Chapter 4:
"No... The girls' dormitory..." whispered Eric.
"They must have closed the gate before any zombies got in. Ric, it's okay. All the girls there will be fine.", said Robert.
"No, they won't.", replied Ric with a grimace. "I'm not there with them."
"Come on, Ric, you still have me.", said Robert with a playful girlish smile and batting eyelashes.
"Fuck. You. Dammit," muttered Ric as he shook his head "please eat me now."
For a moment, they paused. "...and shit, I mean the zombies, not you!"
As the group got closer to En's apartment, anticipation heightened. Wesley was beyond worried. He wanted to run. He wanted so bad to charge in and find out if she's okay. He struggled to keep his composure, to stick to a strategic approach instead of resorting to rash action. He let his mind wander to the axebitten Germanic tribes as they fought against Roman legions. He had to keep thinking to keep himself calm. If En was alive in there, he'd be of no use to her if he ends up dead at the gates.
"I hope En's okay..." whispered Mayca.
"Tsk.", muttered Ric in anxiety.
"She's fine in there.", said Wesley calmly. "She can take care of herself."
He said it with such a cold certainty that pierced the heavy air. Robert looked at him both in surprise and in curiosity. In his mind he remembered something Wesley told him years before they met En, back when he was cold and cynical.
Sometimes the truth is what you want it to be. Tell yourself the same lie enough times and it becomes true. That, is how you build an air of confidence.
Robert thought back to that moment and looked at Wesley. Robert had noticed that this time Wesley spoke with such weight that it seemed as if he wanted the world to believe his words enough to make it true.
The gate to En's apartment stood two meters tall and had a span of around three meters. Like most gates, it featured a small door that enabled the passage of residents without opening the entire gate. From a distance, it was hard to tell but the door seemed open.
A construction site stood to their left; the walls and the foundations were already finished. It was bordered by tall walls of corrugated steel. To their right was the Loyola Heights Barangay Hall which at the moment seemed abandoned. They had harldy placed one foot towards En's apartment when loud moans and guttural groans issued from within the construction site's walls. Dull thuds came from the other side of the wall, shaking it visibly. At first it appeared to be just one person, then two, three until there seemed to be more than a dozen of them pounding at the walls. It shook but it stood its ground.
The group moved cautiously on towards the gate. The zombies at the other side of the walls did not seem to be trying to come after them as the sounds did not shift even as they moved away. One of them, Wesley remembered from old comics, must have been attracted by something and started thumping against the wall. Everyone else merely followed suit. Zombie see, zombie do.
The door on the gate was open. Beneath it was the corpse of one of the compound's security guards. He had come outside to check on the commotion and must have been set upon by a group of zombies. Only his upper body remained intact albeit missing chunks here and there. His legs were reduced to mere tatters of pants in a pool of blood and guts. He was facing the doorway; one of his arms hung on the base of the gate.
"Disgusting.", Charlie muttered.
Wesley nudged at its bloodied torso with his foot. "If you're a zombie, say uhhhhhh..."
"Uhhhh..." grunted the corpse. It tried to push itself up with what remained of his arms but his bones snapped and he fell back onto the ground with a wet flop. Robert heaved his axe high and swung at its head, smashing its skull. Almost as soon as Robert's axe had hit the pavement, Wesley went through the doorway. He walked quickly, ready to swing at any zombie that dared to stand in his path.
The door to Unit-F was open.
"Shit..." grunted Wesley as he rushed in. The rest of the group followed.
"Oh no..." murmurred Mayca.
"En!" called Ric.
"Dude don't...!" whispered Robert, "...oh forget it. EN!"
Finding no one in the first floor, they all rushed towards the stairs but as they reached the foot of the staircase, blood greeted them. A long trail of blood dripped from the second floor hallway. They rushed upstairs.
Wesley stood quietly as he gazed upon the bloody corpse that lay before him. Her white nighties were stained red with blood where chunks of her flesh were eaten off. A long trail of blood was smeared from the leftmost door to the ground where it met with her long black hair.
"Shit..." whimpered Ric, "...that's..."
"It's not her.", replied Wesley. "Look. That girl's head is bashed in."
Wesley immediately knocked hard at the door to his right.
"En! Love, it's me... Wesley. I'm with the guys. Open up!" he shouted. Silence answered. Everyone stood there nervously looking at each other. "En, come on, open up! It's okay, we're here now!"
*CLICK!*
"NUNUUUUUUM!" yelled a girl's voice as soon as the door opened. She clung onto Wesley, saying "Nunum" over and over in between sobs.
"Nenen..." whispered Wesley. Tears ran down his cheeks, warm reminders that they were still alive. He held her tightly in his arms then let go for a moment only to walk into the room before hugging her again. Everyone went inside and closed the door behind them. All of them were crying: all happy to be alive, all happy to be together.
En went on to hug each one of them.
"Ewiiiiiiiiiiik..." she cried out as she squeezed Ric in an embrace.
"Chaweeeeee..." She jumped slightly as she hugged Charlie who got knocked back a couple of steps. He patted her head with his free hand.
"Makaaaaaaa..." This time she walked slowly and embraced Mayca. They cried in each other's shoulders.
"Niiiiiiiiiiiii!" shrieked En.
*BIFF*
"Ow!" yelled Robert as he reeled from En's punch. "What was that for?" En only replied with a hug.
They each found a spot in the room to sit down on. The adrenaline was wearing off and fatigue immediately kicked in. It had been a long day and a very frightening trip. The world as they knew it had ended, but as it seemed, it was going to take a while for the thought to sink in.
"Oh, I almost forgot..." En stood back up, wiped off her tears and went to the washroom. "Shayne, you can come out now. It's okay, it's just my friends."
The door opened and Shayne came out, her expression was one addled by fear and the sudden sight of strangers. "Hi..." she said shyly. She looked at each one of the group as if she had just awakened from a dream and was not sure whether she was truly awake or still dreaming. She took a seat in a corner by herself.
Robert sat beneath the window and rested his head against the wall. He closed his eyes and breathed deep as if in meditation. Charlie and Mayca sat on a spare mattress; Charlie leaned against the wall with his guitar by his side and Mayca rested on his lap. He thoughtfully ran his fingers through her hair. En and Wesley were across them on En's bed. She sat in front of him with her legs resting on his as he hugged her. Ric sat by the door, holding his guitar.
"Dude, do you think it will be alright if I play my guitar a bit?" asked Ric.
"Yeah, sure, just try to play as soft as you can.", replied Wesley.
They were all exhausted and that one small room provided much needed refuge. For a while, they felt safe. They felt secure.
"Nenen, where's Ting?" asked Wesley.
"Tingu!" said En, "I think she's in her room with Rex. I was here playing on Sera when Shayne barged in and slammed the door behind her. Shayne's face was all pale and scared looking. When I opened the door again to check out what was happening, I saw that girl outside clawing at Tingu's door. I got scared but I noticed Shayne was still holding the chopping board for some reason so I took that and hit the zombie outside with it. I just kept on hitting and hitting and hitting until it didn't move anymore. I was so scared Num..."
Wesley kissed her forehead.
"Shayne said Rex went inside and ran upstairs to Ting without closing the front door behind him. When she saw that zombie girl coming after Rex, she ran upstairs too but Ting's door was already locked so she tried my door and that's how she got here." continued En.
"Hmmm, I see. Love, we're just going to check on them okay?" said Wesley, "Robert, come with me. Let's check the other room."
Robert looked at Wesley sleepily and lazily stood up. He picked up his axe and shook himself awake. In mere moments, he was as alert as he was before they got into the apartment.
"Need any help?" asked Charlie.
"Nah, we'll be fine. You guys should get some rest.", replied Robert.
Wesley opened the door and stepped out of the room. The zombie girl's corpse laid perfectly still on the floor; a ghoulish tableau of what the world had become.
"We'll need to do something about that later.", muttered Wesley. He looked at the door across the hall and felt paranoia creeping up his spine. He swung his axe at the dead girl's head just to make sure it will never move again.
"Ting, open the door.", barked Wesley. Nobody answered. "Ting? Are you okay in there?"
"Let me try.", said Robert."Ting?" He stepped back and swung his axe at the doorknob. It came loose and fell onto the zombie girl's head. Robert tugged at the locking mechanism from inside and the door swung slowly open. Ting and Rex were huddled in the corner of the room. He held a bloodstained shirt to his shoulder while Ting clung onto him. Upon seeing Robert and Wesley enter the room, Rex slowly stood up.
"Leave us alone! Rex is fine! Please, just leave us alone!" shouted Ting.
"Ting, he's been bitten. You've watched all the movies, you know what's gonna happen.", responded Robert.
"You don't know that. That's the movies, this is real life!" yelled Ting angrily.
"I can't risk anything like that happening around En.", Wesley said coldly.
"That's our problem! I'll stay here with him. I'll—"
Wesley was already dragging Rex out of the room by his arm. He struggled but he was already too weak from losing a lot of blood. Ting screamed at Wesley, cursed at him and tried her hardest to stop him but Robert was blocking her way. She kept trying to push Robert aside but he won't budge. She pushed one more time and got lucky, hitting Robert's rib with her shoulder blades thus making him reel back a little in pain. It was enough for her to be able to run downstairs after Rex and Wesley.
"Stop!" yelled Ting. Wesley turned around and found her holding a kitchen knife. "What are you planning to do to him? Are you going to kill him?"
"Yes.", replied Wesley in the same cold manner.
"But he's still alive! Can you really kill a living human being?" said Ting, she brandished the knife around while she pointed it towards Wesley. Robert had come down the stairs but stopped a few steps down to keep his distance from her.
"You don't know what I'm capable of.", said Wesley. He grinned that twisted grin. "Fine then, you can have him. Here." Wesley pushed Rex towards Ting and he weakly stumbled onto her. She caught him and helped him stand up.
"Now, get out!" barked Wesley.
"What? Are you crazy? We're going to die out there!" Ting replied. Rex tried to speak but he seemed so faint that it looked like he was about to fall down.
"Move it! Now!" snapped Wesley, taunting her with the axe. The others upstairs had come out of the room to see what was happening. Ting inched slowly towards the door in fear. Robert followed closely, axe at the ready. He was watching Rex. If he were to turn into a zombie, Robert was prepared to cleave Rex's head immediately before anyone else got hurt.
"You can't do this to us! We'll get eaten alive!" bawled Ting. Tears were gushing out of her eyes.
"Well, YOU will, at least. The way I see it, you can either go with him out there and wait until you get ripped to shreds or you can stay here and let us do what we have to do.", said Robert, finally breaking his silence.
Ting shouted and wailed as she cried onto Rex's chest. "I'm sorry..." She walked away from him.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" *SHHK*
A bloodcurdling scream echoed in the first floor. Rex fell backwards out of the doorway; a kitchen knife sticking out from one of his eyes. Ting fell to the floor, weeping and sobbing in a sniveling mess. Wesley closed the door and went back upstairs.