Chapter 18

PQ's body ached all over the place, but in comparison to the excruciating pain beforehand, this uncomfortable soreness was a mere inconvenience.

He had fallen face flat on the floor, chattering his teeth from the freezing ceramic ground.

"I can't believe I fainted twice in an hour." PQ protested at the sky, squeezing out words from the corner of his mouth while he struggled to roll aside. It was like his whole body was drugged with mild anesthesia, temporally disabling his control over himself.

Regaining his control over his stiff body after a few more minutes of numbness, PQ forced himself up and surveyed his surroundings.

Seeping in peacefully, the moonlight highlighted the corpses of the couple he had killed initially. His makeshift spear reposed against the barred metal door, a thin smear of blood congealing around the surface of the blade. As a droplet of blood slithered off the blade tip, it landed on the corpse right below.

Sighing sympathetically at the corpse of John, PQ gave himself a few more seconds to relieve the soreness before walking towards the barred gate. Crouching down to observe the body, he noticed a shiny object hanging out of John's pocket. It was a pair of house keys clipped to a belt loop. Reaching through the barred metal door, PQ unbuckled the loop and retrieved the set of keys. There was a toy skull attached to the loop, its empty sockets staring deeply into him.

After several attempts of stuffing keys into the keyhole, PQ found the correct one to the metal gate and unlocked it promptly.

"What have you given me, John?" Picking up a clean cloth by a shoe rack, PQ placed it lightly over the teenager slightly younger than him, concealing the gaping wound on his forehead as an expression of benevolence. He had recalled a grey mist flowing out of John before it assimilated into him and knocked him out. "I just hope it's not HIV or some lethal STDs."

"Food, water, flashlights and even first aid kits?" Scanning through the items deposited neatly on the kitchen floor, PQ raised his brows, arriving at a conclusion. "So John must have been like me? A person who has lived a completely different life. Why did I barely have any time to prepare for the apocalypse? John must have woken up way before I did!" He picked up an untouched bottle of mineral water, gulping it down as he continued pondering. "As a reincarnated person, why do I not have any recollection of my journey on Earth's apocalypse?

Acknowledging that overthinking wasn't going to discover answers, PQ paused his speculations. Retrieving his makeshift spear, PQ saw that it had returned to its original length. "So it's reversible. I wonder if that mist was John's ability?"

He posed his spear to protect himself as he went ahead into the apartment, sweeping through the rooms on every corridor.

There was no one else home other than John.

After ensuring that the apartment was safe, PQ entered the room that had 'World War Z' posters on the wall, automatically confirming that it belonged to John.

There was a pile of books stacked messily over a low wooden bookshelf where rows of magazines and study material were arranged neatly. Figurines of fictional characters decorated the painted shelves, attracting PQ's attention.

PQ ventured towards the shelves and picked up one of the books atop the low bookshelf, reading out its title aloud. "Guidebook to the zombie apocalypse! Thank you so much, John." PQ quickly calmed himself down to cease his unintentional act of disrespect, remembering that John's corpse was still lying on the doorstep.

"I owe you a favour, John." Shoving the useful guidebooks into a sports duffel bag conveniently sitting by John's bedside, PQ flung it over his shoulder. "That's strange… did I become stronger?"

Despite carrying several hard shell books over his shoulder, he barely felt any pressure weighing on him. Clenching his first, PQ abruptly jabbed into the concrete bedroom wall.

"AHH! Fuck!" PQ clutched onto the stinging abrasion on his fist, regretting his dumb actions. He has grown slightly stronger, but that doesn't mean he is now a man of steel. Leaving John's room, the indent of PQ's hurting knuckles could be seen engraved faintly into the walls.

****

PQ sat crosslegged on John's wide balcony, fanning the smoke billowing from the little campfire he started. He wasn't scared of fire hazards as John's apartment was basically the penthouse of this building complex. John has also already laid out spare matches and lighters on the kitchen floor, so all PQ had to do was sacrifice the remains of his wooden childhood stool.

Although PQ has fainted twice today, he was thankful for the short intervals of unconsciousness. It gave him enough time to flip through John's apocalypse guidebooks and absorb knowledge from the 'Food Preservation' section. All he had to do was copy and paste the detailed steps taught within the book, and he would eventually obtain a seemingly unlimited supply of preserved meat that would last him for years.

Coughing from the smoky odors of the flame, PQ dashed past a row of salt-cured pork chops hanging on a thread and into the living room of the house. He has transformed his 8 floor apartment and John's apartment into his food paradise, specifically designating them for fermenting vegetables and preserving meat that could spoil within the first few hours.

Of course, he first few attempts turned out to be failures, but after extensive practice and research, his subsequent produce has become at least borderline edible.

"This is the worst kimchi in human history. But I love it!" Waterfalls of joyful tear cascaded down PQ's face as he slurped up his fermented vegetable instant noodles. Devouring his unhealthy meal to quench his hunger, PQ savored some tangy fermented carrots as he looked around to checkout John's apartment layout.

A conspicuous portrait of John's family glistened under a streak of moonlight.

The homeyness of John's family portrait was only able to evoke the stress and perturbation PQ had been trying to stash away. Eyeing John's leaning corpse with remorse, he slowly cocked his head back, lounging against his seat.

Was he being a little too complacent? Should he head out into the unknown? Would risking it help him find his family in a shorter span of time?

PQ didn't have an answer. Other than knowing of this incoming apocalypse, he had no other information about this apocalypse. It was if he never lived through the apocalypse on Earth.

He took another worried glance at John's lifeless body. He had so much knowledge… so much potential…

Maybe… maybe he was exactly like John, someone who had turned into an undead at the very beginning of the apocalypse.

Conflicted, PQ dumped his unfinished cup noodles into the trash bin, gazing into the darkened city brimful of the unknown.