20 Section 19: The Black Plague
"Joel" Ender called me from behind as we walked past through the hordes of drones. We finally managed to arrive near the love hotel.
"Yeah?" I asked him.
"That love hotel of yours had a nice backup generator, I reckoned if you have someone that can fix that up, you can use the hotel for a permanent base" Ender added.
He's right, the hotel is quite comfy, I haven't checked the second floor though. Another thing about the second floor is that I haven't tried to find the source that creates putrid smell, I'm too nervous to check it out. As soon as we arrived in the vicinity, Ender bid me farewell.
"Wait, you're not staying?" I asked him.
"Nope, I already have this baby over here" he shows off his crossbow. After he shows off, it seems like he suddenly remembers something. He rummaged his medium-sized laptop bag that he's been carrying for a while now.
"Give this to Aria" he handed me a military knife. "This is for her, you can ask her whether she likes the bat more or the knife".
"Uh, what?" I asked him.
"Aria likes this kind of stuff you know, she likes guns and knifes. Of course, you wouldn't know that" he chuckled.
This person is a showoff huh, not that I dislike his showy attitude I guess. Ender stiffened his expression as he met my gaze.
"Don't trust anyone, got it?" he asked.
"Including you?" I asked back.
He grinned slightly when he heard my question, he nodded affirmatively.
"Including me", he added. He turned to another side of the road, his back is now facing me.
"I'm going to find something to eat, don't forget to give Aria something to eat" he reminded me as he walked away.
I nodded and walked toward the hotel backdoor entrance, I saw Aria in the dining room, she's breathless and her face all flushed. She sat on the plastic-covered chair in the dining room.
"Aria!" I ran over to her. "Why are you here!?".
She looks up at me, exhaustion still shows clearly on her expression. She managed to speak slowly.
"Sorry, I just saved this one child outside the hotel" she stuttered. "That child sobs might attract some drones, so I gave him a loaf of bread then sent him away".
"Sent him away?" I asked Aria.
"I don't trust him, so I told him to go away," Aria snarled.
As unfriendly as always, why did she look so friendly when we were still in university. Was it her persona? Then again I saluted her acting skills, she always looked friendly on the outside back then. This post-apocalypse event made her become her true self.
"Aria" I kneeled next to her. "Come on, hop on".
I offered her my back, she's sleazily obliged without any complaints as she let me piggyback ride her. She snored again, off to the dreamland perhaps. I checked the portable rice cooker, the porridge is already done. I put Aria on the bed first, tucked her in an old warm blanket. I walked a little bit faster to the kitchen, I put the porridge in a medium-sized bowl.
I had the meds prepared in the pouch, I already put the glass of water on the nightstand before I set up on a long journey to find one pharmacy. As soon as I set it down the porridge and meds on the nightstand, Aria opened her eyes drowsily.
"What happened?" she asked, somewhat amnesiac.
"You snored on my back," I replied.
"Sorry" he blushed a bit.
My lips formed a smile when she tried to hide her blushing face beneath the old blanket.
"No problem, Ender helped me out" I grinned.
When I said the word Ender, she widened her eyes, somewhat surprised and shocked. She stands up from her bed almost immediately, although she soon falls on the bed.
"Aria! You're still sick! Take it easy!" I calmed her down.
She holds onto her head, it seems like she had a severe headache but she tries to contain her pain.
"Ugh, but Ender" she trailed her small voice sickly.
Night has started to fall and all of the sudden, Aria's cell phone rings loudly. This startled us both.
"Turn it off, Joel! We can't let the drones-".
I picked her cellphone and noticed an unfamiliar figure stood tall on a building. A Livestream video was played, I threw Aria her phone and she gasped when she saw it.
"It's a video?" she asked drowsily.
"A Livestream" I replied short.
The person in the video wore a sinister mask and a dirty looking cloak. The whole city was filled but buzzed and stutters, the LED screen on the streets as well.
"What the heck? It's that guy again" I looked at the LED screen outside the love hotel that is usually used for advertisement. There's that guy again, with a black plague mask on him.
"Citizen of Alpha City" the guy in the black plague mask spoke. "If you manage to see me here, then you must either have passed the test or you didn't participate in the beginning".
His voice sounds strange, I think he uses a voice changer machine to avoid being recognized.
"Who the hell is this guy? He sounds dangerous" I sigh.
"Who knows?" Aria answered calmly.
The man stood tall, with a confident stature he spoke again in a deep voice.
"I would like to know your capability as a human being, whether you're a person who clings on a machine to stay alive, or a person of dignity who lives independently" he spoke proudly. "It is a simple test that I've given to all participants who participated, and yet some have failed".
"Huh?" I looked at the LED screen with a questioning look.
The mysterious guy showed us something horrifying on the screen. Aria latched her eyes on her cell phone screen, while I latched my eyes to the LED screen outside through the windows. Countless corpses were found, a pile of dead bodies around the government office, in the square, even in front of the University.
They're all dead horribly, with foams gushing out from their mouth.
"What happened to them?" I watched the LED screen in disbelief. "They're all...dead?".
Aria didn't seem to change her expression, her looks stayed deadpan like a dead fish.
"Cyanide poisoning" she suddenly added.
"Huh?" I looked at Aria.
"They're all died because of cyanide poisoning," she points out.
She seems to know a lot about the cause of death, is Aria secretly a serial killer? Then again, this masked guy seems to be more problematic than Aria for now. Aria rubbed her chin as she watched the victims of the cyanide on the screen as if scanning for something.
"How come you're calm at a time like this?" I snickered.
"Well, being emotional won't help much" she replied nonchalantly.
The screen changed to the masked man's face again, this time he had someone with him.
"Is that?" I widened my eyes.
The president of Alpha City is on screen, I recognize that familiar face. He's being tied behind the masked man, bare naked on the wall with his arms nailed on the wall cruelly. The only thing he wears right now is his underwear.
That dignified president who always shows up at the TV is now on the screen, screaming for help as the blood keeps pouring out of his arms. His round glasses crack and his fatty layer of the stomach has scars on it.
"The president is...being tortured?" I gulped in disbelief when I saw bloody sentences on his stomach, probably carved with a knife.
THE DEVIL
"This man is the cause of the sick Alpha City" the masked man spoke in a deep tone. "He's the one who made us suffer".
The perpetrator emphasized the word 'us' as if it had meaning to him.
"He did a lot of inhuman things to us and now, it's time for the people to know" the masked man trailed. "The Alpha City true nature".
His speeches slowly shrink my self-esteem in surviving, frightening me to a whole new level. Even Aria was alarmed at the sight of the naked president, she widened her eyes as she clenched her teeth in annoyance.
My hand trembles, my leg shivers, I couldn't stop the fear that has seeped into my core. That guy is bad news, for all of us, for the Alpha City.
