Chapter 7 Ghost City

"Li, catch!"
I was watching Jayson and Li open the cans of corned beef that we collected at the abandoned convenience store yesterday at the airport.
If only we knew something horrifying would happen that day, we would better have cleared and ransacked everything in that convenience store.
The wind was starting to get colder and the sky was completely concealed with dark, thick clouds, threatening to shower a great amount of rain any minute. The night was pitch black and only the bonfire we made was the only source of heat and light in the place we chose to stay. We were on top of a fifteen floored facility, warming ourselves and keeping each other safe.
Both Jason and I assumed that it would be safer to stay in a high place, away from any danger that might appear if we rather chose to wait in the car. After we left the airport with the hope that we could get any help from the people in this city, what welcomed us instead was an abandoned and destroyed urban sprawl.
The streets were filled with debris from the blasts that happened as dead bodies stacked on every corner of the area. There were signs of force infiltrating the houses because every door was wrecked and the glass panes of the convenience stores were shattered, the goods inside were robbed clean.
The city was completely forsaken; every home and establishment was empty, making it look like a ghost town. It was so silent that we could even hear the whistling of the wind blowing against the concrete structures and the noise of the newspapers that were blown by the chill wind. I seized one of those and read.
The headline was about a group of rebels called Scarlet Tundra.
It says that the group has already declared their first move and with unfortunate timing, Zone four was the first target to taste their ambition to take the land of Arcania. I had no idea where those patriots came from but I knew for sure that their threats were grave serious because it occurred that after the bombing on the airport, the military have evacuated all of the citizens to safety and we had no idea where and what sort of a place they held those people.
So, the bioweapon launched at the airport was also their doing, besides the bombing.
How many residents live in this city anyway? That kind of figure must have required a great space. It cracked me up that the local unit of Zone four of this area had managed to move such a large volume of people in just a single day.
And I had a strong premonition that Carl and dad were among them. Thinking about it made me sigh in relief though because at least I know they were both safe.
We made an effort to search if there were still people left and stayed but we failed to find even a single soul to help us get to the place where the residents had evacuated.
Full of anticipation and wariness that a zombie might come out any moment if we lingered too long in the low grounds, Jason pointed out that a high spot was the safest place we could stay to get some rest.
On the flat roof of an old building where we occupied temporarily, I couldn't stop myself from overthinking as I miserably examined the whole area as far as my eyes could reach. The macabre aura of the city gave me the feeling of desperation, surrounding us all like an apocalyptic nightmare that I thought could only exist in my imagination.
I paced back and forth and rubbed my arms, immersing myself in the realization that we might die in an open space like this. We weren't confident if the rebels have already departed this place or maybe some of them remained here and might locate us without a warning. It's a good thing there were no skyscrapers in this place and this building was the highest in the city. While there were no aircraft hovering around the area, no one would catch a glimpse of people staying here.
We get our water from the huge tanks on the right side of the flat roof and it also serves as a barrier to conceal us from any aerial threat.
All of us had gathered things inside the building that could be useful while we were here. We took a huge piece of wide curtain and made a tent out of it. We also took long sofas and made them as beds. Mona looked for any medicines and any medical kit while Li rummaged through some kitchen stuff for us to use. We have been eating cooked canned goods since we arrived in this place and it made me wish that at least we could find something fresh from any of the refrigerators here.
"Guys, I need an additional jacket," Timothy complained while rubbing his hands together. He was shivering in agony as the freezing wind blew and made the flame on the bonfire sway frantically, threatening to douse it.
It would be disastrous for all of us if the rain would fall.
"I still can't get any kind of radio signal," Li mumbled in frustration. It's been hours since he kept on working on an improvised radio that he assembled with random parts he took from the telephones from the deserted offices inside the building.
"I think it's because of the heavy clouds," Jason responded while stoking the fire with the parts from every destroyed wooden chair and table he compiled from this place. It seemed Jason knew what to do in a predicament like this. He's very decisive over things that need a fast solution.
I was so glad he stayed with me when I was left alone in that hellhole.
"Until when are we going to stay here?" Timothy asked Jason while his hands were both on his face, looking very hopeless with the situation. As much as I wanted to feel annoyed with his endless grievances, I could only feel sorry for Timothy. I understand why he felt that way because I also question our safety if we stay here for too long.
"Maybe until we knew if there were still survivors around this city," I answered with a soft and kind voice as I handed Timothy a spare of my jacket. "We can't leave here without knowing what's going on and we need information if rescuers were heading to this place."
"We can't compromise moving if there are terrorists down there who wouldn't hesitate to fire holes on us. And we should also consider the zombies that might have already reached this place." Jason added.
"Yeah, that's helping him," Li sarcastically interjected as he wrinkled his nose while both of his hands were working on his piece of art.
Timothy just rolled his eyes on us, looking more discouraged. He wore the jacket I gave him and I was pleased it fit him although I was smaller than him.
Good thing I like bigger jackets than my size.
"How long are we going to wait till that thing works?" Jason asked Li with his brows furrowed. He looked silly and that was so obvious on his face about his dislike of any electronic thingy. He gazed at the tangled cords of the device and the incomprehensible switches and buttons that Li developed. I learned basic electronics in school but that thing he was working on was beyond my knowledge.
It appeared that Li was good at that kind of stuff.
"As of now, I am still looking for the right frequency," Li replied to Jason, his face was serious while listening on a headset as he adjusted the tuning. He made the antenna lengthy so he could detect any live or running announcements, warnings, or news that could help us get any useful information.
I noticed Mona walking and stopped in front of Jason, pointing something at the side of his jacket. When I narrowed my eyes and gazed at it by the faint light from the bonfire, I recognized he'd been bleeding!
"JASON!"
"Hey relax, I'm fine. It's just a scrape from the shattered glass of the windshield." Jason reassuringly explained and grinned at me like the injury was nothing to him.
"At least let Mona clean your wound and dress it." I pleaded with him. I assisted Mona as she tended to Jason's bleeding cut.
Mona made a hand sign and Li glanced at what Mona was trying to say. "She's asking if you could take your shirt off so she could assess it more because it seemed the cut was seriously long and deep and she had to take some small fragments from it," Li explained to us for Mona.
"No, I think this is ok. I don't have to take my shirt off. Besides, I am too embarrassed to show my body to these two beautiful ladies." Jason disagreed, trying to make an excuse by putting humor on his words. He only made me curious and assumed that he was hiding something beneath those clothes.
"Shut up." I rolled my eyes at the word lady and smiled at him.