It's nine o'clock. We continued to walk down the street. The two guys lay still on the stretchers and we have to switch hands to carry them on. We've gone quite far from the supply box. Ahead lies the first settlement we've ever seen since the box. It's a village.
"Imagine a horde of zombies coming," Serx said to me.
"Good thing, all of us now have firearms," I replied, reloading the magazine with two bullets, to make it full.
A lot of people are looking out from the window railings. Some stood on the balcony, eyes pouring down. And their doors are barricaded with hammered down planks, haphazardly. Probably the lack of access to vehicles made them choose to make their own safe zone. The village looks free from the infected. And here we are, like contamination to their safety.
There's a small building that stood on the side of the road. The sight of four people in improvised equipment around the building tells me that it is going to be an improvised security post.
"This is the Gerdoo. Where are you guys going?" Asked a late teenage guy, with a bow on his right shoulder.
"Closest route to the safe zone. You know that?" Vo asked.
"Yeah. Go northeast, just go northeast. Around forty miles from here. That's the nearest. You will have to pass through a city. Astraw. You walk twenty miles more if you want to take another way. My advice, go loud. There's no use of stealth. You will get stuck otherwise. By the way, what happened to those two? Who did that?" The guy said.
"Criminals. There's a supply drop a mile away from here. We got there first, but what happens next is-"
"We know. I sent two people to get it. Never come back."
"It was a trap. We saw it just in front of our eyes when a man shot him, and a pick-up car came with hazmat guys that carried him away."
"Who the hell are them?"
"Who knows. These pandemic shits are all a mystery. Anyway, see you, guys. Thanks a lot." Vo ended the discussion.
"Well, see you!" The guy replied.
--
An hour has passed by. We are now on the outskirts of Astraw. A lot of tall buildings can be seen. But there are seemingly no people - I had a feeling that they have been evacuated to the safe zone. From afar, many buildings more than 5-stories tall are standing, spread out in the distance. The sunlight shines brightly from the dark tinted window panes. This is the capital of our province.
"Wow, now we have everything here," Ann tells happily.
"No, it's still unsafe here. Put on the mask. Just like corona times." Vo warns.
The city became so empty, which gave me a weird feeling. What was once used to be a sprawling city, is now lost in silence. Walking a couple of meters on the main road, we can only hear plane engines and helicopters that fly overhead occasionally.
"Now that guy is right. Go loud, we can signal those big birds to take us. At least just to let them know we are here."
From the top, we can use fire and gunshots. Let them 'arrest' us. No zombie can get above the building. Just close the stairways with something, or maybe just close the door and we will be fine. Now let's find some oils." Dan said.
Oils can be used as fuel to the rag, so it burns bigger and doesn't put out quickly.
We walked along the main street and caught a sign of an abandoned grocery store.
The others are wandering around the place while I and Serx leaned on the side of the glass doorframe. Everything is vacant, just like the first time we arrive here. Across the road stood the big building of Astraw House Of Representatives.
It remained quiet until I hear a series of scraping sounds of someone's quick stride that gets closer. Serx, also hearing it, turned to the source of the noise.
"Incoming unknown," Serx said lowly.
And here goes a little boy with some cardboard costumes on his body. A piece of bamboo stick is in his grasp. He is walking casually towards the store before he realized our presence in a split second.
His black mask must've hidden his shocked face behind it. The boy immediately runs away in a hurry.
"Ha! Who's him."
"He wants to go here! I know that."
"Let's follow him."
"No, don't scatter around. There may be hostiles outta there."
The rest of us is still busy inside. Serx informed Vo, which is still looking for carbonized drinks. The others still scrambled around for anything to loot.
"So, someone is living here? Now we gotta see whether they're good guys."
"Yeah. By the way, haven't we done yet?" I asked him.
"We're done. Got five bags of palm oil, one can of motor oil, ten sheets of towels, and five wooden dowels. Is there anything you want to pick up?"
"No," I answered.
"He ran through this straight alleyway, then to one of those big buildings. Chased him, but only got so far." Serx said, showing up from the alley on the side of this grocery store.
"He might have informed his boss right now," Vo said.
"Well, let's give them some warm greetings."
--
Narrow, wet, and perfectly straight is the alleyway we're going through. From the clearance in between the rows of house roofing above us, we can see a complex of high-rise buildings. Another highway is laid at the end of this long pathway.
And still, not even a single motor vehicle. Only several bicycles that are abandoned on the roadside are visible. And old pedicabs.
Crossed the road, we are in the atrium of what seems to be an apartment. Ahead, we are presented with the stairwells and an elevator system, which doesn't seem to be lifting anything anymore. We step upstairs. On every level are two doors leading to what are supposed to be the living compartments.
We were on the way to the fifth floor when we found someone standing at the end of the staircase, leaning on the doorway. An assault rifle is hung loose, and he's crossing his arm.
"Uhm, hello?" Vo tried to greet.
"Where are you from, why are you here, and how do you get there. Only three questions and maybe we can help." The young man speaks up.
Vo answers the two, but he still can't explain the second one.
"Can we change the second one to 'Where do you want to go'?" He said nervously.
"Why?"
"It's complicated." He chuckled.
"Then, what happened to those on the stretchers?"
"Arrow and slash wounds. They will be fine."
"Let's get inside."
"No need, we just want to go up to the highest floor. Nothing more." Dan spoke. "Don't bot-"
"Just get inside, we can do something. It's also rare to see someone, especially a group of survivors. Don't worry about us. We worry nothing from you." He said, cutting Dan's speech in a calm, even tone.
He opened the door, revealing the long hallway. And from here, we can see before our eyes a stockpile of supplies and someone lying on the sleeping bags scattering on the floor. The people stared down at us. It's a nervous moment for an outsider to enter their dwelling.
From the corridor on the left, a tall, middle-aged man walks out.
"Welcome to the Pioneers! We got all the answers. I'm Mett Privaddy," He spoke. "And that's my son, Novnav Privaddy."
Everything suddenly turned into awkward silence. I know deep down that most of us are in surprise. We have no clue of what is happening at the moment. Who are they? Why are there still people in this city?
"Come here. Let me show you something. Just prepare yourself. It won't bite, don't worry." He continued.
I and the boys quickly made a line behind him, following the man into several rooms and doors. He kept walking until he arrived at a small doorway. He put a finger gesture on his mouth, shushing. Then he twisted the door handle and slowly swing it open.
It's a door that leads to something that looks like a line of restrooms.
Inside are five chambers. But the one placed on the far end caught my attention as it looked much different. A railing door is placed on the entrance, instead of zinc doors like the rest of the rooms. Sunlight from the window poured down, illuminating the entrance with dusty god rays.
The boys walked with slower strides as we get closer to the chamber.
"Pay attention, students. Stay there." He walked up to the door. "Don't step closer."
"What!?"
It rocked all the boys when an arm suddenly burst out of the railing. It reached out to the man's face. And he didn't move a muscle. Not even a flinch. He's just standing there and chuckling.
"Meet Esephy." The man said, calmly.
The arm pulled back in, and now the hands started gripping tensely on the railings. And whoever is inside the chamber began getting out intense, heavy coughs. Mr. Mett still kept his stance and did barely anything to cover himself from the rains of nasty droplets. We see particles bursting, pluming out of the chamber. It spreads out to the man's face.
And seems like nothing is concerning him. Chatters of questions erupted from the guys.
"Haha, you know, I have been doing this once a week. But nothing happens. And so everyone in this place." Mr. Mett said.
"Some kind of therapy?" I asked curiously. "Repeated treatment creates resistance."
"Yes, you're right. But it needs a little requirement."
"What's that?"
He drew in a pack of air and sighed. "You know that pandemic? The infamous COVID? I'm a COVID survivor. And so is everyone here. At first, we never figured this out. When the new virus came, all the citizens immediately leave for Krosha. There were evac vehicles-"
"Yes, we are one of the evac groups, from Mabangle. I'm Voize. Nice to meet you." Vo stubbornly cuts off Mett's sentence.
"Oh, great. And two hours later, nearly everyone has left this town. All the evac vehicles have left, and we were abandoned. And there's no way to leave this town with my whole family. No vehicle. I decided to stay. But this means we have to fight and survive. We met each other in the process, those who choose to stay. And let the 'natural selection' select us.
"Now, is there anyone among you guys who have ever had that sickness?" The room went quiet as he leave from the zombie's sight, walking slowly.
"Are you sure about that?" I'm not sure about that man's so-called 'therapy'.
"Tekko yakkin(Just be sure)." Mett speaks in vernacular.
"Sovvon, beppa(Thanks, sir). But we can find out by ourselves, on the way." Dan tells him, calmly.
"Haha, okay then. But there's a beautiful chance COVID survivors are immune to this new sickness. Let's get out of here. You don't want to spend the whole day with him, right?"
We got nothing we want to do except go with him. He gives us a tour around their headquarters. From floors to floors, staircases to staircases. Several occupants walked around the hallways. Boxes of food and gallons of water are scattered on the floor. There's nothing that stands out from this building. Nothing appeared unique and they don't put signs, yet they contained many people as refugees.
Mr. Mett left us with several guards and watchers on the topmost part of the building. Novnav was there.
"My little brother told me. You went to the mart down there, isn't it?" Novnav spoke up.
"Yes, we took some oils. You know, a lot of aircraft across the sky above us, right? We planned to signal them. Use that oil to fuel the fire. Simple as that." I told him.
"Hahahahaha," He suddenly laughed. "Make sure you don't signal the wrong guys. Things can get complicated."
"I guess."
"You know those supply stashes? They made it into traps. I saw it with my eyes. I went there with two others. One of us is wandering, patrolling around when a barely spottable huntsman shot him! I know for sure that they're using tranquilizers. They don't want to kill their prey. At least not in place." He recounted with a slight fear mixing up with his voice.
"Oh my god, that's The Adjusters. The same thing happened to us."
"Whoever they are."
"And this city is totally clear?" I asked.
"You know, we got clean-up days. We went out around the city, killing any of those Contractors we find. As you can see, there is no more of them left around us, except Esephy, of course." Novnav explains. "All clean."
"What's Contractors?"
"The disease contractors. Cons. Infected. Zombies. Cannibals. Lunatics."
"So, you guys did it yesterday?"
"Yes, but only got eleven. But still, there might be some zombies in the suburbs. We can't reach those places unharmed. And we have two buildings. The other one is that building." He points his finger down to a similar building far from here. "We owned the whole city, dude. Do we need those safe zones? Krosha is besieged, and Astraw is the answer. That city is surely not going to last."
"Yeah. Astraw, Krosha, or maybe just random little villages, doesn't matter." I said.
"We create our own safe zones. Here," He ran his palm across his chest, slowly. "Tell me why we still need the governments. Do you know who put down those man traps?" "No."
"Doesn't matter." He said.The sun's up high in the middle. Some heat, but acceptable. And I'm sitting on the edge, talking to Novnav. The rest of us are enjoying the clear facade of the abandoned city from above.
We choose to stay here until the morning.