Chapter 4
I arrived home still jumpy from what happened earlier. My mom was walking around making a last minute check up, she should have left hours ago but being a VIP they don't have any say to what she would do. The personnel who were in charge of her and Jim were waiting for her to ride the military jeep to her own accord. She gave me a worried look.
"Are you sick?" she asked, looking concerned as she came near me. "You look so pale." Well, I do look like a ghost, running away from what the heck scared me.
"I'm okay Mom." I said trying to smile but I still felt haunted. "I'll just take a bath, then go to the EVAC CAMP." I said walking towards my room.
"Okay, you do that. But please hurry. They already picked up our things here." She informed me. I nodded, not even turning towards her. I was scared she'll find out that the tough-girl of a daughter she has, turned out to be a scaredy-cat! "Fran." She called out my name once again. "Please."
"Yes, I know Mom." I, being hard headed, forced myself to look her way. "I'll lock up." She just nodded and gave me one of her well known forced smiles. She then came near me once again to hug and kiss me. "I love you Mom. Take care." She hugged me tighter. "Uh, Mom, I think you better go now. I want to take my bath as well."
She then let go of me. "You take care of yourself!" she said gripping my shoulders she shook me in a slow motion. "I'll make Jim safe." She sniffled, I nodded trying to be strong for the both of us. She just wanted to take care of us. I knew that from the moment I was born.
While Jim and my mom were leaving. Jim was silently sulking on his way out. But the thing which surprised me was when he hugged me, for the first time when he entered his prepubescent period!
My father was one of the most important people in our society, therefore when a state of emergency happens we--his family, was the one of the first ones to leave.
I didn't know about his status until his death, when the government of the United States gave us a medal and a plaque for his honor. He also had that military style funeral where they did a twenty one gun salute for him. I didn't know my dad was military.
The moment they took off, I stripped off my clothing and started filling the tub. I took a shower to wash my hair, who knows when I'll be able to wash my hair again after entering that shelter.
I scrubbed my scalp whilst shampooing my hair. It's a bit covered with mud and grime, but I was taking care of that. I also flooded my hair with conditioner to make it even more softer. That way even if I would not comb it, it won't get tangled. I have long black straight hair. Pretty much a normal thing in our country.
When the tub was full of water, I poured a bottle of bobble bath to it. Yep, a whole bottle! I am spoiling myself for the first and last time. I soaked myself in it. I wanted to feel relaxed before continuing my duty.
Military personnels would have handle anything that would come to them, but their only focus is protecting the civilian inside the EVAC CAMP. I promised myself that this would be the last time I'd be spoiling my self with this kind of luxury.
I took a facial mask and put it on my face. I closed my eyes and started remembering.
When Dad and Xed died, my Mom had started being restless. And as if she knew that the pandemic would happen eventually, she prepared for this day. Months before she told me that dad had been a bad person.
The things dad did haunted him down causing his death. Although she was drunk that night, I couldn't just brush it off. When I asked her about it again, she changed the subject, to which she unconsciously sent me the 'red flag' sign over that topic. I know she'll tell me when the time is right. But it never really happened.
Seriously though this war started with a minor blow, an explosion in one of the United States Laboratory Facilities. It was said to be a terrorist attack, but it turned out that they've been experimenting on humans.
They've created things, things that fought back and started the infection. Then chimeras and those bats began to emerge straight from the fantasy novels I love so much and out of my Dad's weird stories. Everything extraordinary became possible and things started changing. A new age was begining to unravel.
It's the US's fault to begin with, that's why most of the other nations were confident that the incident was also isolated. They were wrong. Soon beings started invading the other states and they took control of the whole country. Vampires were leading them.
Most of the other countries tried to be diplomatic but they failed horribly. The ones who tried it were the ones to fall first. Humans where herded like cattles for their meat and blood. We are their food supply and we got nowhere to go to save our sorry butts.
There was no choice but to fight back. The Philippines fought hard against them. It helped because most of the people are now safely tucked inside the Luzon and Visayan shelters.
My deep thoughts were shattered the moment my alarm clock goes off. It rattled with a crazy buzz and one disturbing sound, perfect for a deep sleeper like me.
"Ugh. I hate you clock! You're running like hell when I just want you to slow down." I said shoving it. But I have to get and kick myself up.
The evacuation has already begun. I'm sure Mom and Jim are safe at the Shelter now. And I have to work. I peeled off the face mask with my face looking refreshed underneath. I never looked this fresh in a very long time.
While still naked and looking for something to wear, a crashing sound made me jump. It was inside the house! Alarm bells shot up in my head as I took a pair of pants not bothering to wear anything else.
I took a knife from the kitchen counter and sneaked towards where the noise had been. I was ready to attack with my heart slamming in my chest when.
"Meow." I heard a cat. A cat caused the freaking crash!
"You almost gave me a heart attack!" sighing I looked around to see what the cat wrecked. I was relieved seeing that it was just a cat. But then seeing that it broke one of my Mom's favorite vases, I just wanted to be eaten alive by a hungry bear.
But there are no bears in the Philippines, good luck with that. "I am so dead." I muttered to myself. The cat started purring and circling my legs, rubbing its soft fur on me as well. Who could resist a cute little kitty who obviously broke one of Mom's vases? I couldn't! So I bent down and scratched its head.
"You hungry little fellow? You want some longanisa?" it's eye's sparkled at the mere mention of potential food. I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, I was right my mom cooked longganisa for their breakfast. I dumped all of the leftovers into the bowl and fed the cat.
The cat has two different eye color, one blue and the other one green. It also has black silky fur , super fat and cute. "Eat up!" the cat almost immediately lapped the food. I then remembered that I had to get my things and prepare for my duty as a military personnel in action.
It's weird, after so many years from graduating and being a nurse, to be back in action. Our country wanted to prepare for the worst to come. Our country's position in the world had been like a sitting duck.
Not until we suffered enough terrorist attacks to a point of civil unrest, that the government mandated for the youth to undergo military training and service, did the country started to have peace. It was like survival of the fittest and picking out the bad ones in the society.
Our country became one of the leaders in military expertise. That was handy at this time of war. We held up far better than the US military did. Hopefully, we can haul more people inside the shelters before it's too late.
The military is our last line of defense, I just hope that we can save as many people as we can.