I immediately turned around, and my eyes widened when I saw the people chasing us earlier had successfully broken the door. I feel my body freeze, and I couldn't move my feet. I closed my eyes and feel the loud beats of my heart. Is this the end?
I didn't feel any bites or attacks, but I felt someone grab my right arm. Because of that, I opened my eyes. I looked at the zombies that were about to attack me, who were falling one by one. My gaze shifted to the one my companion called Pandak, who was smiling and even looked happy while taking them down.
He hit them using his shotgun, and I gasped when I saw that he almost brought those down without sweating. He's good at guns just like my brother. I get my late reaction when I turned my head at the man who was dragging me towards their aircraft. We hurriedly entered it and immediately sat down while my companion peeked at the exposed door. He's peeking at his friend. I also peeked. The short man's position from earlier hadn't changed; he was still there, shooting the zombies that would try to approach him.
"Xavier pandak! That's enough, we're running out of time!"
my companion shouted, and because he was just beside me, I could clearly hear the loudness of his voice, which caused me to cover both of my ears. I give him my death glare and when he noticed it he quickly forms his finger into a peace sign and laughs hesitantly.
Seeing that he had taken down a lot of them, Xavier, who my companion called earlier, immediately ran towards us. "Start it, Matt! Hurry!" my companion shouted again, so I couldn't stop myself and hit him on the head with all my strength. "Ouch! What's wrong, Miss, why did you hit me?" he shouted again, so I widened my eyes at him. I gripped my seat when I slowly felt us lifting off the ground. The friend of my companion was already sitting in front.
"Will you please shut up?! You're so loud!" I yelled at him too. He glared at me, so I did the same to him. We only stopped when we heard the whistle of the person in front of us.
"You're nothing, Ali," the person driving our vehicle commented and followed it with a laugh. I can't see him and his only back facing us while busy flying this aircraft.
The short friend of my companion laughed before extending his hand in front of me when I looked at him. "By the way Miss. I'm Xavier Dela Torre, Xavier for short," the person my companion called pandak introduced himself.
"Sus playboy," my companion added. I become hesitant when I look at him. I didn't want to accept his hand, but I didn't want to be rude either, so I reached out.
"Alice," I introduced.
"Nice to meet you miss beautiful, Alice," he said while winking at me. I tried not to give any reaction and remained my serious face. I don't know him-them yet so I have to protect my ground.
"The one in front is Matt Florez, our one and only pilot, obviously," he said and chuckled then turned to his back where our pilot is busy manipulating the helicopter. The one with the slightly big nose turned to our direction. He saluted me and went back to what he was doing.
"By the way, Miss Alice. How come you're with my friend? Hey, Ali! I thought you were loyal to your ex-fiance? Why do you have a companion right away? You just came here and you already have a companion--" He must have felt my gaze on him, so he didn't continue what he was going to say.
"Crazy.." my companion added to what Xavier was going to say. I just looked at him badly and prepared myself to speak again. I hate talking. If I could just not talk, I would have done it a long time ago.
"Again, listen carefully, Mister. I am not crazy, I am patient. Is that hard to understand?" I clarified and defended myself to him again while still trying to calm myself. I gritted my teeth when he just glares at me and I can say that he was still not convinced of what I'd said.
"Woah! Calm down guys. Okay, Miss beautiful Alice, care to explain why you dress like that? You know... just curious," Xavier asked me again while looking at what I was wearing. What's wrong with my hospital dress paired with slippers? Is it their first time encountering someone who is wearing a hospital dress? Then what are they? An alien?
I sighed. "I'm a patient. I got sick and when I woke up, I just found out that people were rioting because they were being attacked by those creatures," I look again to the man beside me to let me clarify something. "I didn't know where to go while they were chasing me until I got lost in that abandoned building."
I really don't like talking for a long time, but it seems like I still need to clarify to my companion why I'm dressed like this. He's too slow.
"Why didn't you call your family so you would know where to go?" Xavier asked me again. I remembered the stupidity I did when I was in the hospital, so I closed my eyes tightly.
"It's gone. I accidentally threw it at the one who attacked me," I answered him. And that's my problem now. That's why I don't have any communication with my brother and family because I threw my cellphone at one of the zombies that almost ate me. That creature. I turned to my companion when I heard him stifle a laugh, so I frowned at him. What's his problem this time?!
"You're also weak-minded!" he teased me. I just ignored him because I knew I would just be wasting my saliva if I bothered with him.
"Where are you going now? I'm sure we're going to different places, so we'll just drop you off where you want to get off," Xavier said to me. I was encouraged but still kept my serious face.
"To the Mar Company Building. There in Marikina, you know about that place?" I asked him. I might just be hoping for nothing and they don't even know where that place is. But he just give me his angelic smile.
"Just trust the instinct of my beloved friend, Miss Beautiful Alice," he said to me. Even though I was wondering what he said and couldn't figure out which of his friends he was talking about, I just nodded, and was about to thank him when I noticed that my companion was handing me something, a gun. I looked at him with a frown.
"What? You're going to thank him, right? Then point that at him and immediately pull the trigger, and immediately say 'That's my way of saying thank you,'" He even imitated my serious voice from earlier on the rooftop. Xavier was gaping because of his friend's sudden behavior, while the pilot was still silent.
"What do you mean dude?" Xavier asked while his brows caressed. Only the two of us understood each other here because of what happened earlier on the rooftop. When my companion sensed the seriousness in the voice of his friend Xavier, the serious man from earlier seemed to change in an instant. He turned back into a child-minded person again.
"It's just that! This woman suddenly pointed her gun at me after I helped her. Then she even said 'that's my way of saying thank you' hey Miss, do you know that's not a good joke?!" he blurted out while looking directly into my eyes.
I was just staring at him and didn't mind his bad look at me. I was also given the opportunity to look at his porcelain-like skin that didn't have any pimples or bumps. If I'm not mistaken, his name is Ali.
"First of all, I have a name, Mister. Alice is my name. Second, I wouldn't point the gun at you if there were still bullets, and I didn't intend to kill you. Just scare you because that's also my revenge for shouting and telling me that I'm crazy," I snapped to him. I was panting after I finished saying those words. This is what you got Alice, because you always just answer people sparingly. I hate talking, if my family was just here and saw how I uttered that very long word, I'm sure they would just gape. Just like this companion of mine whose saliva was dripping, so I completely grimaced.
"What, Ali? Are you still alive? Can I throw you down to be eaten by those creatures? You're defeated by this woman," Xavier teased while laughing out loud along with Matt behind him.
"I don't know about you! You still owe me. And the two of you also owe me a lot! Do you think I've forgotten?" I no longer paid attention to my companion who was shouting as if the person he was talking to was far away when he was just in front of him. He just proved that he's really childish.
I just shifted my gaze to the bottom.
And I was even more disheartened when I saw the hundreds of zombies rioting along with the people.
I didn't expect that this kind of pandemic would happen here in the Philippines.
Even if I wanted to help, I knew there was nothing I could do about this epidemic. I'm not a hero to save the people who need help.
I can't even protect myself, how much more others?
I feel weak when I remember my family, many 'what ifs' are formed in my mind, but I try to drive them away.
The surroundings remained silent, which is what I had been wishing for earlier.
I let out a heavy sigh again. Praying for the safety of my family and beloved ones. Until I just felt the heaviness of my eyelids.
I suddenly woke up when I felt someone tapping my cheek.
"Hey wake up!" he shouted at my face.
Sh*t! It hurts my ears, even if I haven't opened my eyes yet, I can already guess who's the loudmouth tapping my cheek.
When I opened my eyes. Tsk, I knew it. I saw him stop when I looked him in the eye, but he quickly recovered.
"Hmp, sleepyhead. We're here," He said while rolling his eyes.
I looked at the bottom of our flying vehicle and he was right, because I could already see the very large Building that Kuya has been serving for many years.
Aside from being a soldier, he still works as a businessman so there's additional expenses in the house. So that I would stop working as a nurse here in Manila.
My whole family knows that I don't want to come back here, if it wasn't really for the job that was offered to me by my friend that I couldn't refuse because being a nurse is also a big opportunity in my investigation.
Painful memories again.
I was brought back to reality when I heard the loud curse of the man in front of me-Xavier.
"F*ck! There's so many of them, how are we going to get her down?" he said frantically while also looking down, and there I also saw more clearly the countless number of zombies that are attacking people now.
In just a moment I heard my heart beating loudly again.
I was trying to find the person I came here for, and even if it was impossible to find him in the chaos of the surroundings below, I was still reviving myself that I would find him.
You will find him, Alice.
Just as the helicopter we were riding landed, I spotted a figure of a man who fearlessly shot the zombies that would try to attack him.
And that's when I realize that it was my Kuya Erros that I spotted from afar.
As soon as our vehicle landed, I didn't waste any time and quickly got off the helicopter and then took the road to my brother.
"Sh*t, Miss bea-Alice!"
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"
"Miss, are you crazy?"
I no longer paid attention to the calls of the three to me because of my haste to get to my kuya Erros.
But I immediately stopped when another bunch of zombies quickly ran to my side.
Another Sh*t, Alice!
Wrong move!
And again, my feet stiffened again and even if I wanted to get away from the advancing zombies in front of me--
Son of a b*tch!
My feet betrayed me again.