"Sight..." Nicolas was sighing loudly while the car was taking the direction of Bugis. "I don't know if we should celebrate or not…".
He was in the car with Lexie, Geoffrey and Delphine.
"Did you get something good?" asked Lexie. The two others were listening carefully.
"We did, we got quite a hold! Five guns and even a machine gun! But we lost Alice..."
"Oh! I was not sure as I was far away from this side…" Lexie was now feeling awkward asking this question first.
Nobody besides Emmanuelle and Fred knew Alice, so they felt bad for this poor girl, but only to a certain point.
"Poor girl" Delphine was sympathizing more than the others.
Then followed a long silence.
"Meow!"
"What the…" Both Nicolas and Lexie got startled.
"Ah! Don't worry, this is our cat!" Delphine told them quickly.
Nicolas and Lexie looked at each other in disbelief.
"Sorry, I knew you had a cat, it is just that I did not think you brought him," Nicolas answered.
"I could not leave Django back in the apartment alone, and with your plan, it was the right decision, I could not leave Singapore without him!"
Both Nicolas and Lexie like pets, especially cats, but earing Delphine, they had a hard time understanding. Delphine was ready to risk her life in the apocalypse for her cat!
'Why don't you let him go outside so he can leave by himself catching a few mice! This way you can take your leave and survive a bit longer!' thought Nicolas staring at Delphine, but he said nothing.
"We are about to reach Bugis," warned Geoffrey.
"Oh right! We need to gather supply, anything that we might miss later, like electronics, food, camping tools, sports clothes and whatever. But the most important thing to get from this place is the maps!" If we lose the internet and our electricity, then we are screwed. This is why we need maps, and lots of it!"
"Ok, but who will go there?" asked Delphine.
"I would go, but I got injured in the fight back there, and sending Lexie in would be the worst move ever, as she will take ages to find the shop ... if she finds it."
"Are you saying we should go?" Delphine was really not happy.
"You got hurt!" Said Lexie at the same time.
"No, no, it is fine, I'll ask Baptiste and Fred to go," he said while he turned his head toward Lexie, "and I am good enough thank you, I dislocated my shoulder but Baptiste helped me put it back soon after, I just need some time to recover."
"That's fine, we'll go get the maps and electronics, I know where the shops are," said Geoffrey, "we need to participate to the group survival after all." He said the last part to make Delphine understand that she should be more cooperative.
"That's great, thank you!" Nicolas was really happy about getting their cooperation. With Geoffrey in the pocket, it would be a matter of time before Delphine would become more docile.
Then, followed a conversation via phone with the other car, they were structuring the teams and what to do next.
Geoffrey and Delphine would go to level 3 and 4 gather maps and electronics, while Baptiste, Jiajin and Rika would be going around B1 and the ground floor for any useful supplies. Emmanuelle was still quite shocked by her friend shot in front of her, so they all agreed it was better to keep her in the car with Fred. Lexie stayed behind because she was responsible for communicating with all the other groups, especially Georgie group who was quite close from here.
"Ok let's go!" said Geoffrey, "15 minutes tops!" Everybody nodded and the three groups split.
***
Baptiste was rushing to the escalator going downstairs.
"I think we can try to get some food first," said Baptiste, "then we will try our luck on the ground floor to see if we find some interesting tools or convenient clothes, but I don't think that we will get that much luck." Baptiste was very familiar with this mall, his favourite café where he was often working was just a minute walk from here. He knew the ground floor was mainly for jewellery, clothes and useless stuff like phone cases.
The two girls were following him panting. "Maybe you can slow down! I am exhausted from this morning training!" Jiajin tried to keep the pace, but this speed won't be possible for her short legs.
"Why did you come since you know we had to hurry?"
Earing the question Jiajin felt dumb, indeed! Why did she go?! But now it was too late, so she did not answer and kept running.
Upon arriving at the supermarket, they realized that it would be really complicated to get some food in a hurry.
The floor was packed by people, some gathering supplies, others were just waiting before it was safe to go out. Another problem was the security, the people were getting restless because of the meteorite falling and some young people were gossiping about 'people going crazy, attacking others without any reason'.
"Pipou, this is bad, I heard these Chinese students talking about undead. I think people start to realize the problem."
And indeed, the more they moved forward, the more felt unsafe. The supermarket that was just a dozen meters in front of them was packed with people. Some fights were happening here and there. People seemed to have lost their reason.
"Do you think this is a really good idea to go in there?" asked Rika.
"It seems indeed a bit too dangerous, and the way I am dressed might send the wrong signal here." Even if Baptiste did not have the bat anymore, he was still wearing most of his protection.
"Let's see if we can buy some food from food stalls and others. We can still use this food later."
***
On the upper floor of the mall, Delphine and Geoffrey were rushing too. Knowing the book store, they knew how to reach it in a very short time. Upon arriving Geoffrey addressed his dear one, "baby, you take care of the maps, anything relevant about south-east Asia, India, Middle East and Europe. If you find an atlas, it is even better! I'll take a look at the book to see if I find anything useful."
"Ok" she left him, going to the other side of the store.
He then started to browse through the books available. After a couple of minutes he realized that it would be harder than expected, he found a few books about cooking and related areas. But nothing game-changing. He persisted ignoring the many books in Chinese or Japanese when he found next to the teenager section a survival book that was giving tips and tricks. Then he continued to go around, uncovering half relevant books about agriculture and other usually boring topics.
Delphine came back with a bag full of maps and with three atlases. "Did you find anything good?"
"Not that great, but I guess this is better than nothing!" Geoffrey answered.
"True, in this store most of the books are either related to politic, earning more money or for the kids with fantasy and martial stories."
"Oh that's a great idea! Help me find books about martial art, the real ones, not fantasy, and things related to Chinese medicine, they must have a few!"
Then they went around the store again, picking what seems good close enough to this new vast theme, including the Chinese ones!
***
In the car, Nicolas was nervously looking in every direction. After thinking about it, he decided to loop around the block continuously.
He had the choice of staying still quietly or moving making an engine noise.
Staying immobile had the advantage of quietness, but with zombies around and unknown dangers, he felt safer keeping the car moving. Fred was following him closely, since staying together was mandatory.
In the second car, the couple was in a heated discussion.
"Do you think about following Nicolas and Baptiste?" Emma asked her husband.
"I am not sure, but they have a point, don't they? Here in Singapore, we are outsiders, and this surrealist situation does not have a conventional answer," Fred continued, "think about your son in Majorca, if we move back to Europe by boat it is the best solution for you to meet him again, right"?
"He has his father there, as long as no meteorite falls there he will be safe." Emmanuelle focused on convincing herself that her son would be safe, trying to avoid thinking about reuniting with him. Going there was too scary and dangerous after all!
"You did not answer me," Fred did not let her procrastinate on the question.
"Of course I want to reunite with him! But a dead mother can't reunite with her son, right?"
"Erf!" Fred almost choked! Was it really an open discussion? "We will discuss Nicolas plans later at River City condo, I am sure even if it sounds crazy this idea should be explored." Fred was moved by the idea of Nicolas, sailing was not a big deal for him as he did quite a few rides in the ocean back in France. So he made a clear goal of convincing his wife, as he would never leave her behind.
The conversation continued without finding a clear conclusion.