Chapter VII: A short break
As Night covered the sky, the group arrived at Hitomi's village. It was composed of different residences, from the outcome of the epidemic it was no longer like the sweet home everyone had. Some of the houses were destroyed, lots of blood was spilled, windows and doors were broken, and it was like there were no longer normal people breathing in the town.
"It really looks like the end of the world now…" said Dan as he looked at the different houses.
"Shh…" said Cass; she raised a hand, effectively stopping the others behind her in their tracks.
They peek at the side of a car, leaning against it. There were five infected people staggering with every step, some were coughing blood, and others were collapsing to the ground.
"They look like they really don't know what they're doing," whispered Shiela.
Cass shot an arrow to the other car on their left. Its alarm was activated and naturally the din caught the attention of the infected people.
"What was that for?" screeched Dan. Apparently he didn't get the idea. The infected people were now walking towards the car.
Xander, quick on the uptake, yelled, "Nice one! This is our chance, run!"
They ran towards the back of Hitomi's house with Hitomi in the lead. It was a two storey house, big enough for a single person. Contemporarily designed and crafted, much was not seen because of the darkness of the night.
"Are you sure you're the only one living here?" asked Dan.
"Yeah… but my parents stay here every vacation so, we have three rooms, a guest room, my parent's and mine."
"I wonder how cute Hitomi's room is," said Dan dreamily.
"Hey! That's private for us girls, so no boys allowed, right Hitomi?" said Shiela immediately. Silently she threw a mischievous wink at the other girl.
"Uh… yeah."
Ignoring Dan's disappointed pout, Hitomi opened the back door of her house.
The interior was quite simple, it didn't have any ornaments or fancy figurines, and the wallpaper was plain pink. She led the way to the entertainment room.
"Please wait for me here, I'll call you to the dining room after we have prepared for the food." She then switched on the dim light. The entertainment room was spacious; it had a 50 inch flat screen TV, with big stereos, DVD player, and a comfortable sofa.
"Dude… look at this stuff…." said Eddie as his fingertips worship the extravagant TV.
"You said it…. We? Got a maid?" asked Dan while he make himself at home in the comfy sofa.
"I told you, I live alone." And out of the blue, Hitomi just grabbed Shiela and Cass' wrists by surprise. Paying absolutely no heed to their bewilderment, she closed the door.
"So this is a home theater, Hitomi's family is sure well off," said Xander, as he surveyed the room.
Suddenly remembering the infected people's craze on the other side of the wall, Eddie warned, "We should not use it anyway since we might attract a whole horde of infected people." And as if to emphasize on his words, he took his gun out and wiped at the nozzle with unnecessary vigour.
"You know, we could use that as a mirror by now," said Dan and looked at Eddie's AK-47.
The door opened and Hitomi appeared. Not expecting the pretty girl to don a girly pink apron with lots of flower scattered on it, their jaw dropped.
"I forgot to tell you, this room is completely sound proof. I'll on it for you. Hmm… cable channels are not on air. I have different movies in that cabinet, just insert it in the DVD player, and press this button here then it will play, don't mind the other sound devices it will automatically operate once the TV and DVD player are on. If everything's okay I'll be going back to the kitchen now."
Even after her leaving, the vivid imagery of Hitomi's prettiness lingered in the room.
"Whoa… She's really cute…" Michael smirked.
"Yeah…." Xander and Dan echoed.
"I'm totally into her… you may have the ace now, but I won't give up," said Dan as he look at Xander seriously, who was out of words again. "You are so boring, haha! Well that's you, anyway let's have a friendly competition. May the best man win."
Then he raised his hand for a shake but someone else grabbed it.
"Yeah, may the best man win" said Michael grinning while holding Dan's hand. Xander was surprised and looked at the two of them. "Looks like Mr. Lover boy here got two rivals," he added.
"Le- let's watch one of the movies here…" said Xander trying to change the topic.
"Are you serious?" whispered Dan but Michael just smiled.
"Hey! I'm asking you!"
…..
"So Hitomi, It's really a pain being so cute huh?" teased Shiela while she cut the green onions. Hitomi was quiet and kept chopping pork. "So who's the lucky guy? Hmm… let me guess… its Xander? Right? RIGHT?" she added.
"Aw…." Hitomi winced; she immediately sucked the blood from her fingers, and washed it with water in the sink.
"So it's Xander! Haha gotcha! You were so concerned for him back at our school, when he courageously fighting those 'things' so they won't get to you. Even I would fall for that," said Shiela while washing some potatoes.
"S… so… do you like Xander too? I... I mean you're so gorgeous, I'll fall for you too if I were a guy, and y… you knew each other better…"
"Of course not. Xander is all yours, we're just friends, don't worry."
Hitomi laughed dryly.
"I think Shiela and Dan would be a great couple…" said Cass with her low voice.
"What? Are you joking? Dan is a complete idiot," Shiela butted. Her face was now a brilliant sheen of red.
"But you are blushing!" teased Hitomi.
"Well I think Cass also likes someone from the group of boys out there," said Shiela defensively.
"Where did you say you put the blueberries?" Cass said loudly. Not waiting for an answer, she marched defiantly towards the refrigerator.
"It's at the lower part of the fridge," answered Hitomi while she decorated the sashimi and sushi plates.
"You two still haven't answered my question, it's unfair" Shiela fumed.
……
The boys were watching a zombie apocalypse movie. After it ended Dan asked seriously "In our group, who do you think would survive in the end?" They all fell silent; an uneasy chill passed through their spines. They realized even in movies, not everyone would survive the apocalypse.
The door opened behind them. "Dinner is ready!" said Hitomi breaking the stillness. "You can now go on to the dining room, I'll o". The guys set off and went to the dining room silently, but someone stayed while Hitomi was turning off the appliances. When she turned around it was Xander looking at her seriously.
"W-why, are you still here Xander? Th - the food might get cold," Hitomi blushed and was unable to look at Xander's eyes squarely. He approached closer.
"I-I… rea-really… don't know why I'm still here b-but… I'll promise you… I'll protect everyone with everything I've got… e-especially y-you" said Xander with a very nervous voice, his heart was beating very fast.
"I… uhmm"
Xander touched her chin, and looked her directly in the eyes. She looked away but when their eyes finally met, so did their lips. Xander felt like Time had stopped, the surrounding was so quiet he could hear the very beat of his heart, he couldn't describe what he felt while their lips touched each other, he never felt this way before, it was like he didn't care about anything aside from them. Hitomi gently pushed him and said "I-I'll be heading on to the kitchen… I-I th-think I forgot something…" Her face was almost completely red.
"Hi-Hitomi… I'm so very sorry… I… wh-where's the toilet room?"
"I-It's… o-on the left side of this… room" Hitomi replied, her voice was shaking.
"I'm so…"
But Hitomi was already walking away. Angry in spite of himself, Xander entered the toilet and stared poisonously at the lone mirror. He could see his paper white self starring back at him.
"What did you just do? Now she's mad at you!"
And the wall shook as his fist met with the smooth, cold tiles.
"Whoerssshhh Shander?" said Dan while his mouth was filled with rice "Thishh frayd raishhhh tashhttee gooood!" he added.
"Thanks… th-that's called Char Siu Pork Fried Rice," Hitomi replied sheepishly.
"This is the very first time I've tasted pasta like this, you're a really great cook Hitomi!" said Michael. It was baked pasta rectangles filed with squashed potato, pumpkin, and bacon bits.
"Yeah it's all thanks to them…" said Hitomi but she fell silent as Xander entered the room.
Xander looked for a chair, he saw that Michael and Dan was seated at Hitomi's both sides, Cass was slicing the whole chicken. Eddie was eating like it was his last and not minding what the others are doing.
"Oh, there you are! We couldn't wait for you, buddy. Hungry stomachs wait for no one. Pull a chair!" said Shiela pointing her fork to the seat in front of Hitomi.
Xander looked at Hitomi who was trying not to look at him. He thought that she was really angry for what he had done a couple of minutes ago. He tried to act normally but still his voice was shaking "I…" he inhaled then said "I've just explored around Hito… the house" unable to say Hitomi's name.
"Wow, sushi and sashimi!" said Xander as he looked to Hitomi and to the food. "Itadakimasu!" said Xander as he placed different sushi and sashimi in his plate
"What's the Itadakimas… for?" asked Dan picking up what Xander placed in his plate.
"It's what Japanese people say before eating, r… right?" said Xander. He looked at Hitomi trying to get her approval but Hitomi merely just gave a silent nod.
"Hitomi made those since you love Japanese cuisine" replied Shiela, while Hitomi's face turned red even more.
"Is this oyster?" asked Michael while getting some.
"That's Kakifurai, it's a breaded and deep fried whole oyster, try to eat it with that Bulldog sauce, it'll be great," said Xander again still waiting for Hitomi to look at him and he added further "I… I really like this chicken," and he ate some. "For the taste, it's marinated with yogurt right?"
"You are some kind of a food enthusiast, I really didn't know…" said Shiela.
"Not really. It's just that my mom is also good at cooking" answered Xander, ate his dessert, and continued, "This blueberry cheese cake is like a product of a famous bakery."
"That's thanks to Cass," said Shiela.
"R- really you liked it?" asked Cass in her low voice.
"Yeah, no kidding!"
"It's like I'm eating in a restaurant now," said Dan while swallowing a large amount of rice. "Latch off gud fud," he choked, and pounded his chest. "Ughh-Uwaaatteeerr"
"Here you go," said Hitomi, she helped Dan drink the glass of ice tea. Then Michael coughed also acting like he choked himself, "I need water too" said Michael, but Shiela was the one who gave him water. Dan smirked and made a funny face to Michael behind Hitomi.
The plates on the table were empty, nothing was wasted. They all looked satisfied touching their bellies.
"Anyway where are we going next?" asked Dan.
"We should first vote for a leader in our group," answered Shiela.
"I'll vote for myself!" Dan offered. Shiela almost burst out laughing but held it in.
"I'll also vote for myself," said Eddie straightly. He stopped buffing his rifle for a couple of seconds, and continued again.
"I'll vote for Michael," said Xander and raised his hand at the air.
"I'll vote for Xander, anyone in favor?" asked Shiela looking at the others. Michael raised his hands.
"I'll just vote whoever has the most votes," said Cass.
Hitomi stood up and collected the empty plates. "I… I'll just place this in the sink" she said.
"What about your vote?" asked Shiela.
"I… just like Cass said," answered Hitomi then she entered the kitchen.
"That means Xander wins, so have your leadership speech, just say anything," said Shiela
"B – but… Michael's…" said Xander but was immediately cut off by Shiela, "Even he voted for you so, don't be shy."
"It's really not because I owe my life to you, but you've made a couple of plans for us to be still here," said Michael.
"I – I…" he looked at the faces of the people staring at him. "Th – thank you for believing in me, I'll really do my best to be a great leader," said Xander sounding so nervous. Hitomi came back from the kitchen, and seated back in her chair.
"S – so… anyone wants to go check on their families?" asked Xander.
"My family lives at the rural, it would be so… far from here," said Dan.
"How about you Cass?" asked Xander, his eyes gazed upon her.
"I'm definitely sure they are ok, so there's really no need," replied Cass bluntly as if she didn't want to talk about her family.
"Our houses are southeast from here, it's only about two to three hours to get there, so… I say let's go check on our houses since we're just neighbors," said Shiela.
"Two hours could possibly become five or more depending on the situation," said Cass
"Yeah you're quite right, so we need to gather resources, since we might have a long trip," replied Xander.
"Is there a grocery or supermarket near here?" asked Michael. He turned to face Hitomi.
"Oh… there's a mall, south from here,"
"Hah! Just like in any zombie apocalypse movies, the group always goes to a mall where they get things, but we need to be careful…" Eddie lowered his, whispering, "I'm sure we're not the only ones who would try to go to the mall," said Eddie and goes back to buffing his rifle.
"Since we now have real weapons we could also protect ourselves not only from those 'things' but also from bandits," said Michael.
"Ahehe… I really think we don't need a leader anymore," said Xander silently to himself.
"We should sleep tight, since we'll be tiring ourselves tomorrow, that's for sure…" said Shiela looking at Hitomi . "So can you lead us to our rooms?"
"Y… yes… there are 3 rooms the guys can have the 2 rooms and we girls will be sharing my room," said Hitomi as she got to her feet. "P… please follow me". They climbed the wooden stairs. The second floor only contained the rooms; the doors are arranged from left to right. "Anyone who wants to take a shower there are comfort rooms in each room," she added.
"Okay, we'll be going now to Hitomi's room, remember no boys allowed!" said Shiela. Then they got inside the room.
"G… goodnight…" said Xander at the back of the girls. He waited for a reply from Hitomi, but she didn't get any. Hitomi slightly bowed down.
"Xander and I will be taking the room at the end," said Michael.
"So that means I will be with the Zombie Exterminator," said Dan, "Argh…Should've pretended I'm a gay at the start, so I could also sleep with the girls…."
"You're really a pervert aren't you?" asked Eddie looking at Dan doubtfully.
"I'll be using the comfort room first!" said Dan. He pushed Eddie backwards and ran towards the middle door room.
"Ahh wait!" said Eddie as he tried to catch up to Dan.
"I'll reload the guns and segregate each ammos for each guns, you can go ahead me," said Michael
"Oh… okay thanks" said Xander, he walked slowly like he just lost in a lottery and entered the room at the end.
Shiela, Hitomi and Cass finished taking a bath, then Hitomi said "Y…you can borrow my clothes there at the cabinet, you can choose whatever you like." Shiela borrowed a white t-shirt that has a face of the dog printed and cargo pants.
"You've got some pretty legs there Cass!" teased Shiela after seeing Cass in her shorts. Cass pretended she didn't hear anything and lied down in bed. Shiela on the other hand sat at the bed and stared at Hitomi who was arranging her cabinet.
"So how did it go? Did Xander finally confessed to you?" asked Shiela looking at Hitomi with great interest.
Hitomi immediately stood up from her crouching position setting aside what she was currently doing and faced Shiela. "C… confess? W… why did you ask?" said Hitomi trying to sound innocent.
"You're not good at acting you know, the moment you came inside the dining room there was a different air from you, and I confirmed that when Xander came inside. You were trying so hard not to look at him, but he kept trying to talk to you," said Shiela
"Ummm… w – we ki – kissed…" said Hitomi as silently as she could.
"WHAT? YOU'VE KISSED?!" said Shiela silently but as if she shouted. Cass slightly moved her head and then pretended she was asleep. Hitomi's face was as red as ever then she covered her face with a pillow.
"I never thought Xander would have that kind of guts… So umm… is it good?"
"G… good? I c…can't say… I really don't know…" said Hitomi while she set aside her pillow.
"What did you feel? You liked it?" asked Shiela furthermore,
Hitomi who was quite embarrassed didn't say anything.
"Come on share it with us," added Shiela. Hitomi told her the whole story, she was embarrassed but Shiela could see that she was such in bliss.
"I'll protect everyone, especially you," Shiela said imitating Xander's voice and added, "He didn't even said he loves you, but that's more romantic."
"What are you doing?" asked Eddie looking at Dan.
Dan was sticking his ear to the wall between theirs and Hitomi's room
"Shh… they are talking about something, I just can't hear it clearly but I can hear their laughs," said Dan silently and he added "Maybe Hitomi's saying how she really likes me."
"I'll be sleeping now," said Eddie.
Xander was looking outside the window. He could see that a lot of houses were destroyed. Some infected citizens were walking unsteadily, a dog was barking fiercely at them; luckily it evaded their attacks, and took distance then barked at them again. After hearing the door of the comfort room opened he rushed to get to the bed and pretended to sleep.
"So what happened to you and Hitomi?" said Michael and he too lied down at the opposite side of the bed facing away from Xander.
"I don't understand girls, if you do something that shows you like them, they would act like it was nothing, but if you don't do anything they would be mad at you," Xander opened his eyes, and staring holes at the wall before him. Michael listened.
"I have a special friend studying overseas, she has a great resemblance to Hitomi, their personalities and even their physical appearances, we've been recently separated last August, her parents wants her to study on a college school at America, she said she would come back here after 5 months, we kept in touch for the first two weeks but eventually she didn't answer any of my emails or calls, but even up to now it's almost 8 months she still hasn't come back. I'm hoping we could see each other again, but I really don't know when… After seeing Hitomi, I almost thought she was "her", but of course she should have already known me," said Michael, tears were flowing before he could dab at them.
"You should really tell her personally what you feel before she's gone, I really didn't have the chance, because I just felt it after she left, but you have, Xander, tell her now, we might never know what will happen to you or to her," said Michael and he added, "Or else Dan or I might do it first" sounding unserious.
…
The sun was shining as bright as ever, it was not as hot as the past two days, but it was kind of warm. When Xander opened his eyes and looked at his back, Michael was gone and the backpack of ammos, but his Glock was still at the table.
He climbed down the stairs and saw that everyone was up, and Michael was giving out the ammos for their guns. Dan was at his knees holding Hitomi's hands and was reciting a revised poem for her.
"Roses are red… Violets are blue… even if the world has ended, I will still love you…" said Dan with a poetic tone.
"Xander! Get these bullets, it's for your glock, there's also a magazine pouch, and a flashlight attachment for it," said Michael he took it out from the bag and placed it in the table. "I didn't wake you up since you're the most injured."
"Xander! Xander! Look at Hitomi, she looks so beautiful right?" said Shiela she grabbed Xander's arms and brought him in front of Hitomi, and kicked Dan aside.
"Ouch!" said Dan while he touched his left arm where Shiela kicked him.
Xander looked at Hitomi who was looking away to him. Hitomi wore a pink shirt, her shorts had suspenders reaching her shoulders, and her hair has two ponytails at each sides.
"She's so beautiful RIGHT?" asked Shiela, she bumped Xander's arms and took her away from the two. Everyone was looking at them.
"Y…you're right…" Xander said while looking at Hitomi
"Tell that to her idiot! Not to me" said Shiela who sounded disappointed
"Y – you l – look gr – great Hi – Hitomi" said Xander.
"Th – thank you…"
Hitomi looked at Xander who had her head slightly bowed down and she looked down again. Dan kicked Xander aside who almost hit the wall and he kneeled down again getting Hitomi's hand.
"Roses are red, Violets are blue, nothings much more beautiful than you," said Dan again with a poetic tone.
"Enough for that let's kick some zombie ass!" said Eddie lively.