Chapter 15

3 months into the apocalypse, residents of Cypress and Country Homes have almost taken our subdivision back. There are more of us now compared to when we started but sure enough, there was only 28% of the household survived. We still kept doing what we initially did, separate each street from the one another with walls and gates. Many of the residents relocated themselves closer if not at Area 9, it's where Horseshoe Drive is.

In our subdivision we were able to have power again. Some houses have generators of their own while some have solar power panels. Although to conserve energy, we only turn the electricity on during nighttime. Sleeping no longer mean mosquito bites and sweaty nights. And now that we have power, we charge everything that can be charged. And since we now have power, we also regained access to the internet. Through internet is where everyone in our community learned that the military has fallen. And not only the Philippines was hit by the virus. The cause remains to be unknown. However it turns out it didn't originated in Philippines, rather it came from somewhere else. It wasn't very clear where exactly, there were just blog posts and not really reliable stuff. But when I checked on which the date they announce the start of the outbreak, considering time zones, it all started at the exact same time. The virus spread all at once in every country, some sick bastard is behind this. It could be one person or group.

But despite learning that we were on our own, we were able to stay hopeful as we were able to reconnect to our friends and families.

Etil for instance was able to reconnect to her boyfriend, Danin. Girl cried a hell lot when she heard her man's voice. They were supposed to get married this year but obviously it was cancelled. Danin told us that they as well tried to reclaim Vista Verde back, their subdivision. It too was hard to reclaim and they have reclaimed more or less than a half of the place. Vista Verde was a big and densely populated place. It was a surprise to me that they survived but it wasn't a surprise to me that they have power, Danin himself is a very "techy" kind of guy.

I was able to reconnect with Jush, my other best friend. It was a surprise to me that he was able to survive with his brother. He told me that they were trying to travel to find a good place to stay for as long as possible. Knowing Jush, he is not a very strong guy. I always thought he's delicate but damn he's smart. He used to teach me general mathematics and calculus when I don't understand a damn thing. I told him to get as close as possible to Brookside subdivision as it's connected to Country Homes. I told him that it's become safe here in our place.

But if there's anyone I want to reconnect to, it would have been Etah.

We started to reclaim the other subdivision connected to ours, Brookside which was literally just at the back of our house. Brookside subdivision, we have come nowhere near the quarter of the entire place. It's thrice the Cypress and Country Homes' land mass for the lack of better word. But that's not why it's so hard to reclaim it, rather it's the population of its residents. At the very end of it were slumps. There were so many zombies that Frodery was certain that there were no survivors. He planned to fully closed the slumps A.K.A Baranggay Munting Dilaw. I know I was being irrational when I fought him about the idea of fully closing the Baranggay. It's not that I believed that there were still any survivors from that hell hole, rather it's because the closest church we were a member of is located right there. But my oldest brother didn't accept my objections. I knew he wouldn't listen to me no matter how much I disagree. The only way I know I can turn things around was to challenge him. It wasn't that hard to provoke my authoritarian sibling to the point he agreed to duel with me for supremacy. When we fought it wasn't too hard to overpower him. He had more knowledge on martial arts but he lacked practice. I lacked knowledge in martial arts but I'm way stronger than he was. I have plenty of exercise and practice with killing zombies. With the number of households I actually saved, they agreed on me taking the leader role. That's also when I decided to try and reclaim Brookside.

Our steps on reclaiming brookside, we decided to take care of the Baranggay first. With the help of the Arms and Builders, the Ynares covered court in the Baranggay hall was converted into a giant furnace of sort. I came up with the plan of mass extermination with the use of a large space. The construction wasn't easy and fast but we were able to pull it off. In 2 and a half week everything was in place.

Now on present date, 10 Arms including myself and 3 Builders are on the way to the court furnace. Today's the day we will exterminate the majority of the undead in Munting Dilaw and quarter of Brookside. On our way there, I feel both nervous and excited. Nervous if I'll make it back alive As 4 of the arms will work as bait. The other 4 are to make sure the safety of the Builders. The remaining 2 arms are more of our runners in case the mission fails. The Builders role is to activate the furnace. They'll be operating the furnace in one of the buildings in the Baranggay Hall.

My excitement comes from the fact the bait to call the attention of the human zombies is going to be through a loud noise. The 4 Arms that will function as a bait are Etil, Larn, some guy named Chell, and me. We will be having one hell of a concert.

When we arrived at the Baranggay Hall, we all took our positions. The 4 of us bait have a special kind of stage where we'll be safe from the flames. The 2 runner Arms were left in the fortified van. The rest of the group are now in the building close to the entrance of the stage. In case the 4 of us bait need to run, we climb up the wall to open the hatch. Zombies can't climb so that's why instead of having a normal door, the builders decided to use a hatch door. Everything will be controlled by the builders. The gates of Baranggay Hall, gates of Court Furnace, and the furnace itself.

The builders turned the power on. They secured the gates of the Baranggay. They signalled us through the walkie-talkie that everything is settled. I tapped the microphone, Etil and Larn picked up the electric and bass guitar, and Chell held the drumsticks. I then spoke to the microphone.

"Residents of Brgy. Munting Dilaw, if anyone of you is still alive and currently hiding then listen up closely. Tomorrow morning I want you to gather here in the Baranggay Hall. For today, stay hidden and quiet. We are residents of the Country Homes subdivision and we are here to help reclaim the entirety of Brookside. We'll see you all tomorrow, stay alive people."

After this announcement, we haven't started to rock but we already hear a stampede. Zombies are now on their way. But they'll need a direction where to go to. That's when Chell hit his drumsticks and three of them started to play our first song, "It's my life." And when the time was right, I started singing.