An Ordinary Day and A Reality That Should Only Exist In Fantasy Horror Stories

Date: May 14, 2022 | Time: 9:24 am

"Lola, I'll be leaving now!"

"When are you going back home?"

"I'm not sure... It depends... Maybe tomorrow, maybe at midnight, or later at dusk"

"Alright, stay safe, okay?"

"I will!"

"Did you tell your mom that you're leaving?"

"No"

"You should tell her. She might become worried or she'll be angry"

"No thanks"

The boy left the house where him, his grandmother, his female cousin, and mother lives. He exited the gate and stood by the sidewalk as he waited for a tricycle to come by

A few seconds later, a tricycle came by since this street is where most vehicles come by. He lifted his arm and pointed at the sky to catch the tricycle driver's attention

The tricycle driver took a U-turn and stopped in front of the boy. He entered the cabin and sat down

"Where to?"

The driver asked

"EDSA please"

The tricycle driver then nodded and started driving

The boy then pulled his smartphone out of his pocket and opened the Messenger messaging app. He tapped on the group chat that him and his close friends from senior highschool are on

< Omw

> Be safe Philip!

> I'm also omw

> Omw mou shindeiru?

> NANI?!

> Nandato?!!

> Nandato kudasai?

> Yamete

> IYAAAH~

> HAHAHAHAHA

> You're all so weird

There were at least 50 new messages that constantly popped up in just a few seconds. There were also at least 30-40 profile heads that went down, meaning that they have read the messages

The boy, who is apparently named Philip, smiled and chuckled inside the cabin of the tricycle as he placed his phone back in his pocket. He was about to arrive in his destination in no longer than two minutes after all

He then reached for his small backpack and reached for the payment for his commute inside the small pocket. He doesn't use a coin purse since he could just easily grab the coins in the small pocket, rather than unzipping a smaller zipper. He also inspected the things that he brought on the trip

His small backpack is has three zippers with one of them being a bait pocket in front. Once the front zipper was opened, even if there's a pocket, the pocket is actually stitched together. Apparently, it's to prevent pickpocketing to bait the snatchers

The first zipper is behind the shoulder straps to make it more secure. He has a clear book and folder in that compartment. He didn't have anything important in the folders except for his birth certificate, for some reason, and he has most of his school works bundled together. There were papers involving algebra, trigonometry, physics, thermodynamics, rigid bodies, and many more since he took the mechanical engineer course

He also has type-C and micro-B charger extensions for his two smartphones. One is the A3S model and the second is the A53 model. He only has one adaptor though since he could just swap both chargers if one phone has low battery. Though, usually, he has two adaptors back at home

Meanwhile, in his main zipper, he has everytjing in there. There are two zipper pockets, two small pockets, and two hidden medium pockets on the side

In the first zipper pocket, he mostly has his utilities, small objects, and random things inside. There are friction ballpens of three different colors of black, blue, and red with two extra cartridges for the black ink and he also has a 0.3 g-tech ballpen. He has one HB pencil, one shade 2 pencil, a mechanical pencil, lead cartridge, a sharpener, and an eraser

There is also an old nail cutter, a dental floss, a cuticle trimmer, a metal tweezer, a hex key or an Allen wrench, a pair of spare rubber earbuds, a precision knife cutter, a stylus drawing pen, a square envelope with his 2x2 and 1x1 picture, a round eyeglass, a USB flashdrive, a bright blue comb, a golf ball, and a ping-pong ball

On the small left pocket in front of the first zipper pocket has most of his coins. He has no idea how many ₱1, ₱5, and ₱10 coin inside

On the small right pocket, he has keys to his grandmother's house, the key to his mother's second hand car, and the keys to his old house. He also somehow have the 3-inch screws that belonged to his single bed back to his old house. He also has one padlock with an attached key

Meanwhile, he has nothing on the second zipper pocket because this pocket is too inconvenient to place something inside

On the left hidden pocket, he has the shredded pencil dust from the sharpener. That was his small trash can because he doesn't dare litter trash around. Meanwhile, he only has his earphones on the right hidden pocket

Finally, the inside of his small backpack, he has his foldable umbrella, folded paper trash, a set of screwdriver heads with rhe driver body, the case for his actual eyeglasses, perfume, a super scientific calculator, razor sharp large scissors, a small notebook, a medium notebook full of notes, a large notebook full of drawings, his vaccination card and health pass, brown leather wallet, folded gray hoodie, one t-shirt, one polo shirt, two shorts, two underwear, an aluminum tape, an electrical tape, a properly folded green large handkerchief or bandana, large ziplocks, and small ziplocks

Even though he has so much random and important junk and objects inside his small backpack, everything seemed to fit well. He could pack his stuff efficiently with no wasted space inside. He is also very prepared as always just in case he encounter certain situations that needed his random items inside his bag

On the handle of his backpack, there are keychains attached to it that has sentimental value to him. There is keychain of brass metal guitar that came from Hong Kong that was given to him by his friend, Pamela. The second keychain is an artisan's work of a strawberry and a leaf that came from Bicol, a region in Philippines that encompasses the southern part of Luzon, and it was given to him by Joy

The third object that was attached to a handle is an artisan's work of a leather bracelet with attached beads. The special thing about the bracelet is that there is an attached shark's tooth in the middle of the string. He received this bracelet from his ex girlfriend named Sherry. Finally, the fourth object attached to the chains is an orange fuzzy wire that has been shaped into a stickman that he made on his own

Inside his brown leather wallet is an arcade membership card, his scholarship bank debit card, two pizza restaurant membership cards, his school ID and school's information card, and his DOST scholarship ID. He also has four old cinema tickets of "The Pool" and an old rides ticket for the Star City amusement park located in Pasay City, Metro Manila

There is also a wallet sized graduation picture of his former crush, a 1x1 picture of his other crush, and a 1x1 picture of one of his best friends

The method of how he got those pictures was just by asking them. It was easy for him

He also got five ₱20 bills, one ₱50 bill, six ₱100 bills, two ₱500 bills, and one ₱1000 bill with a total of ₱2,750. This is his allowance for his trip

After looking at his things for one second, he pushed his right hand into the bag until he reached the left small pocket and grabbed a few coins. He inspected the sizes of the coins with his sense of touch and grabbed four coins

He pulled one ₱5 coin and three ₱1 coins

At that point, the tricycle parked beside the road and Philip exited the cabin. He reached his payment towards the driver and the driver accepted it

"Thank you"

"Thank you"

The driver thanked Philip and Philip thanked him back. It's just how Philip used to thank people instead of saying "you're welcome"

He then walked away and went to the adjacent side of the road, or more accurately, the highway. He went towards the overpass and climbed the stairs. The overpass was built to let people cross the highway towards the center island, where city buses travel along from bus stops to bus stops

EDSA is short for Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and it's one of the major highways that connects six of Metro Manila's 17 municipalities or cities in the Philippines. It has a length of 23.8 kilometers and it's the busiest road in the country where it's almost filled with traffic jams everyday and causes the country to lose billions of money every year

But during the pandemic for two years, the highway became more open and free. The once two hour commutes became 20 to 30 minutes long. Of course, the highway also has the the MRT-3, Metro Rail Transit Line 3, the third train system in Metro Manila out of seven that goes across Metro Manila and a few provinces with one currently under construction, but the max speed limit was lessened due to past accidents, so it's not reliable at all. Especially since the waiting lines are occasionally long that spans for over 500 meters to 2 kilometers of waiting line with no exaggeration. The waiting line literally reaches through the stairs and along the sidewalk of the highway

After a while, Philip started to climb down the stairs of the overpass in the middle of the highway. He then went in line to wait for the city buses to come

As he was waiting in line, people were occasionally looking at him with interest and curiosity, not because of how he looks, but because of another package that he's bringing that couldn't fit in his backpack

He was wearing a casual outfit of a blue checkered polo with only one button attached that is above a white shirt, blue jeans, and a black-red rubber shoes

He doesn't have too much of fashion sense, so he just slapped any clothes that fit him well. He was planning on just wearing his gray hoodie, like he usually do whenever he goes outside, but he ended up with a polo to change things up a bit

He wears a maroon framed eyeglasses and a mask with a camouflage due to the pandemic

What's unusual about him is that he brought his wooden katana that's inside a black painted sheath. The wooden katana has an eccentric design and yellow in color. It's almost similar to a demon slaying lightning boy's sword in an anime

He had no reason to bring his wooden katana but he brought it anyways. He thought that it would be cool nonetheless or at least for self-defense. Plus, he always has this mindset that an apocalypse might happen and the wooden katana will be his weapon

He has an active and powerful imagination that he can almost create any world or scenario in his mind and he has to prepare for everything. There are no possibilities that will be left out

~~~

Date: May 14, 2022 | Time: 9:32 am

A few minutes has passed, he finally boarded a bus and his destination is towards the east. Then, he has to get off, ride several more public transportation vehicles towards the north and he will reach his final destination

But first, he has to get off at Cubao station

He sat down on one of the chairs that let him be alone where no one would be able to seat one seat apart from him. He placed his backpack on his lap and rested his arms on top

He then pulled his earphone out of the right hidden pocket, wore it, and played music. He blasted the music at 70% so at least he could hear his surroundings since he has good hearing

The music that he's currently playing are random and it's shuffled. It's a mix of jazz, classical, pop, modern, a few rock, lo-fi, and many more. He liked the diversity, randomness, and chaos

He then leaned his head on the window and looked at the sky while he vibes with the music depending on the type

A few minutes later, the sky darkened and became cloudy. Philip wasn't bothered though since he doesn't like the Sun too much and the mood right now doesn't suit the Sun

[There has been reports of military movement in western Russia. The motive is still unknown]

[Deep sea creatures that came from the deepest parts of the Mariana Trench suddenly surfaced. Experts say that the water became hot, so the creatures surfaced. Other experts also say that there were earthquakes deep in the ocean which caused the creatures to surface]

[WHO warns the world of a possible new variant of Covid-19. The virus has the possibility to originate from animals this time. Scientist and researchers are trying to find out the cause of this]

[NASA has revealed that an asteroid the size of New York City has barely passed the surface of the Earth with a 1,380 km distance]

[Military helicopters seemed to be constantly flying across the country. Reports also say that this is also happening in all countries. The government refuse to give any information, even to the media]

[Rumors has it that the UN and European Union had a secret conference and this may be the cause of the presence of military helicopters]

[Whatever this event is... The government needs to make a statement to avoid any misunderstandings and to make the public mass calm down]

Philip panned his eyes towards the television of the bus with a news broadcast

"Heh..."

Philip chuckled and smirked. Ever since the pandemic happened, he already knew that the world was about to go on a decline, a recession, a depression

He always like to predict the future and occasionally snap his fingers to somehow cause a rippling effect or the Butterfly Effect to let certain scenarios happen in the future

He predicted that World War 3 will happen, zombie apocalypse will happen, multiple volcanic eruptions or the Big One earthquake will happen, even an alien invasion, a meteor strike, or a literal end of the world into a planetary explosion

The news just confirmed his predictions, but most of them barely happened. Sometimes, his predictions are accurate, but most of the time it kinda happened

The future will happen either one of the predicted futures. But of course, Philip doesn't believe that those things will happen because it's almost not possible. There is a possibility, but the chances are slim

He just wanted the world to end and die because he doesn't enjoy living too much. He doesn't have anything to do and he's almost a NEET in his grandmother's house.

Even if he has good friends, a good family, and a scholarship and that he should be happy, he didn't want to live anymore. He also believes that his mother is the cause for his internal suffering and the reason why his father left them

He doesn't blame his father or he is angry at him, in fact, he understands his father's decision. It's his mother's fault for his father leaving them

Now that his father is gone, he's suffering the full brunt of his mother's stupidity, ignorance, and pride

The reason he's still with his mother is he initially had a choice whether to stay with his mother and stay in the city or to stay with his father and go to their province

He chose to stay with his mother because he had a loving girlfriend when he made the choice. His girlfriend lived in the city, so he wanted to stay in the city, even though he didn't want to be with his mother

But even so, he still suffered from his mother and that affected his relationship with his girlfriend. Shit happened and he became broken. His girlfriend ultimately broke up with him

She initially meant it as a joke to test him, but Philip had enough and agreed. He let her go and he became single once again

Several minutes has already passed, he's almost near to his bus stop. He checked the group chat once again to see any updates

As soon as he opened the group chat, everyone was popping off. There is a tab that says [322 unread messages]

Of course, since he likes and loves his friends, he took the time to read back and catch up. Some of them are pretty hilarious too

There are 15 boys in his friend group, 13 girls, two gays, and one lesbian. Even if their friend groups is large, they all get along very well. They sometimes mock or make fun of each other, but they know that they don't mean it to each other and they're just bantering. The bonds of their friendship cannot be broken

> Zen, are you coming?

> Yes, I'm already on the way

> I'm also on the way!

> MARK!!! WAKE UP AND GO NOW

> Yeah yeah! I'm already going

> Oh, I though you're still sleeping

> Do you think I'll miss this special trip? No!

> You won't miss it, but you'll just be late

> Better late than never!

> I'm taking a shower guys!

> Eh? How are you chatting?

> The traffic is heavy in my place, but I'll be able to arrive in time, no worries

> That's fine. You're an exception anyways. Your place is far far

> Kayl is on his motor, he'll be there in no time

> Aww, I hope everyone had a motorcyle

> He's rich! We can't complain

> Good thing he'll pay most of our fees HAHAHA

> HAHAHHA

> Hey! Be sure to thank him, okay?

> We know we know. This trip won't be possible without him

> Also, it's thanks for Philip's planning that he managed to convince all of us

> Cha rue! We don't have too much of this anyways

> That's right! We could only draw, but he is the one who always color it

> If it's Philip who plans for our events, it almost happens 100% most of the time

> Well... He takes no for an answer when it comes to these things

> He's also the navigator for us

> Exactly! All of you are directionally challenged... You won't be able to go anywhere without him

> Guys stop

Philip finally caught up and sent a message

< I'm already at Cubao... I'll be waiting at McDonalds at Gateway, next to Aurora Boulevard, for those who are supposed to come with me

Some of his friends are close to Cubao, the center hub of Metro Manila and where almost every public transportation converge. So, for efficiency, the people who are close to each other should meet first and all go together until they meet up with the other group somewhere else

> Alright! We're coming

> I'm almost close

> I already at Anonas

> I'm at T.I.P

> I'm in front of Alimall

> I'm an SM Megamall

> I just passed Kamias

> I'm currently at Circle, wait for me!

> I just got on LITEX

< Who are supposed to meet me here?

Philip asked

> Mark, Jelo, Clair, Joy, Trish, Rose Lenard, Selene, Jassy, Warr, Echo, Hena... Who else?

> Me!

> Jasper... May, Anna, and Miguel... So, 16 people

< That's a lot... Okay, I'll wait

> Okay!

Philip then closed his phone and placed it back in his pocket and walked through a mall to reach Gateway Mall until he reached a McDonalds branch

He ordered food, cheeseburger, coke float, and a hashbrown, and sat down to eat and wait for the other. That's his breakfast for today. He then opened his other phone and he read manga and novels while still listening to music. He placed his wooden katana across the table

He ate and waited for one hour because he usually goes to the meeting place one hour before the given time. That's his personality anyways, plus it makes other people come on time. If the given time was scheduled for later, they'll come one to two hours later, so Philip adjusted the time in consideration for these people

Philip knows how to manipulate people's feelings according to certain situations

Date: May 14, 2022 | Time: 10:05 am

He looked at the time on his phone and kept reading and eating

"..."

~~~

Date: May 14, 2022 | Time: 10:12 am

"Hng?!"

Philip abruptly opened his eyes after he twitched from dozing off. He already ate the hashbrown and drank half of the coke float. He waited to eat the cheeseburger for later, but he dozed off. He was surprised that he dozed off when he had enough sleep last night

He looked at the time and quite of a time passed by

'At least one of them should have arrived by now...'

He then gazed outside of the window where he could see a line of jeepneys and taxis waiting for passengers. Surprisingly, the traffic is very slow and heavy that it sometimes reaches to a stop

'That's strange...'

Usually at this time of day, it's not rush hour in Cubao yet. In addition to that, vehicles should have been less because of the pandemic, yet there's heavy traffic that it almost looks like a traffic jam

'Did an accident happen?'

That could've been the only reason why there's heavy traffic. Usually in Manila, accidents happens quite frequently and it causes traffic jams. If it wasn't an accident, it could've been idiotic drivers that caused a traffic jam due to beating the red light on stoplights

"Haaah..."

Philip let out a deep sigh as he slowly drank his coke float and looked at the group chat

> What's happening? It's so traffic!

> We're already near and this happened

> Should we get out and walk there?

> That would be smart, rather than waiting for several minutes compared to a few minutes of walking distance

< Take your time guys, we still have to wait for several people

Philip assured everyone and patiently waited as he leaned on the glass panel of the restaurant

Several seconds later, he suddenly saw several groups of people running along the boulevard. There is another set of railway system going across Metro Manila and this specific railway is called LRT-2, Light Rail Transit Line 2, that goes above the boulevard, at the same level of fifth floor of buildings. Since the Aurora Boulevard intersects with EDSA, the MRT-3 goes under LRT-2 where the train perfectly fits to go through under the other railway

Them running on the sidewalk is a given and doesn't seem out of the ordinary, but it was strange that a lot of them were running in the middle of the boulevard, in between cars and jeepneys

People inside the cars and jeepneys came out after a few of the runners urged them to go out. They then also ran away after hearing what the runner said to them

There was almost a stampede. The once peaceful and bustling area became chaotic as the roads suddenly became jam-packed of running people. They all seem to run away towards one direction, like they're running away from one source

At this point, Philip felt a pit in his stomach after seeing the unusual event and situation that rarely, or almost never, happen ever. He also felt butterflies in his stomach as he was having mixed feelings of excitement, dread, fear, restlessness, happiness, and bravery

This is the moment that he's been waiting for ever since he learned the reality of the universe and how cruel it can be

He immediately opened his group chat once more and sent a message

< GO INTO GATEWAY NOW!!! DO NOT FOLLOW ANYONE AND GO TOWARDS THE TOP FLOOR AT THE CINEPLEX! DO NOT TRUST ANYONE UNLESS YOU KNOW THEM!

> Huh? Why? What's happening?

> It's rare for Philip to be alarmed... Sometimes he meant it as joke but this feels cryptic... Maybe just follow his instructions for now

> But we're still far away...

> I'm almost near

> What's happening Philip?

> Did something happen?

> Hm, he's not seeing our messages anymore... Maybe there's an emergency?

> Nonetheless, just follow Philip for now... He'll message us later if anything happens

> Okay!

He instantly sipped the coke float empty and licked off the chocolate fudge by scooping it using the straw, and pocketed the cheeseburger in his backpack. He stood up as he wore his backpack and firmly held the wooden katana on the sheath. He also unplugged his right earbud out of his ear so that he could hear clearly while listening to music on his left ear

The people inside McDonalds has their attention towards the outside, even the cashier went out of their stations and inspected the event outside. The security guard has his radio on hand as he talks to other security guards in the mall

Philip ignored everyone and immediately went behind the counter of McDonalds. He went straight to the kitchen and looked for tools

"Hey! What are you doing here?!"

Three chefs noticed his presence but he just ignored them

"GUARD!!"

One of the chefs shouted as he called the attention of the guard, but he was too distracted by the radio comms

At this point, Philip found what he was searching for. He immediately swiped his backpack in front of him and grabbed all the knives that he could get and shoved it inside his backpack

Surprisingly, three chef's knives, a butcher knife, a bread knife, and two carving knives fit inside his small backpack. Though, the handle of the bread knives was sticking out of his backpack, but it's fine since it could be secured by the zippers

"THIEF!!!"

The chef shouted at the top of his lungs and the security guard was finally alerted. He pulled out his baton and went towards the kitchen. There, he met Philip as he was about to leave while grabbing cheeseburgers and quarter pounders out of the food racks

"Guard! He stole several knives!"

The guard became angry but still wary of Philip

Philip stole knives so he poses a threat to the guard. He also has a sheathed katana to which the guard is the most wary of, since he doesn't know if it's real or fake. The looks of the katana could be deceiving until the sword is completely unsheathed

The guard then placed his baton back on his utility belt and pulled the gun out and aimed it at Philip

"I wouldn't be focusing on myself if I were you..."

Philip spoke

"Put your hands up and throw away that sword!!!"

The guard screamed as he slowly walked forward while still aiming the gun. Philip didn't follow his orders and looked at his eyes ridicule

"PUT YOUR HANDS UP NOW!"

"I won't be dealing with myself if I were you"

"..."

The guard did not respond and kept approaching Philip slowly but surely

"Are you sure?"

"..."

Philip then pointed outside of the restaurant and gutteral screams could be heard from the outside. Suddenly, explosions were heard that rocked the buildings and the surroundings. The cars were shoved backwards as if it was a result of a domino effect when a big vehicle suddenly crashed

Everyone in the restaurant was alarmed and they became anxious. The guard was distracted and he immediately looked towards the outside. The radio comms on his walkie-talkie was popping off with various call outs from other guards

The guard then walked towards the glass panel and watched what was happening outside with a dumbfounded expression. He felt fear, his mouth started to quiver, and his hands started to shake

"Mr. Guard..."

Philip called out to the guard

"If you want to live and survive, go to the top most floor... If you have conscience, lead this people and have them gather supplies as much as they can and go to the top floor. They would rely on you more rather than they would rely on me"

Philip then dashed out of the exit that leads into the Gateway mall. The guard didn't follow him as the chefs, waiters, and cashier were dumbfounded and confused while being alarmed and cautious

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Suddenly, one of the female customers screamed as she stumbled backwards. A strange creature suddenly slammed into the glass panel from the outside and tried to break the glass by biting it and clawing into the glass

Everyone inside McDonalds had their eyes widened as they watched the scenario outside

Creatures were jumping and running towards people and bit them. They tore off their skin, bit their arm, and scratched them like some kind of feral animal

After they have done damage to a person, that person becomes one of them and started attacking other people too. The creatures began to multiply and bite more people

At that point, everyone knew what was happening. An event that shouldn't have been possible and only exist in fantasy movies and stories. The end of the world and the start of a new era

The Zombie Apocalypse