My brother and I are walking back to our mom's unit. Jarren was both horrified and in tears. I too was devastated. Just when we thought things are starting to turn up good for the two of us, our saviour was bitten while on a mission. We initially didn't want to leave the laboratory, we didn't want to leave our mother. Seeing her state before we left, frozen in place like a statue, it grips my heart. Aunt Etil explained that our mom hasn't turned into a zombie yet. The virus is in her body but it's not turning her into a zombie yet. And because of it, she'll be observed.
While we were walking, the same soldiers that messed with us earlier bumped to us.
"Looks like you two will be back to being orphans." one of them taunted.
I couldn't keep my anger anymore, I was so mad I punched the soldier on the face. The group of soldiers were about to attack me when the other soldier's walkie-talkie rung.
"Serviceman Gonzalo respond, over."
"Speaking lieutenant, over."
"One wrong move and my snipers will open fire, over."
The 6 soldiers froze in place. I looked up and around, I saw from the walls, soldiers were all aiming down our direction. I can't see the man speaking but I'm thankful he interfered. That's when I decided it's time to leave. I pulled my brother's arm and we walked away heading back to the unit. Not getting too far yet, I heard the walkie-talkie again.
"Servicemen, all 6 of you to my office, over."
When we returned to our unit, Uncle Larn invited us for dinner. We ate at his place, we had pork stew for dinner. He said the entirety of the Black Blood squad will look after the two of us. All our meals will be provided to us by him, Uncle Larn. Our allowance will be given to us by Uncle Jush and what ever else do we need we will ask Aunt Etil or Uncle Danin. After dinner, my brother and I thanked him for the wonderful meal. We return to our mom's unit to rest for the night. Upon entering the unit, Jarren sat on the couch.
"Do you think mom's a goner?" asked Jarren.
"What? Of course not, why you thought of that?"
"She was bitten, Kuya. Remember the adults in the orphanage 3 years ago? When they got bitten they all turned."
"But mom hasn't turn yet, did she?!" I couldn't control my voice.
Jarren looked at me with tears forming under his eyes.
"I...I'm sorry, didn't mean to raise my voice...I..."
"I don't want to lose mom too!" Jarren broke down. "I know we just met her but she's the only one who ever wanted us!
I helped Jarren to his room. I left him and let him rest. Upon closing the door, behind me, I felt the same way. I don't want to lose mom either. I then went to my room and lied down my bed. I was staring up at the white ceiling when I felt my eyes feeling hot. I leaned my forearm on the ridge of my nose. I sniffed and cried silently. I only whispered one thing as I sob myself to sleep, "mom."
4:09 am, I was woken up by a nightmare where I saw how my mom was bitten and her turning to a statue before crumbling apart. With the current time, I didn't bother getting up. Other than it's still early but also every muscle in my body ached. But I didn't felt like going back to sleep anymore. My eyes were still puffy from crying last night, I can't open my peepers properly. I wondered now how is mom, is she still stiff as a statue? Is she still human or is she now a full fledged zombie? I hope not for either. I hope she'll come back to us. And for my brother who's currently at the other side of this wall, I hope he's feeling better. He's become very emotional since we came here.
For minutes, I just lied there and waited for my alarm to ring. In moments of waiting, it finally happened, it's now 4:30 in the morning. I slowly got up, everything was so painful. But I had to fight the pain to get to the training camp. I slowly stood up and walked out of my room. I then woke Jarren up. He look so tired and his eyes were puffier than mine. I wonder if he was able to sleep at all. I told him to get ready for training but he just groaned.
"My whole body hurts," Jarren complained.
"Come on now, you don't want to disappoint mom by skipping training, do you?"
His eyes shot open. He slowly got up from bed. He stood up and grabbed his towel and walked straight to the bathroom. While he bathe, I brushed my teeth in by the kitchen sink. After he finished bathing, it was my turn. The cold water wasn't very good on my aching muscles but it woke me up. After we prepare, we left the unit and knocked on Uncle Larn's door. He opened up and let us in.
"Great, I was waiting for you two. Breakfast is served, come on in." Uncle Larn invited us in.
We ate breakfast in Uncle Larn's unit. He served us pancakes and some sweet syrup he called maple syrup. It was my first time eating a pancake with butter with maple syrup, I'm used to the one with sugar and margarine. I'd say the simple margarine with sugar is still better.
After breakfast at Uncle Larn's, right outside of mom's unit was Uncle Jush about to press the doorbell. The man's finger is resting right on top of the button. He blinked a couple times and he smiled. Upon seeing us, he approached us.
"Oh there you kids are. Wow, your timing was excellent, just when I'm about to press the button you two showed up," he laughed.
He gave us our allowance and we all walk to the places we're supposed to be, Jarren and I to the camp while Uncle Jush to the Engineering Laboratory(EL). While walking with Uncle Jush, he told us that he met mom in their Senior High years. He told us how mom always screamed "shut up!" to everyone in the classroom when their classmates are getting really noisy. His stories about mom was funny, he told us mom really is not a very talkative person unless something really sparks her interest.
Arriving at the camp, we started training by 6am sharp just like yesterday. If yesterday's training was hard, today's was torture. They made us do everything double of what we did yesterday. After our training, Jarren and I almost can't keep walking for too long. But we have to because we both agreed that we'll be visiting mom in the lab after lunch.
Lunch time in food court, we both have strong craving for something greasy. We bought ourselves a thick juicy steak. It's our first time eating one, we've only seen it in TV back in the orphanage. But before we could start eating, a girl younger than Jarren approached us.
"Umm...hi..." she said shyly.
"Uhh...hello?" I responded.
"Umm...my name is Carrie Bermudez, were you two the children of Pheene Ogram?"
"Yes, why?" I asked.
Carrie bit her lip before speaking. "I... I'm sorry..."
Jarren and I were confused.
Carrie hugged herself as she trembled in front of us. "It's my fault she was bitten, I'm so sorry..." she cried.
Our eyes widened in horror and we lost grip of our plastic spoons and forks. Rage ignited within me.