Chapter 5:

Mom calmed down and smiled wryly, then the stomach grumblings caming from Sam belly reminded us of the dinner. I laughed and allowed him to take the can to eat. There was a lot of choices to take. But, all of us took the chicken soup first because the expired date would be tomorrow.

After we filled our belly, mom and Sam slept as they needed to stay awake at night. Meanwhile, I checked the other room beside the room we stayed at. There was a stair to upward but it led to the parking lot where aberrant were at. I entered the room next to ours and realized that it was a room full of lockers for the mall’s staffs.

There was nothing except for keys and pictures inside the lockers. I went to the next room and immediately cupped my nose from the stench that I smelled when I walked to its door. I went back to our room to take the steel rod and cutter.

After sharpening the cutter for a bit, I went back. I struggled to open the door and fiddled with the cutter to unlock the door. The door creaked when I opened it and stuck midway. I glanced downward and saw a corpse lying down on the floor.

I took an immediate action by slashing its throat and smashed its brain. It did not respond thus, it was not an aberrant. I kicked the body few times to confirm it.

“Perhaps this guy thought that he already lost hope on living.”

I said as my hand traveled through its body. It was normal to see people locking themselves in the room back in past lives. They secured some food for themselves and hiding in the room alone because they were afraid of people and aberrant. It was nothing bad but it was a stupid action by the coward.

They could only survive for a month if they did so and when the aberrant got strong, it was too late for them to get out.

He only had a wallet with few buck and a card with nothing else on him. I looked around and took the knife that was under the man’s body. There was also a gun and a bag of bullets inside his backpack. All the cans were empty, he probably ate it all thus nothing left. I thought that it was weird that he didn’t get out but when I saw his body, I saw a slash obviously from a sharp item across his belly and his left leg.

He died from the blood loss and hunger. So it seemed.

After I took the loot back to the room, I went to the last room near the stair. It was just an empty room. There was not an item but full of clouds of dust and spider’s web.

Just when I was about to leave, I saw valuable thing behind the door gap.

It was a simple long grass vine but for me, it was a treasure. An ultimate weapon. I carefully plucked it off the wall, put it in my pocket and left the room. There was no need to go upstairs, so, I returned to the room and checked outside of the window.

I still heard the sound coming from the radio and the aberrants were all surrounding the cars. Just straight in my eyes direction, I saw the light slowly faded away.

It was hard to not make noise while sitting. When I sat down, Sam woke up and was in a daze.

“It’s alright to sleep more. The aberrant won’t attack us so suddenly.”

“Mmm...”

He replied with a moan and went back to sleep. I also rested as I leaned back to the wall. As I looked into the ceiling, Alan’s face appeared and his voice whispered into my mind.

“Seems like, we have to search for each other again… Cerys.”

His masculine voice made me shudder from the goosebumps. My mouth can’t stop forming into a smile though. The first life I had during the apocalypse was lonely and the second life was sweet because of him. I had thought that the world would be perfect if not for the aberrant. Thinking it on the positive side, I wouldn’t have met him if not for the aberrant.

As I closed my eyes, I remembered the promise we made a day before dying.

“Cerys, I will create a fortress before you find me.”

“I know, I trust you.”

As we sat on the rooftop, he held my hands tightly while looking in daze straight into the direction as the sun sunk down. He timidly requested and I coldly answer.

“Please find my sister for me.”

“Only if she alive. If she did, I will take her to you.”

“If she was an aberrant...”

“I will turn her human but what happens afterward would not be my concern.”

“That was more than enough.”

He said that even though I did not promise him anything. That showed how much trust he had in me. I was never cute or feminine in any sort of way. But, I couldn’t help it to fall in love with him that has always bear with my cold attitude. We fought sometimes which was normal as a couple but it was what got us even closer.

“Sis, you have been grinning creepily...”

An annoying voice cuts into my mind and destroyed all my memory’s bubble. I glared at the culprit and he stiffened on the spot.