27 Stuck between a rock and a desert (4)

"Dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot."

This particular set of dots and dashes is one of the most common phrases to say in Morse Code. Three dots means S, three dashes means O, and the last three dots also means S.

As a soldier, especially one that has experienced a battlefield, it is very important to know how to read and how to speak in Morse Code. This particular code can appear in multiple ways, and so every soldier must be prepared to interpret anything they see as some form of signal. Whether they hear a beeping noise from a radio, consecutive explosions of bombs, several bursts of gunfire, see a flag being controlled, or even smoke. As long as there is a pattern, there is bound to be some type of code, and knowing Morse Code will certainly be the difference between life and death.

For several years after the Second World War in the Philippines, most students were taught how to read and determine the letters of Morse Code. In fact, some teachers even used Morse Code to call for their students' attendance, and mark them absent if they fail to say present. After all, even if you aren't a soldier, knowing Morse Code is never a bad thing.

And to the person who is holding that flashlight, knowing the Morse Code must be the best thing he learned in their life.

Under the guise of the darkness, not one of Lieutenant Mickey's group is visible, so that person must have seen their truck arrive.

At this point, Lieutenant Mickey is debating whether he should risk exposing his location by turning on his flashlight to check the water jug in front of him, or if he should check the house first instead.

'The light seems to come from that tall building, it looks very far from here.'

Ever since he and his juniors survived the attacks from two Collectors, Lieutenant Mickey had started to think under the pretense that they are all currently in an apocalypse, everyone is hiding something, and that anyone can be of danger to his life... even his juniors.

'That Anthony seems to know some things about these monsters, how does he know that?'

Thoughts keep appearing inside Lieutenant Mickey's mind. Is the disease genetially modified? Is Anthony part of the group that modified it?

"There can't be a real life firefly, no? This isn't The Last Of Us."

Thinking this, Lieutenant Mickey turned his head towards the back door of the house beside him. Because it was night time, the inside of the house looked much darker than usual. Without the electricity to turn the lights on, Lieutenant Mickey could only turn towards his flashlight. He took it from his pocket and held it in his hand, he didn't turn it on yet.

The doorknob seems to have been knocked out of place, so Lieutenant Mickey could only try to push the door open.

But the door only slightly budged.

'The doorway seems to be blocked by something. I should look for another way in. If the front door's locked, maybe a window is open.'

Despite being really thirsty, Lieutenant Mickey held off from drinking from the water jugs that he saw. He was not that worried about the mouth that was open, but about what nasty things could be swimming in there.

'For all I know, I could be chugging in pee water, or worse, munching on mosquito eggs.'

Before the war had happened, Lieutenant Mickey was one of the so-called 'woke Filipinos' who browse Reddit more than he browses Facebook. And just like Rando, he also liked watching fantastical movies with post-apocalyptic themes and read webnovels.

One time, he saw a post on r/AskReddit of a user asking what a survivor must look out for other than zombies during a zombie apocalypse. And down in the comments, someone mentioned mosquitos and the dangers of open waters.

During that time, he didn't really care about the contents of the other comments, he was just interested about the question. There were many other things and little details that many people would fail to consider that was mentioned in the comments, and Lieutenant Mickey just thought that it was a fun past time to scroll through that thread. Yet at this very moment, he was very thankful to the user that asked the question and the user that said that open water is very dangerous. He could have caught a disease just from drinking the water from the water jug.

'Who knows how long that water jug was left open for...'

Turning back his attention to the house, Lieutenant Mickey went back to the front of the house through the path on the side, which was the path that he used to get to the backyard earlier.

Only a few minutes had passed since Lieutenant Mickey's group had split up, yet during that time, the world sunk in darkness. It was truly night time now, but it hasn't even reached six pm. The small path to the side looked much smaller than before.

'The person holding the flashlight should not be able to see this part of the house. Let's see what's out here.'

Lieutenant Mickey turn on his flashlight and covered the top of the flash to mask it slightly, this way, no light would go upwards since he covered it with the shadow of his hands.

As soon as the light passed through the small lenses of the flashlight, Lieutenant Mickey immediately saw several hammers and saws on a table. The small path that led to the backyard looked like a small shed that acted as the house owner's garage. Whoever lived here before seemed like a carpenter of some sort. The shed had no doors, that was why Lieutenant Mickey could pass through the shed and go to the backyard.

The shed was made out of wooden planks, but maybe because of time, the support pillars looked like it's about to break. The wood walls are falling apart, the small roof that covered the shed had already fell down and is full of uneven holes, and the ground is full of nails and wooden boards.

From the looks of things, only the table and a few tools lying around are left intact, the rest of the things inside the shed are either broken or destroyed to bits.

'Wait, this reminds me, we didn't bring any extra ammunition for our guns. I should probably get these tools, just in case we'd need it.'

After grabbing what he could with his two hands, Lieutenant Mickey turned off his flashlight before walking hastily towards their truck. He left the gate open earlier, so no sound was made as he went out of the house. The truck was right in front of him, so Lieutenant Mickey just tossed the tools in his hands inside the truck through the windows. None of his juniors seems to have come back yet.

Walking back towards the house, Lieutenant Mickey pulled out his flashlight once more. As he neared the door, he glanced at the windows of the house, but he couldn't take his eyes off of it once he saw it.

A head. A human skull with empty eyes and a wide open mouth suddenly appeared behind the broken glass of the window pane. The person behind these walls laid themselves down in front of the window, gazing at the majestic soft light of the moon - which illuminated the entirety of Malagamot Road - and died. Lieutenant Mickey could still see the clothes which clothed the skeleton, but time had torn most of it apart.

The skeleton, which should have made the house scarier, made it look serene. Once more, Lieutenant Mickey was reminded of the devastation that the war caused. Bullets weren't the only things that killed people, but time did as well. Whomever the person sitting beside the window is, they must have died out of hunger.

Before their last breath, they must have longed for the world outside. A peaceful and beautiful world, just like the moon.

"Tabi-tabi po."

Lieutenant Mickey muttered under his breath as he was worried of gaining hatred against the spirit living inside if he suddenly barged in without asking for permission. Who knows whether the spirit is still inside or not. You shouldn't make someone angry, even if you don't know them.

Standing in front of the door, Lieutenant Mickey felt his heart start beating faster. He shouldn't be afraid of the dead person on the windows, he has already seen more than enough dead bodies during the war. But no matter how he thinks he isn't scared, something keeps telling Lieutenant Mickey about something scary.

His heart continued to beat.

Clearing away his hesitation, Lieutenant Mickey pushed open the front door. However, what greeted him isn't just a destroyed house.

There is a giant hole in the ground, and within it lies a dog, a really big and really large dog. Its body is covered in wounds, some parts of its skin has turned bloody, and its fur shone under the bright evening sky.

Lieutenant Mickey glanced to the side and discovered a horrible truth. The human head that he saw did not have a body, what's left of it waa just a head. The person didn't die from starvation, no, he died because of starvation.

The dog in the hole had eaten its master alive. It lay down inside the hole and laid dormant for a long time. Yet as soon as Lieutenant Mickey opened the door, the dog opened its eyes.