Chapter 5

Ted sat farther away from the others. He had the last pack of ramen prepared for their foreign customers. He didn't flinch when Emily approached him. Another glass of pineapple juice was passed to her upon his order. "Have it; It might be your last." he drank his quietly. The atmosphere had changed since Mr. Christopher acted irresponsibly. No one doubted their reality. It was difficult to rewind the clock and correct his mistake that had caused the death of many who made it to the conference room but Ted was elated no one said a thing about not believing.

       After having her share of the juice, she returned the cup and then observed Ted quietly. What he did earlier still puzzled her. She needed to find out to answer all the questions in her head- and to the others. She'd spent a week trying to conclude, deliberately sitting close to him and engaging in irrelevant conversations. Ted wasn't one to open up that easily.

       It had jarred her to realize how little she knew about him. He wasn't just annoying, he was proud, rude, and cared less about people's feelings. Ted was willing to do anything to survive even if it meant killing a loved one.

       She was going to get all the answers she needed even if it meant getting on his nerves. She leaned forward, beaming and looking gorgeous even with the blood stain on her shirt. "You've been sharpening that knife for the past 7days."

       "Hello. Do I have to remind you what we are dealing with?" Ted frowned. "No offense but, I realized you've taken an unusual interest in me. Did those things outside make you realize your feelings?"

       Even if you were the last man alive, I wouldn't blink an eye in your direction. "I have a boyfriend."

       "I figured." he pointed. "Mostly because he's been staring at me since the last seven days you've been sitting close to me. How's Dave doing? Is he still mad?"

       The masked look she once had fell, revealing her heavy eyes and saddened expression. "It's been really difficult for him to accept."

       "He'll get over it. What's appalling is the fact that Mr. Christopher is still alive. He should have died instead." he glowered at him. Mr. Christopher turned his gaze away, refusing to take the fall for what had happened. "We can't stay locked up in this room forever."

       "I haven't been able to get through to my family. I don't know if they are okay or." her voice trembled, hands shivering. In that situation, it was difficult not to assume the worst had happened. Several calls and no reply. "No one is returning my calls. I'm having a bad feeling about this."

       Not giving a thought to what she was saying, he snapped his fingers, drawing the attention of everyone. "I remember!"

       "What nonsense do you want to say this time?" She blinked. "Everyone's already terrified, don't add to their fear."

       "Tell that to your boyfriend over there. What kind of boyfriend is he? He should be here with you but he's flirting with that stunning lady over there. Can't blame him anyways." he snickered. "I would have done the same thing."

       "Don't you have something you want to ask him?" Sally asked over a mouth full of potatoes. She munched loudly, grains falling from the side of her mouth. Oh. How I've wished for a long time to taste Mrs. Angela's sweet potato. I can't believe it was prohibited for employees. If we ain't going to make it out alive, let me have them rather than regret not having any. Her eyes pointed at Ted, signaling Emily to go ahead.

       Emily took a deep breath, grateful that Sally had brought up her question. What do I say? He's definitely going to try to escape this one. She said, briefly. "How did you know what to do back then? You seemed to know a lot about what's going on."

       When she finished, absolute silence reigned, only the moaning and groaning of the living dead outside could be heard. She sat still, not wanting to succumb to his harsh glare. For an endless moment, their gazes locked. Defeated by her gaze, he blinked twice then said fiercely, "Dumb and aggravating. That's what you are."

       "What?" She jumped angrily. Her anger dissolved in the wind when a loud bang and noises coming from the door drew her attention. She sat impatiently, tapping her feet non-stop. She couldn't even yell at him even if she wanted to. Even the falling of a needle attracted the living dead outside. No one had spoken a word loud enough to be heard by someone across the room for fear of having to attract the living dead. Unlike the previous room they stayed, this room door wasn't strong enough to hold so many living dead for much longer. All chairs and tables were used to barricade the door. She regarded the door anxiously, hoping she hadn't caused another trouble. "Please don't come in." She prayed emphatically. "You are a sad man."

       Ted's brow rose in excitement. Seeing her in that helpless situation made his organs come to life. He wiped the blood off his shoe. "Everyone here is probably wondering the same thing as Emily." He got up proudly, raising his shoulder a little higher. "Now let me explain. Some of you think the world has come to an end."

       "Yes!" Many of them agreed simultaneously. "It's in the Holy Book. This is the end of the world."

       "True and not true." his eyes traced theirs to the door. The more noise they made, the more living dead they attracted. "True, because it could be the end of most States in America. Not true because there's no such thing as a dead man rising to feast on his fellow man in the bible. Most people call them monsters, demons, viruses, living dead, zombies, and so on. Those things outside are not humans; they are dead monsters. We call them living dead because they are dead but alive. They just can't think like us, feel like us or do anything a normal human can do. They are like walking corpses."

       "This can't be true. These things only happen in the movies." Sally panicked. She had just finished having her potatoes and juice. "We could just be dreaming or hallucinating. I mean, it's not normal. Ted, you are way smarter than this. You should know these things ain't real."

       "Well, I'm smart enough to know I'm not dreaming neither am I a character in a movie. 7 days ago around 6 AM, I woke up, wore my most expensive suit, drove down to Prestige excitedly, attended every meeting, and made sure everything was organized for the occasion. While Emily and myself were in the conference room, we heard a sound, Emily opened the door, and boom! Everyone rushed in and in a split second there were monsters tryna chop my head off!" he breathed. "How is this a dream even to you? It's been 7 fucking days, Sally. I'm pretty sure if this was a dream we would be awake by now." Looking around angrily, he added rudely, "Plus, why would any of you be in my dream? If not anything, I'm certain I'm not dreaming."

       Mr. Christopher sat helplessly on the empty sofa chair. Drenched in his sweat, he surveyed the room. Fear clouded his features. When everything seemed to be going well with him, that had to happen. I can't believe I defrauded Prestige of 20 million and I'm going to die without spending the money. Mr. Christopher panicked. If only I had listened, I would have been in Asia with my adorable wife and son. Feigning ignorance of reality was a foolish idea. I can't die in this awful place. That was their reality. If he had any questions then, they were all answered the moment he opened the conference room door. "How do we get out of here?" his voice croaked. "Y'all don't have plans on dying here, I believe. I can't die. I have a lot of things I must accomplish; not now not ever. There must be a way to get out here alive."

       "Sure. The way is here." Ted pointed at the entrance door jokingly. "You can always step out if you wish. What's the worst that could happen?"

       "You think you're funny? Well let me tell you this, if I get bitten, I'll take as many people down with me and that includes you. I won't die alone." he jabbed.

       "Now I get why I liked you at first." he drew his hands together as if debating whether to go further. "We are alike. You don't know how happy that makes me know there's someone who's exactly like me. Too bad I don't like to keep those people alive for too long."

       Mr. Christopher understood it instantly. Even a little kid could perceive the threat in Ted's statement. He adjusted his glasses- a habit he couldn't do without, especially when trying to make a point. "What then? Will you commit murder just because you don't like someone?"

       "No, Gorgeous. I'll gladly throw you out to die because I don't like you anymore. I've finally seen someone worse than Emily."

       His last word had her eyes rolling. She clenched her fist. It was the first she felt such a strong craving to visit bodily roughness on a human. "So," Swallowing her pride was something she needed to get used to if she wanted to survive. Her teeth gnashed. "Please proceed with what you were saying before Christopher interrupted." Why the heck is he glaring at me like that? Does he expect me to address him with honorifics after what he displayed in the conference room? "What do we do and how do we even know when we get infected? Is it a virus in the air or what?" She went on, turning her back to Mr. Christopher.

       Virus in the air? Sometimes I wonder if she plays what she says in her head to know how outlandish she sounds. 

       "Yes. Like Covid 19." Sally added. "I can't believe I survived Coronavirus only to approach this."

       "Like Covid 19?" Ted broke down in laughter. "Did any of your relatives get coronavirus through the air?" his nose twitched.

       "Laugh all you want but it's not funny. I'm terrified right now."

       Regaining his posture after seeing the seriousness in their eyes, he said, "Now I don't have a thing to argue about in coronavirus and air." he cleared his throat. "But I do know it's impossible to transform into those things through the air. A person can only get infected through blood transmission. Avoid getting bitten and if by chance you have an open wound, close it." realizing how silly he sounded, he went further to explain. "What I'm trying to say is,"

       "We get it, Ted." Emily snapped. "So, you're saying, if those monsters bite" She paused, smiling deviously. "you, you'll instantly become like them?"

       "I won't say instantly. By the way, I saw what you did there. The infected do not show signs of infection immediately. There should be a period of gestation. I don't know how long though. They didn't say anything about the time in the news."

       Emily fell back on her seat, clapping slowly. "So, you didn't know all these? You saw it in the news. For a while, I thought you were very shrewd and I needed to rely on you to survive. The news." She scoffed.

      "Really? I remember saving your ass several times from getting bitten. Are you sure you don't need me to hold up? This reminds me of what I said seven days ago before this whole shit started."

       "Stop it."

       "Why? I'll tell everyone what I said. I told Emily that one day she'll need me so desperately to save her ass and when that day comes, I'll have her kneel and beg me." There was a long pause as everyone stared at him with astonishment. Not giving two cents about what people thought of him was his specialty. He moved forward, standing opposite her. "Emily Smith, I want you to get on your knees and beg me or get the fuck out of here."

       His voice echoed, bringing Dave out of his sober mood. All efforts to try and knock sense into him failed as he stood defensively, waiting for her to do as instructed. He threatened to open the door if anyone got in the way.

       This was it. The day her mum used to speak of. A day when one needed to swallow their pride and self-respect for the sake of survival. She glanced at the door, wondering if to run into the arms of the uncountable number of living dead waiting to devour them or ameliorate her self-respect just to survive. Mum, Gracie, Billy, Celine, Sally... If eyes could kill, Ted would have been dead that instant. The look in her eyes gave Dave the creeps. He hadn't seen her that agitated since her first day at work.