of the people gave me confused looks, some of them understood and immediately went inside and a few gave me looks of wanting to come with us. I shook my head and entered the vehicle. I proceeded to go back where we have driven from and a few flicks of the siren gets us through smoothly and quickly down the road.

Another hour passes and we arrived at the intersection from where Oscar broke off. At the right side you could see a few small shops and a gated community where the guard there is looking through his phone. On the left side, more stores are scattered about with a fuel station on one corner where my cousin works next to a terminal where more tricycles are waiting for passengers. A few of them are glued to the TV, which is inaudible from our side.

We passed by the public market and where one of my shops were located and made a mental note to grab everything from there later and close it. We passed by a few more stores and houses then I made a right turn after we passed the elementary school. From this street, only rows of houses, big and small could be seen. Aside from passing through a few local shops where people sell homemade refreshments, we finally managed to reach my home.