He re-folded the wet cloth and lifted it to wipe my face. “You were really dehydrated out there, in the sun. I think it’s best if you get more rest”. I tried to take the cloth from his hand and our fingers accidentally brushed each other, sending a tingling feeling up my arm. We froze for a moment, staring at each other. Abruptly, he let go of the cloth. “Thanks” I mumbled, shifting my gaze away from his intent stare.
He coughed and cleared his throat, to fill the silence of our awkwardness. “I was trying to get some medication for my younger sister…who is about 16 years old….she reminds me of you”. This insulted me, “I am not 16, I am already 23!” At this, he chuckled. When he laughed, the smile really lifted the corners of his face and made him look younger than usual. It also did strange things to my heart, making it flip unusually.
As I tried to understand my feelings, he started the car and began driving. “I am driving us to a safe place which is where my sister is. She had a bad fall, and needed some supplies for the wound. That hospital, I used to work there…. I thought it would still be in a chaos, I didn’t expect that the infection would have spread and killed everyone overnight. Zombies! Of all things, zombies! ” He pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose in frustration. I nodded in approval. It wasn’t like I had a choice of where I wanted to go. If I had said no, where would we have gone? He could have kicked me out and left me on that empty road.
After five minutes in companionable silence, he said, “My name is Blake. I'm sorry that I didn’t properly introduce myself before and honestly, I was anxious to get back. My parents have advised me not to bring anyone back and I was surprised to see so many of you.” So, he had a group that he was surviving with. Every man for himself, I sighed inwardly. My thoughts wandered to my family, I hoped that they were alright. “Cassie, my name is Cassie” I replied absently, not quite looking at him, staring at the trees that we were going past.
I dug my phone out of my pocket to call them. After turning on the phone, I called my parents, but they did not pick up. My heart started pounding as I started to worry and questions ran through my mind. I decided to call my brother. He picked up on the first ring. “WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU???” I had to move the phone away from my ear as it hurt to listen to him.
I explained my situation and asked him about our parents. He was with his wife (they had yet to have kids) at Compass Ville shopping mall. When the news of the infection had broken out, the whole mall was closed up to protect the people inside. He was not able to contact my parents either, or to get to where we lived in Hougang. No one in the mall they had met was infected, so he assumed that they were safe and asked me to join them. It would be an issue getting into the mall though. According to him, there was a group of zombies hoarding the east gate.
All I could reply was that I would be in touch and he seemed to resign himself to that. I wanted my big brother to be there, to tease me about how I slept till noon, how unladylike I was sometimes, and to be my big comforting shoulder. He used to chase away the bullies and the bad boyfriends, making me feel safe. How I wished he could be there to chase away the zombies. Even if he was inadequate at fighting, he would still be able to make me feel safe. Now I would never be able to know if he was safe either and constantly worry about him. “Take care, sis”, “You too”, I held back my tears and pressed my face onto the cool glass of the windows again.
YOU ARE READING
Surviving in Chaos
Romance"I liked small children too but this one was a little odd. Her eyes were bloodshot and the colour of her eyes were dulled as if the life had gone out of them. That wasn’t the worse part of it, as she ran, it was obvious she was unstable on her legs...
