V. Nightmares (2)

“Then who? Who’s calling me nonstop these past few days then?” Farrah clutched her head in confusion. Ferdinand saw his daughter like this even felt indeed more obliged to investigate the matter deeper. As long as this issue remains unfixed, they were bound to lose sleep these incoming days.

“We don’t know for sure. Don’t stress too much,” Ferdinand patted his daughter’s head. Sitting down on the bed beside Farrah, he couldn’t help but to sigh. “We’ll get to the end of this matter, eventually. Don’t think too much. If Dior’s here, he’ll never allow you to waste your time in things like this. Focus on self-recovery, time will heal you.”

Farrah pursed her lips, just nodding to express her agreement. She didn’t plan to waste her time thinking of this matter, for it will only make her more confused. “Alright. Let’s talk about something else then, how’s the situation in the laboratory?”

The moment Ferdinand heard the word ‘laboratory’, his gentle persona disappeared, replaced by a serious and gloomy look, making Farrah confused. It looks like things weren’t good on the research team.

Sure enough, Ferdinand confirmed Farrah’s thoughts. “Not so good. Mayor Hilton visited earlier, demanding to speed up the study of the antidote. He made a tremendous fuss inside the laboratory, not only disrupting our works, wasting our time and let us listen to his nonsense but also scolding us for being slow and useless. What a scumbag. Does he even know what is he spouting? I always keep wondering why he’s so stupid. Maybe he ate his own brain that’s why his stomach looks so big?”

Mayor Hilton is the “big” figure of this base. Back when the world was still normal, he was nothing but a small-time official. It was only when the apocalypse came he found a way to climb the ladder. Also relying on his son’s power as a key figure in mercenary department, Mayor Hilton lived like a king in this place. 

Now that Dior passed away, there’s no threat to Mayor Hilton’s son as the biggest figure in mercenaries. Usually, Farrah doesn’t care about this, not because she wasn’t interested, but because Dior doesn’t want her to take part in this kind of conflict. Although worried, Farrah respects Dior’s decision, knowing that Dior never decided without careful deliberation.

Dior had some conflict with Mayor Hilton’s son, but Farrah never actively joined, and that’s probably why Dior’s enemies never came to bother Farrah after Dior’s death. She also had no opinions about Mayor Hilton, because the fact that the base remained standing for years under his leadership proved that he’s been doing his job so far. In times like this, it’s rare to find good leaders, for most of them had already died or became a zombie in the name of protecting their people.

Just like Dior. 

So when Farrah heard her father’s words, she couldn’t help but to raise an eyebrow. “Just let him yap like a dog. In the end he has no hands in this matter.”

Ferdinand nodded, agreeing with his daughter’s comment. “It’s better if he would just do what he does every day, drink and sleep—less distraction for people like us with serious jobs.”

The father and daughter duo laughed together in complete harmony, unaware that in one of the entrance gates of the base, something was brewing.

*

“STAY BACK! STAY BACK!” a female soldier shouted in pure rage, pushing away a man away from a young girl. She’s trying her best not to point a gun at anyone, but the situation’s getting out of control. As the Gatekeeper, she had encountered this situation many times before, but it was only today she had encountered a situation both similar yet different at the same time.

Because at this moment, the person she was trying to drive away for being infected wasn’t someone she would expect. Looking at the frenzied man beside her, the female soldier clenched her fist.

“Sir, your daughter can’t enter the base! She’s infected! If we let her in, then it’s not but suicide, do you hear me?”

“SHUT UP! LET MY DAUGHTER IN! SHE’S NOT INFECTED! SHE’S NOT!” 

The man behind the female soldier yelled with a distorted expression. He looked so desperate and scared. Not so far from the man was a woman, who’s crying miserably while being held by a male soldier.

Five meters away from them was a young girl, holding an old teddy bear smeared with dust and blood alike. Her baby-blue dress had its edges turned into brown because of dirt and mud, mixed with some crimson liquid, which apparently was her own blood. She had her head bowed down, and her long black hair was covering her face, making it hard for everyone to see what kind of face she was currently making. On her right shoulder was an obvious zombie bite. It was where the blood on her dress was coming from. Though small, you could smell the familiar stench of the undead coming from her wound. 

Years of being soldier made her harden her heart for the greater good, but at this moment, the female couldn’t help but to doubt herself too. Is she really doing the right thing?

Glancing at the wailing mother, the mad father and the silent young girl—the female soldier felt like her heart was being torn into shreds at this moment. As she was having confusion and hesitation, she heard a series of footsteps nearing their location.

The female soldier gulped and turn around, saluting to the soldier who had a rank higher than her. Beside this soldier was the mayor.

“What’s happening here?” Mayor Hilton demanded, looking between the family of three and the two soldiers.

The soldier beside the mayor frowned, raising his chin towards the female soldier. The female soldier glanced at her superior before reporting the whole matter.

Mayor Hilton looked at the infected child standing not far away from a man and a woman. Gazing at her paling skin and the gory wound on her shoulder, he sneered.

“What are you idiots waiting for? Dispatch it!”

“But sir—”

“No buts. She’s infected, she’s danger to us! Throw her away!”

Hearing Mayor Hilton’s words, everyone gawked at him. No one expected him to be so cold and unfeeling to say such words in front of a girl struggling in life and death. The girl’s father became even more furious. He began kicking the soldiers who were holding him down, trying to reach for his daughter. His wife bawled looking so miserable, everyone felt sad looking at this scene except for Mayor Hilton.

For him, it was rather an enormous sigh of relief if the girl was out of the base—lesser mouth to feed, lesser job for him. 

The girl’s father glared at Mayor Hilton with pure hatred, as if to engrave his face into his bones, ready to devour him alive. Mayor Hilton noticed this, making him snort. As he was about to ask for a gun to shoot the girl himself, a female soldier walked towards him and opened her mouth.

“Mayor, I have an idea.”

Mayor Hilton paused, raising his right eyebrow as a cue for the female soldier to continue. 

The female soldier gulped, glancing at the girl who’s already showing signs of death. She slowly uttered her idea that she came up with.

“...What about taking her as a study-subject in the laboratory? She’s not an ability-holder so she’ll be easy to kill in case necessary.” The female soldier knew it was unnecessary. The girl has died, showing that she’s indeed infected. Even if the parents made a fuss here, it wouldn’t change the fact that she’s infected, and she’s meant to die the moment the infection contacted her blood. Yet the female soldier still did this, just to assure the parents that their daughter was still inside the base, albeit being in the laboratory. 

She knew she’s doing nothing but adding salt to the wound, but this was the only way she could think of. 

Mayor Hilton’s forehead creased. Glancing at the now dead young girl and the screaming parents, then remembering the incompetent morons at the laboratory, he huffed and nodded. “Bring her then.”

They prohibited the parents of the young girl to be near her, for she already transformed into a monster. They could only watch in both terror and sadness as their lovely girl turn into monster they don’t know. 

There’s two kinds of nightmares: those in dreams, and those in reality. You can watch it, but you can’t stop it.