"Today's the day," I said to my self in front of the mirror.
I just bathe. I wore my new uniform gear. I've placed my weaponry in their designated slots: my combat knife, police baton, a handgun with silencer, and last but not the least my new assault rifle. I then checked my pockets, see if my supply of bullets are adequate. And lastly I looked at myself in the mirror once more. My hair neatly cut with the underside shaved. I've grown taller and bigger, I almost can't recognize myself. I've changed a hell lot after 4years. My jaw strong and defined, my muscles hard and bulky. When I was first rescued, I was 5'6 while now I shot up 5'11. Being taken care of does a significant change.
"Nigel! What's taking you so long?! We're the only ones they're waiting for!" Mom shouted from downstairs.
I took a deep breath. I held the knob tightly in my hand. And then I stepped out of my room. I went downstairs and headed straight to mom's car. My brother and my mom are already seated inside the car. I locked the house before taking my place in the driver's seat. The car engine was already on so all I had to do now was drive. Mom didn't bother to look at me as she was still upset about yesterday. Yesterday, March 11, was my birthday. It was also the day I was promoted from being a Rank-A soldier to Rank-S...and... turning 22, I was transferred from an IW outpost guard into an Expander. Today's my first day as an Expander. Mom was against it, she didn't want me to go out and have one of my foot in the grave; If you ask me, that's pretty much understandable. But that's not the only reason why she's this upset, it hasn't been that long since grandma passed away. The effect of these two consecutive events was severe on her. In fact yesterday, soon as she found out about my change of occupation, she ran straight into an unreclaimed territory. The Black Blood squad even tried to get her but it's as if she vanished. I couldn't follow her because the rest of the Ograms stopped me. Mom and the elite squad only returned by dusk. When they returned, mom was covered in blood from head to toe. She didn't spoke to me the entire evening. Aunt Etil was the one who told us what happened. She said they found mom fighting off a horde of zombies on her own. She was rampaging, they couldn't come close to her. As mom kills zombies with just a bladed brass knuckles, she was screaming on top of her lungs while tears stream down her eyes. Mom single handedly killed a horde of undead by afternoon.
"Your mom, Pheene, wasn't angry at you. It's just built up stress in her bursting all out." said Aunt Etil to me with her hand on my shoulder.
Because of what happened yesterday, mom was advised by her family and her teammates that it be better for her to take a break. But, knowing mom, she refused. Mom took care of papers and now I'm part of her elite team. Not because am as good as they are, rather because she wants to keep a close eye on me. Aunt Etil again justified, mom just wanted me to be safe.
Today we are on our way to the newly built Teresa Shelter. Supposedly they were to head to Parañaque Shelter for the BBS next mission. For the reclamation project, cities are priority over provinces for the amount of supplies. But because of what happened yesterday, mom pulled some strings and that's how the mission was changed. Throughout our 1hr trip, it was deafeningly quiet. Mom chose to sleep during the entire ride. I didn't have the concern that we might get lost since we've got GPS.
And as for Jarren, he didn't really have a reason to come along other than we're a family. He has become Uncle Jush's student and now a rookie ER. He has some interesting equipment in mind since his training under Uncle Jush. He's told me he'd like to make a full body armour that is light and adapts with the environment. He's got lots of ideas and theories that I honestly don't understand but I like how excited he gets every time. For now, his training is composed of reading lots and lots of science books and forging gear here and there.
When we arrived at the shelter, it was a lot like the town of Cainta. Maybe that's why mom chose this place, she didn't want us to go to cities. Again, it was me she was thinking of. When we entered the shelter, mom just woke up. Our car was right in front of the gate of the shelter. Mom took out her ID and badge. She showed it to the gate guard and introduced herself. The guard's eyes widened and he immediately let us in and the other tailing cars after ours. We were then met by the Shelter's Lieutenant: Lieutenant Emman Cardon. He lead us to our temporary house. He rode a motorcycle and we followed him. He lead us to a quiet neighborhood with all the houses looking the same. Probably it's some housing project before the outbreak. There wasn't a lot of people here yet, the shelter was fairly new.
Today, we didn't set out on a mission. Rather, we were introduced to our guide. Since we aren't local nor do we know the place well, we'll need a guide. The guide showed us a map, telling us high danger zones and low risk areas. None in the map was marked as safe zone other than the shelter which was a small housing neighborhood which is also a subdivision. The low risk areas are already covered by local Expanders. The high risks are slowly being taken over by Rank-S Expanders that aren't even locals. There aren't a lot of locals yet until it's fully reclaimed. Mom nods and chose the closest danger zone for tomorrow.
Night falls, mom has made some vegetable soup with noodles. And...it was surprisingly bland...mom was very quiet. I don't feel she's mad, but I feel her really hurting. After eating dinner, mom ordered me to wash the dishes and she went straight to bed. She didn't bother brushing her teeth. I gathered all the dirty dishes and began washing them clean. Jarren then stayed in the dining table and chatted with me.
"Has mom talked to you?" I asked.
"No, but to Uncle Jush, she did."
"What she said to him?"
"Dunno, he didn't told me anything. All he told me is that we should be patient, especially you. Mom loves us, that's all Uncle Jush said to me yesterday." Jarren shrugged.
I just sighed and continued to scrub the dishes.
4:30am mom woke me up. Today we set out to explore. We ate hotdogs and rice for breakfast. Mom packs a bag full of snacks for everyone in the team. While preparing, to break the silence between the two of us, I tried sparking up a conversation.
"Umm...Mom?"
She didn't respond, she kept doing her thing. I was unsure if I should press on but I decided to continue.
"I noticed your firearms are different from the rest of your team, you're the only one with shotgun..."
Still no response.
"Why do you have a shotgun instead of a rifle?"
"Two reasons, shaky hands and terrible aim." Said mom blankly as she cocks her shotgun before sliding it in its designated slot.
I felt the chills run down my spine when I heard the final click of her gun.
"Let's go," mom said in a monotone.