Jesper was 179 cm tall, brown hair with a muscular but lean constitution, he was not particularly handsome but he had this sexy appeal of someone carefree, and, of course, his six-pack.
His background was complex, his mother was from Sweden, father from Spain, but he was born and raised in France. After his engineering school, he left the country to travel. He stayed in Japan for a few years and was now settled in Singapore.
Jesper was waiting impatiently for them at the entrance of his building. "Finally! I was getting worried, let's go inside!"
The greetings were short as everybody was keen to gather inside as soon as possible. They took the valuables and stepped into the apartment.
Upon entering they were shocked, the apartment was already quite packed, more than a dozen people from many different nationalities were already waiting in the living room. Nicolas and Baptiste knew most of them, but could see some new faces too.
"Guys, I don't know how we are going to fit, make yourself comfortable anywhere you want. Just be careful with my bikes." Said Jesper in a carefree tone.
After counting, Nicolas was realizing that his call for a gathering was followed by more people than he expected. "Thirty people, this won't be possible," he muttered.
He became gloomy, trying to think about how he could convince enough of his friends to come with him without convincing all. Going through the seas would need some arms, but not sixty arms! And thinking that the number of people could increase as they were probably not the last party, he was even more restless.
After some greetings and storing the stuff here and there, the group struggled to fit all in the living room.
The living room was 25 square metres, so most people were standing side by side.
"Alright, we won't wait for others since I understood some of us are in a hurry, I suggest we listen to Nicolas." Jesper tried to catch the attention of all.
Nicolas made a gesture to Baptiste ask for his support, Baptiste understanding quickly went forward to position himself by his side.
"Ok, I'll be straightforward. I can only tell you that if you are a very sensitive person easy to scare, try to hold your neighbour." Introduced Nicolas in a sombre tone.
"Is it true that they are zombies?" asked John, a good friend of Jesper. Everybody looked at him, some wondering what was all of this about, others with fear or pity in their eyes. The truth will hurt!
"Yes," continued Nicolas.
Screams and exclamations filled the room.
"Guys! Guys! Please keep it quiet! I will tell you what we know. Shhhh, shhhh!" Nicolas was moving his arms, inciting the group to stay quiet.
"Zombies, or whatever this is, are indeed now starting to fill the streets. It is not as bad as in the movies, but definitely, we are not safe anymore."
He started by explaining his first experience using his tablet to play the short movie he took next to his flat.
He then explained the meteorite effect in a bit more detail.
He even told them about Baptiste and him fighting against 5 turned people, with Baptiste giving his point of view.
"If I did not know better, I would though that Baptiste has been training all his life for this! He sure knows how to smash them!" Nicolas did not miss a chance to praise his friend as an indirect thanks for saving him back there. He also wanted to lighten the mood as most of them were scared to death, for the later part he did not succeed that much.
"So, I am telling you all of this for two reasons. First, it is because I wish for all of us to survive this world changing phenomenon. Second, because I want to offer an opportunity. Note that this opportunity is risky and under conditions!"
Baptiste looked at Nicolas. 'This was not in the script!'
"We are about to move to France, I bet that the world won't go through this crisis easily and we will need to retreat in a place where we can live autonomously. And I just know the right place!" he continued to explain his reasons, the pro and cons of leaving and staying in Singapore. For some, they were happy to have someone help them think through it, for others, it became a way too long speech.
"What are the conditions to go with you?" asked Arthur, a short blond French guy. He was both a friend and a client of Nicolas.
At this time, Baptiste tensed up, he had the time to think about it while Nicolas was talking endlessly.
"Be active in the group, no leechers and get exposed to the meteorite."
'I knew it!' thought Baptiste.
Gasps filled the room, some were cursing!
"Why do you want us to get exposed to the meteorite, you know we have a chance to get turned! This is inhuman!" Marine, who was besides Arthur snapped! She wanted to go to France, but with the meteorite on the line, this was totally different.
Part of the room was nodding.
"Exactly!"
"You were wishing us to be safe, and now you want us to risk our lives?"
"Can you be more reasonable?"
While most were opposing the idea, others were pondering.
The funny part of this situation was the trip to France seems to be not so dangerous anymore! When facing new dangers, human nature often has a hard time focusing on the big picture to judge things accurately. New problems often looked more problematic than old ones. And low-risk imminent death looked more frightening than the high-risk but much later.
Nicolas was facepalming himself mentally, he knew that this would scare them a bit, but to have them overacting in this way, he was a bit surprised. "Guys, I know this is a harsh condition, but put yourself in my shoes.
Let's say we team up and go on a mission to gather supplies, and you get exposed to the meteorite, what will happen? Or let's say you drink water and a meteorite has fallen in the stream you're drinking of. We don't know what will happen. And think about it, surviving the exposure might even help you resist contamination later!
I know I am just doing a hypothesis, but we are in a world that is changing, and we have enough variables to face. I don't want to go on my journey with people that can't resist the meteorite. And besides, I am not forcing anyone here."
The room became very quiet.
"I leave you to think about it. We don't have much time, so I give you around 10 minutes. I am sorry that things are not better, but I did not call for the meteorites." Finishing his piece, he went to the kitchen, pondering about his improvisation.
When he left, some started to share their point of view with their closest, while others were thinking quietly. Everybody had its way of processing the news.
Baptiste had already chosen in his mind, he thought about it even before. Right now, avoiding the meteorite was easy, and getting exposed was easy too, but later, nobody knew. Baptiste was a risk taker, a decisive person who was very rational but sometimes he knew he had to trust his gut, and now his guts were saying, "This is the right thing to do". Another reason for him was going to France and building a haven was the best way to survive this ordeal.
"Pipou, I want to go," Baptiste addressed Jiajin who was decomposed at the moment.
"But I am scared!!! What if you or I get turned?"
"This is a risk I am willing to take. If we pay attention to our observation up to now, this is around a 10 to 15% risk, but staying in Singapore is probably more a 50 to 70% risks to not make it next month. I know that you will tell me that the trip is probably riskier than staying, but I don't agree."
Jiajin was staring at Baptiste like he was crazy. She blinked, opened and closed her mouth, but could not say anything.
Baptiste leaned closer to Jiajin ears and whispered, "Look, it was not very clear, so I did not talk about it, but I saw some people get scratch and bitten by the zombies and they turned very quickly. Alice, on the other end, could maintain her human form for a long time after getting bitten." He revealed a shocking piece of news to Jiajin.
"Are you sure?"
"Not really, it was very messy to see clearly, but I am at least 50% sure."
50% sure, that was 50% not sure! Jiajin was attempting to guess if Baptiste was trying to scam her again. This was a game he loved to play with her to make her do what he wants, she knew it. But what can she do besides trying her best to judge what he was saying?
Jiajin then turned toward Delphine and Geoffrey, "Are you doing it?"
"I think we will do it," answered Geoffrey.
"I am very scared, but I also want to go back to France as soon as possible," added Delphine.
Jiajin nodded.