Behind a tightly closed, dusty window, a thin-bearded man, Dr. Rovile Damictus, let out a long sigh. His tired eyes caught the orange flash of a trail bike speeding far below. Three people on it—a sight too noisy and reckless in a world that had lost its voice.
"Those kids... riding a motorcycle in the middle of an apocalypse?" Rovile muttered softly. "That's like ringing the dinner bell for the undead."
He dragged his steps back to his cluttered desk. The yellowish light of a desk lamp illuminated terrifying stacks of spore growth charts. On the walls, hundreds of papers overlapped, connected by red threads running everywhere.
His trembling fingers touched an old photograph. It showed a younger him, standing proudly in front of the magnificent laboratory where he once worked, before he was fired and the world collapsed.
In the corner of the room, an old generator accompanied dwindling stacks of canned food and rows of oxygen tanks. Rovile picked up his small notebook, scratching his pen with firm, serious strokes.
"Alright, let's do this," he said with a hardened face.
——
Beside Blue House Apartment
Luce, Parvez, and Shawari, while dragging her motorcycle, were sneaking through the small alley beside the apartment. Luce was at the front, his hand signaling them to stop. His eyes swept the area, ensuring no withered figures had awakened from the earlier engine sound.
Luce nodded slightly, pointing toward the entrance. Clear.
They entered the lobby with bated breath. The musty smell and dust spores greeted them.
"Shawari, just leave your bike here. We can cover it with this tarp," Parvez whispered while spreading a dull blue cloth in his hands.
"Wow, great idea, Parvez." Shawari grinned widely, her hand landing on Parvez's head and ruffling it affectionately.
Luce, still guarding near the door, glanced at that interaction with an ice-cold stare. His hand clenched around his weapon's handle.
They began climbing the stairs. Their footsteps echoed in the silent hallway.
"Uhh... why don't we just take the elevator?" Shawari complained while catching her breath.
"No electricity, no elevator. Get used to it," Luce replied curtly and sharply.
They reached Unit 515. As soon as the door opened and they entered, the previously quiet living room suddenly felt cramped. Shawari shamelessly threw her touring bag onto the table, sending dust flying.
"Wow, this place isn't bad, even if it's a bit messy," Shawari said, scanning the room as if checking into a five-star hotel.
Luce stood with arms crossed, his face hardening. "Parvez, do we really have to let her stay here?"
"Why not? She won't bite us," Parvez answered casually, trying to lighten the mood.
"That's right," Shawari chimed in without guilt.
Luce let out a heavy sigh. "We don't need a third person who can attract zombies every five minutes with her exhaust pipe."
"Hey..." Shawari felt offended, but quickly grinned. "Even so, I have these." She opened her bag, showing off several tightly sealed cans of corned beef.
"Whoa! Corned beef! What flavor is that?" Parvez's eyes immediately lit up.
"Chicken... and this one's beef."
"Wow, I want some!"
Luce interrupted suspiciously, "Wait, didn't you say earlier you had no food?"
"Since when? I only said I was looking for food~" Shawari replied in a sing-song tone that was annoyingly cute.
"Shawari, would you like to stay with us?" Parvez suddenly asked, staring at Shawari with hopeful eyes.
"Parvez!" Luce shouted in shock.
"What? She has food and her bike is cool. Having her around benefits us too, right?" Parvez asserted with an annoyed face, defending his decision. Shawari laughed heartily at the young man's boldness.
Luce was silenced. He realized, in this house, he was just a lodger himself.
Shawari chuckled. "Your friend here is right," she stepped closer to Luce, staring at him with a provocative, teasing smile. "Besides, don't you think you're being a bit too overprotective of your little friend here?"
"What?!" Luce was startled. A faint redness appeared on his face—between pure anger and embarrassment he didn't want to admit. "Me? Overprotective of someone like him? In your dreams!"
"Oh... alright, guess I was wrong," Shawari said with a falsely innocent tone that made Luce want to throw her out the window.
Shawari then sat behind Parvez, who had already started opening a corned beef can. She placed her hand on Parvez's head, ruffling his hair casually as if petting a favorite cat.
"But don't worry, I won't hurt your little friend here. Right, Parvi?"
"Hm?" Parvez turned with his mouth full of chicken corned beef. "My name is Parvez, not Parvi."
"Yeah... you're right. Parvez. I'll remember."
Luce could only suppress a growl. Meanwhile, Parvez completely ignored the cold war happening before him.
——
A few days passed since Shawari started living in the apartment with Parvez and Luce.
The day was bright, but shadows of thick clouds still shrouded the city sky, as if warning of something grim. Inside unit 515, the three were happily playing cards to pass the time.
"Hyaaahhh! Uno! I win, yaaay!" Shawari shouted joyfully, swaying a little to celebrate her victory.
"Uh... I'm thirsty," Parvez mumbled weakly. "Luce, could you grab a water bottle from the fridge?"
"Huh? Why me? And why would you put water bottles in the fridge? There's no electricity," Luce asked with an annoyed tone.
"Hee... please," Parvez whined.
"Tch," Luce rolled his eyes, annoyed but still stood up.
"Get one for me too, okay, Mister Tsundere~" Shawari teased mischievously.
"Stop calling me that!" Luce said before finally heading to the kitchen.
While waiting, Parvez asked Shawari, "Shawari, why do you keep calling him tsundere?"
"Hm, nothing really... I just think it suits him," Shawari answered with a sweet smile while reshuffling the cards.
"Oh.."
Soon, Luce returned from the kitchen empty-handed. His face looked stiff.
"Huh, where's the drink?" Shawari asked, confused.
"It's gone," Luce stated firmly. "There's no more."
"Really?" Parvez jumped in shock.
"Yeah."
"Really. We've completely run out of clean water."
"Impossible! What do we do now?!" Shawari started panicking. "Are we going to die of dehydration?!"
The two panicked uncontrollably. Luce sighed softly, "Don't panic, we just need to go out and find water."
"Ah, right! W-we have to find water," Shawari tried to calm herself. "But where?!"
"The tap water is unusable because it's contaminated by whatever turned those people into zombies. If we drink it, we might become zombies too!" Parvez exclaimed in horror.
"Waaah... I don't want to become a mottled green blob like those soldier things... Huuhuhu," Shawari burst into tears while hugging Parvez.
"I don't want to either," Parvez said weakly, hugging Shawari back.
Luce could only let out a long sigh watching their behavior. He spread a city map on the table. "Listen. At these points, there are large supermarkets, and this one is a mall. We have a good chance of getting bottled water there."
"Wow.. you're pretty amazing, Mister Tsundere," Shawari praised while teasing again.
"Hey!"
"Where did you get such a detailed map?" Parvez asked curiously.
"From house number 415. When we took the solar panel the other day," Luce answered briefly.
Shawari's eyes widened. "Huh? So that panel wasn't yours?"
"Nope," Parvez and Luce answered simultaneously without an ounce of guilt.
The three fell silent for a moment, before Luce finally slapped the table softly. "Enough! That's not important. What matters now is finding water! Better to skip food than to skip water."
"Right. Without food we can still last, but without water, three days and we're done for," Parvez added.
"Then, grab your gear. We're leaving!" Luce commanded.
As they descended the stairs, Parvez asked quietly, "Shawari, are we taking your bike?"
"Let's use it!" Shawari answered enthusiastically.
Luce immediately interrupted, "No! The zombies will swarm toward us because of the noise. And if there are other people when we get there, it's dangerous."
"Ah, that's true... I didn't think of that," Shawari responded weakly.
They left the apartment, walking very cautiously. Several times they had to fight off zombies that blocked their path.
"Hm.. it's quiet. Could it be we're the only ones left in this city?" Shawari asked, looking around the destroyed streets.
"Probably not... There are still people online on the forum," Parvez said while continuing to check his phone.
Some time later, they arrived at a large supermarket covered in dust, with many cracks in the glass walls. Its name was Grown-Mart.
Upon entering, the atmosphere was vast but chaotic. "Looks like no one's here?" Shawari said.
"Good then. Let's search every section. Don't miss any food," Luce commanded.
They split up. Luce searched the canned food area, Shawari the fresh food section, while Parvez... wandered aimlessly.
"Oh! There are vegetables!" Shawari found vegetables, but remembered Luce's warning. "Oh right, Luce said not to take food not stored in containers.. Ah, but there's so much," she murmured sadly, walking away.
On the other side, Luce examined the canned food shelves. He checked each one—none were bulging, damaged, or leaking.
Meanwhile, Parvez walked without clear direction. He rarely went to supermarkets before. He still held his spear as he entered the non-food section.
His eyes stopped at a large plastic bucket.
He took it. Then found disinfectant and alcohol bottles. He put them in the bucket. Bath soap, shampoo, toothpaste, wet wipes—he collected everything.
"Hmm.. why hasn't anyone taken these things?" he murmured in wonder. He continued taking deodorant, lotion, soap, and others that he found. At the end of the hardware aisle, he took a hammer, padlocks, a flashlight, and lots of batteries. "Hm.. these batteries are still good. Take them," he said with a slight smile.
Suddenly, faint conversation sounds came from behind the shelves. Parvez immediately ducked down.
"Hey, looks like there are fresh footprints here?"
"Yeah, but who cares. Just take what we need before others do!"
Two strangers began looting shelves not far from Parvez's position. "Why did we come here first? Isn't the food area more important?"
"Hah, you're so stupid. With these tools, we can beat down other survivors and steal their stuff!" One of them laughed ominously.
Parvez held his breath. So these people were after tools to use as weapons for robbing. As Parvez tried to reach for a pipe wrench, his hand bumped the bucket.
𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘥!
"Ah, a sound? Seems like it's from behind this shelf!"
Parvez quickly hid himself by getting into a bucket placed between a cabinet and the wall, covering his head with another large black bucket.
Parvez curled up, holding his breath until his chest felt tight. Behind the shelf, he could hear heavy boot steps scraping against the dusty supermarket floor.
"Hah, that was probably just a rat bumping this bucket and running off," one of them muttered dismissively.
Once their footsteps faded, Parvez slowly stood up. His heart was still pounding in sync with the soft clinking of alcohol and soap bottles inside his black bucket. He crept through the dark back aisle, trying to blend with the shadows of tall shelves.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed his collar. Parvez almost screamed if not for Luce's serious face peeking from behind a stack of cardboard boxes.
"Shh..." Luce hissed sharply, his eyes warily watching the group of armed people in the central area. "They're armed. We can't win an open confrontation now."
Parvez nodded stiffly. He nudged Luce's arm and showed the bucket full of "treasures" he had collected. Luce paused for a moment—not expecting this lazy guy to think about stocking soap in the middle of an apocalypse—then gestured with his hand asking for something heavy. Parvez carefully handed over the large pipe wrench he had taken earlier.
The atmosphere became very quiet. Only the sound of wind coming through broken supermarket glass could be heard. The two were ready to creep toward the back door.
However, that silence shattered into pieces by a cheerful voice echoing from the fresh food aisle.
"Yo! I found bread!"
Shawari appeared with a radiant face, holding a pack of bread high as if she had just won the lottery.
Time seemed to slow down. Parvez and Luce froze with indescribable expressions—a mix between wanting to cry and wanting to pretend they didn't know her. On the other side, the armed people immediately turned in unison toward Parvez and Luce. And then their gazes locked directly onto Shawari, who was still frozen. The three of them realized they might be in trouble.