Hey guys, Nether Lord Hades here with the third chapter! I don't really have anything to say so let's get on with the story, shall we?
All of us are silent as we re-enter the hall where our rooms are. I turn to the newest member of our group and nod to a room that seems to be in disuse.
"Use that room for now," I say. Cerina nods and walks into it. She's quiet, but I can't really blame her. Even though I kinda helped her, we're still just strangers. Her family may be dead and she's worried about that. I would be too, if the area where my family is wasn't secure.
I walk to my room and open the door, shutting it behind me as I enter the vacant dwelling. Tired, I flop on the bed, getting myself comfortable on the mattress.
My room door opens, causing me to look to my left. Cerina walks in, casually sitting down at the desk in front of the bed. She unslings her SAR-21 and sets it on the table, slowly taking it apart and starting to clean it piece by piece with a cloth.
I'm not even gonna say anything, I'm too comfortable and tired. If I were to say something, I'd become restless and get up.
She hasn't even acknowledged or noticed me, just focusing on cleaning her rifle. Her long black hair is splayed out on the chair's headrest. I'm not going to lie, she looks good like this. That's not to say she wasn't already, but whatever. I blame adolescence.
I can't help but stare at the television in the room. I'm curious to see how this whole Infection is being taken care of. My arm shoots out towards the nightstand, the remote being lifted like it was sucked into giant powerful magnet by my hand. I aim the remote at the TV and push the power button.
The television is an older standard-definition model, maybe fifty five centimetres diagonal, and it comes to life with that little pop sound typical of SDTVs.
I'm going to safely assume that all stations are broadcasting coverage of the end of the civilized world. I'm going to assume I'm right, since there's a newscast on now
"...the Japanese government has issued a state of disaster, as Tokyo's collapse was followed by Kyoto and Hokkaido's collective collapse. The Japanese Special Defence Force has suffered heavy casualties after only twenty-four hours, with its Prime Minister requesting foreign aid..."
The mightiest military on the planet my ass.
Numbers don't replace skill, and if it were up to me, I wouldn't send help to them anyway.
"...Japanese soldiers have also been given orders to kill anyone suspected of being infected on sight..."
That has to be one of Japan's better ideas. Still don't like them one bit, though.
Cerina pauses cleaning her rifle and slightly turns her head to look at me. "This isn't just a local inciden?"
"You don't watch the news one ah?" I question.
"Not since my teacher forced me in P5." Cerina replies.
"Well, it's the whole world, minus a couple places," I say.
Cerina nods, about to say something else when we were interrupted.
"Hey Ryan, what are you- WOAH!" The two of us glance over to see Matt standing in the doorway, his eyes wide. He was now wearing a new t-shirt and jeans, his L115 slung across his left shoulder.
Matt walks in, sitting down on the bed next to me. "Wah'ppen leh?"
"Not Japan."
"You're happy about that, right?
I give a sideways nod. I have an unexplainable hatred for the Japanese, but I think their downfall could've happened under more... lively circumstances.
"Back to the fight here at home," the newswoman says, causing me to turn my attention back to the TV. "Singapore Guard squads have been deployed across the country to assist Armed Forces Servicemen in securing locations. Changi Airport is rumoured to be the top priority target. The government and military both urge that no one leaves their homes. Even if you're armed, stay inside."
I pick up the remote and turn off the TV. Urging us to be sitting ducks. Hah! Not going to happen.
"Why did you turn it off leh?" Cerina asks.
"Because nothing's really changed mah."
"Come on lah, it's only been one day," Matt interjects. "Give it another two or so then see how, maybe then will change."
I stand up. "Ya, sure."
Matt does have a point. We shouldn't be under the pretence that the military'll have the situation completely under control. Japan's a lost cause, though. Maybe North Korea will be next. Actually, they'll probably try to launch a nuke to either blow up Singapore for 'causing' the pandemic or wipe out an infestation.
Regardless of what they do, I don't predict them blowing themselves up any time soon.
"What lah, you plan on going to a meeting with the Infected leader to discuss a peace treaty is it?" Matt sounds pretty serious as he stands up.
I laugh. "No. I was actually going to ask you if you had an idea of what we should do next."
He scratches his head in thought. "We should get some more food. These mini-fridges probably don't have anything inside."
"We could get Ben, Catherine and PL to look through all of them just in case while we go out for more stuff," I suggest.
"Ya, I have some MREs in my bag but not sure if they'll be enough for all of us or not," Cerina speaks up from her place at the table. "We'd better get some more supplies just in case lah."
"Sounds good lah," Matt says. "But why does Catherine have to stay?"
"Because our good friend Ben will most likely just be standing around talking sai most of the time lah." I answer.
"Ahem." My head turns for me to see Cerina clearing her throat. "What about me leh?"
"You can come, we'll definitely need someone like you to keep Them off our asses while we look for stuff." I reply.
Cerina nods, giving me a slight smile. She quickly puts her SAR-21 back together, checking to make sure that everything was okay before sliding the rifle into her backpack, zipping it shut and shouldering the pack.
"What's this about?" Ben wanders into the room. Since his hair's short, he doesn't have to brush or comb it. He looks at me, his eyebrows raised. "What are you guys doing leh?"
"Nothing." I say. "PL and Catherine leh?"
"We're over here lah." Catherine and PL both walk into the room.
"Matt, Cerina and I are going out to look for more supplies. Meanwhile, I want you guys to search all of the mini-fridges on this floor for food and bring everything here."
"No complaints here." Ben says. He doesn't need to face any Infected, so he's fine.
"You want us to start looking now?" PL asks.
I nod. "Ya, okay."
They walk out, Catherine muttering something in Hokkien, probably upset that she had to do the safer job.
"Cone on guys, let's go, we've got some shopping to do." I pick up both the M16 and battle axe, slinging both across my right shoulder as I head out the door, the other two following.
The three of us walk to the elevators, Matt taps the down button for the elevator and after a couple seconds the doors open, the flickering lights illuminating a human shape.
A groan emanates from the shape, which isn't good at all. How the hell did an Infected get in here? I unsling the axe, raise it at an angle and swing, smacking the Infected's skull into one of the elevator's rails. Blood splatters on the wall and slowly slides down.
I motion for the other two to get in. They step inside as I press the 'G' button and the elevator begins its descent.
I look at Cerina and notice that she was staring at the floor, her expression unreadable.
"Eh, Cerina, you okay or not?" I ask.
"Ya, I'm fine." She mutters, brushing a strand of hair out of her face.
I look up at the floor indicator. 1st floor... I wonder if anyone else has tried taking shelter in here. They might have, but they probably are all in the lobby.
The elevator reaches the ground floor without a sound made between the three of us. The door opens and I'm surprised by the sight: more Infected. That must be how that one got in here. That poor guy probably got bit and tried to run, got into the elevator, and Turned in there after the door closed or something like that.
I glance at my two friends and they nod, a look of determination on their faces.
We dash out of the elevator and raise our weapons, crunching into three separate skulls. Matt and Cerina go off doing their own thing while I do mine. I raise my battle axe and swing at another Infected, the blade cracking bone and destroying the brain. That doesn't feel right.
There are only seven more Infected left standing. This is going along nicely.
A second Infected in sight equals another Infected dead. My right leg goes forward and my arms pull upward, the battle axe's blade smashing into a third Infected's jaw. The thing gets tossed a little in the air and smacks its head on a corner of the reception desk. That guy should be dead now.
I look at Cerina and all she's doing is stabbing her machete into their skulls and shooting at Them with a SIG P226 pistol, taking out way more than both Matt and I. Holy shit, she's already taken out most of Them!
There's one Infected left and it's fairly close to me, so I just swing. The axe's blade connects with the base of the Infected's skull at an angle, popping it off and causing a stream of blood to spurt out.
"Where are we going leh?" Matt asks.
"I was hoping you would know." I say.
"There's a Cold Storage nearby. Why don't we go there?" Cerina speaks up.
"Good idea lah," Matt says to Cerina. "Let's go."
She nods and pushes open one of the entrance doors. Matt and I follow her at a close distance, our rifles at the ready. There are a few Infected on the street but they quickly fall before our rifles.
"Remember, they react to sound and touch," Matt whispers to us. "As long as we're quiet and not touching them they shouldn't notice."
"How you know one?" Cerina asks quietly.
"Logic and Left4Dead." Matt answers.
Cerina nods again and continues walking at a fast pace. Matt and I lightly jog to catch up with her, our weapons still at the ready.
Cerina makes a right, onto a street infested with Infected. She stops and turns around.
"What now?" She whispers. "There's too many to fight."
My eyes glance over the crowd. There's an alleyway in the middle of the street, but some of Them are blocking that. Maybe if we find some way to distract them, we can get through. There's a rubbish bin right next to us, so...
"Matt, hand me that rubbish bin lid." I point to the bin's lid, which is on the street. "I have an idea."
He bends down and picks it up quietly before handing it to me. "What? You're going to kill Them with a rubbish bin lid ah?" Matt comments.
"Shut up lah," I retort. "Hold this for me."
I hand the battle axe to Matt before observing the lid. It's metal, flat like a frisbee, and also a little on the light side. This'll work fine.
Putting my right leg forward and positioning my right arm on my left side with the lid in hand, my wrist flicks forward and the lid goes skyward. It's a good throw, and the lid flies towards the alleyway... Aw shit, it's going down!
The lid bounces off of an Infected's head near the alleyway, causing a loud metallic clank. The lid falls into the alleyway from there, creating yet another noise. All of the Infected in the area look towards the source of the sound and start sprinting towards it.
"Go!" I point to the sidewalk that just cleared up. Matt throws me my axe and we start jogging at a near-sprinting pace. Cerina stops at another intersection and makes a left.
We follow her for about five more minutes before stopping in front of a Cold Storage store. There's probably a sign, but it's not important enough to look at, though the two zombies in front of us are.
"We're here lah," Cerina breathes.
"Thanks hor," Matt and I walk forward. We have the same idea, which is good.
We both take our weapons and shoot our enemies. Matt's target goes down without a fight, but mine doesn't seem to take being shot too well. Odd, considering he - or she, for that matter - ought to be dead now.
The Infected turns around as I swing the battle axe, cracking it square in its jaw. The bone makes an audible crack and a couple teeth fly out as the Infected girl lurches back. The concrete breaks her fall, or more accurately, her skull. The Infected stops moving, a small amount of blood pooling out from her head.
Matt peers into the store and holds his hand up. Five fingers at first, then three fingers. I'm going to assume that means that eight of Them are inside.
"Come on lah." Cerina slides open the door and walks inside, machete raised. We follow her, our weapons at the ready.
She immediately lashes out with her machete, splitting an Infected's skull open. I swing the battle axe at one and cause its skull to cave in. Pulling the axe away, I strike again, causing a second Infected's skull to fold in and the Infected itself to knock down one of its comrades.
My foot ends the downed Infected's struggle, the bottom of my shoe crunching in its face. I'm able to feel the squishy brain matter, which just feels wrong.
Retracting my foot, I swing the axe again. The axe's blade meets yet another Infected's skull and squishes it in.
The last Infected is sprinting towards me, but that's not going happen for long. I raise the axe to my shoulder and swing, the axe smashing into the Infected's face. And apparently, so does Cerina's machete. She also hit the Infected, but in the back of the head. Talk about overkill...
We retract our weapons and glance around.
"Looks like we're not the only ones who thought about raiding this place leh..." Matt observes
I take a walk around as well, not gaining any pleasure from what I see.
There is still a considerable amount of food, but a lot's already been taken. I guess the only thing to do is grab as much as we can.
"Just take as much as we can lah," I say.
"With what leh?" Matt asks.
"These." Cerina pulls out a bundle of plastic bags from her bag, handing us four each.
"But they'll make noise when we move," Matt points out. "These pretty much say, 'I'm over here, eat me now!'"
"Then we'll have to move fast and keep the bags from rustling as much as possible," I say. "There's no other option."
"Maybe there's some of those eco-friendly bags behind or something." Matt suggests.
"Okay lah. I'll check, you two take as much food as possible. I can carry about three bags in one hand, so-"
"Okay lah. Go and check already." Matt cuts me off.
I was going to do that, thank you very much.
I set down the axe and vault over the check-out counter, pushing open the door behind it.
The room is fairly small and has, among other things, a little cash box in it. Not like money is worth anything now. On the table are two boxes of assault rifle shells and a crowbar.
I have no idea what a crowbar would be used for in a store like this. Regardless, It'll probably come in useful.
The assault rifle shells mean there's a assault rifle here somewhere... Ah, right there! Propped up on the wall, next to some of those eco-friendly bags Matt mentioned, is a fully loaded standard SAR-21. I wonder how it got here... Perhaps a SAF reserve was working here and accidentally left his gun here or something.
I pick up the spare boxes of ammo and slide them into my pants pocket together with the M16 ammo.
Grabbing the SAR-21 by its carrying handle with my left hand, I pick the crowbar up with my right and use it to grab the handles of the bags. Walking out behind the counter, I just stand there.
"Ryan, what are you doing leh?" Matt asks, looking right at me.
"Hello, would you like to buy something?" I ask, trying not to crack up.
Matt just stares at me, his face straight. That doesn't last long, because then he starts laughing.
Hopping over the counter again and looking around, it becomes apparent that Cerina is nowhere in sight.
"Cerina leh?" I ask
"Toilet," he says, managing to stop laughing. "We got a lot of food," he glances at the assault rifle in my hand, noticing it for the first time. "Where did you get that SAR-21 leh?"
I set the bags and the crowbar down and unsling the M16.
"It was in the back room, as was that crowbar and the bags." I hold the M16 out to him.
"What lah, you want me to take it?" he asks.
"Ya."
He nods and takes the M16, but cocks an eyebrow at me. "How am I supposed carry this and the bags leh?"
"It's not loaded, so just put the bags' handles on the barrel."
"Wow...You gave me your old empty gun?"
"I could make you carry my axe as well."
A door creaks open and footsteps echo throughout the small store, tapping on the linoleum floor. Cerina appears, her machete bloody as she drags the body of a dead Infected behind her.
"Wah'ppen leh?" Matt asks.
"He wanted to join me in the toilet." Cerina replies.
"Wah lau."
"Is there anything else we should take?" I ask, looking around the store.
Matt shakes his head. "No lah, we've got everything. Potato chips, soft drinks, Khong Guan biscuits-"
"Any actual food?" Usually, I would have no problem with all these snacks, but we'll need actual food if we are to keep moving.
"Some packet Maggi Mee and Prima Taste gourmet meals like Mee Rebus, Mee Siam, Bak Kut Teh, chicken rice and laksa." Cerina answers, sheathing her machete.
With a sigh, my hand runs through my hair. "Alright lah, let's grab whatever else we need and then we'll go."
Matt's the first one to react, grabbing a couple more boxes of Prima Taste gourmet meals and some more packs of Maggi Mee, shoving it all into one of the eco-bags. Cerina and I follow, filling one bag before filling another. There are six of these bags total: two filled with snacks, one full of soft drinks and two bottles of milk, one with a bunch of cereal, cutlery and bowls, and the other two with the Prima Taste ready-to-eat meals and packet Maggi Mee.
Carrying these is going to be fun, but I'm a little curious as to where the bowls and cutlery came from though.
Two bags each is the fair way to divide it, but even so, we'd be weighed down and move considerably slower.
I pick up both bags with my left hand, wedging the crowbar and axe into my two bags as well while holding the SAR-21 in my right. Matt picks his bags up using the method I'd suggested earlier with the rifle while Cerina grabs one bag per hand.
"Come on lah, let's go." My foot pushes outward, opening the door and putting us all in the sun. Looking at the sky, it's not going to stay this way for long. Rainclouds paint the sky grey not too far away from the scattered blotches of white and blue in the sky now.
A few of Them linger on the streets, one continuously walking into a streetlamp.
This street is actually familiar... I glance down the street, opposite the way we came and spot a vehicle riding on a lamppost in the distance. Behind that is a crowd of Infected in front of a store
"Matt, you know where we are?" I whisper
"Where?" he asks
"The street with the Kopitiam from yesterday."
Speaking of yesterday, that Humvee was pretty useful. Maybe there's some more things in there we can use.
Slowly, I set the bags down and start down the street, flicking the SAR-21's safety off.
"What are you doing leh?" Matt asks, his voice slightly louder than it should be. My whole body turns
"Checking to see if there's anything else we can use in the Humvee," I whisper back. "Go back inside lah."
Halfway down the street, I look behind me to see Matt and Cerina watching me. I told them to go back into Cold Storage, but whatever.
I finally get close enough to the Humvee. Its engine has stopped smoking and the driver side door is still open. The dead Serviceman's body is still lying where we left him.
There aren't any Infected directly around me, so I should be good for now but that doesn't mean I shouldn't be cautious. Maybe I can find a military radio or something in the vehicle, or even on the body... It'd be best to check inside the vehicle.
I step over the vomit-covered body and lean inside the Humvee. The interior of it is just as nasty as it was last evening, with blood everywhere. There doesn't seem to be anything we can use in the front besides the actual in-built radio, and I don't see us pulling that thing out.
I back out of the Humvee and lean down next to the dead Serviceman. The stench is just putridly overwhelming.
"Oh God," I mumble, covering my nose with my right sleeve as my eyes scan the Serviceman's vest.
There. In one of the pouches is a handheld military radio, but there's no noise emanating from it. That's a good thing, I guess. That, or the batteries died.
Sliding it out of the pouch, I drop it into the other pocket of my pants and stand back up. There's really nothing else to use here, so I guess we're good for now.
I start walking towards the other two and wave, trying to signify that I'm alright. I guess I was just being paranoid about them staying there, since the Infected aren't that close to the store.
"Alright lah," I say when I get within earshot. "Let's go."
"Ya, it's getting late," Matt says. "I don't want to get stuck out here at night."
I can't say I disagree with him. Getting back to the hotel is our primary objective, that way we can eat and check out this radio.
That's the end of this chapter guys! Sorry it's so short! Anyway, I'll be starting a World of Tanks SYOC fanfic soon so be sure to check that out when it comes out! Don't forget to review and let me know what you guys think! Bye!
-NLH :)