I could imagine Joel being bored with a lowly liar like me, lying with a smile on my face. Then again, it's not like he had a choice to chose his traveling partner. The streets weren't as smooth as before, there were drones around but as long as I kept a low profile, I'll be fine.
Then again this was also the reason why I hated grouping up with too many people, lesser people mean low profile so it would be easy to sneak among these drones blind points. Their camera locations were located at the front, so their backs were wide in their blind spot.
The stench of death permeated in the air as I saw the corpses around me, their faces exuding the word unspeakable terror as they got shot mercilessly by the drones. I sneaked cautiously behind every drone that passed by, I gripped my metal bat just in case they got me for good.
I safely arrived on the love hotel back door, that's when suddenly Joel and I bumped each other on the door. He looked hurried and pale, that's when I realized his sweaty body and dirty outfits indicated that he's been looking for me.
Joel dragged me inside the hotel in the restaurant area, he grabbed both of my shoulders.
"You dummy! Where have you been!?", he growled at me. "I know you told me to hide but what if something were to happen to you!?". Just when I'm about to answer him, my stomach growls loudly. Joel flustered as he heard the loud growls, he immediately told me to take my seat.
He's that worried about me, it's funny. I giggled at his flustered expression, I wondered why I felt happy when he's worried about me. Perhaps it's a biological thing?
"By the way, I cooked chicken curry for dinner but since you're not home yet, I decided to put the curry inside the refrigerator", he sighed. "Now that you're home, I'll heat it".
"Thanks", I smiled to a worried Joel.
I never thought of Joel this way, he looks pretty unreliable but now he's on a full brotherly vibe mode. We spent some time together in the restaurant after Joel heated the dishes, we sat across each other in utter silence.
Joel kept eating his curry eagerly without looking at me, I could assume he's upset about something but I didn't know the reason well.
"So the refrigerator and cooking hardware was still usable?", I asked him just to break the silence between us.
"Weirdly yeah", he nodded. "Was it just the signal that got turned off?".
"I assume so, but there are some areas without electricity", I replied as I put a spoonful of curry inside my mouth. His curry was tasty, the flavor was rich and delicious.
I put another spoonful of curry inside my mouth, greedily without a break I just shove the curry into my mouth like a lightning bolt. Joel seems to be pretty shocked with the view, he was shocked and somewhat looked happy.
"You're hungry?", he asked me.
"Sort of", I replied.
After finishing our dinner, I told Joel that I met other survivors when I was chased by the horde of drones. Joel seems happy to hear that there are other survivors than us, I told him that we would meet up tomorrow in the apartment that the couple stayed in.
I had to say the distance between the apartment and the love hotel was quite far, so I'm pretty much wiped out after helping the couple escape.
"Do you like cosplaying as a cop?", Joel asked out of nowhere.
"No!", I replied in embarrassment as soon as he asked me. I turned my face away from him.
"Oh", he looked away somewhat shy. "It's just that when you wear that costume, it caught me off guard sorry".
Did he just say sorry? It made me flustered even more. I decided to tuck myself in a nice warm blanket, although the blanket didn't seem to be useful because I've been sneezing like crazy since I arrived here.
I checked my cell phone for the time and timer. Like what J said earlier, the timer stopped when I'm with Joel which is strange but regardless nothing bad happened.
"It's eight now huh? Well to be honest it's too early for me to even sleep but who cares", I thought to myself.
As I tried to dive myself to slumber, Joel was still wide awake watching me from his couch. I'm not sure why he's been staring at me, but it's annoying, to be honest.
I'm sure Joel would be happy to see that easy-going couple tomorrow. That couple was strong enough to survive this far so they could be a valuable asset if they were to join our forces. Ellis is a doctor while her husband Nash is a basketball athlete, they may come in handy in the future.
"Deep down though...I want to know them a little bit more" I smiled sheepishly.
I drowned myself under the blanket, the air was just too cold to handle, fortunately lately my excessive fatigue made me fall asleep in a matter of seconds, which is great and not so great.
The thought of the dangerous drones killing civilians made me wonder about the real perpetrator of the incident. It requires expert hacking skills to even hack the government security systems and use it to kill the civilians.
Half of the Alpha City population has been eradicated, and the stench of death permeated the air uncontrollably. The drones still loitering like wild animals, we need to find a way to strike their weak points. One thing for sure, there's a mastermind behind all of this.
The possibility of the mastermind installing that Wishmaker app in my cell phone without my authorization is also high.
When I was about to close my eyes, Joel sat next to me, he talked about something but I couldn't hear him. Whatever it is, what he spoke of was none of my concern in the first place.
However, I manage to hear his last bits.
"If you're gone, then I'll be alone so please" Joel stuttered. "Don't leave me alone".
* * *
Aria, 3 years ago...
It was raining at that time, both of us were drenched in the rain however our hands were still interlaced with each other. We gazed at each other's eyes, he slowly closed the gap between us with a tightened grip on my shoulder. He brushed his lips with mine passionately in a teasing way, I could only blush when he teased me so much.
I pushed him lightly from me. However, he pulled my back toward him confidently. I was taken back by his aggressiveness, his grip was firm and strong as if he was protecting me and would never let go of me. He crashed his lips into mine fiercely as I gasped for air.
This time I pushed him violently, I was unprepared for his lips to even touch mine. He looked rather dissatisfied with my push, he grabbed my arm as he cornered me on the wall.
"Why are you rejecting me?", he whispered huskily.
I'm not sure what to tell him, other than this anxious feeling I had whenever I'm with him. I loved him but something seems off. Yes, there was something off about this whole scene.
I was never the type of person to go with someone else when it comes to relationships. I pushed him aside, not sure what made me want to stop his fiery kiss.
"Be a good girl", he tilted my chin as he gazed into my eyes again, he hugged me possessively as if I was his precious belonging.
I trailed my hand to his hair, feeling the sensation of his spiky hairs. I was dumbfounded by the manly man who stood in front of me. He was never likable in any way, perhaps it was the opposite.
Rather than likable, this man has always tread himself on the grey line of morality. He was a toxic man to the end, a person who never thought of morality as human standard ways to live in a society.
However...