Last Dawn of a Horde - Chapter Five: The Reunion of the Stars 1 of 2

LAST DAWN OF A HORDE

Chapter Five: The Reunion of the Stars

1 of 2

~John~

            "Where are we?" I asked myself. The last time I was at my full senses; I was sliding off with Rich—heading our way outside the sewers just to land on the opposite side of the Blue River. Just as when I got to my feet, Rich collapsed onto me, and both of us were pinned on the ground.

            That's what I remember.

            The next question I asked myself was: "Where are my other friends?"

            I lie on a soft bed, and before I can even think I was in my bedroom, I was welcomed with a tight hug when I curled up.

            I was on a warehouse—a very old one that I doubted that has been used for ten years already.

            People circled around the warehouse all gathered around me excitingly. I recall their faces.

            The one hugging me was an old friend, Jules. He was our class president on our junior year, and even though I was the class president now, he looked much buffer and tougher than me.

            His handsome face was still unscarred, and I felt a great flood of relief knowing that my other classmates are really alive.

            "Everyone! Come here! John is awake!" Jules announced.

            I heard some whispers of disbelief and relief.

            I realized that the warehouse was full of about a hundred students—assuring me that some of them aren't our classmates.

            Behind Jules was my classmate Leo. Dressing like a girl and acting like one, you can make out what I mean. He—she, what this person wants to be called—came to embrace me tight. He smelled very girlish.

            "Oh! John! You're alive!" Leo squeaked, "I thought all the other cute guys are gone!"

            I pat his back, and he lets go. "Thanks, Leo."

            He pouted his lips like he was about to give me a kiss with that glossy, strawberry lips; thanks for Gray, another classmate, that shoved Leo away.

            "Okay, Leo girl, stop it before you can even do that," Gray tells him. Then he fixed his gray eyes to me. "Welcome, brother."

            He wasn't really any of my relatives, but we were calling each other brothers, as we resemble each other a bit. James wouldn't mind.

            Wait. James!

            "Where are the others?" I asked in a frantic voice.

            Grace, another friend of mine, answered, "We don't know, John. Jules and Gray and others found only you."

            "How is it p-possible?" I anxiously said, "I-I-I landed by the Blue River, and t-they must have landed there too!"
            Jules sat by my bed, tapping my back reassuringly. He spoke in a low voice that I doubt the others guarding around the warehouse with old, rusty ceilings can hear.

            "We tried to find them, but the river's as far as we can go," Jules said.

            "What? What do you mean?"

            Two girls stepped forward, and they were holding my backpack. And Rich's.

            The one holding mine was Stella. I recognized her braid. "Here's your backpack, John," she told me as she hands me my bag. The last time I remembered, this bag was covered of dirt and grime. Now it was bit clean.

            And the one holding Rich's tattered backpack was Camille. Her brown eyes searched for my eyes, but I didn't want to look her in the eye.

            "T-The boys tried, but Rich died," Camille said in a sick voice, like she had been gargling nails.

            Rich, the fat boy I was with before I got here. Dead.

            Hot blood started to boil on my head, but I kept it low. "Of what?"

            Anee, one close friend of Rich, replied, "He didn't tell you he had early signs of possible heart attack. He—well, simply his heart didn't take the sewers and the tension."

            I wanted to cry. But my eyes felt really dry—I haven't had a good sleep for more than thirty hours now.

            Jules stood from his seat. "We're trying hard to locate the others. But of course, we are very careful to roam outside."

            I hear a distant helicopter with its blades churning like they are going for seventy miles per hour.

            "What is happening?" I asked.

            Leo pulled another guy with him. This time, he was burly and he had his hair standing upright. I recognized him—he wasn't any of my classmates. I met him one day when the school hosted basketball matches against other schools.

            "Jet?" I muttered.

            Jet smiled at me, but I can see he was slightly shrugging Leo off his arm. "Hello, John."

            I shake his hand. "How many of you... made it?"

            Jet grinned. "Just a dozen. I can't believe your class was almost complete forty. Our section had less ties than yours."

            I see what he meant. The last time I was with James and the others, Den died, leaving us to a nine. Now I don't know where James and the others are, and how many of them are still alive.

            Leo blew a kiss to me, as he pulled Jet by his muscley arms. "So much for that," he said, "come on, we still have nuts to roast!"

            And they waltzed off to where the others are—sitting by the stoves and the fire and food cooking.

            Jules turned to me. "You want to rest?"

            I shake my head.

            "Then you must check out our other classmates," Jules said. "They are waiting for their president."

            In movies, I had seen a lot of protagonists die (I'm not bragging I am one,) and everyone he or she knew believed it. A twist comes, and the protagonist was actually alive. The friends were all joyful to see him or her alive.

            Imagine that scene. And then imagine me on it. Now I was getting more than that.

            My girl classmates, especially, were all excited to see me. One thing I noticed about the people here, is that they wear clean uniforms, and some even wear normal clothes. Jules told me they had to 'borrow' clothes from abandoned stores.

            The girlfriend of Gray, Kat Long, embraced me so hard that her bushy hair almost asphyxiated me to death.

            "Oh! I need to get that twenty bucks from Jamie! You hugged me first! We had a bet!" Kat happily said, then she beckoned one tall girl with a ponytail.

            Jamie gave me a fast and loose hug. We aren't very close, but because of our regular changes in seating arrangements, I had been talking with her sometimes. "Nice to see you, Jang."

            I fake a grin. I can't be really happy.

            "Yeah, you too, Josephites," I chided.

            I met my other classmates again. To name a few: Patricia, our English Public Relations Officer; Ella, our class's representative for the performing arts; Prince, one of my acquaintances; Stanley, Jules' best friend; Rolcene, one of the joculars that makes us laugh hard; Adrian, the Citizen Advancement Corps Commander (you read it as corp; reading it as corps will make it sound like corpse—meaning a dead body,) and more.

            Stanley guided me to the other students they had recruited.

            Jet was among his other classmates, and even though I didn't ask for their names, they knew who I am. Imagine that—I shake hands with students I don't even know.

            Jules and Stanley guided me to the part of the warehouse they call 'kitchenette.' From there, I see my other classmates who are good in cooking.

            Noe saw us coming, and since there's no division among the kitchenette and the main warehouse, I can see steam rising from their pots. I can smell the fresh scent of garlic being toasted.

            She wiped her hands on her apron with words Home Sweet Home embroidered in pink. "Hi, friend," Noe mused. "I am preparing onion soup for you. I'm thinking if I can cook any better than you."

            I sniggered. "If you can," I joked.

            Noe pulled over her best friend, June, to see me.

            "Oh! I didn't notice you," June tells me. "How's Sophie doing?"

            I raked through my mind. I wasn't sure if she didn't notice that I arrived here alone, or that she was asking me how was her friend doing when I was still with her.

            "She's fine," I lied. "But we got separated on the sewers. Rich and I—"

            My voice faltered off.

            June smiled. "It's okay. We've got no one to blame," she tells me assuringly, and then came to face Noe. "Now, where is the garlic I'll use for Chinese fried rice?"

            I point at the pan near her, and she found the garlic going black. She started panicking. "Oh my! Who put these here! Supplies are hard to come!"

            I ask Jules. "Supplies?"

            Jules and Stanley chortled. "Of course we did a few shopping," Jules answered.

            I frowned. I got some more to ask. "Since when did you all arrive here?"

            Stanley exchanged looks with Jules. They began to pull me away from the kitchenette before I can indulge myself with the fragrance of food.

            They brought me to stairs, and I realized we are going on the rooftops. I didn't realize this—we could've hid ourselves at the rooftop of our school's building when we were still there. Well, will it make any difference?

            The sky was already dark, but I hardly noticed. When I should see city lights glittering in distances at night, all I am seeing was darkness—with a few buildings and streets with their lights open. And on the sky, helicopters and choppers were swerving around as if they were finding something. I immediately recognized those choppers that had guns installed on them...

            "Police choppers," I murmured.

            Jules smiled. "Yeah, I can't believe the government still didn't incinerate the city. Yet."

            I frowned. "What do you mean?"

            Stanley fixed his eyes at me. "The government didn't rule that good this year," he said. Actually, Stanley was the first one who'll say these things. I don't know, but maybe he's just interested on some things a lot of teens don't have time for.

            Jules sighed. "I'm even worried about the others. James and the others."

            I looked down. "Come on, say it. I know you're hiding something, Jules. You keep on opening topics you don't want to talk about."

            Jules asked us to sit.

            Beyond the warehouse, I saw houses were deserted. Lights are all out. What really surprised me is zombies marching just meters below where we are sitting.

            "Don't worry, they are very stupid," Jules said. "But some are very quick. Going faster these days."

            I figured something out of the blue. "You led the others. From school to here."

            He grinned. "Finally, you got it. Our classmates wanted to confide in your leadership, but I told them...well, I just told them you saved the others."

            Stanley snapped. "Yeah. That's a long, bitter story to tell."

            "How did you all get out of the school?" I asked.

            Jules looked skyward. "Did you know that the Citizen Advancement Training room can be a good base?"

            "The CAT room?"

            He nodded. "It's very hidden, so it's a bit of a comfort. But when we had run out of food, we were thinking of way out."

            "Wait," I said, "how did you all squeezed inside the CAT room?"

            Stanley chuckled.

            But Jules answered, "Long story again. Well, here's the thing—we bungeed out of the school walls."

            I can picture it—but how is it possible that no zombie came across them? And the jumping thing? I didn't know it was possible. If I did have that idea, I surely had decided to initiate that.

            "A little help from Physics," Jules murmured to himself. "And in a few minutes, hundreds of us trekked here."

            "Hundreds," I repeat.

            "We were two hundred, almost. But we were cut half. The other hundred—dead," Jules said, his voice slowing and weakening down.

            They told me the story.

            The roads were no longer safe, so some of the rescue team that were sent to salvage (save,) us were gunning down zombies on the streets. That explains the gunner choppers, too. When Stanley pointed a finger on the road they went through, I saw rubbles tinted black.

            "They demolished some houses," I whispered.

            "And they burned some," Jules added. "Now they have an order from the president. Shoot to kill roaming citizens of Faber City."

            I felt something uneasy—like my stomach turning to stone. Faber City, one of the finest city to live in, was now in chaos. Fire suddenly broke from the distance, and we hear distant echoes of screams of terror.

            "Like that," Jules emphasized. Now we are living in a world of terror.

            Stanley nudged me. "How did you guys escaped?"

            I heaved a sigh. "Well, we used the sewers."

            Jules looked at me as he laughed, as if I had uttered the funniest joke of all time. When he saw that I'm not looking like I was kidding, he stopped.

            "That's...tedious. I mean, that's a treacherous way," Jules said. "Have you gone to the Rapids?"

            "Rapids?" I repeat. I think I heard the name, but I wasn't sure.

            "The Rapids? The end of the sewer?" Stanley told me.

            I nod. I now remember—the Rapids is the area of the sewers where waters end up. Then it flows down into a huge broiler, and water comes out by steam. Lucky I didn't know that, or that we didn't know it still exists. Oh, not important anymore.

            "And you got out on the Blue River?" Jules guessed. He's right. "Lucky for you. One student in our school's history died in the Rapids. Ventured off the sewers and got sucked by the current. The Rapids will not get that name if its current wasn't deadly."

            "So how did you guys found me and Rich?"

            Stanley stood up and wiped his pants from dust. "Long story. We found an unconscious guy with another huge guy who was unfortunately dead."

            I wanted to ask them more, like why do they travel to the forest by the Blue River? I know the place because Jimmy and I camped there with other scouts on grader days. That's surely a lot for him to miss. Or how can they get supplies.

            But when a chopper's head lights were searching through the warehouse's corrugated roof, we are forced to get back, and I was missing night air again.

~Jules~

            "Dinner everybody! Meetings later!"

            Stanley called the others, and the first ones to sit by the long table I had found here in the warehouse were the cooks. We always assign three to five people to take watch every four hours, and unfortunately, these people will not eat first-handedly.

            John sat on the far end of the long table, the seat usually given to the highest official. It's not a matter to me anymore—being the class president in the past was already enough for me.

            June led the prayer, and it was very long. We try to pray before we eat, and thank God we are alive for another night. If I were to count, we are still students for two days and one night. Tonight's the second night.

            John didn't seem to enjoy the food which was unbelievably tasty. The thought of us eating stolen goods wasn't a good idea to ponder on, but it's fine to me. It's better than nothing.

            After we ate dinner, I set off some of my classmates to prepare the beds upstairs. From the home appliances store we had entered hours before we found John and Rich, we found some pillows, blankets and mattresses. This is our second night here and the first time we get to sleep comfortably. When the idiom says Hit the hay, we did it literally.

            The meeting was always boring. My classmates always complain that food is running low, or that the warehouse was really boring. Electricity here was even free, though.

            "Okay," I finally said. Noe and June stopped talking about how food here is roughly prepared. "Now, what time tomorrow will we have a mission to...find James and the others?"

            I looked at John. He was so quiet, sticking his spoon on his empty bowl.

            Rolcene tapped his glass. "It's now eight o'clock! Sleeping time!"

            This guy didn't like meetings, and he was the one reminding us of the time.

            "Yeah, yeah, maybe we could use a few more minutes," I tell Rolcene. "Now, I had this plan of getting two groups to find them in the forest again."

            Murmurs started to grow louder. When I say 'mission,' it means 'danger.' I can't blame the other students we got; one of Jet's twelve classmates here, Katie, glared at me.

            "I say you use your classmates for the search," Katie said grumpily. "You can't kill any more of us."

            I didn't like the manner she said that. I stared at her, and she calmed down.

            "Actually, if you let me finish my talking, you could have said something else," I tell her. "If we find nothing, nothing but hungry zombies, then I say we'll go back to the supermarket again."

            Leo, who was dangling by Jet's arm, chimed in. "What? The last time you sent people there three died!"

            "Well, we can't really prevent dying," Stanley beamed. "And if no one cared to risk their lives, all of us will die hungry!"

            "Thank you, Stanley," I say, as I motioned him to sit down. "Two troops by the morning. Rolcene, time their task."

            Rolcene straightened up.

            "Any more concern?" I ask.

            Perry, one of my classmate, raised his hand.

            "Perry," I called, rolling my eyes.

            "When will we kill zombies? I'm waiting to fight some! Like in the movies!"

            When he saw that no one found him funny, he grinned at us and sat down again. He had this idea, though. When we found John and Rich, actually there are at least ten zombies fifteen meters away from them. Although the zombies rarely walk or run alone, fighting one can be deadly. One of the juniors we have, Mark, got infected by just an accident of taking in zombie saliva that spurted to his mouth.

            "John," I called for him. He raised an eyebrow to me. "How many of you are alive after you left the school?"

            John said, "James, Jimmy, Matthew, Rich—Andrea was showing signs of infection—Jasmine, Suzanne, Sophie and I. Rose, Ellie, and Den died before we can even go out of the sewers."

            "So you're twelve?" I ask.

            John gave me a snigger. "Come on, what is twelve compared to your group of a hundred?"

            I nod. "So four is already out? And we still don't have an idea how many are left..."

            When I yawned, everyone especially Rolcene cheered. It means that I'm tired and I'm going to sleep. I adjourned the meeting, and we all hit the hay. Well, I just hope nightmares wouldn't visit me tonight...

            I can't believe I imagine I can see things ironically. Of course, how can I dream of peaceful surroundings like in Elysium of mythologies? When the world in the present time looked like the Fields of Asphodel in the Underworld?

            I dreamt we were on the school again. I remember us going to the CAT room, but this time I wasn't going there. I was heading somewhere, and I didn't like it. In this dream, I know I was just dreaming. But everything seemed so real—I hear leaves rustling from their boughs, and my exposed nape can feel the biting cold wind blow.

            My muscles were working on their own. When I was walking, I can't control myself—I must be heading somewhere I don't know. No, I'm not going anywhere! I'm jumping to wall going outside! I said in my mind.

            Everything seems interesting when I walked nearer to the bathrooms. Several zombies were flocking around it, but even though my feet cracked gravel on my way, they didn't notice me—as if I'm just a stupid mirage.

            When I was near one, I ordered my feet to a stop, but I continued walking until I was near one zombie. It didn't see me, but I was about to crash on him—

            I passed him like I was some sort of a transparent ghost. Ghost.

            I can't be dead. I'm just sleeping!

            I turned and stopped by a door next to the bathrooms. I know this door leads up to the...

            Sewers, I thought. Then there I was again, going straight through the closed door like a ghost. The thing creeps me enough, and when I blinked my eye, I found myself in the sewers.

            With its dirty, smelly waters, I walked and walked and walked. And when I had wriggled into some hole, I woke up with a start.

           

            Rolcene was sitting beside my bed, and he took a deep breath.

            "Rolcene!" I shout.

            He alerted himself, and bolted upright. "Yes, Jules? I was to wake up everyone, it's already four."

            I rolled my eyes, and then brushed off sleep off my eyes. "Too early. Where did John sleep?"

            Rolcene pointed downwards. "He slept next to the watchers. Said he's too excited to see James and the others."

            I nod, and I stood up. Rolcene woke up the others, and when I had gotten down the stairs, I saw John was already sipping coffee while wrapped on blankets. That explains why I was shivering last night.

            "Good morning, Jules," John says lively. He beckons me to sit with him next to the hay we had gathered when we cleaned the warehouse.

            "How's sleep?" I asked him.

            John stirred his steaming coffee some more with a stick. "Good. But I still dreamt of James."

            I don't know if I should tell him about my dream last night. I was thinking it'll only make him miss our classmates more.

            "What have you dreamt about, brother?" I asked.

            John sips once. "I dreamt they were off to nowhere, with choppers accompanied by armed people chasing them. Seems lunatic, right?"

            I shake my head. "You look like you're dreaming of some things. Something—real."

            John spilt some of his hot drink on the black blanket. "Sorry for that," he apologized, and glanced at Noe and June, who were heating up frying pans. "Well, I dream things that already happened, but sometimes...it seemed so real. So real but it wasn't—me. It was like I was in another body—another eyes."

            I nodded apprehendingly. "Okay. Would you like to join us?"

            "In what?"

            "The first troop will go foraging food," I say, "then the second group will return to the Blue River to find them again."

            "What if zombies are still out?"

            I pull over the katana I got on one souvenir shop. Its blade gleamed with faint morning light, and John looked amused.

            "Have you used that already?" John asked, as his eyes roam over the sword like it was just an illusion.

            I give a nod. "I don't have the style of beheading them. Have you figured it out already?"

            "The what?" he asked. "That they can move without brains?"

            "Yeah, but newborn zombies are exception. The virus becomes the brain of the zombies. The zombies who are zombies for a long time will move without brains. But the newer ones—" I paused, and cut the katana over the hay next to me. The impact made the whole hay divide into two. "I hack and slash their heads."

            John looked depressed. "I wasn't a good leader enough. We had scarcity of weapons."

            "But didn't you all go to Guns' office? Jet told me you went there."

            He nodded. "Well, yeah. I just hoped James and the others got all the guns."

            I try to chuckle. "Oh, you should. The guns owned by Guns are all authentic. Original magazines. You must get it; he'll not scold us anymore."

            John's face brightened with hope. Okay, so maybe I need not to tell how much Gregory Guns hated students who check out on his guns.

            I stood up as I heard the stairs grumble with the students. I asked for volunteers, and about ten volunteered for food—all from other years and sections. But of course, I never let foragers to go without at least one of my classmates to check. Traitors are bad, but I'm badder when I get mad.

            The first batch set off, carrying sacks and plastics and bags and everything that can hold food. For a hundred people, a hundred bucks for food budget will never be enough.

            Stanley sat by John and I heard him say, "We even ate rats when we were hungry" that made John furrow his eyebrows. It was true, but it wasn't something to be proud about. Some freshmen got sick after eating.

            I let Perry go with the first group, and when Rolcene had announced thirty minutes have passed since the first group left, I assembled the second group.

            "John, will you go?" I ask.

            He throws his empty cup away and said, "Hell yes. I'm going to like swatting heads off."

            That's the spirit.

            All in all, we are twelve. I don't know what's with twelve, but others won't come. They said the base needs people and that we're the best group ever made.

            With me were John, Stanley, (my best friend,) Adrian, (Corps Commander,) Gray, (Leo stopped him from going, "No! No, no, no! My Papa! You might get killed!") Ronald, Daniel, (one of the nerds,) Geno, (one good friend,) and Miguel (one of the finest badminton players we have,). We are nine Josephites, and the other three were fellow friends Jet, (Leo grabbed him, saying, “Oh come on! Gray will go, and you will too? Oh my! That's so much to take! Bah!") J.D., (a guy with dark skin,) and to my surprise and Katie, Jet's classmate.

            "What are you looking at?" she said consciously when we were all surprised to see her volunteer. "Even if I'm a girl, I won't be useless! And I-I-I—"

             She blushed when Jet patted her back.

            "And I will go find my friend Jasmine!" Katie insisted. I let her go, but I make her promise not to be so useless and a cry-baby. If anyone will die beyond help, we'll leave him or her. That's one of our agreements.

            Noe and June handed us a bag full of freshly cooked food, and the two girls looked proud of themselves.

            "Promise us you'll not waste that," June trills at me. "We've had trouble cutting the leeks! They had gone hard from the cold."

            I rolled my eyes. "Alright, alright. I told you cooks not to be that meticulous about food."

            Noe grinned. "Good luck, guys! We'll make a great lunch once you all returned!"

            The twelve of us didn't look happy. It's as if we know that we can't return in complete.

            Noe was already pushed by June away from us. "Okay, just keep safe guys! Aim for the head!" Noe says.

            And that was a joke.