XG 5 - I'm so hungry!

 

The soft music playing in the washroom was calming, but it felt out of place from the reality that had turned into a horrifying world. The calming music failed to soothe the occupants’ frazzled nerves. Instead, it gave a creepy feeling to Wong Xue Guo once she matched it with the pictures of gruesome infectious zombies.

 

Using the chance when the two ladies were frantically making calls in a hysterical manner that was bound to draw attention from the outside, Wong Xue Guo removed the plastic wrapping of her newly purchased umbrella. 

 

Her hands and legs itched to go out and lock the washroom entrance, but doing that would expose her presence. What calmed down her urge was knowing that locking it would be useless with how loud her neighbours were. 

 

Yelling at them was a fleeting thought that was immediately squashed.

 

She had purchased the umbrella with the intention of using it as a whacking stick. But seeing those ferocious zombies, her umbrella suddenly lost its imaginary lethality. Her father had told her to keep the ribs and spine, but the weak chicken Wong Xue Guo does not have the strength to rip the umbrella apart, or even know how to.

 

She could only count on the tip of the umbrella and most of her strength to attack. From movies to dramas and anime, zombies will immediately die from having their brains stabbed. 

 

How hard will a skull be? But those actors and actresses made it look easy to do so...

 

...Wait a minute!!!

 

Wong Xue Guo gripped the umbrella tightly until her palm got lines from it. Her mind throbbed painfully, remembering what her father had told her on the phone. He said to stab them through their heart, was that a fail-safe way to kill them?

 

She remembers her father was in Hong Kong now, but there was not yet any news about the contagious disease in that country!

 

How did her father discover that weakness? Or had she overestimated her father's involvement when he only meant bad humans that had intentions to kidnap her? Or does he just assume stabbing their heart will stop them?

  

"May… I'm scared," June sobbed, distracting Wong Xue Guo's thoughts.

 

"Police will be saving us soon. We just need to wait." May tried to sound confident, but Wong Xue Guo could pick up her fear clearly.

 

Police can't even handle zombies properly, ah!

 

She could still remember the news showing that the police got bitten from trying to subdue the aggressive human. Just how many people in the country have turned now, including the police force? 

 

It was lucky that the two scared women being together does not make them even more fearful. The calendar friends were somewhat calm now with each other's support, and Wong Xue Guo's initial decision of being a lone wolf started to waver. Having someone with you in this situation indeed provides help in giving you extra bravery.

 

Just look at May, who was also afraid but remained strong for June.

 

"My parents are at home and I told them not to leave the house. Did you tell your parents?" May asked.

 

"No… I can't call them. They are not picking up their phone," June wailed. "They are going to die!"

 

"Hey, think positively!" May scolded, even if she did think June's parents were in danger.

 

"But the cinema…" June sobbed, remembering that her parents were going to watch a movie while waiting for her to finish work. "There's so much blood."

 

Wong Xue Guo's heart chilled once she heard the word ‘cinema’. These two women must have passed by the cinema and seen the bloody aftermath. 

 

Nurul Hanani, Low Lin Ya, both of you had better escaped!

 

The sudden loud crash stopped the women's chattering and Wong Xue Guo felt that her heart was abused thoroughly today. Would a seventeen-year-old girl get a heart attack? It would be her fortune if she died immediately after and does not need to continue living at the end of the world era.

 

"... Hello?" May asked tentatively after recognizing it was a footstep of a person entering the washroom.

 

"Another person came to hide here too?" June cheered up after knowing there will be another person joining them.

 

But Wong Xue Guo was not as optimistic as them. She had seen a lot of thriller movies, where silence coming from the 'newcomer' just spelt danger.

 

Even if she had prepared herself for the possibility, a small shriek had still escaped from her when a loud banging echoed in the washroom and was accompanied by an inhuman growl. Luckily, the two women's screams had covered her small slip.

 

"Help...me…" The newcomer's gender could not be identified by their hoarse voice, but they seem to be in the process of changing into a zombie.

 

By now, the two women also knew danger had entered the washroom and other than occasional sobs, they remained silent. 

 

But how can that person, soon to be a zombie, let them go after knowing there was someone hiding here? The banging became fiercer, likely to be at the cubicle where the two of them were hiding. 

 

"It hurts… My stomach hurts... I'm so hungry!" The soon-to-be zombie let out a sharp screech that was painful to the ears but also induced fear in the three humans in the washroom.

 

"Go away!" June screamed when the fierce, continuous banging started to deform the door of their cubicle. The two women knew the door would not last long, and could only helplessly cling onto each other, waiting for their demise.

 

Wong Xue Guo felt her entire back soaked with cold sweat and could only clutch onto her trembling knees with her eyes gazing onto the cubicle wall. Each cubicle was connected to the other, and she could see the vibration on her cubicle from every banging the newly turned zombie made.

 

She would have followed her urge to hug her knees and hide her head if she was not afraid of missing out on any danger heading her way. 

 

The door was only made of wood and could not withstand the zombie's strength which was no longer limited by pain. It was quick for it to make a hole in the door and the lock was shaking, getting dangerously loose from its screws loosening. 

 

The two women, hugging each other for comfort, could see the zombie from the hole, just as it could see them. The sight of fresh meat had the zombie becoming even more determined to bring down the door between it and its prey.

 

By now, the two women were crying in a heart-wrenching way loudly, no longer afraid that their voice would attract more danger now that its eyes were on them. 

 

Their cries for help might only be heard by the terrified Wong Xue Guo in the last cubicle. Flinching sharply, Wong Xue Guo knew the two women met their end when the loud crash of the door broke down, along with a sharp piercing scream from the two women.

 

She clamped onto her mouth to stop herself from screaming, her mind dizzy with fear. Her body was shaking so fiercely as her mind repeatedly told her that this place was no longer safe.

 

Run! Run! Run!

 

The sharp tang of coppery scent could be smelled even with the face mask on. That means that there was a lot of blood spilt. 

 

She did not notice when the two women had stopped screaming, and the sound was replaced with the sound of chewing that made her repulsed with the urge to gag. Her dinner threatened to rush up from her stomach. 

 

Her spectacles were foggy from her breath, but she made no move to adjust her mask. Her mind was occupied with worry over how long she could stay safe in her cubicle.

 

It was impossible for her mother to rescue her with her bodyguards. They have guns, but could they shoot all the zombies from the first to the sixth floor where she was hiding? It was more realistic to escape by herself and arrange a new, safer meeting place with her mother.

 

But she also does not know which place was safe.

 

The phone line was fortunately still working, but how long will it last? There were also many people calling each other too, which will definitely cause communication traffic and delay things. 

 

Wong Xue Guo does not want to die.

 

But her untrained body might die even before she could successfully kill the zombie in the washroom. The two women would also have a chance of getting infected, and it would be three versus one.

 

Just thinking that nearly had her faint in despair.

 

Should she close her eyes, wait here, and just let fate decide if she will die or not?

 

"Guo Guo?" 

 

Wong Xue Guo's eyes sprang open as if being shot with chicken essence. Was she hallucinating?

 

"Guo Guo? Are you here?" 

 

No… that was really her mother's voice!