2 Magique

I found myself amid danger, through the crowd running to a distant location. There I was observing the whole scene, men and women, children, if I must say, with indistinguishable variance, were being gnawed and devoured from the napes of their neck and on to their defending arms from the jaws of the predator, the 'infected'. The corpse of the unfortunate lives could be seen lying dead across the ground, eyes wide opened, terrified from the shock. I couldn't believe it at first, but my human instincts screamed the word "RUN" –a verb that wanted me to escape from this madness–and so I did. My fight or flight response kicks in like an overflowing dam of water gushing towards the open sea.

I went north, similar to the trail of the crowd. I believe running at a slow and steady pace might've been the worst possible solution, thus I started to think more for my futuristic actions.

"Shit, what is going on these days?" My mind was flabbergasted from the fact that these Hollywood of reanimating the dead had brought into the real world. Is the government even aware of this catastrophe? I hope so.

While pondering from the thought, my feet resume the pace and kept running, running, sprinting like there's no tomorrow. It was a marathon if it were to be gazed from above, but they even had to include man-eating zombies in the 'fun-run; that was the most ironic thing that ever happened since aliens were established.

I circled my way, passing different cars stuck on the traffic posts, with street lights all turned green from the current emergency. Choppers and distinct planes came flying overhead. Even tanks and multiple SWAT teams, paired up with the local policemen, came to us hurriedly for the civilian's safety. But, some who weren't courageous enough came running along with the crowds, throwing off their duties as proud workers of justice. I couldn't blame them for it. The situation, perhaps, was code red, to begin with.

From the far end of the large group of people, I could see vehicles and personnel, with suits and military outfits, leading the way swiftly as they can. As for I, who was falling far behind, had lost all hope from inevitable doom. I shifted my head towards my breech while heavily panting, still running, at a constant pace.

Despair

It was the perfect word to describe the madness. Numerous policemen and the military, armed with guns and shields, were pushed back…and devoured

31 metres. That was the distance between me and the horde. It is in a short length. Despite their undead bodies and loose limbs, these weirdos run terribly fast, aligned with categories of rabid animals. They stood at 2 feet, some were even running at all fours, rapidly closing the interspace between us from the normal people.

Amidst the crowd, I saw Pura, who was still running along, frighten from the phenomenon. She's a ditsy bint, as she tripped herself on a small bump, I think? I would've laughed if this were a normal protest, but the residing thought made my whole demeanor terrible as a human being, thus sadly as it is, I dissed the uncouth idea of her idiotically slipping at the gravel. I ran towards her direction, battling the river of the people passing by

21 metres, they sure are coming fast.

"HEY, HEY! PICK YOURSELF UP" I screamed, as I tightly grabbed her skinny shoulders. She was wearing her casual attire, a redshirt encrypted with a word *YOLO* stitched at the centre, paired with a knee-length sized short. which made her complete appearance. It was her summer wear after all.

"Fleur? Did you see what they've done from the people?" She said, shivering whilst shouting from the top of her voice.

"I saw everything. Even the news. These… these things, zombies everywhere!" Her expression grew dim–anguish was the right term. I paid it no mind, as I hastily picked herself up and motivated her to resume the run.

She was confused, but quick to respond, as she follows suit my pair of footsteps. However, we were already too late. A lot of minutes had passed and so did the distance between us and the zombified creatures. They were approximately 5 metres away, galloping with murderous intent. Moreover, I noticed that these species have vines wrapping alongside their decaying body. Pitch black plants entangled, more like strangling, most of the zombies. Mushroom like fungi could also be seen sprouting from atop of their head, making them look more maniacal in a creature-like sense.

The tanks and military trucks, which were moving against the sea of people, were obstructed in the middle of the streets. They wouldn't dare to fire their massive bullets, for the risk of contemplating the healthy and infected individuals apart prove to be a difficult endeavour; they did encounter accidents and misfortunate as they began firing at the numerous civilians running like mad dogs, similar from the infected. They were… unfortunate. Thus, the two of us head towards a building called "Magique" decorated with staff and other wizardly elements found in sorcerers and fantasy games. It was one hell of a spooky atmosphere brought by the ornaments, in addition to the apocalypse outside this very room. We tightly shut the door and locked them from the inside.

"Should we barricade it more?" Pura asks with a confusing smile. It was an expression of relief, having a haven that protects us from the undead.

"I guess so? We should close the windows, check everything that might cause the alarm to go off, barricade any possible entrances, and…we're good to go?" I added as I head towards the empty desk that welcomes newcomers and guests to those who are willing to stay for the time being.

"This is some sort of an antique workshop, I wonder?" whispering through my thoughts, I began touching every item that I could see or use during this predicament. But alas, loud banging noise resounded through my ears, as they came charging at the front door accompanied with slightly audible voices from the outside.

"Let me in!"

"Please…Help…" those were the screams latched from the people at the exterior part of the enclosed building. "We gotta let 'em in" Pura claims, as she rushes blindness at the ingress hall.

"No. We need to save ourselves. We can't save everyone. Who knows if they're infected or not" it was the first time that my voice screeched this loud. I've never let out a high pitch tone through the entirety of my conversations, be it as arguments or whatnot. I was always calm and collected; but this time, around, I was pushed on a corner of my thoughts. I scolded my best friend and threw an icy glare parallel from her face. Her eyes dripping from the tears produced by her lacrimal glands, just above her cheeks. Her dedicated motivation was cracked by my roaring sound of anger, which silenced the whole room. It might've attracted the horde outside, but it was far too late for both of us to consider my actions.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout. I…I just" I was in the middle of apologising to my friend when suddenly the two large doors from where we had run over were slowly shattering like fragile glass.

"We'll save that for later. Right now, either we run upstairs or we block the doors with chairs or anything that we can use." Pura eludes the subject with a bitter smile painted on her face as we focused more on the present; on the rampaging horde.

Studying the structure of the building called 'Magique', the structure was indeed a hundred feet tall with approximately 20 storeys covering its height. A classy hotel, I must say.

"We'll go with barricading that damn door. It'll be better if we can take shelter upstairs in the meantime. Well, we can't do anything about it at the very least"

I hastily move the oversized furniture's over the entrance door, stacking up tables and wooden chairs to enforce the sturdy-looking gates. Pura had it rough from her petite limbs flailing at the force she exerted upon moving the wooden furniture.

After piling up a mountain of rubbles, sort of, we finally clap our hands and rejoice for our achievement. The former problem had been solved with the use of teamwork and zombies crashing by. But, I believe they'll be a lot more terrors awaiting us for the future once we step foot on the storeys above. Those will be our greatest hurdle in the history of mankind.

"Let's go to the dining area. It'll be great if we can repack any food that we can preserve. And I want you to bring a knapsack with you. Always." I explained every detail that I know about from zombie survivors hacks that I've watched, randomly, in a certain site on the internet.

"Will do" Pura nods and followed my lead. We were both pathetically lost from the gigantic hallway filled with historical paintings and such. It was a noir of some sort–grand even– but we don't have much time to give a great emphasis on the tour itself. If this was just an ordinary day after school then I wouldn't think twice and took pictures at every given second. Pura had the same reaction, agape from the artworks dangling from every direction. Finally, an elegant room, filled with unparalleled decor welcomed our gloomy hearts. Tables filled with bloodstains on the white linen, unfinished plates, and bottle of wines everywhere, shattered from its neck, chairs and tables tossed and turned and…

This wasn't the image that I had in mind! Not a single dead body, nor flesh, could be found on the lunar-like room, but the scarlet blood, shone by the adoring chandelier, mark the similar atmosphere of a famous crime scene shown in cliché drama series.

"We'll take what's left. Would you rather grab the fine brown suitcase over there or do you prefer having it wrapped inside an ordinary back?" I spot an underlying bag from the corner of my eye and dragged both of the items that I've mentioned within our reach. I would've wanted to have them both, but our baggage was limited with a pair of girls surviving in the unknown. Who knows when will the light (electricity) burn down? Even the water drainage between the toiletries and sewers will be most likely to be affected, thus we needed to compromise everything that we'll be bringing alongside our adventures; if we're still alive, at the least. I'll confine my fate for who knows what. Living outside there, struggling my life from the unbearable wrath of some sort of virus that nobody knew.

Pushing my monologues behind, Pura positioned her hand and rest it upon the surface of her chin in an intellectual manner, much like from the 'thinker' sculpture.

"I guess I'll take the suitcase. It looks fashionable!"

"Guess the knapsack indeed!" I replied, throwing the enlarged suitcase between our spaces. She gave a silent cry, as she saw me slide the briefcase away from our reach.

"We'll be packing most of the foods out there. The ones we'll bring are strictly readily made reliefs, can goods, pickle jar, whatever. As for the ones deep inside the fridge and freezers, we need to set those aside 'til most of the electricity wears out. At that time, we'll be heading outside to scavenge for more goodies or rather ask for the military's protection. Got it?" I began writing this down on a crumpled piece of paper, which I had found inside my buttock's pocket.

"How about the toiletries and other hygienic materials?" Pura asks while prepping the plates from the food served at the table.

Every restroom must have their care. If it doesn't, well, we'll have to ditch cleaning our menstruations and defecations when the time comes.

Her face was filled with scorn, not to me, but the future ahead of us. And those problems will be furthermore dealt with at a later date.

"Oh, and don't touch that. We wouldn't know if a drop of their sweat, saliva, or blood was sprinkled from their panic arrest outside. Let's leave the food here and cook one for ourselves."

And thus we had passed the time cooking in the kitchen. We made our first meal, and finally, fianllyyy~ made our move.

1:00 P.M. past lunchtime. A great start for readying our things. We need to search the hotel for lost survivors at each room–if were even unlucky enough, zombies loitering around, and kill it.

No way.

We couldn't.

I advised Pura that if we ever saw an infected upstairs, we should isolate ourselves QUIETLY as possible, hide our presence inside an abandoned room, and ultimately stay for the night. We could also wait for the zombie to pass by, but we'll leave that for the futuristic time. We don't have the necessary equipment, like from the famous games where they have weapons found in their inventory lying around out of nowhere, for free!

"Hey, I found a baseball bat right here!" Pura came running towards me whilst holding a golden bat on the palm of her hand. Speak of the devil. What do you know? These things are lying on the ground!

"Dear God, provide me a magnum .44 calibre lying around inside a forgotten bag" I closed my eyes and began praying for a miracle to happen once more.

Nothing.

Kidding aside, Pura will be handling down the baseball bat, which I believe she'll most likely panic and hurt herself from her unbalance force of swings

As for myself, I grabbed a cooking pan mad with some sort of steel, which was also lying around at the kitchen's stoves.

We steeled our hearts and formed in the latter part of the stairs. Our aim would be securing the first floor, find a room, kill or avoid any zombies lurking around (?), and scavenge stuff like weapons or the like from each of the vacant rooms. Will we be exploring by ourselves? No. We aren't that stupid, but if push comes to shove, let's say, a zombie was spotted and was nearly at our breadth's length–close to mine– I would use Pura as a human shield and sprint my way for my exclusive escape!

It was all a joke. Maybe.

"You ready?"

"Y-y-y-y-es….YES," she replied, shivering as ever. Where did you get that confidence from earlier? Don't tell me it was digested along with the food that we ate?

I flash her a beaming smile and for the first time, I gave her the most serious tone that I could ever possibly exert for my sniveling friend.

"It'll be alright. I'll be here with you" I fixed her hair and gave her a gentle hug. My humour was getting the better of me.

Frighten, of course.

But, since we're powerless from the information that we have, we just wish for the safety of our survival. Saving ourselves and saving one another.

The touching scene finally watered her seedless heart, as we began marching upwards from the labyrinth stairs of Magique!