Walking down the streets of Mulberry park, one of A city's best residential areas one could see beautiful villas lined up. Each villa was different but similar.
Plants were so vibrant because of the great care they received. Lush trees could be seen in every yard and flowers in every garden.
Walking past the park except for its abundance of vegetation quite a number of animals could be seen. Kids played with dogs while adults watched or walked them.
Cats could be spotted every once in a while roaming the streets or lying on park benches bathing in the sun. Such a beautiful picture and such a great environment.
No one would think that this place would become such a death zone in just a month.
Walking down the streets of Mulberry park were a mother and son.
The mother and son were of course Emilia and Qin who were returning home from Blake's house.
"So how was the sleepover, did you have fun?" Emilia asked Ling Qin smiling
"It was fun" Ling Qin responded
"Oh, what were you boys doing?'' Emilia asked him as she swung his arm back and forth
"Nothing much we just played some computer games, board games watched some movies did a little craft and since I got there when it was still bright uncle Russel played some soccer with us."
"He did?" Emilia asked shocked
"Ya I was surprised too but he did and it was crazy fun. That idiot Blake also started playing with water and got us all wet. That was when aunt Kristy called us back inside and we had to play indoors."
"Well it seems like you had a great time, that's good" Emilia chuckled
''Do you want a dog?" Emilia asked quite suddenly
"What, No!" Ling Qin quickly responded after he caught himself
"Really?, I saw you looking at them as we were walking. If you want one just say it mommy can still afford to raise one." Emilia smiled at Ling Qin looking at him after she took a glimpse at the park opposite them full of dogs
"There's no need, dogs are too troublesome." Ling Qin replied quickly removing his eyes from the dogs. The end time was coming in just a few days, where could he possibly get the time for a dog?
"No they're not dogs are quite easy to raise compared to other pets and he can be your companion I think it's a great idea!" Emilia clapped her hands seeming ready to run off and buy a dog that instant.
"Mom no it's...." Ling Qin began but he was promptly stopped by Emilia who began talking again.
"You don't have to worry about what will happen when the end times come. That's for me and your dad to worry about. And as for you, I want you to continue living your life happily and to its fullest so don't always try to be considerate of us mom and dad can manage. My baby just needs to be happy and cheerful and full of life you can even be wilful at times I don't mind" Emilia said in a light tone with a smile on her face at the end looking her son right in the eyes
"Mom you...?" Ling Qin starred at his mother with eyes open wide and his jaw hanging down
"I'm reborn too as you can see and your dad told me that you were as well" Emilia smiled brightly at him "What don't you think it's cool, a family of rebonists ."
"Hm, seems I guessed right" Ling Qin bobbed his head before he continued walking.
"Hey what did you guess right?" Emilia moved to catch up with him which wasn't too hard seeing as how Qin was still a child.
"That you were reborn. You were quite obvious, not subtle at all!" Ling Qin snorted with a smile at the corner of his mouth.
"I was subtle!" Emilia loudly exclaimed
"We're not" Ling Qin replied "Dad saw through you too"
"I" Emilia choked on her response not knowing how to refute that as what he said was true. "If you saw through me why would you go to your father Instead of coming to me? I thought we shared a great bond between us." Emilia said changing the topic
"We do have a great bond, but dad Is much calmer and more organised, if had come to you, you would have had an emotional upheaval" Ling Qin retorted
"I'm calm, I'm very calm!" Emilia retorted vexed. Looking at Ling Qin Emilia could see the' Are you really 'statement written all across his face.
"Whatever comes on," Emilia said taking his hand and leading him in the opposite direction of their house ." I heard one of the family's dogs gave birth to too many puppies and they are giving away some," she said as they walked. "let go get you a little companion. "
"Mom what if the dog mutates, what will I do then?" Ling Qin asked his mother helplessly.
"Don't worry about that. I heard that if you raise the dog from a young age even if the dog mutates it won't become savage and will be very loyal to its owner and will also protect them. Getting you a dog now is the same as adding a layer of protection for you so it's a good idea." Emilia said as they turned the corner and headed to the house at the end of the street. "Plus if the dog mutates we can still deal with it easily ."
"Okay then " Ling Qin hummed as a soft smile appeared on his lips. In all honesty, Ling Qin has always wanted a dog but because it would be an inconvenience he had dispelled that thought a long time ago. So even though he didn't look excited he was looking forward to it.
Inside the villa, Ling Xiao stood in the living room surrounded by boxes.
The once spacious room now looked quite cramped with all the boxes lining the walls. While packing some items in a small box Ling Xiao's attention was quickly drawn to the soft laughter outside.
It didn't take long before the picture of his wife and son became clear in the window.
The two of them were smiling at something in Ling Qin's arms and looking closely it seemed to be, a dog.
"Dad!" Ling Qin called out to his father the moment he entered the door.
"Qinqin your back" Ling Xiao smiled at him but his eyes were quickly attracted to the little puppy in Ling Qin's arms. Looking at it closely it seemed to have just been born.
''Qinqin this is..? " Ling Xiao asked tentatively
"My new companion," Ling Qin said " "Mom bought it for me from the Su family."
"She did, did she?" Ling Xiao looked up at Emilia who was just standing there and smiling
"Well with the apocalypse coming it's good to have a friend so that you don't become lonely" Ling Xiao said after a second. Getting a dog wasn't that much of a problem so he decided not to make a big deal of things.
"Well, what type of dog Is it?" Ling Xiao asked as he came to kneel in front of Ling Qin to observe the dog In more detail.
"It's a Siberian husky" Emilia responded from behind ling Qin
"A husky huh? " Ling Xiao mumbled "well it's a good dog, make sure to take good care of it," he said rubbing the puppy's head as he stood up.
"But Ling Qin you have to understand that if the dog cannot survive the virus and becomes a threat then I'll have no choice but to put him down so try not to get too attached. For now at least" he added after a brief pause.
"Don't worry dad I understand" Ling Qin nodded
"Good now go put it down we still have some things left to pack and arrange before the moving trucks arrive ."
"Why don't we just put everything in my space?" Ling Qin asked as he moved to place the puppy down by the corner
"Taking everything into the space will be too conspicuous especially since we plan to sell this place. It won't make sense if everything just vanishes and the house becomes empty without anyone seeing anything. We might draw unnecessary attention to ourselves." Ling Xiao said with a pause. "We will only keep the most important things in the space."
"Mhm I understand " Ling Qin nodded in understanding
"So when are the moving guys coming?" Emilia asked
"Later around 4 o'clock," Ling Xiao said
"Wait mom didn't you already fully furnish the houses that you bought
So where are we going to put all these things that we are taking with won't it be better if we leave them here?" Ling Qin asked his parents confused
"Ahh, right I forgot about that! " Emilia exclaimed, " Well, we could keep a couple of things at the new house and distribute others in the other two houses as well as the house your dad bought."
"If there are still some remaining we can then we can just sell them. It's not bad to always have some extra cash, we can always just buy some more resources" Ling Xiao added " Speaking of more resources we should all write down all the things we have bought so that we will be able to see what things we still need to buy more of, that way we do not leave necessary resources behind and stock up on some things that might become useless."
"Well I have everything written down in my diary let me go get it," Emilia said heading upstairs towards the study
"Here is mine," Ling Qin said taking it out of the space
Ling Xiao took out his laptop and opened up his email. He went straight to the email that Hawk sent him
Once Ling Xiao received Emilia's list he began comparing the three lists and writing down a summary of everything on the lists.
While he was busy with that Emilia and Ling Qin continued packing the little that was left to arrange. All the important bits were packed and stored in Ling Qin's space while everything else was packed in boxes and places with all their other belongings.
"Alright, I'm done," Ling Qin Said as he collected the last box into his space.
"Me too" Emilia called out as she entered the room
"Well I'm done as well" Ling Xiao said writing the last thing on the list.
"So how is it?" Emilia asked coming to sit opposite him with Ling Qin following right behind her
"Well looking at this summary we have already collected most of what is needed. We have stocked up on a lot of clothes, seeds, tools, water, canned foods and grains etc. but we are still short on medication, weapons and fresh food. As for the medicine and weapons I'll take care of that so we still need to buy some fresh food shoes and blankets. We also need to stock up on more toiletries and tissues as well as oil spices and sauces. We need to buy a gas stove and plastic cutlery. You guys should check this and see if you can think of what else we need." Ling Xiao finished
"We can buy more sugar, flour and eggs., Emilia said after reading through the list
"Milk powder, milk, biscuits and snacks. Chocolates too" Ling Qin added after his mother. "Oh and dog food "
"Hm," Ling Xiao nodded thinking "well it's still quite early and there is still a couple of hours left before the moving guys arrive so we can spend this last few hours buying what we are missing and we can stock up on the rest once we get to S City."
"What about petrol" Ling Qin inquired
"We have no choice but to collect that after the apocalypse begins" Ling Xiao responded
"Qinqin your space can grow plants right so don't we need to buy some fertilizer and farming tools? And since it can keep plants Alive do you think it will be able to keep animals alive as well?" Emilia asked
"I'm not sure whether It can keep animals but plants can grow ."
"Well, that means we will just have to test it out" Ling Xiao stood up and headed towards the puppy. He picked him up and took him to Ling Qin
" Here try and see whether you can accept him into the space"
"Alright" Ling Qin opened his arms to accept the dog. He placed his hand on the puppy and thought of it entering the space After about 10 seconds the dog vanished and Ling Qin could sense its entrance into the space. "It worked!" he exclaimed
"Huh that's a relief at least I won't have to give up meat again and become a vegetarian. "Emilia breathed out as she patted her chest in exaggerated relief
"Well, it seems that we can add buying livestock on to the list.''
"Great that means we won't run out of meat and Qinqin doesn't have to run out of milk" Emilia smiled. Just by looking at her excitement, one could easily tell that her milk experiments were non-successful.
"Well let's get going then." Ling Xiao said to the two as he stood up and picked up the keys.
"Alright let's go ."
The family of three then spent their last few hours in A City running around from one supermarket to another hoping to collect as much as they could before they had to go back home.
Once they returned home they encountered the moving trucks which had just arrived, so instead of taking a break Emilia and Ling Xiao began moving boxes with the crew and giving instructions.
It took the team an hour before everything was loaded on the trucks and they were ready to leave.
"So how long will it take you guys to deliver all these things?" Ling Xiao asked the leader of the team
"Since S city is not that far we will probably deliver these latest tomorrow afternoon at 3 o'clock" the team leader responded after making a rough estimate
"Well then we'll see you tomorrow at four" Ling Xiao nodded in understanding
"Alright then bye," the team leader said. He got on one of the trucks and they began moving out.
Ling Xiao gave a short wave towards the man as he stood there in front of their house. While standing there Emilia came towards him and hooked his arm with hers. The two of them just stood there for two minutes In silence as they looked at the house that was their home for the last Six months.
"So this is it huh?"Emilia said feeling melancholic
"I guess this is it." He responded lightly
"At least we will still have each other. That's worth a lot." Emilia said trying to lighten the mood
"Yes we do and this time it will stay like that." Ling Xiao reassured her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and tugged her forward "Come on let's go inside it's getting dark"
"Mhm" she hummed
And with that, the Ling family spent their last night in their little villa in Mulberry closing this chapter of their lives as they prepared for the next more dangerous chapter.