9 Chapter 8

We were left alone at that afternoon.  All the room had left was just the four of us and Chris's corpse. I took a sheet from his room and covered it over him. For sure he was left to die in peace after we knew what happened. He didn't deserve to die like that but this continent's logic was far different from the world we used to live in. As morbid as that was...neither of us had a choice on how to live. For all we know there could be multiple nutcases like Sunny and many victims like Chris. But all we could do for now was to find a way to survive.

Around behind the dresser we managed to find Chris's power tools and equipment. They were battery and gas powered so we didn't need to worry about electricity for awhile. We even managed to find a photo of Chris Proud, only to be shaken up on how different he looked from the photo and him now as mumps were all around his body. According to Mr. Williams there was actually a crew that was stranded in the middle of South China Sea. They soon ran out of supplies and started drinking their pee to keep hydrated and eat the styrofoam on the lifeboat to prevent them from being hungry. When the crew was rescued, medics were alarmed to find mumps all around the crew's bodies. This was actually the side effects from consuming the plastic and styrofoam from the lifeboat. Luckily all of them managed to receive medical treatment. Mr. Williams guess was the same thing happened to Chris once he started putting plastics in his diet. All and all the man was a foot near his grave at the start.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy but all I could do was turn away. But the only one who was able to not look away was Rebecca. She then gets the group together  and asked for a meeting. "So what's up?" Mr. Williams asked. "It's about the body… I think we should do something about it…" She hesitantly replied.

"So what should we do? We can't just bury it outside." Tyrell said.

That's when she brought out a small jerry can of gasoline. She then brings out a small list and a bottle. "We can cremate it at the bottom by throwing a Molotov cocktail on it outside." She said. "I don't know...we might get too much attention if we stand out for too long." Mr. Williams told her.

"There's actually a recipe I know for us to make some napalm. Maybe we can drop the body off somewhere and just throw this when we're about to go."

"Does it work?"

"Yeah and it burns longer than gasoline."

But even with all the gears in motion I soon feel a sudden chill behind me. It was some kind of thumping sound from the body. The corpse started to jitter and have spasms. The body stopped moving until it started to sit up. Rebecca and Tyrell screamed as it started to stand up. It stood up with the sheet still over and charged towards us. We started to run. We kept on running across the hall but it still managed to follow us. There was no escaping it as it started to catch up to speed. The sheet got caught on a nail and drifted over. To our surprise the man no longer had eyes...just empty sockets and a face much like a skull. He roared and chased after us. In fear we ran with such might to the point we blindly reached the roof.

I closed the door behind me and got out my sword. The undead corpse kept bashing through the door until it broke the door down with its partly unrecognizable face. It was just a few feet away from me but it didn't react to me at all. We stood there quietly as Mr. Williams got a pebble at the floor. He then throws it at a  water tank. The undead then run towards it and started to bang at the thing. There Mr. Williams gets Tyrell's bat and starts banging on an old Jerry can. The monster charges towards him and he takes it out with a blow to the head. The corpse is then knocked off the ledge of the building and hits the floor head first at the pavement. We looked at the body from the top with guns at hand. The corpse no longer moved with its head already destroyed. We looked at the body for a hour and it didn't move a muscle. It gave time for Rebecca to make a molotov cocktail full of napalm. She then hands it to Mr. Williams. "Your kill, old man." She told him. Mr. Williams then grabs a lighter from his pocket and lights the bottle on fire.  He throws the molotov cocktail to the pavement and we watch the corpse burn. The body didn't move at all and the smell of rotting flesh filled the air. "We should get going." He says, "Nightfall's gonna come soon and you're going to need the rest." This also gave us another thing to worry about later on in the future. Laputa keeps on getting weirder by the minute. As I looked at the horizon I thought to myself, 'the future never looked so bleak.'

A few days pass after that. We did survive another week to only leave us to salvage some rooms again. Supplies seemed to be rampant but food was not one of them. Canned food was one of our top priorities at the moment but it was hard to come across. It was during these past few weeks that I realized how much we took refrigeration for granted. Because the lacking of this feature, all food tended to rot in an alarming rate. Just today I went raiding a room on my own and accidentally opened a fridge and found it with a mangrove full of mold and rotten food. I closed the fridge and started to hurl with the decaying smell.

To be honest I was disappointed. The room that I was in belonged to a food vlogger and internet chef that Tyrell and I used to watch when there used to be internet. That guy went by the name of Harris Famished. But surprisingly the puke smell attracted an undead from one of the rooms. It turned out to be the walking corpse of Harris himself. The corpse ran towards me as I retreated. Yet in comical fashion, the corpse slipped on my puke and fell on its back. It started to bleed from the back of its head and couldn't move. There I grabbed a knife from the counter and stabbed it through the eye. It gave a bit of a jolt and died instantly. I was kinda surprised on how these things die like zombies.

I then look at the counter shelves to find some grain alcohol with high alcohol content. With that I threw the body off the window and opened the bottle. There I stuck a cloth at the nozzle and lit it.  I then threw it from the window to the corpse and it catches on fire. This became a rule for us at the building; burn a corpse as soon as we happen to find it. Sometimes we would even find some corpses that didn't reanimate at all. Either way it was still gonna end up into ashes. We ended up calling this the 'double tap rule'.

Sunny managed to salvage two floors out of this five story apartment and our group managed to do one. With only two floors left... we didn't have that much faith. Much like Harris' room, most were more of organic and perishable food. Canned food was something that we needed to find. With food rotting almost everywhere this was something we needed for long term. According to Rebecca, can goods can last up to twelve months to two years past their expiration date, depending on what kind of food is there. She also encouraged to find snack foods as well as they can last after a month past their expiration date and still taste good. To be honest, I wouldn't mind finding a snack cake myself. It would be a good raise in morale to find a few brownies around.

However this time I wasn't lucky. All I could find was a few cans of food and some bottles of alcohol. But on the bright side there was some cookware that don't require electricity and some electronics such as power banks and cameras. To be honest I felt I was missing a few things and morally unsatisfied. So I decided to go on the walkie talkie and call back to the room. "This is Akuma to Grendel, come in." I said into the comms. Mr. Williams then picks up on comms. "This is Grendel. What's your situation, Akuma?" He asked. "I finished cleaning the room, can I ask someone to get a second opinion?" I asked.

"I'll be sending Minerva to your location shortly."

"Thanks, make sure Stock gives her a weapon. There's still a few Dire rats around the area."

"Copy that, anything you want to report?"

"I killed one of those zombie things while here. Just to give you the heads up."

A few moments later Rebecca comes at the door with a machete at hand. She is then alarmed to see the pool of blood at the floor and a bloody knife. "You've been busy today." She commented. Rebecca then noticed the supplies I got and look rather disappointed. "So this is all you found?" Rebecca asked. I nodded my head and confirmed. She then gets out her walkie talkie. "What were the code names again?" She asked. "I'm Akuma, Mr. Williams is Grendel, and Tyrell's Stock." I told her. Rebecca then calls out on comms and nobody was replying. As it turned out she was on the wrong channel. I tuned it for her and she makes the call. "This is Minerva to Grendel. Akuma and I are going to search this room a bit further." She said. "Copy that. I'll be off at comms to help Stock. Please hold for the time being."

"Anything else you need?"

"Anything useful is fine. Just let us know if there any threats around the area."

"Roger that."

"Over and out."

We went to search a bit further.  In my opinion, there was not much to look at. There was good furniture and settings but that's it. The books were no use to us either as they were just magazines and cookbooks. All we can think for a good use for them was as tinder. We tried looking at Harris's room but no luck. All we found that was useful was another power bank and a half drunk bottle of water. I checked the closet, only to find a dire rat to jump on me. There I grabbed it by the tail and started to slam it to the ground constantly like a hammer and nail. The dire rat died out of blunt force trauma and I threw it through the window. Noticing there to be blood in the closet made me consider this was actually the cause of death for Harris before he reanimated. "So you think the rats turn people into zombies?"  Rebecca asked. "Chris didn't die of a giant rat so I think we can cross that off." I told her. Rebecca then took some rubber gloves from her fanny pack and started to search around the closet. Again there was nothing.

We looked into it a bit further and we managed to find a half eaten box of some store bought brownies still wrapped in cellophane. With all the food we got so far it was barely enough to last a few days for one person. Rebecca then decided to search the kitchen again to take the spices. "Why are you taking those?" I asked. "We might need these to preserve meat." She told me.

"What meat? All the meat here is rotten."

"I don't mean that kind of meat."

Later Rebecca then takes me to the roof. Up there I happened to find a bunch of nets scattered from the sides. I then happened to find a pigeon stuck at one of them. "Every once in awhile some birds come flying  around here so I decided to put a couple of nets as traps." She said. Rebecca then goes to the net to get the pigeon and tie a noose over it. The nets looked something that wasn't handmade. "Where did you even get these?" I asked. "Me and Mr. Williams raided the supply closet downstairs." She says, "He told me that every once in awhile the landlord would put these up whenever birds kept on pooping on the roof."

"Did these ever worked?"

"A little...they weren't always effective so sometimes Mr. Williams would borrow them whenever he went out camping."

"Why would he need to do that?"

"Apparently he was actually a fan of making pigeon pot pie. I figured we might as well catch some since we're having a hard time finding food."

She then gets a cutting board from a table and puts a knife on the bird's neck. Rebecca then looks at the bird innocently as she started to hesitate. The girl couldn't even have the will to even move the knife even further.  "Anything wrong?" I asked. She then wipes a tear off her face. "It's kinda hard to kill something if they didn't do any harm to you." Rebecca told me. I then put my hand on her shoulder. "Just try to go on your own pace for now." I tell her, "Take it a step at a time and let me take over for now." She then hands me the fowl hesitantly. I then tell her to watch for one day she had to do this too. There I broke the neck of the bird and chopped it off with a cleaver. I then tipped it upside down  and drained the blood. Cutting it open I split the parts of what we can and what cannot eat. The outer parts we can eat but the only innards we can eat where the heart, gizzard, lungs and liver. But Rebecca did want to keep the feathers for some project. I gave them in a plastic bag, hoping that she might make something good. However I did smash the leftover guts and spread it upon some parts of the net. Maybe it might be good as Chum to attract the birds, I thought. But as I washed my hands I heard something familiar, never thinking I might be able to hear it again.

From above then comes a plane. It was a military grade cargo ship flying above us with a logo of the United Nations at its tail. The cargo hold opens and started to drop a few crates via parachute with red smoke flares attached to them. Conveniently one of them was descending towards us. The only problem was that it was going down too fast. I then took Rebecca  carried her away, only to jump out at the last second and the box almost landing at us by an inch. It only left the both of us to be psychologically worn out after experiencing something so sudden. To combat the stress I kicked the the flare until it was put out.

It helped but left a bit of an elephant in the room. The box was no bigger than a coffin and could fit a fully grown adult. I then took a knife from my belt and cut the restraints to find a treasure trove. It was full of food and supplies that was good enough for one month. However instead of the random MREs it was full of stuff you wouldn't expect to find. There were an assortment of canned goods and sweets. There I decided to get my walkie talkie and make out a call to Mr. Williams. "This is Akuma to Grendel…we just found some supplies, request for assistance. Over." I said on comms.

Mr. Williams and Tyrell then decided to join us to take part in gathering of supplies. The casket was too heavy so we decided to get them out one by one with each of us taking turns on guarding the room. We eventually barricaded the door again and count on what we got. Mr. Williams scratched his head as there were more canned goods that of MREs. "This is kinda awkward…" He says, "Never expected the United Nations to give goods like these... especially branded ones." Indeed this was kinda puzzling on its own. He wasn't wrong when he said it was out of the ordinary either. Inside was even some melee weapons and some toys. Normally I remembered supply drops to be in large crates but PVC caskets with out of the ordinary stuff is another story. I then noticed a small box at the side. Inside there was bunch of letters tied in a bunch with some twine.  At the front was an orange letter. I decided to open. It and read it out loud. It said:

To whom this may concern,

This is a box from from the Open Hand Organization. Open Hand is a NGO that works besides the United Nations to provide for goods of natural calamities. However in this time of crisis we provide the survivors of Laputa with our special supply crate that may help assist you later on. The crate maybe provided by our company but the goods are from the people of the world who wish to assist you at your time of need. Inside are goods donated by various people from around the world. May you use them wisely and live on.

Sincerely,

Open Hand Organization CEO, Bridget Banner

 I then look inside the envelope to find a certificate of authenticity  with the signatures of both the CEO and the current leader of the United Nations. This was a legit program. They weren't kidding when they said that these supplies came from people from around the world either. Some of these brands specifically came from other countries. One of these was salty Swedish licorice and another being Dutch chocolates. I even saw a few Mexican candies that I used to buy at the Mexican supermarket a few blocks away from me. Mr. Williams decided to distribute a few letters to each of us to read out loud. It was a good way to raise morale and help ups to be thankful for what had happened. Mr. Williams took some of the Spanish and Portuguese ones, Rebecca took some of the Italian and Greek, I took Nihongo, Cantonese and French, and Tyrell took the English and the Swahili.

The four of us took turns in reading each one out loud. Most of them were short letters from elementary students. The toys happened to come from a girl from The UK named Sally Shields. She thought that since kids were up here, they could use them more than her. Sally wasn't wrong but neither of us saw even a single kid here since we arrived at Laputa. But then again... the landlord didn't allow children either in the apartment to begin with. Mr. Williams then reads a message from a teen from Ohio that offered some of his swords to survive out there. His blades were fantasy swords but practical. Some of these received good reviews from a few videos I've seen online. The rest of these letters came from elementary students from different schools providing food.

After we were done reading them all the four of us did an inventory again on goods, just in case we missed something. While looking around at the snacks I found a strange box. It was a small violet box wrapped with a letter on the top. "There's still another one?" Rebecca asked.  "Yeah, in French this time." I replied.

"Where did you even learn French?"

"I lived at Seattle around middle school and my mom made me learn French."

"Is that so…?"

"Yeah… mom couldn't let me buy video games but she spends a lot on with info forced in my head."

The others asked me to read it to them. It kind of like a version of entertainment for us. As everyone was working I decided to read it out loud. Little by little I translated it. This was what the letter had to say:

To who receives this,

My name is Lumière L'arc. I'm currently a middle school student and currently living in a small village in France. My stepsister was studying at Paris as a major in history and disappeared from the HAP three years ago. If you find her, please give grandma's ring to her. My sister's name is Amelia L'arc. I left a picture of her in the box. Please contact the number on this note if you find here.

Sincerely,

Lumière L'arc

I opened the box and found a ring inside and an ID photo. It had a girl with long blonde hair in her school uniform. Rebecca whistles. "She's quite the beauty." She said as she snatched the picture from me. Everybody else then gathered towards her as Rebecca shows the remainder of the squad. Then again, this was quite a request. There were even a couple of bills in Euros aside from the ring. Tyrell then looks at me out of curiosity. "So are you going to do it?" He asked. I looked at him rather confused.  Tyrell then taps my head like a door knocker. I then slap his hand away. "The girl, you sword crazy devil. Are you going to find the girl?" Tyrell asked. "Yeah, you found it after all, Rin." Rebecca added. I gave a big sigh as the both of them were getting too near to me. I scratched my head and looked at Mr. Williams. I kinda expected to say something since he was the leader of the group. He then smirked. "I don't see why not... besides I think I haven't seen him with a cute girl." Mr. Williams jokes.

The three of them started to laugh at me as my face turned red. But after a bundle of laughter, the three of them stopped and couldn't help but look at me. They give blank stares and wander off with wonder. "You know… I might have a point there…" Mr. Williams pointed out. "Yeah...I never seen him with girls other than Rebecca and his students." Tyrell added. Rebecca the nodded her head. "He looks like one of those anime protagonist too...What a waste of good looks." Rebecca commented. I turned my back from them as my cheeks got heavy. "It's my life, leave me to do whatever I want!" I told them.

Rebecca then finds something out of the ordinary. They were a couple of books, each that were useful. It was wrapped in twine with another letter on it. This time it came from Massachusetts. She then reads it out loud.

To whom this may concern,

If you are reading this letter then it means my books have reached you. My name is Johannes Kingston. I'm a professor of zoology in the University of Boston. The contents of these books are survival guides both for military and civilian along with something extra. There is a yellow book called the 'Ark Index'. The Ark index provides information of all the creatures living in Laputa along with a map and locations to go. Also provides information of the current events that have taken place for the last three years. The one that you have is the updated sixth edition. Read with care. My friends risk their their lives to spread this information, treasure it greatly.

Sincerely

Prof. Johannes F. Kingston PhD

University of Boston

There were two copies of the Ark Index in the book pile. I skimmed it down and surprisingly  there was gateway information to monsters discovered in Laputa. Creatures we even saw such as the dire rats, goblins, and trolls were in there too. Yet to our surprise, there was an entry of the undead we have been fighting. They were a sub species of undead called ghouls. Unlike zombies, ghouls are brought back from the dead using magic. The one thing to distinguish a zombie from a ghoul is that ghoul blood is black and is harmless to people. However ghouls without a caster are called Wild Ghouls. Since the death of the No Life King, people who have died in Laputa turn into Wild Ghouls. It takes twelve to forty-eight hours for a corpse to reanimate into a Wilde ghoul. The only way to distinguish between a regular to wild ghoul is that wild ghouls eyes deteriorate once it is resurrected. However statistically those who resurrected as wild ghouls were mostly human. On rare occasions other species of anthropomorphic features are also resurrected. If you wish to eliminate a ghoul you must either incinerate it with fire, dismember, or destroy the head.

I then turn to the page to the No Life King. There was little information from what was written from him but all I got was this. The No Life King was one of the four horsemen that defended the Antichrist since the appearance of Laputa. He was a talented necromancer by the name of Damien Morte and was able to turn himself to a lich lord, an undead wizard with forbidden and extraordinary power. Lich conversion was a forbidden magic art and thought to be lost. It was said that he was the first lich to appear for after five hundred years. His main role of the horsemen was as the Pale Rider: Death. All identities of the four horsemen are considered unknown at this time. And at the end of the paragraph there was a yellow box at the end with some text in it saying, 'Do not converse with the four horsemen.  Attack at your own risk'.