WHEN SURVIVING ISN'T ENOUGH
The Scientists got it wrong. Dead wrong. Groundbreaking work in genetics has unleashed something unimaginable. Something that has killed off every living thing… except humans.
Somewhere in Singapore, a 15-year-old girl wakes up with no memory. She can't remember who she is, but can't shake the feeling that there is something she needs to do.
With nowhere to go and no one to trust, she joins a band of young survivors like her. Together, they must hunt for food and fight to survive. Only now, surviving isn't enough. Some adults are changing… and developing a new kind of hunger.
NOW, THEY MUST RUN
The funny thing about losing your memory, if losing your memory can be considered funny at all, is that useless memories stick in your brain while the important stuff disappears. Important stuff like what your name is. Or where you live. Or what happened to make you lose your memory.
Oh, I know that I am in Singapore, that I grew up in Singapore and have lived here all my life. I know that I am 15 years old, but can't remember my birthday. I remember other stupid things like: I had parents and friends and that I was a student.
I remember what school was - sitting in class, boring lessons, and even more boring teachers. And I can't remember who my parents were. Did I have brothers? Sisters? Who was my best friend? What school did I go to? Who were my teachers?
I have no clue.
For goodness sakes, why can't I have forgotten about school?
The worst thing was, a little after I regained consciousness, I've got a very strong feeling that there was something I was supposed to do.
Something important, Something big. But as hard as I tried, I could not remember what it was. I also found myself in a very strange situation, one that I knew could not be normal, even though I couldn't quite remember what normal was…
But let me start from the beginning. This whole thing started two days ago.
Yes, I still remember how to count. And read a calendar. And tell the time.
It was December 2, 2037. It was a Wednesday morning...
I got up from my fatigue into a semi-supine, rubbing my exhausted eyes with my dusty, dark and chalky hands. I opened my eyes and found myself lying in a puddle of muddy water. I tried to stand up but fell back to the ground, gasping in pain. My eyes registered the devastation around me. Nothing was familiar. I couldn't recognise anything.
"Mum? Dad...? Where am I...? What's going on...?"
Yes, so you know, The first thing I did was call for my mother.
All that came back in response were gradually fading sets of faint echoes which made me start to tremble in the loneliness of the empty atmosphere.
A 15-year-old girl calling for her mother. Big Deal. If you had seen what I did, you would have called for your mother too. The drastic pain and paranoia in my head overwhelmed me whole. Fear and the intense dubiety of this plight struck me. I passed out unconscious.
The next time, I opened my eyes. I reckon a few hours had passed. In my trance, I recall the sounds of footsteps, murmurs and even, I felt like I was being surrounded by, ... warmth? I realised I was lying on an uncomfortable, damaged sofa. The strings of loose thread brushed against my sticky arms. It smelled funny. Like a wet, smelly dog. It seemed like my memory loss didn't affect my sense of smell. Too bad for me.
"Hey, guys, she's awake!"
I found myself staring into a pair of mysterious green eyes belonging to a boy about my age or slightly older. He had longish, dark brown hair that swept across his forehead and a nice smile with slight dimples below his cheekbones as he reached out his hand to pick me up. He had a slight build but looked rather strong. I noticed a bandage on his left arm stretching from his elbow all the way up to his shoulder.
"Are you okay, poor little thing?" he asked, his brows furrowing. I could see the concern mustered in his unusually dark green eyes.
Poor little thing?
"Yea," I nodded uneasily. "I'm alright, I guess."
"I'm Jae, who're you?" The look of concern changed into and became a curious, questioning one.
...
"I-I don't know..." I stammered, feeling weird.
Jae looked thoughtful. "Don't know your name or don't want us to know? I don't blame you for being uncertain, with everything that is going on."
I heard a whisper. "She looks suspicious. I don't trust her."
"How did she get here? Why haven't we seen her around?" I heard someone else murmur.
Jae's face hardened suddenly and his look turned into a glare. "Whatever. We'll let you have some time to decide if you want to let us know who you are. Just know that you are safe here with us."
Safe? From what? Again, there was that nagging feeling. I looked over his shoulder and saw a few heads nodding vigorously. There were about fifteen boys and girls, all around my age or slightly younger, as far as I could tell. They looked odd, many looked a little worse for wear. Their clothes were dirty, torn and tattered, they looked unwashed and untidy.
I glanced around. We seemed to be in the backyard of someone's house, surrounded by a tall wooden fence. The sofa I was lying on was covered under a shelter that jutted out from the back of the house. Beyond the shelter, there was a big garden, except that all was left were empty plastic flowerpots, muddy soil and scattered grains of sand. Apart from pathetic, withered palm trees, it was totally bare - no grass, no shrubs, no flowers, no chirping birds, nothing. It was utter emptiness.
I heard someone nearby whisper, "Quite pretty."
I blushed. Jae must have seen me redden. He stiffened and glared at the direction of the origin of that voice.
"Seriously?" he said.
Okaayyy then. I guessed he thought otherwise. Whatever. I changed my mind.
Jae frowned and looked at me from head to toe, a look of distaste of his face as he frowned, hand still reaching out.
"Kyl," he said, addressing a boy standing apart from the rest, "Get her some clean clothes."
I looked down at myself and blushed again, my clothes were filthy! And wet. Urgh.
My jeans were so caked in mud that I couldn't bend my knees. I also saw I was barefoot. My eyes travelled to the crowd of kids all gawking at me. I noticed they were all barefoot too. I looked at Jae's feet. No shoes.
Had I just woken up in some weird alternate universe where no one wore shoes? Even though I had about a million and two questions whirling in my head, the foremost being - Dude, where are your shoes? - I decided to keep my mouth shut for the moment.
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