Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 66: Understanding

"I told you I saw someone earlier!"

A woman with eyeglasses angrily said. She wore a blue sailor uniform that tightly grabbed her lean body. On her hand was a pointed wooden shaft made from broomsticks. Her name is Priscilla Arabit, the current student council president.

"Yeah, we know now, Pres." sarcastically replied the skinny man in glasses that stood next to her. He is called Kevin, also known as the student council's secretary.

"Calm down.", a male student with pomade hairstyle said. He wore a long-sleeved checkered shirt folded up to his elbows. The man placed his hand on Kevin's shoulder and patted twice before going to Priscilla's side. "She was just looking out for any help that might come, and she did found some. Give her some slack."

"Yeah, right." Kevin scoffed. "Those people ignored us, and now we're trapped here on the rooftop. Zombies are waiting behind that door, and there's nowhere we can go! Sam, you can't always side with her! What are we going to do now?!"

Just as he finished talking, the door behind them created pounding noises followed by the riled up growling of the infected.

Kevin shook his head and turned to the wall to his side. He looked down and stared at the ground, filled with gravel and scattered leaves.

The three of them were stuck on the Student Council office on the fourth floor when everything happened. They were having a meeting when they fell unconscious.

When they woke up, they just shrugged it off and continued their meeting.

After the meeting, they went out and saw the torn limbs and scattered blood along the hallway. Kevin panicked and shouted, attracting all the infected on the floor. They went back inside the office hurriedly, hastily blocking the door with all the furniture nearby.

The infected repeatedly struck the door causing their hearts to beat faster.

Priscilla thought hard of a solution to solve their current predicament.

She used the PA system attached to the hallways to attract the infected away. Since she doesn't know where those things were, she gambled, controlling their movements through her judgment alone. After that, they were able to survive by holing themselves shut inside the office, trying their best to remain as silent as possible.

They had some stocked food on the shelves, but it was starting to run out, and so they had to decide whether to go out or not.

In the end, they chose to go out with the condition to stay nearby the office and to first assess the immediate threat in the surroundings.

Kevin checked the stairs that lead to the floor below, while Sam checked the one that leads to the rooftop. Priscilla stood guard on the hallway in case something came from this side.

She then heard the metallic ringing of Jun's shield and aluminum baseball bat hitting each other. She ran towards the railings and saw that a real person was standing before the field, just idly waiting for those evil things to reach him.

She turned around saw Kevin fending of an infected. She instinctively called for Sam's help, which resulted in more infected to rush at them from below.

Sam came running and pulled her wrist while shouting for Kevin to follow.

The office was on the opposite side, and the infected were blocking the hallway, so they had no choice but to go up, which resulted in them getting stuck on the rooftop with nothing but empty space for themselves.

The three of them stared at the ground below. Then Priscilla's eyes started to brighten.

***

"We're here."

Edward stood in front of the College of Accountancy faculty office. He slowly opened the door, showing enough gap for him to peek inside.

"Just go in. We can deal with anything." Jun said.

Edward opened the door and curiously stared at the empty room. Five professors shared the room based on the number of cubicles in the room. There were four cubicles taking half of the room, while the college dean's office owned the other half. A plaque placed on top of the table with black and gold colors had the name of the dean written on it.

Jun took the lead and went inside. He picked random things on the displays as he passed by, before getting bored with them, and deciding to toss them around the room.

He sat down on the nearest swivel chair, which happened to be the dean's chair.

"Have you found what you're looking for?" Jun asked as he watched Edward come out on one of the cubicles.

Edward raised his hand, holding a mobile phone. He smiled as he operated his phone.

"That's what we came here for?" Jun stood up. "There were lots of phones back in the mall"

Before Jun could finish his nagging, Edward turned his phone and showed something to Jun.

On the screen, a family of seven was happily smiling at the camera.

Edward stood between his two little sisters while behind them was their parents. Seated in front were his grandparents already in old age.

In the Philippines, it is common to see extended families. Almost every household has this setup, and this is one of the most basic ones. Some had their uncles and aunties living nearby, and the surrounding area becomes their compound.

Edward took back his hand and smiled as he stared at the screen.

"This is the only copy I have. I have lots of other pictures online, but I'm not really sure if I can still surf the web. My family lives in Morong, and it's too far, considering all the possible blockades on the road. Even if I go on foot, I'm not even sure if they're still alive."

"You can't do that."

A sorrowful voice sounded behind him.

Edward turned his head and saw Sheila, teary-eyed.

Sheila said. "You can't give up like that. You can't. Do you know what happens if you think like that? They'll really die. Not literally, but in your heart and mind. What will happen if they somehow lived? What if they were searching for you? Right now! Lost on where they would start looking for you."

Tears started to fall on the sides of her eyes. "I wish my dad is alive. On the other hand, knowing that there were strange zombies everywhere, my heart feel at ease when the thought that he could've died in the beginning crossed my mind. I hated myself when I thought of that! I-I'm such a bad daughter."

Edward speechlessly lowered his head.

This is a first for him, a girl crying in front of him, and the decision whether to ignore or to comfort her lies in his hands.

Luckily, or unluckily, he didn't have to make that choice.

A loud shriek echoed from the outside.

Jun hurriedly opened the sliding window and peeked outside. He immediately saw the source of the noise.

Three students were walking along the ledge of the rooftop.

The ledge was narrow, about two to three-foot and appeared to be slippery since some infected behind them kept on falling down as they tried to stand and run forward.

There were some unfortunate infected who slipped and fell down to the ground, headfirst.