Walking down the street, the sun was high. It was scorching hot, especially because it's March, dry season in Philippines. I hope what ever the ER's are cooking up in their lab, that brand new armor, I hope they release it soon. I sip some water to replenish the ones I sweated out.
The BBF is very silent, not even their footsteps are heard. But surprisingly, they aren't very cautious. The only ones cautious was mom and me. She ordered Uncle Larn to watch my back.
We arrived at the Danger zone after 2hrs and a half of walking. 2hrs don't sound much, in fact it's just 8:30am. But because it's summer and walking around with this gear, it was agonizingly hot. And lastly, no trees! It surprises me though how the BBF doesn't seem to be affected. Probably always being on field and almost always assigned in cities, they've become used to heat.
We didn't enter any building, on our first day we are to explore and memorize the area first. Any zombies we come across are dealt with melee weapon. Uncle Larn explained to me that firearms are only to be used on mom's command.
"Our mission today is just explore, not exterminate. At least not yet. Maybe a week or two we will do that." Uncle Larn explained.
I just nod in recognition.
For the rest of the day, we only walk around. Remembering ways, shortcuts, and land marks. Killing zombies isn't much of a priority. We only kill when there's one on the way. We didn't stop for lunch, mom has given us our own snacks so we eat while walking, drink while walking. This is so missions don't get hindered. By the end of our exploring, we return to the shelter. I've done lots of indurance training but nonstop walking is really exhausting, not to mention it was hella hot out there. When we return to the shelter, Mom brought out her copy of the map. She's made markings here and there. She's pointed her finger on the first street we walked in. It's already been circled. There were about 7 buildings in the map. She explained it's the first ones that our team will explore and reclaim. As for the supplies, it's been a drill, it'll be an area of scavenging only if the danger zone has been secured by a wall fence. Mom then assessed the map and revealed that the zone will be taken care of in 2 weeks flat. The zone we explored is not very small, but the rest of the BBF agrees with her with the time period she set. After this discussion we have, we all went to our house to rest for the night.
For the next day, I finally see the BBF in real action. But before we leave the shelter, she gave me strict orders.
"Stay in the middle; Don't go too far from Larn; You're our cover."
I can't help but feel a teeny tiny bit agitated. She's shoving me at the side.
We enter our first building of operation. It was a three storey building. It's an appartment building. Since the space in hallways and stairs are a bit cramped, where only two persons can walk at the same time, it's just mom who's walking in front. After her she's followed by the married couple. And then there's me with Uncle Larn walking behind me as the rearguard. The smell in the building was awful. It smelled of rotting corpse and garbage. Walking up this building with our boots producing light crunching noises, zombies will soon come to us. And as I predicted, zombies started to rush towards us. We all got ready even with such cramp space. Mom, Uncle Danin, Uncle Larn, and Aunt Etil readied their bladed brass knuckles. I was going to bring out mine but Uncle Larn stopped me.
"Does your handgun have a silencer?" He asked.
I nodded.
"Use that instead, you're our cover." He advised.
I blinked in agreement and quickly brought out my handgun. We waited and my hand gripped tight on the handle, readying my finger on the trigger. And there, a small group of zombies came running at mom's direction. Mom charges at the first zombie and swiftly took it down with one stab on the head. She kept charging to kill and Uncle Danin was right behind her. They killed the next pair of zombies. But as they get busy, they're starting to look vulnerable for attacks. That's when I decided to start shooting. I shot the zombies that are dangerously close to mom's ankle. A not so 'dead' dead. I shot it dead in the head. Mom noticed it and looked at me with mixed emotions I can't quite decipher. That's when Uncle Danin kills the last one on the hallway.
"Pheene, stay focused." Uncle Danin reminded.
Mom just nodded.
For our first building, there were no survivors. After clearing the building of the undead, we tied the dead and dragged all the corpses out in the middle of the street. The corpses will be burned by the end of the day.
For our next building, it's just two stories high. This one was considered an easy one because they're just stores. Four stores in one building huh. One of the stores is occupied by a small group that's on the brink of insanity. A group of four barely holding on. They were like me and my group of orphans, but instead of two teens and four kids, this is a group of three teens and one adult. The adult acting as the muscle and the brain of the group. Mom ordered me to escort the survivors to the nearest group of Protectors, they have multiple vans to receive survivors. They also have medical supplies, vaccines, and antidote vials. It wasn't a very long walk, quite close actually, just 15min walk in a normal pace; 7mins when in a hurry.
Walking back to reunite with our team. Uncle Larn pats my back.
"Nigel, you seem on edge, cheer up."
"I just can't help it...you know? It feels like she's treating me like a kid and shoves me at the side."
"So that's what this is about, huh."
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to say ill about...mom..."
"You know, you're mom is very protective and very scared. She doesn't care much of what happens to her, but she's scared of what may happen to you. I suggest, you obey every order and build her trust on you."
I looked at him with eyes wide open, "Mom doesn't trust me?!"
"More like 'doesn't trust you enough' considering you didn't told her you wanted to become an Expander. I may not have a kid of my own but I'm not stupid. If my son wanted to become an expander, I will definitely disallow it."
My mouth was stitched shut...he wasn't wrong...
"You know what, I'll tell you something that I think you don't know."
I didn't respond but Uncle Larn kept on.
"I'm not an Expander nor was Etil."
This made me look at him in surprise.
"Shocking, right?"
I nodded.
"Etil and I are actually Protectors while Danin and Pheene are Expanders. But some point in time, Danin will retire from being a soldier and he will be an ER, Etil too will retire but not sure when. I don't have a plan to retire soon though."
I didn't really care much about them wanting to retire, but it intrigues me how they don't have the same job. Although their jobs are adjacent to one another.
"If you guys weren't Expanders...why did??"
"Why we're part of BBF? Easy, we're friends and your mom trusts us most."
"What about her brothers?"
"Eh...ask her that... your mom got massive trust issues with her fam."
This made me contemplate something. She's got trust issues with her family over her friends? Why? Was that why she doesn't trust me enough? Because I'm part of her family? This doesn't make sense...
For the rest of the day, Uncle Larn and I would escort rescued survivors. Our team did clear all the target buildings. Mom would look at me with sad eyes every time I successfully do my job of covering for them. I don't understand why she look so sad every time.
3pm, it's the end of our shift. But before we left, we burn the corpses. It's the first time I witness such dreadful thing. But I wasn't the only one who was saddened by this. Watching the corpses burn down to ash, I saw my mom's eyes. It's as if she's being tranced. I watched the reflection of the fire dance in her glossy eyes. Until Aunt Etil lean her hand on mom's shoulder, she wouldn't have snapped out of it. I think I just found a new hate for fire.