Chapter 7

With the passage of time, the beautiful light blue sky has begun to darken. The sun had already set, and the breeze of the air had begun to turn much cooler in comparison to how humid it had been before. The sounds of chattering birds, the cicadas, and the distinct birching of each leaf from its trees have all faded away. And the only thing we could hear was the noise from our automobile. My brow scrunched as I spotted the identical path we'd taken earlier. When I knew I was correct, I tried to look out the window for a clear indication. We're going back to Old Chatham. In the deep shadows of the trees, I halted and diverted my gaze, inspecting the route we were heading to. Despite the darkness, my 20/20 eyesight allows me to see every patch of grass and sinkhole as if it were midday. The road was deserted save for a few abandoned vehicles and buildings and three rotten in the distance, which was to be anticipated. Of course, only fools and zombies ventured out at night. "Are we returning to Old Chatham?" I inquired. Justine gave me a quick glance before returning his gaze to the road. "Yeah. We have to spend the night in my apartment. It's becoming darker outside. We need a place that we can stay with." I bit my lower lip as I gazed out the window and realized he was correct. I then looked across at Peter, who was dozing out in the front seat. I observed a bruise around his lips, which is pretty terrible to look at. I suddenly remembered what I did earlier. I just left them there alone out of my selfishness. But they still came to fetch me. I feel apologetic for them and at the same time, I'm embarrassed to face them. I don't even know how to face them anymore. Now that I think about it, how do they even know that Pittsfield was where I went to? 'How did you find me anyway? How'd you know where I was?" in a curious tone, I questioned him. He chuckled before pointing to Peter using his lips. 'Ask him. He said you might be in Pittsfield, so we gave it a try." I glanced back at Peter and smiled when he did that. I was not expecting it from him. I mean… he's kind. But I didn't know he'd do that and go there just to come to get me. It's just not Peter's style. I heaved out a deep long sigh. "Are you all right?" Justine murmured, gripping the steering wheel firmly. I came to a halt in the middle of my sentence, and my gaze was drawn to him the minute he asked that question. In all honesty, am I all right. Clearly, no. My mother killed my sister Georgia, and my mother committed suicide in front of me because both of them had been infected. I'm not sure how or what to feel, but grief and anguish are the predominant emotions I'm having right now. But, of course, if I wanted to survive and make it through this, I'm going to have to be courageous. I need to be calm and focused. 'Yeah, I'm…" I paused, nodding my head. 'I'm okay. Thank you for asking," I smiled at him. He smiled back at me. 'When I was a kid, I lost both my parents too. My father died in a war, and my mother? She has been sent to a mental asylum. It's just that years later, my mother passed away too," he shrugged. 'You know? Probably from being isolated at that sick, dark, and boring place." I bit my lips, not knowing what to say because I was utterly shocked by what he just shared with me. I don't know that his parents died in such a tragic and sad way. I feel so sorry for him. He was looking at the road, but I could clearly see the pain and fears from the reflection of his eyes. 'At such a young age, I became a father of my own sister. It was sad, tragic, and exhausting. But my sister gave me another meaning to my life. She's all I have too, you know?" he added. Justine chuckled but I found no humor on it. I looked down at my fingers and started playing with them when curiosity got me, and I had no other option but to ask him. I cleared my throat. 'But where's your sister now?" I asked him that question. But after that, he stopped responding to me. The smile has faded on his face and all I could see now from his expression was pain and nothing more. I nodded to myself and looked back again outside the window, figuring he might not want to talk about that. I figured out something bad might have happened to his sister, and I don't want to pry on his personal life anymore. I took a big breath to assess the air. The evergreen tree's pungent atmosphere was almost overbearing. Despite this, my improved sense of smell was able to distinguish the majority of the milder odors beneath it. I ignored the fragrances of greenery and concentrated on those of living creatures. Like I explained before, there wasn't much around here; Old Chatham was not a huge town. A slew of rotten, an albino deer, flock of sheep, some reindeer, a few bunnies, and a dog in desperate need of a breath mint. There was no trace of people in the air, and no one had been on this route in a long time. Nonetheless, it was a road, and all roads led someplace. But maybe this won't end in the middle of a tourist trap infested with rotten like the other one. When we had already reached our destination, Justine parked the car inside the building's carpark. The place was dark, quiet, and it has these eerie vibes wherein you'll feel that you're not safe. Peter has already woken up, and the three of us examined the place first before finally going outside the car. Justine had to slam the door of his car quietly and I prepared myself just in case someone appears on the side. "That must be the reason why you asked me for a backup key, huh?" Justine whispered quietly. Peter noticed it too then laughed. I rolled my eyes as the three of us made our way to where the fire exit was. We decided to take the stairs instead of using an elevator to avoid possible risks and dangers of having encountered rotten in the entire building. Fortunately, we were able to get through Justine's apartment unit. It was not that easy, and we had to stay alert as we get to the seventh floor. 'Man, why do you have to get a unit on the seventh floor?" Peter asked as soon as we got inside the unit. Justine slammed the door slowly and made sure it was locked properly. Justine chuckled. 'I don't know. It was the only available unit when I got here." I walked past through them and went to the window. I opened the binder a little bit, enough for me to peeked at what's happening outside. Below the buildings were some four more abandoned cars parked on each side of the building. In front of us was another building which I assumed was for tenants as well. 'What are you doing?" Justine asked when he noticed me. I closed the curtains and averted my attention to Justine who was now beside me. I smiled at him. 'Nothing. Just looking outside." He nodded at me and smiled back. Peter came back to us straight from the kitchen and he was now holding cans of beer. He put all of it on the table and some ready-to-eat foods that he probably got from Justine's pantry. 'Beer?" Peter asked. The three of us sat on the floor as Peter handed us some beers that he got. We're in Justine's living room and I'd say that his apartment is pretty compacted, but the interior is quite superb. I didn't even know that an apartment complex like this in Old Chatham exists! I mean, an apartment that beautiful like this? It's sort of amazing. I wonder how much Justine pays for this every single month. Justine laid his back on the couch and look above the ceilings. Peter did the same thing as he sipped from his beer. 'I never expected something like this in my life," Peter started which caused all of us to look at him. Justine sneered at him. 'All of us didn't." 'I mean I am just pretty busy working with my office life. I have a girlfriend and I was about to ask her hand for marriage," Peter added, with a half-smile plastered on his face. I gasped. How sad and unfortunate it was! 'Unfortunately, that didn't happen. But I was glad she's not here." Justine frowned. 'Where is she?" 'She's in London," he replied to Justine, chuckling. 'A UK citizen huh?" Peter shrugged at him. 'You could say that man," he then averted his gaze to me and threw me a question. 'You work at TDEX?" I sipped from my beer before I glanced at him. Both Justine and Peter were looking at me again with their expressive eyes. Why do I feel like they have the same eyes? I cannot read it nor comprehend it. Well, the only difference was that Justine has these deep blue eyes, while Peter has these brown eyes. And Justine's a lot more expressive and fathomable compared to him. I nodded at Peter. 'Yeah. I was… I was under Jerica," I sipped. 'But I was planning to submit my resignation and this shit happened." Peter burst into laughter while Justine only smiled at what I said. Well, I can't blame them. Even for me, it's funny and ridiculous. 'So, you're under Jerica, huh? I worked at TDEX too under Villamor. I was like a data analyst," Peter chuckled and glanced at Justine. 'How ‘bout you man? You were also at the elevator of our building. What are you doing there?" I looked at Justine because of his question to him. Justine licked his lips and stared at me. I blinked several times because of that. Why is he staring at me? I suddenly got conscious of how I looked. I just don't like when he stares at me like that. He makes me uncomfortable, awkward, and above all, he makes me skip my heartbeat. Justine clicked his jaw before looking back at Peter. 'For some business." 'Oh, man you work there too?" 'Not really. But my ex does." Peter smirked. 'Oh, must be visiting your ex-girlfriend huh? Like some kind of kindling or reuniting." Justine and Peter laughed. I averted my gaze away from them for some reason. I have no idea why but I just don't like their topic. I sipped the whole thing on my can beer and laid on Justine's couch while the two continued on talking. The next morning came by and went like a blur. We had accomplished most of the packaging of supplies the evening before, so it won't be a problem in the morning. The three of us were unwilling to leave our safe harbor, but Justine urged that in order to stay alive, we should keep going and hunt for somewhere else to dwell. Perhaps we could go to a food store to stock up on more supplies, a pharmacy to get medications and first aid kits, and I'd strongly advise them to go to a gun shop to seek for something more powerful to depend on because a pistol won't do us any good, and a rifle isn't enough. Being on the road meant we were out in the open, and who knew what was waiting for us. I shifted the couch away from the entrance, allowing a fresh breeze of air to enter the musty room. When we were finished, we proceeded straight to where our car was parked, and thankfully, we didn't come across anything nasty in the fire escape. We proceeded quickly and observed that the trunk and rear seat of the car were overflowing. If I am not going to lie, we actually looked like we were living in our car, which I imagine would be the situation from now on. Well, I always saw myself being penniless after leaving from my job, but I never imagined it being this bad. 'Clementia!" Peter shrieked. I faced him, who was gesturing to an infected rotten who had felt compelled to bid us goodbye. I started heading towards it, holding my baseball bat and the keys on my knuckles. "What are you up to? Get in your car!" in an angry voice, Justine exclaimed. But I didn't even bother glancing back, so instead, I focused on the rotten who was staring at me with an angry look. It was an old man, maybe in his seventies, wearing an indigo suit smeared with blood. As I neared, it snapped its teeth and made a low guttural screech. Sorry to say grandfather, but I have no room for sympathy. So, regardless of age and race, I'd kill anyone for survival. 'What? Is there no farewell?" I said, and it took me a minute to realize I'd spoken it out loud. Justine and Peter had already gotten inside the vehicle. Justine, as usual, was the one driving, so I returned my gaze to him, signaling him to follow me after I finished this one. I raised my baseball bat and smacked it directly in the center of the thing's forehead. I grabbed my baseball bat loose as it fell like a bag of potatoes. I had also looted another automobile close to check on something, and if I had to guess, this one was a resident of the teacup American house. But I must have missed him during my previous sweep. I fixed the keys on my knuckles and make sure it was intact and in place before Justine came over to me and I went back inside the car. Peter had gotten in the front seat, while I went to the passenger's seat and Justine started the hummer. 'You ready? " Justine asked. I nodded, and Justine backed out of the driveway, one final glance at his apartment complex. We were hounded out of town by infected rotten lured by the ruckus. The mass behind us almost gave me the impression that we were being chased out of town. All they needed were spears and barbed wire, and they would like some villagers straight out of a movie. Well, they really did look like came straight out from a movie. A short chuckle escaped my lips and both Peter and Justine sent me a questioning look. 'Where are we going?" I asked Justine, more as a way to divert his attention. 'We're going to the southwestern corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn," he replied. 'We're going to Fort Hamilton base." My brows furrowed and my forehead creased. What? We're going to what? To Fort Hamilton? It's like eight hundred miles away from Old Chatham! If that's the case, it's probably going to take us around eight hours before we finally reached that army base. That's close to impossible! 'Wait, Justine, are you serious? To Fort Hamilton? Really? Are you crazy? It's going to take a long way. We're far from that!" Peter scoffed at me from behind. 'Justine knew someone from the base. We could get help there and we can stay there while waiting for rescues." 'We have to take risks in order to survive, Clementia. It's better than doing nothing," Justine added which made me silent. Right. Justine's right. We have to take measures and we have to go through the extra mile if we want to live long. That's the basic in each and every survival. It's better than doing nothing and regretting for not taking any actions. I cleared my throat. 'Uh… So, does Waze still works? Or perhaps you have some map with you?" Justine glanced at Peter. 'Waze is not working anymore. But he has it." I peered at Peter, who was holding the map. Peter unrolled the Brooklyn map on which we had planned our trip. I believed we'd have most of our interstate traveling done today, landing one town away from Borough Park's outskirts, thanks to what my sister Georgia and his husband Lesley had taught me about reading maps. Because gas was expensive, Justine could not really go too fast, keeping the speedometer at fifty miles per hour. Except, of course, there was a swarm of rotten coming after us. Surprisingly, that pace seemed rather quick. And, I suppose, anything else would if you weren't driving alongside other cars. But given that there are no other vehicles here with us, so that's the case. 'How about we stop at some groceries and weapon shops?" I suggested. Peter and Justine both nodded at my suggestion. 'We could do that. The supplies we got from my apartment aren't enough," Justine said. I smiled at him. 'Great!" Peter and I had drawn a circle on the layered map in which I thought the store maybe. All I had to do was locate the Hannaford supermarket, where we could undertake our first heist. We could simply go there. The expressway was deserted. Any vehicles on the route were immobile and appeared to have been abandoned for a long time. There were a few infected people who had made their way onto the roadway, but we easily circumvented them. The road became clogged near any turnoff, and Justine had to cautiously weave past parked automobiles. An infected guy launched itself at the passenger's door as we inched past a roadblock of left-behind automobiles, and I shrieked. 'Oh my, holy shit!" I cursed under my breath. Justine shifted the car to the left, squeezing the rotten against the car it had popped out of. A horrible crashing sound reverberated into the car's compartment, like snapping all of your bones simultaneously. Justine had to pull over once we were on some other clean expanse of gravel since the window had become a shambles. 'I think we should change our car. Like a jeep wrangle or something?" Peter suggested. I agreed. Well, I also could not afford to ride ever again with this. I mean, we could do some carjacking. It's not illegal in times like this. Justine and I exited the car with a handful of napkin papers we'd collected from our car. Of course, I couldn't afford to have my peripheral vision obstructed. Justine's dangerous driving had scuffed up the side of the vehicle, and the crimson red paint was emerging in places. I hope the car's owner wasn't too wedded to or invested in the paint job. Before getting back into the car, I dumped the jumbled pile of napkin papers on the ground. "That was nasty," I muttered. Peter burst out laughing. "I wholeheartedly agree." We were ready to press the gas when my gaze was drawn to writing on the freeway floor. I asked Justine to pull over for a second, then stepped back out to take a closer look. 'Hey, what are you doing?" Justine asked. The picture of a clumsily sketched hand with an eye in the center stared back at me from the pavement in burgundy acrylic. It sort of reminds me of an evil eye pendant I once saw, although this depiction was so much more, shall we say, primitive. "What exactly is that?" Peter inquired. I glanced around to find that Justine and Peter had also gotten out of the car and were marveling at the vandalism as well. I shook my head. "Perhaps the Illuminati or something?" "We don't know. And please remain in the car," Justine said as he gave me a stern look. Before we returned to the vehicle, Peter took one more look at him and then back to the sketch. Then Justine did the same. "Do you believe that was intended to represent God's hand?" Peter queried us. Justine shrugged. "I'm not a religious person, but I don't believe that emblem came from the Christian faith." "Justine is completely right," I agreed. "What do you make of it?" "Maybe it's the scar of the sinner's eye?" I responded to Peter. Justine glanced at me as if I had said something strange. "Isn't that the kind of look you give someone?" Peter responded to me. I shook my head. "I suppose. However, it is also a metaphor. It's not a nice emblem to have, to be sure." "Why would someone design that then?" I exhaled a sigh. It seems like I was in for another entertaining round of multiple questions. When Justine realized this, he laughed. Oh, my God. I sighed and rolled my eyes. "I'm not sure. Perhaps to fend off evil or perhaps to curse people? I'm not from the south but don't some people here believe in sorcery, witchcraft, and anything shit related to that?" I have no idea why I was being asked about this, but Peter knew some odd kinds of stuff for his age. "Or perhaps certain cults. We honestly don't know. But we have to get moving," Justine added. "Well, he was true." As we continued on our voyage, Justine drove right over the emblem. Peter spoke again as he stared through the window. "It was probably terrible luck that we drove over it." Justine burst out laughing. On the other hand, I stayed deafeningly silent. I didn't believe my luck could get much worse, so I shrugged. Perhaps it was a group establishing their area, but there was no lettering like, 'Upper east side 4 life,' and don't bandits prefer to identify themselves? It was a strange object to have in the center of the road, and it seemed like whoever placed it there intended it to be noticed. Anyway, who gives a rat's ass about that? It's not going to help me. They're probably some kind of cult, as Justine said. The drive was taking longer than usual since we were attempting to save petrol by driving slowly. The swirling of the additional gas in the cylinders would occasionally reach the cockpit as if to inform us why we were moving so slowly. We wanted this petrol to last as long as possible, especially because we'd be driving for eight hours to Fort Hamilton. We lacked the physical power to break into the subterranean tanks at the gas station, so we'd have to settle for funneling gas from abandoned automobiles. And I was growing tired of the stench of gasoline. 'Why are you smiling?" Justine asked me. I hadn't even known I was beaming. "Uhm, I was just thinking about our supply haul a little time ago. I made a snide remark to a stray cat I noticed about sucking on tubes." "I don't get it," he said, raising his brows. "You won't either for the next several years." He chuckled and turned away from me. Peter followed suit. My mind quickly returned to our cat from before. I once had a cat named Siena. She was a Persian cat that Georgia and mom had given to me. Siena was given to me when I was nine years old. Unfortunately, Siena died as a result of her age, and I was devastated at the time. Suddenly, I had a flashback to Georgia and my mother. Our house had become their ultimate sanctuary. And the last thing I saw was their melancholy demeanor. My thoughts then wandered to Georgia's relatives. Niki, her daughter, and her husband. I have no idea how much they're feeling right now, but I have a great hunch that they're feeling the same thing I'm having. And I feel sorry for Niki. That she lost her mother at such a young age. She hasn't even graduated middle school, and now her mother was gone. I attempted to clear my mind of all ideas. I wanted to think they were all alive, that they had survived being infected, that they had survived the virus. Would we ever be able to revert to our former selves? We hadn't always agreed since I was so preoccupied with my work and life at TDEX that I hardly had time to come home. I was so confined to my apartment unit that I couldn't even check on them. They simply had to be alive. That's the last thing I want. That they will be with me until a cure is found and we are all saved. I mean, I survived and avoided being infected, and Peter and Justine did as well, so they must be alright as well. Mom and, particularly, Georgia were far more qualified than I was. 'Peter, you go for the weapons. Clementia and I will go over for the pharmacy supplies," Justine commanded as soon as the car stopped at an area, I have no idea where we were. 'Alright, man. Let's see each other back here in this car." Justine nodded at him as we watched Peter go over to an old hardware. Beside it was a pharmacy clinic. 'Now, come with me," Justine glanced at me and walked in front of me. I nodded at him and examined my surroundings. I followed the same path at a steady pace, staying in the shade of his shadow. I followed Justine cautiously, leaving less space between us like we typically did. It would have been easy for the canine to flee on the road, but these dogs would have instantly pursued. It was less of a nuisance to stay behind Justine's back. There were no people nearby for us to be concerned about, however, if a human had caught sight of my dark form of blazing eyes, they would have been quivering in their graves. That is if they noticed me at all. At moments like these, it was practically hard to recognize a rotten, much like warriors or snipers in classic Hollywood or Hong Kong films, unless we disclose ourselves. My darkish olive-green sweater and pants complemented Justine's shadow well. Now that I'm thinking about it, I suppose we should go shopping to replace some of our tops and bottoms. I continued following Justine until we get to the pharmacy. The handle glass door has some blood painted on it as if someone was banged over the door or some rotten held it. By conventional standards, the predawn light would have been regarded as quite faint, yet it was already too dazzling for me. My nose picked up a faint odor of humanity and concrete, but it was only the aftertaste of an abandoned town. We didn't have any medical supplies in case we got harmed, so it was a smart idea to swing by here to check if there were any first aid kits remaining. This little village was easy to discover because it was situated alongside the highway. Only the rottens walked its streets, drawn in by the lingering odors of the people who used to reside here weeks or days before. Years, months, and days of human occupation have infused the aroma into the structure itself. I could see a half-dozen rotting even from the tree line. They could have been confused for some animal predators that happened to be idly roaming around if it hadn't been for their dirty attire and the way they moved. Also, despite being about as intelligent as a brick, I saw that these common stupid rotten could scarcely go faster than a trot. Although some were the runner types. I was also collecting up on the notion of two sprinters, who were likely to be a little more vexing to deal with. One in every 5,000 rotten were runners, as per the other four positions. They weren't as swift as their prior human selves, but they were considerably stronger and had greater stamina. Their IQ had also suffered greatly, making the ferals much more violent. They would attack other individuals to establish a position in the pecking order, much like wild dogs. They ignored the usual sick ones since the rotten were unconcerned with things like rank. Of course, they wouldn't care because their brain wasn't even operating in the first place. 'Come on, Clementia," Justine's voice was quiet and slightly rough from disuse, but I have heard it. My walk was smooth and steady with a hint of a stalk. 'What you got there with you?" I asked him. 'I got some bandages, gauzes, betadine, and different antiseptics. Go over to the medicine and get some painkillers," he ordered me. I glanced at his arms and noticed he was holding what he has told me earlier. I nodded at him and smiled. 'Alright. I'll be back really quick." I didn't even wait for his response any more as I had already gone towards the area to where the medicines were located. I examined each rack one by one until I found the painkillers. I glanced around my surroundings and noticed how small this pharmacy was. Well, it was something to be expected. Also, because this roadside village was so little, it was probably not on most maps or Waze. The majority of the structures on the streets were residences, with a few little businesses, public restos, and a tiny hotel. I wandered around more to see if there was anything we might use, even though I knew it had probably already been plundered. I was about to go back to where Justine was when I saw a huge door over to my left side. I walked over to it and slowly looked inside the door. I didn't open it because I could see what was inside that room when I noticed it must be a storage room or a staff room seeing that there's a lot of boxes inside. I peeked moreover to check but as I leaned more my eyes towards the glass door until someone appeared from there. 'Oh, my god! Holy shit," I cursed when an infected woman walked in front of me inside that room. My heart pounded and as I was about to ready myself to fight her, I noticed that she never went to my way. Instead, she walked to the other said. What is that? She didn't see me? Shocked by what happened, I examined the glass and that's when I noticed something different to it. I figured out that they might not see us because it might be a one-way glass or what we called two-way mirror glass, where I can see what's inside, but they could not see me from there. One of the rotten smelled the air and turned to confront me, a deep growl in his throat. That piqued the interest of another rotten couple who were inside and looked over to see whether they had discovered anything appetizing. My eyes widened as I saw there weren't just one or two of them, but a swarm of them. It's a good thing that they could not see me, but this is not good. This is certainly a not good idea. I immediately grabbed all the painkillers I got and run my way towards Justine. He was already done getting what he needed and when he saw me running out of breath, he frowned at me. 'What's wrong?" I calmed myself and gathered all the air before I spoke. 'Justine, we have to go. Now."