The Fighters     

[ Jin ]

The time was almost upon them to decide, but Jin wasn't interested in going to the military camp in the north. He was more inclined to the south, where Eva was staying.

The woman clearly knew what was going on, or she wouldn't have given him these weapons.

Jin tightly held the small brown bag in his hands. The gun was in his pocket as well as the reserved bullets. He put the knife and grenades in a brown cartoon bag since he had nowhere to hide it.

Eva surely knew what was going on. She even spoke about it to him. Jin was so sure, and he was betting on it.

Jin wanted to go home, too, just like the others. But he feared that his mother wasn't even home.

Worry gripped his heart like constricting vines with sharp spikes.

'She's fine.' Jin reassured himself.

Her mother was resilient and very capable. No zombie would ever get her. Jin told himself in silence, face hiding behind his knees, eyes out of focus.

He looked over at his phone.

[10% Battery Remaining]

His messages were empty. His history calls were non-existent. There was no voice call either.

"Doesn't this school have generators?" Charlotte asked, voice low but thick with irritation. She was slightly slapping her harm, hoping the itch would stop.

Under the dim lights of their phones, Jin pried the red blisters on everyone's arm. Charlotte wasn't the only one having them. He found that all of them have them, just like with Teacher Henry. And like Charlotte, the others were scratching it too, unaware as they did so.

'Was this a symptom?' Jin thought, staring at the small red pimples dotting his hand. They itched and burned. He had to grind his teeth not to scratch them.

Jin was so sure that he wasn't bitten and there wasn't a scratch on him when he checked his neck a while ago from where Teacher Henry's hands had grabbed him.

So was it a virus? Airborne and they would eventually turn to zombies in the end?

Jin didn't like the thought of that.

"The Generators are only in the teacher's office, in some facilities like the canteen, and the fire exits," answered Meryl, wet in her own sweat.

All the hope went out of the others in a rash.

Charlotte laughed softer this time but just as bitter. "An A-list school with tuitions in the millions and no generators in each room?"

"I doubt generators would do anything at this point," said Lily. "They'll run out of fuel soon enough."

Charlotte gave a sullen shrug. "Still, an aircon running right now would be welcomed. FUCK! Why is this so itchy!" she hissed. She could no longer contain herself and scratched her limbs.

"Shh! Keep your voices down." Ben snapped at her. He took it upon himself to be the undead checker. He made himself comfortable on the side of the door, peeking at the gap of the papers on the glass panel.

The others hushed, sensing if someone was coming into their location, and when there was no noise loitering outside, they released the breath they held.

"Stop scratching it," whispered Emma.

"Emma is right. Look, it's starting to bleed," said Olivia.

"But It's so fucking itchy," Charlotte hissed helplessly. "Do you have alcohol?"

Emma was quick to rummage through her bag and gave Charlotte her Alcohol. When the latter poured it over her wounds, she bit her lip and gasped.

"Fuck! It burns." Charlotte closed her eyes tight, water pooling beneath her eyelids.

Lily rolled her eyes and uttered, "Such a drama queen."

"Why don't you pour alcohol over your blisters, and let's see if you won't cry," Charlotte snapped.

"Bitch."

"Whore."

"Here." Olivia gave her water bottle to Charlotte, stopping her quarrel with Lily. "I find that pouring water on those blisters somewhat stops the itch."

Charlotte snatched the water bottle from Olivia's hand and poured its content over her blisters, halving what little water was remaining on that jag.

When Charlotte gave the water bottle back to Olivia, the latter could only hold back her tears.

Jin couldn't blame her. Water is a scarce resource right now. And he didn't know if Olivia was just being nice to her friend or being stupid to offer her water to another.

His eyes then shifted to the six-litter water filter jag by his side. He was thankful that Eva had given him weapons as well as a cold jag of water. He owed her – big time.

That six-litter water was coveted by prying eyes. Jin was keenly aware of it. He would fight for it, though, even to the death. He wasn't close to anyone here, and he didn't have it in him to share it with the others when they ask.

Why would he? He wasn't selfish, but he wasn't stupid either.

This water was his, and every drop of it was more precious than money at this point. And it would only be a matter of time before everyone would fight over food and water.

"Do you think these are symptoms?" Meryl asked no one. She had a queer look on her face, as if she was not looking at anyone at all. "Teacher Henry also has them in his hands."

The others traded unhappy glances.

"This would be uglier than a whore's ass if that's the case," George commented with a shake of his head.

"Thanks a lot, Meryl," Lily said with bitter sarcasm. "Instead of calming the situation, you're adding fuel to the fire."

Meryl faced her. "It's just a theory. We have to face reality than run away from it, so we can resolve it by knowing the root cause."

"And what would you hope to achieve by learning this? Can you cure it? Can you turn the undead back to real humans?" Charlotte's eyes widened in fake curiosity.

Meryl frowned and couldn't utter a word of reproach.

"Enough. We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves," said Leon, cloying tones were gone. Now his voice was thin and sharp as a whip. "We should decide what to do. The time is up."

Everyone stared at each before they looked away. No one wanted to say anything. Their expression told Jin that they weren't decided yet.

"Looks like everyone is still undecided," Ben said, eyes still outside the panel glass. "It's because the one who suggested it is ineffective."

That got Meryl riling up. "How is everyone's indecisiveness my fault?"

And they started to argue.

Folly and desperation were oftentimes hard to tell apart. Jin thought.

But Meryl was right.

They should decide soon.

Jin already had a plan; he just didn't know how to execute it. First off, he didn't even know where the exact location of the map in his hand. It was a cut-out map, and the mansion where Eva was located was only pointed by a big sign of 'HERE.'

He wasn't born in the megacity of Zone A, and he had just arrived in this town not long ago, so he wasn't familiar with the streets and their many twists and turns.

"What are you thinking?"

Jin was startled when Lina's beautiful face loomed over him. She seemed to take form in the night, so quickly did she appear right beside him. Well . . . she did sit beside him, but now it was closer, less than a meter apart.

Starring at him with those beautiful purple eyes of hers, Jin almost spilled the bins. The words were on his lips; he almost said them.

Instead, he ended the conversation before it even began by replying with a short "Nothing."

"Hmm . . ." Lina's stare made Jin feel on edge.

She had that effect on anyone.

"What is it?" he asked, sharp of tongue and blunt of manner.

Lina wasn't deterred and even started a conversation with him. "What do you think? Should we go to this military camp in the north?"

"Why are you asking me?" Jin was genuinely curious about the answer.

Lina lowered her face in the comfort of her arms around her knees. "It's because I felt like I would survive longer if I was with you. So whatever your decision is, I will follow."

". . ." Jin got to admit that he was surprised by her reply. He hadn't expected that, and his head whipped in her direction. "You want to . . . go with me?"

"Yes."

"But . . . don't you want to go home or go to this safe military camp?"

Lina peered at him. "It looks like you've already made a decision, and I assume that you won't go to the military camp. Do you have a place in mind?"

Jin gave her credit for being perceptive, but he neither denied nor confirmed her claims.

"My parents are always not around, so I doubt I would find anyone home," she said after a short silence.

The indifference in her voice surprised him. Such coldness to her own parents baffled him, but Jin didn't ask.

"What?" Lina returned his stare and smiled for the first time. "I'm very good at fighting too. I'm a kendo champion in the girls' division, so I'm very good with a sword."

"Wooden sticks and swords are different."

"It's the same thing."

Jin paused, weighing his options, and made his decision. "Then can you use this?" he pulled the knife from the bag he was holding.

It was a typical military knife that had a sharp pointed blade that was made from high-quality steel, allowing it to hold a keen edge for extended periods of use.

The blade was curved, and it had a serrated edge for sawing through tough materials such as rope or leather. It had a tanto point, which was a type of blade shape that has a flat grind and a reinforced tip, making it ideal for piercing through hard materials.

The handle was made from a durable material such as synthetic rubber or G10, which provides a non-slip grip even in wet or sweaty conditions. The handle also featured a guard to protect the user's hand from slipping onto the blade during use.

It also had a sheath for easy carrying and storage. It was a versatile and reliable tool that was essential for anyone in high-stress situations like this.

Two fighters were better than one. Jin thought.

"Are you always carrying weapons with you?" Lina's eyes rounded, her tone lowering, eyes searching if someone saw what he had just brought out from his bag.

Jin confided, his voice dropping from a whisper. He told her what had happened on the rooftop and showed her the gun and the grenades. He didn't see any point to hide it from her.

Lina stared at him, a look equal parts horror and fascination. "You . . . You think that Eva knows the answer to what is happening right now?"

Jin nodded. "I'm sure. Or she wouldn't have talk about this apocalypse thing and give me these weapons like she knew what was about to happen." He hid the weapons and brought out the map. "Do you know where this is? This is the map that she gave me. I believe she's staying in this mansion."

Lina came closer, her breath hot on Jin's face. His body flared without his control and he had to take water to cool his temperature.

"Hmm . . . I don't know . . . I don't even step foot in this far south," Lina uttered, face serious.

Jin's attention from Lina's breathing shifted to the matters at hand. Without someone knowing the way, how were they going to go there?

"What's this?"

Jin and Lina were startled when someone snatched the map from Lina's hand.

It was Meryl. She came upon them as suddenly as the summer storm. She studied the map in her hand before she looked at them with knitted brows.

"What's this? Why do you know the Prince of Oil's mansion?" she asked them.

Jin cleared his throat, a process that seemed to take him minutes. "You know where it is?"

"Of course. My father is a senator, and he knew the Prince that owned this mansion. My father took me there once."

Jin absorbed that all at once in silence. He was ecstatic that someone knew where it was . . . but then he realized . . . Meryl was definitely going to the north to the military camp like his father wanted her to do while the mansion was in the far south.

The question now . . . how to convince Meryl to go with him.

Jin knew Meryl more enough to know that there was no arguing with that stubborn jut of her jaw. She was definitely going north.

So how to convince her? Jin didn't know.