The Preparations

Once my mental preparations were completed, I gathered myself and got up. It was time for me to complete my preparations for tomorrow. 

The first thing to do on my list was informing the warden of my decision to leave the orphanage and holding a feast for the same. I quickly made my way to the wardens office. The warden was sitting with a bunch of other students discussing something when I knocked on his door. Being the recluse that I was, the warden already knew that I would be reluctant to speak in front of everyone and that is why he excused himself after noticing my presence. 

I quickly informed him of my decision and he too had no objections. Apart from a few words of caution and encouragement he gave me a long hug and wished me luck. It was my first new experience after coming back. I told him about my intention to hold a feast and he happily agreed. 

I then rushed to the chef and told him about my decision. He was after all the one adult I spent most of my time accompanying. He was happy and promised a feast with something special. I thanked him and made my way out of the orphanage. 

My next stop was the mall. After careful consideration I realised that leaving my fate in the hands of luck at such a critical juncture was nothing short of idiotic and therefore I quickly formed a plan to either steal the keys today or at least make a copy of it. This led me to my current destination. 

The mall was busy as usual and I made my way to the security office without much effort. Knowing their cowardice in the face of an actual problem, I already knew that these were paper tigers and so I had no fear of them. I strode in as if I was facing a crisis and sought the one with the best uniform. I told him a fake story of how my younger sibling had wandered off into an area with the sign of staff entrance and was now nowhere to be found. 

The excuse was so bad that even I was skeptical if it would actually work, but since I could not think of anything better I just went with the flow. To my surprise the guard did not ask me much and just shook his head in disappointment. I guess it was more common than I had expected for younger children to run off into areas that were off limits. 

He asked me to lead him to the door and I quickly took him to the door I had set my eyes on. Just as he was about to open the door I interrupted him and asked him if I could be the one to open the door. The reasoning I gave him was that my younger sibling might get afraid seeing someone unknown opening the door and if it was me who opened the door he would feel at ease seeing a familiar face that he trusts. 

The guard did not seem eager to argue and passed me the key. As I made my way to the door I secretly took a quick impression of the key on the soap I had prepared. As was obvious there was no one on the other side of the door as it was literally an entry and exit point. I quickly apologised to him for wasting his time and rushed out of the mall. 

The plan went much more smoothly than I could have ever hoped for and so I was out of the mall in only half an hour. I made my way to the locksmith and commissioned him to duplicate the key from the impression, with some additional motivation obviously. It was after an entire hour that I had the key in my hands. 

It was after this that I realised that I had nothing planned after this point considering that I was skeptical about it working in the first place. At this point I realised that even if I was able to enter the mall, there was no way I could start a massacre in all the commotion that would be ensuing inside after being locked in. I needed a different strategy. 

After thinking long and hard, an outline of what could be a plan started to take shape in my mind. I spent the entire day after that preparing. It was only late at night that I returned back to the orphanage. The mess hall was bustling with activity and everyone was enjoying their dinner. I too had my meal and went to my room. 

Knowing that I had prepared as much as I could for what was coming I finally relaxed and went to sleep for the last time in a peaceful world. The night was surely the most peaceful for me ever since experiencing the apocalypse for the first time. I woke up feeling refreshed and happy, but in a short few minutes I remembered the fate that was going to be placed on the world in a few hours from now. 

After getting ready I wore an entirely new set of clothes that I had bought yesterday. I could not go fighting the zombies in my old tattered clothes after all. It was imperative that I covered as much of my body as possible today to prevent any accidents. I made my way to the kitchen and greeted the chef. As he was already aware that it was my last day he gave me cheerful smile and made himself busy preparing the feast. 

As I was aware that the apocalypse would descend at noon I planned to have everyone eat an early lunch and convinced the chef and rector for the same. It was imperative that they were all asleep for my plan to start strong. The pills that I had obtained were soon crushed into powder form and I sprinkled it in all the gravy dishes that were going to be served today. In order to ensure that no one escapes, I had additionally sprinkled it into the sweet dish. I was personally going to ensure that everyone at least has that as a token for my stay thus far in the orphanage. 

Before I knew it, the hall was starting to fill and the celebrations began. As a farewell everyone had me cut a cake and then personally wished me the best of luck for my future. After the formalities were over everyone eagerly waited for the feast. Like them, I too was eager to feed everyone and so the food was quickly out. The atmosphere in the hall was one of celebration, but I, the cause for it, was busy counting heads. I had to make sure that everyone was accounted for. 

After confirming that everyone was there I relaxed and went around the entire hall greeting everyone and speaking a few words to each person. I even had the entire mess staff join in on the fun. In no time they all started to feel dizzy and fell asleep. 

It was then that the dreaded notification once again sounded in my ears and everyone human on the planet. 

" Your world is now undergoing the apocalypse. More than half of you will soon turn into zombies and the other half will now fight for survival".