Dad and I braved going outside the house and trying our luck to the Blue House. We were really anxious of the flesh-eating monsters lurking here and about. We can hear them everywhere and it’s very terrifying. The thought that your life could end there and then is something that no one should go through. Although I still think it’s a great thing that they’re making those inhuman sounds. Because of that, we were able to pinpoint their location and steer away from them.

We safely made it to dad’s car since he parked it near the front of the house when he went home with mom that fateful night. That nightmarish night. I shook my head to free it from the sad thoughts and the feeling of guilt and regret that automatically make its way into my heart.

“Focus!” I heard my dad hiss and immediately, I was back to the real world.

Now inside dad’s car, we weave through the few undead that are walking around the perimeter. We brought with us all the food we can find in the house. That is, what’s left of it after the robbery. Our food supply was composed of a few cans of cola, some beer, chips, chocolate bars, and a carton of egg. Why I have a carton of egg on my personal ref, I can’t remember the reason anymore. We just stuff everything inside one bag, and on the other, I packed some clothes. Dad did the same but his pack is relatively smaller than mine.

“! They’re all over!” Dad cursed. My dad never curse. He must’ve saw how startled I became so he went mute for a short while before punching his fist on the steering wheel when he was forced to hit one women undead. We felt the thud when her body bumped into the car and when she went under the car and got rolled on by the tire.

That didn’t made me feel bad. If that was a living human, then of course! But knowing that these are monsters, that only made me curse inwardly because they’re causing us to slow down. A few more minutes passed and we are faced with a big obstacle in our journey.

We reached the gate and, as how we would always keep it, it’s locked. Dad looked at me and I looked back at him. What do we do?

“Grab the wheel. When I open the gate, you speed right out.” Dad instructed and I shook my head violently I feared it would fall out from my neck.

“That’s dangerous! What if they bit you?”

Dad gritted his teeth and I know that he also fear the consequences.

“We have no choice!” He said afterwards. In his eyes, I can see conviction laced with fear.

“I’ll do it.” I told him and his head quickly snapped to face me.

“You’re not doing anything like that. If someone were to do it, that someone must be me.” He said and I can see that he got a little angry that I would offer to do it.

“But dad, I can run faster than you. Think about it. I’ll bring this with me.” I said as I show him the iron coat rack.

Silence stood between us. What’s not being said is the fact that I already killed one undead with this. That fact glares at us in bold red letters. We don’t have to talk about that night. That night when I killed my mom with it.

“I hate this situation.” Dad said afterwards and I know that this time, I won the argument.

“Neither do I, Dad. But we have to make do.”

He nodded and took a lung-full of air before moving to open the door. But before stepping out, Dad took hold of my arm. I looked at him.

“Be careful, son. Be very careful. I don’t know what I would do if--”

“Dad.” I didn’t let him finish. We’d be a crying mess if I let him go on. I tried to smile at him. “I’ll be alright. I’ll open the gate, you’re going to drive the car, and we will go to the Blue House.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He also smiled a little but I can clearly see that he’s still opposed to what I’m about to do.

Immediately upon stepping out of the car, one undead moved towards me and I quickly swing the coat rack and hit him right at the temple. He sprawled down on the pavement and didn’t move to get up. I looked at dad and saw him watching me. I smiled at him and wished that the message has been delivered: “I can take care of myself. No need to worry about me.”

He nodded his head and on I went to the gate. I managed to easily open the gate and immediately felt great about this journey. Dad drove really close to me as I go to the gate. I know what he’s trying to do - he wants to me enter the car quickly if the situation proves to be too much for me to handle alone.

After dad drove past, I still had the thought to close the gate after us but didn’t bother locking it. I jumped inside the car and we made our way to the house of the President.

The road was littered by dead people who, though walking aimlessly, are walking on two feet nonetheless. What freak of nature could’ve brought these dead people back to life, to turn these people into monsters who feast on the flesh of their loved ones, I don’t know. Let me tell you more about these zombies.

Well, first things first, they look like death. Not too creative, huh? But that’s the gist of it. One look at them, torn clothes, blood all over, gray, wounded, and decaying skin, dead eyes, stained teeth. I don’t know much about their ability but as far as we saw, they can’t run fast. They look like drunkards who had too much than they could handle so they were swaying from side to side as they walk towards us. It’s easy to assume that the sound of the engine running lures them towards us.

Can they see us? Oh hell they can! I remembered staring eye to eye with one male undead back at the house. With the thick glass of our window, I was able to stare at him without fear of getting bitten. When he started beating his head on the glass and trying to claw at me through the glass, I know that standing there and staring him in the eye is a stupid idea. He nearly broke the glass!

So yeah, they can see and can hear. They can’t move fast so that’s one thing we have at an advantage. We can always outrun them. These thoughts are swimming inside my head as we drove along the past highway. Abandoned cars, houses, personal belongings, dead bodies - these things litter along the road. I was thankful that we’re inside the car. I could only imagine the stench of burning bodies. What has happened to the world?

Minsoo set the book to rest and massaged his eyes before reopening it again and continued to read.

The trip to the Blue House didn’t go as well as we hoped it would. Well, who are we kidding? We should’ve expected something like this to happen. It’s our fault. We didn’t expected that something as inhumane as the things we witnessed can really happen at the early stage of the contamination.

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A/N: This story isn't receiving any reactions from the readers. I wonder why.. :)