Chapter 14: 14
Every post in social media is about the epidemic, some people took pictures inside one of the camps while others have posted that they are against the idea of the camps, they thought that being there would be like putting your eggs in the same basket. A few people even said that they would head to higher ground and some people with boats decided to sail and stay in the water for a while.
I checked my email and saw that some of the people that I invited to stay at my place decided to go to the camps or stay at their homes, some of them didn’t even reply. I immediately made an email to reply to everybody that the offer still stands, they could take anybody they trust with them and that I don’t know if we could contact everybody using the Internet for long. I turned my laptop off as I changed my clothes and headed to the 3rd floor. Kaley and Olivia joined me along with the other guys towards the gym.
I started with a light jog in the treadmill, then I completed sets of stretches as I proceeded to the machines and then to the free weights. I lastly did core exercises and a few more stretches before I headed to the bathroom for a hot shower. The whole process took me two hours. I headed down to the 2nd floor just covered in my towel while carrying my clothes in a clump.
As I was about halfway towards my room, the bathroom on the 2nd floor opened.
I saw Kaley walking out, a towel covered her body and her hair is also held by a towel, exposing her neck. Her jade-like skin and rosy cheeks made my chest thump.
“Oh, hi. I just finished helping Oscar with everyone, he said he’d-” she said as she came out of the bathroom.
“Boss Sky, your aunt said that the- umm… sorry for the interruption.” Rin came up then she stopped midway and immediately headed downstairs before I got the chance to say anything.
We both blushed at the same time as we looked at each other, she looked away but I just looked at her.
“W-what?” she said as she looked back at me.
“Nothing, I just thought that you’re really beautiful.” I said.
Her eyes widen and her cheeks became redder, same as mine, as I said it.
“Ayiee~!” a voice behind her shrieked.
Olivia was actually behind Kaley! She pushed Kaley to the side while hugging her and she looked at me with a grin. Her eyes moved about then she saw my tattoos.
“Whoa! That’s cool!” she immediately approached me as she started to touch my arm.
“Did it hurt?” she said.
“Yeah, it was inked by thin bamboo, it took a week before it was finished.”
“Oh, is that so? Sis! Feel Sky’s arm, He’s jacked!”
Kaley felt my arm and as she does it, she noticed one of the few scars that I have. Her eyebrow raised and she gave me a look. I pulled back my arm as she was about to ask about it. Olivia was still oblivious to what happened in that short moment.
“Let’s get dressed, they might start eating soon. We’ll also have the meeting later; everyone can ask their questions there.” I said as I went to my room.
“Y-yeah, sure.” Kaley said as she dragged Olivia while she gave me a concerned glance.
We went down together and we saw them still placing some of the utensils at the table. Kaley didn’t seem to ask me about the scars that I have. As everyone is now gathered, we started to eat dinner together. One of the guys brought a Bluetooth speaker out and started to play songs as some of us started to chat among each other. We’re now served with noodles with boiled eggs and vegetables, there’s a few pieces of meat included. A small bowl of chili flakes sits in the corner if you want to add a bit of kick to it and my cousin Nicole, also aunt Sharon’s daughter, is coming back for it, seemingly unaffected by the spice and thoroughly enjoying it.
As we finished eating, some of the group are visibly sleepy from the work we’ve done earlier. Add to that the toll in our minds of what is happening. Most of the people seems to be showing that they are doing fine, while a few others seemed stressed, which is understandable.
“While we’re resting, let’s have the meeting now that everyone is here.” I said as I placed my laptop on one of the tables. Everyone gathered in front of me as I burp and taste a bit of the soup from the noodles that I ate earlier.
“Before we start, I’d like to thank you all for being cooperative and being here. It’s been a very hard day for all of us and it’s safe to say that we’re all tired.” I got a few smiles.
“Let me say what I got for you first then you can ask me all your questions.” I said.
Everyone seems to agree on that so I started.
“A few years ago, while we were building this place for fun, and of course, security, there were reports lurking out there that what appears to be people exhibiting very strange behavior. You can see them everywhere since there are a lot of them in the Internet so we can’t be too sure if it’s real or not. However, take a look at this.”
I first showed them a CCTV video of a businessman in a bus station lying down on the floor, a few seconds pass, it rolled over, and it smashed his head on the ground. The man started to shake uncontrollably then a guard approached the man to help him. As the guard was getting closer, the man suddenly props up, then it dashed towards the approaching bus and was hit dead on. I played the video again from another angle after the man got hit by the bus. The figure flew a few feet on the pavement, now unmoving. It then stood up for a few seconds then it fell like a puppet when its string was cut off.
The second one I played was from a phone camera, it shows a group of friends partying inside a house. One of the gals brought out a white, crystalline powder from a satchel and she snorted it, she gave a yell and everybody cheers her on. A few seconds pass, her eyes rolled over and she fell to the table she was standing at. It was then cut into an ambulance where an EMT is giving her CPR, the person touched her wrists to look for a pulse then he shook her head. When the body is being placed on a body bag, it suddenly clawed the EMT’s neck and he bled uncontrollably. Both the EMT and the girl died that day where there was no explanation for how the girl managed to do that.
I started to show them video after video up to the most recent one. It shows a footage of a man in a maintenance uniform biting the neck of another guy in the same uniform, it then cut into another angle where a very familiar man, woman and older man was in front of it. The group now looked at me, Kaley and Oscar as they watched Oscar in the footage swing the fire extinguisher on the head of the figure.
Kaley was the first one to get a realization from the group watching it, “It’s progressing or evolving, was it a timeline of the virus?” she asked.
I nodded, “That first video was in the 2016, and the most recent one was earlier this morning, I found the last one earlier and downloaded it.” I continued, “It was first described as a rare phenomenon where people would just move even if they’re dead, similar when a lizard’s tail was cut and the tail that got chopped of still moves for a certain period. But other people thought otherwise, there were supposed to be a lot more of these videos but the craziest ones got removed a few minutes after it was uploaded.”
“What happened in those?” Rin asked.
“I’ve seen one, it was in a lab, ten people are strapped to a bed while on the other room, a zombie was being taken apart. They’ve taken its teeth, nails, bone, blood, flesh etc. After they did that, they started pressing the teeth to one person as it draws blood, the same they did with the bones and nails. After that, on one of the people, they injected the blood directly to his body and one of them was fed the rotting flesh forcefully. It goes on and on as some of them started to show different changes and the scientist started to note down what they are. When the camera panned, it shows on another side more people to be used as test subjects.” I said to the group.