Chapter 13: 13
He lashed out at me, “Why the f.u.c.k would you do that?! I’m gonna get fired! Hey! Stop!” he saw another kid grabbing a box of candies and run off. Before he chases the kid, I grabbed his collar and turned him around to face me. “Dude, didn’t you hear the siren and the broadcast?! Code Zulu Alpha is happening! Your dad dropped me here to pick you up, he went to your mom to get them as well, let’s go now!”
“Wait! Let’s grab some things first!” He rushed to the store before I even got the chance to stop him. I saw him grab his bag under the counter and he started filling it up with anything he laid his eyes on. When his bag was filled, I saw him pull out a shotgun under the desk. What surprised me was that he aimed it overhead.
“Oh boy.” I said.
*BOOM*
*crash*
“Holy f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit! That’s f.u.c.k.i.n.g loud! Everybody f.u.c.k.i.n.g stop!” he shouted.
He grabbed a basket and filled it up with potato ch.i.p.s. He even motioned me to help him grab a case of beer. Everyone is down in the ground while were looting this store. He has this smile in his face while doing this and even I can’t help smiling a bit since this escalated quickly. I grabbed a few more items in the store mostly essentials then we headed out.
“Here dude, catch! Everyone else, continue.” He threw me keys and he pointed at the small tanker parked on the side.
The people facing down has a look of confusion but they still got up and started taking things from the shop.
“We just shoplifted, open fired a gun, now we’re stealing a vehicle. Can’t believe we’re doing this this early!” I shouted at him as we started to run towards the tanker.
“You told me it’s happening right? We need to do this, you can’t buy everything with money, dude park here!” he said as he pointed to one of areas where the gas pumps are.
As I parked it, he pulled the gas pump and started filling up the gas tank of the vehicle before he filled the tanker.
“This is gonna take a few minutes. It’s half full so maybe 10 minutes tops.” He said as he opened a bag of potato ch.i.p.s. A few gunshots started to ring out from every direction as we watch people and cars scatter about.
He handed me the shotgun, handle first, then he said, “That was exciting huh, keep that.”
“Really? I thought you’d keep this to yourself.” I said as inspect the gun. Though it needs some cleaning and some polishing, it seems to be in working condition.
“My hand hurts.” He said as I almost spat out the ch.i.p.s in my mouth.
“Okay, then. I’ll trade you for it later.” I said as I placed it inside the truck.
“Great! Give me a rocket launcher later okay?” he said while he’s grabbing another mouthful.
We both looked at each other and we laughed hysterically.
“Who am I Duke Nukem?!” I said to myself.
A few vehicles tried to get gas like us and Russel just told them that it’s free, so they immediately picked up the pumps to load their own cars. A few minutes passed, my uncle stopped at the gas station giving us a honk, his wife and his daughter are at the backseat and a familiar figure was sitting next to my uncle. It was Ellen, an older woman who works as a pedicab driver. I waved at them then Russel steps forward and pointed at the tanker. Like father like son, they both gave each other a thumbs up.
Russel now disconnected the pump from tanker and we followed his dad back to the compound.
Everyone had shock after shock when I began to tell the story on how we acquired the small tanker. Russel just stood next to me trying to act out everything I said as he also provided the sound effects as I tell the story.
I saw the group’s overall demeanor lighten up a bit since the broadcast. Well, I kinda expected this to happen when we were gathering everyone earlier, everyone is in a mix of excitement and worry but when the broadcast aired it was replaced by fear and helplessness, well, aside from a few others.
We placed everything in the storage area and also a few boxes of noodles from the factory. It’s almost dusk before we settled down. The sirens are still blaring every hour and the broadcast is on loop. But every now and then the news covers other cities where the DDR has reached and a few places already hit. There’s now a DDR camp near here which is a few blocks away from the school we would pass to get to this place.
It’s located at the high school which was recently built a few years ago where next to it is the barangay hall where a small clinic and a huge hospital is also located. Ken flew his drone over there and we saw that it is now being barricaded and there are 2 medical trailers and three military jeeps stationed inside. They made a checkpoint at the basketball court where the trailers are parked and they seem to check everyone before they pass through.
A few soldiers are stationed outside and in the checkpoint area to improve security and ensure that the civilians don’t do anything stupid. They are armed with M16s and in full combat gear while the people on the line are clutching their own bags hoping to get inside as soon as possible.
Something caught our eye in the screen as someone pushed over everyone on the line. The line got a bit crooked then it started to disperse. A guy was in top of another person, face down gnawing at it then it immediately fell down as it was shot by one of the soldiers. The person laying below was convulsing but was also immediately shot without a glance. A few people on the line started to protest but they were held at gun point, ordered to maintain order. Everyone else was now huddled in the ground while the checkpoint still continued accepting people inside. The line now has become a semi-circle crowding over the checkpoint.
Two more military jeeps with a mounted .50 caliber machine gun parked in front of the crowd. Ken now started to drive the drone back as the batteries are getting low, he said that he had to pack everything in a rush and he forgot to charge everything.
Olivia seems interested at the drone as she starts to strike a conversation with Ken. They talked for a while and when I saw her again, she has a DSLR camera hanging from her neck. Kaley then brought her again to Ken to thank him for letting her borrow the camera. He gave them a nod as he packs the drone to charge at his room later.
I looked solemnly at the gate and I checked my phone. “I guess this is everyone for now. I hope the others are safe on the other side.” I mutter to myself. I looked for Rin and I saw her updating the inventory list as she adds the items we brought earlier.
I waved her over and she walked towards me.
“Anything sir?” she asked.
“You need to stop calling me sir, call me by my name.” I said.
“Okay sir Sky- umm, Sky…” she gives an awkward smile then she continued. “But S-Sky, the guys are calling you boss, should I tell them to stop too?” she asked.
“Well, they’ve called me that for a long time it just stuck.” I said.
“Oh, so can I call you boss too?” she said.
“Umm, fine, go ahead…” I felt defeated.
“Okay then Boss Sky! What do you need me for?” she said with a straight face. I just let the naming matter go fearing it might get worse.
“Ah- Yeah, I need you to have a list of everyone here too. Ask Oscar to have a simple checkup on everyone, I’ll tell Kaley to accompany him, she had medical training before. It would be good if Oscar could teach her what he knows. Also, tell my aunt to get help from who is available to prepare dinner for everyone. I would be in my room or in the gym if you need me or if something comes up.” I said as I head to my room first.
I checked online as I removed my jacket and the holster.