Meldrick woke up the next day, automatically sitting in front of his computer like his neighbor didn't just get torn apart by flesh-eating monsters yesterday. He pressed his computer on, but it wouldn't light up. The snarling and banging outside his apartment snapped him back to reality.
Right, he thought to himself, it wasn't a fever dream.
The flesh-eating monsters, or zombies, are still outside, the world is still in ruins, and there is still no electricity. Sleeping didn't make it all go away.
Today is worse than yesterday. He couldn't hear any more people outside, only the loud snarling and dragging of feet by living corpses. Everyone must've been eaten already. Some might be hiding somewhere like what he is doing. Either way, he couldn't reach out to someone if, in fact, there is still someone living out there.
His phone, still at 40%, is useless amidst the apocalypse. He could've called his friends or family, but there was no service anymore. He couldn't turn on his mobile data, and his calls and texts wouldn't push through. His best friend, Shax, could've helped a lot in these situations. He was the athletic one between them and was the type to go out on camping trips every weekend with his family. And he did, by the way. They were the total opposite.
Shax would ask Meldrick whenever they play games together hypothetical questions. Meldrick didn't know why his best friend has a habit of doing so, but it was their type of bonding.
"Quick question, if the world is ending, what do you want to eat for the last time?" Shax would ask, eyes glued on the screen and fingers skillfully moving the controller.
Meldrick didn't spare him a glance, casually using the controller with one hand as the other dug into the potato chips pack, shoving some chips into his mouth. "Of course, potato chips."
"You're gonna die young, Mel."
"Didn't want to be alive in the first place."
Shax chuckled, lightly punching his friend's shoulder. "Man, you're edgy."
"And you're too positive. I swear, I don't know how we are friends."
Meldrick could still hear their laughter over the shooting sound from the game vividly like it was happening right now before it dissipated along with the sounds of the zombies. He couldn't help but shed a tear, immediately wiping it off. His friend could've been one of those flesh-eating monsters, or, if he's lucky, surviving with his family.
"No time to waste." Meldrick walked out of his room and went to his kitchen. He had a pen and a pad of sticky notes with him. In order to survive until he's ready to get out and go to the said shelter, he has to budget his remaining food.
The benefit of being a shut-in NEET is that you always have stocks. Food, beverages, and other basic necessities—name it, they have it. Meldrick has his fridge and cupboards filled with necessary goods for him to last a month without getting out of his apartment. But it still didn't change the fact that he had to get out in the future to grab more supplies and hit the road.
He could hear the same old unpleasant sound outside, like a broken tape playing again and again. It horrified him, thinking that he would soon—he has no choice—face those things outside. He would stop in the middle of arranging his food and shiver in fear. No way he can kill all of them in one swoop just like the main character in his favorite series. He was weak, no lies there, and is clumsy. Considering the time he shut himself from the real world, he would trip and fall from his feet easily, simply by running a few meters.
Meldrick had cans of spam, other types of canned food, his favorite, a tray of eggs, lots of canned soda, some cup noodles, boxes of snacks he received from his subscribers, and boxes of potato chips. Eating those chips on a daily basis would definitely earn him an earful from his mother and maybe UTI. But, the end of the world doesn't really give you many options.
He grouped a bunch of food together, making sure it would last a whole month, maybe more. With his sticky notes, he pasted a note on each with a time and date. If he wanted it to last, he'll have to ration out everything. To eat is to survive. He didn't want to isolate himself from those things and just end up dying from starvation.
Meldrick's face twitched as he placed the spam back inside the cupboard. It was the last food he labeled, and it didn't reach a month and a half. He tried to conserve as much food as he can to last him at least a month and a half, but only three weeks had passed. He miscalculated his food consumption and is now down to one last canned good. For a big eater like him, it wasn't enough but he has to make it count.
He laid flat on his back in the center of his living room, staring off into space. "A smash burger with onion rings would be good right now," he mumbled to himself. Thinking about food was the worse idea. Now he's starving and craving the said food. He had no choice but to munch on the food he laid out for that specific time and wait for the next meal time.
He used to eat to satisfy his cravings especially after watching mukbang videos. Buying seafood, pizza, and chicken was the norm in his apartment. Now he can't do any of those, even eating a lot in one sitting.
"This sucks." Meldrick grabbed his phone, browsing through his library. If he can't play games, then he'll kill time by reading novels saved in his library. Everything was already marked read. He wasn't a fan of novels, so he had only read a handful of books. Most of them were finished immediately.
But the books didn't help cure the boredom nor made him forget the real world.
Just as he was about to take a nap, a loud scream stirred him in his rest.
It came from the outside. Meldrick immediately stood up and went towards his window, opening it up a bit to see what the commotion was.
"Help! Help me! Anyone, please!" It was a girl dressed in a school uniform who is smudged with blood. She had a large stick-like metal, attempting to fend off the zombies crowding her while she stood atop debris. The zombies couldn't reach her but she couldn't go down either.
There's nothing I could do for her, Meldrick thought. It was inhumane to leave a helpless person alone, but he couldn't do anything for her.
"Wait, you! You up there! Do something!" Shoot, the girl saw her. "Don't just stand there, help me!"
Meldrick had dwindling supplies and an unathletic body. He can't become a knight in shining armor and rescue the poor girl. Even if he manages to rescue the girl with the both of them unscathed, they would die of hunger since his food wouldn't be enough for the both of them.
He was about to close the windows when the girl called out to him once more. "Wait! I know you!"
He stopped in his tracks, the window partially closed.
"Pleid! I was in the same team as you in Ferocity the last tournament!"