Chapter 1
The plague struck and man was devastated, only a few survived…
It's been days since the virus reached the country of the Philippines. Batangas was first to be struck as an infected arrived at its port. Apparently the ship that came from Singapore harboured an infected. Singapore was already overrun by that time and survivors fled to neighbouring countries. The plague quickly spread across the region and it eventually reached the capital, NCR.
Black smoke engulfed cities across Metro Manila and loud sirens and screams were heard as little by little the dead came. Those who couldn't run or fend for themselves got bit, and sooner or later will turn into one of them. Their number never grew smaller; every bite to each person meant another addition to their increasing herd.
Those who survived stay away from the urban areas to avoid huge groups of zombies. This wasn't the case for Juan and his friends. They're a bunch college students staying at the university dorm of Ateneo University. When they heard the plague had arrived in the country, they started stocking up food and supplies in their rooms. The faculty, staff, and other students ran and left the campus when they heard the plague has reached the capital. Juan, Kevin, Ron, and Nathalie never heard from their families. Thinking that it's safer to stay in the dorm, Juan and his friends barricaded the gate of the dorm with cars so that no one can come in.
The dorm was located on the farthest end of the campus; behind the dorm is the city of Marikina where cemented walls separated the two.
"I never thought this day would come. Things like this only happen in the tv." –Juan said as he sat beside the table in his room.
"Well it's happening now and the question is who's going to help us?" –Ron replied.
"Fuck this, we can't stay in this place forever waiting for someone to come get us. Besides we're running out of food." –Kevin
"Well, for as long as we can hold up in this place, I see no reason to leave. Juan, we need to find food, weapons and supplies. You in?" –Ron faced to Juan
"Well, I'm not sure where we can find weapons here in the university, the security guards most likely left with their guns. This is pretty risky but, how about we try the hardware store? It's also a few meters away from the local supermarket." –Juan suggested
"Okay then, we'll start the search first thing in the morning."-Ron replied
The moans of the zombies were the only sounds that can be heard by Kevin while he stood awake as the watcher of the night. Since the survivors can't afford having the dormitory gate mobbed by zombies, light wasn't put up during the night. Juan, Kevin, Nathalie and Ron slept at one room so that they can keep track of each other. One person would always stay awake to guard during the night.
The next day, Nathalie prepared breakfast for the group. "Since we can't afford to use up all our supplies, I only prepared one can of spam. Sorry guys." –Nathalie
"It's alright, better that we ration our food than have none at all." –Juan
After breakfast, Juan and Ron went outside the dormitory building to check if there are any zombies that got in. "All clear bro, we should get going." –Ron
Seeing that a couple of zombies were scattered in front of the gate of the dorm, Juan and Ron decided to climb the wall a few meters away from the gate. The zombies reached out their decaying hands through the gate bars. Their faces darkened and bite marks seen all over their bodies. Some lost a limb or two, a chunk of flesh and even a foot but none of those mattered to them. These abominations only wanted to satisfy their unending hunger.
Luckily for Juan and Ron, the zombies were too occupied on the gate than them. They got in the civic that was parked a few meters in front of the dorm and quickly drove to the hardware store. "Luckily, you brought your car when this shit happened" –Juan said while smiling to Ron
Juan and Ron drove outside the university grounds and to their surprise; there were no zombies in sight! It took them half an hour to get to the hardware store because the cars left by their owners blocked the lanes. "Park the car at the side while I scout the entrance." –Juan said to Ron as he got out of the car.
As Juan entered the hardware store, he saw blood stains on the floor. The foul stench of rotting flesh made him sick. Juan quickly grabbed a metal pipe on the shelf near the counter and continued walking towards the end of the store. He heard a clang probably from metals falling on the ground. Juan crouched low and looked behind the shelf at the farthest end of the store. He saw three zombies banging the door in front of them. He immediately got the hint that there was someone behind those door. Sweat dripped on Juan's forehead as he watched on, but suddenly he felt uneasy. Someone or something was getting near him. To his surprise, it was Ron holding an axe with a mean glare at him. "Shit Ron, you scared me" –Juan
"Sorry, didn't mean to sneak up on you" –Ron
"My bet, is there's someone behind those doors." –Juan said to his friend as they both looked behind the shelf.
"Well then let's go find out." –Ron replied
"What would we do?" –Juan
Ron always played 1st person shooter games before the virus started, he knew this was the moment to step up and try to be a better man. Ron ran towards the zombies and hacked the head of the first. Blood spew out as the zombie fell. The two others screamed and came after Ron. Juan went to his friend's side to help him out. Juan continuously smashed the head of one of the zombies while Ron sliced the head of the other. Blood covered their clothes and the floor, the stench grew even more. Suddenly, the door opened, a guy stepped out and thanked Ron and Juan.
"We've been stuck here for hours. I'm Renson by the way, thanks a lot. I couldn't open the door because they might be more of them." -Renson
"We were supposed to get some stuff here but when they came after us, we locked ourselves in this office." – a girl stepped out of the room and also greeted Juan and Ron
"I'm Pat"
"I'm Juan and this is Ron, we're students from the Ateneo. We've been held up there for days now; we were running low on supplies so we decided to check out this hardware store. The supermarket is a few meters away." –Juan greeted the two
As their conversation continued, Juan and Ron learned that Patricia and Renson were also students from Ateneo. They were staying at a condo a few blocks away from the store. Ron offered the Renson and Patricia to stay at the dorm because it's safer there.
"Thanks a lot guys, we owe you."-Renson
"No problem, we should get going and find some food." –Juan replied
Renson and Juan grabbed shovels and steel pipes and placed them in the car.
"So how's it like in the dorm?" –Renson tried to small talk Juan when suddenly
"Shh! Do you hear that?" –Juan
To be continued…