Drive to Survive the Chaos

There was fire. All I remember, was the fire. Fire, that engulfed the land- turning it into a sweltering heat. And, I, was the only one that survived. A bombardment of missiles had fallen from the skies, turning the land-scape into a “brace-for-impact" location: Bohol- Manila- Cebu- Ilocos. All of them. All of those places, gone in an instant, there were no screams; just-anguish. 

What happened then- would happen once again. A soldier, pointed his gun at me, he told me: “Move!” So, I did. I moved to the side, as the next person in line was brought to my left and was shot, we stiffled a cry. “Zombies,” the man muttered. He was planning, whoever that man was on the radio, to shoot us. To stop the pandemic from spreading-further in the Philippines. These fucking Vietnamese, I thought. The whole world, as we knew it, was probably already infected by now. 

But- that man on the radio, he was planning to bomb just the Pilipinas, whoever he was. “Commander?” I screamed. “Can you hear me?”. Keep quiet, the soldier said. He butted his rifle against me, and, I lost consciousness. Only for three - fucking - seconds, keep quiet, he said again- continually jabbing his-rifle at my face. “Stop!” one of my amigos said. “We’re- sorry!” Sure, the vietnamese said. He turned his back against me- signalled one of his soldiers to gather the talkative prisoner, and bring him in front of us. 

“This is what happens, when you mess with the superior country, of Vietnam. Hail Vietnam!” the Vietnamese-man shouted. “No!” I screamed. Then, blood ‘spluttered’ against our faces. Why? 

Why do this? 

“We are only doing this for the good of our people,” the man said. 

“Vietnam can no longer hold Philippines’ refugees. We must eliminate those when we can, and whoever possible.”  

“So, you’re going to assassinate ‘the president’?” I shouted. Muffled cries only bore more noise, as he turned around. 

“I’m going to kill you, and your little friends, one by one,” he said. His eyes were a deep-warm brown contrasting his brown skin in a way of warmth, not color. 

For some reason, I doubt it, I thought. Vietnam wasn’t like that, for the past few years, Vietnam had indeed grown to be a super-nation. It wasn’t under the protection of the Americas’- it had become a hospitable nation, so why now? It had grown from its roots of the Vietnam-war to be a perpetrator of the mass-killings in the Human-Zomboid war. Mostly, zombies; but, I guess humans too, now. 

“Listen!” A man shouted. He kept his hands-up and his head, down. He was shaking. Like they told us to do earlier. Only, that I was fighting against our captors, taking every moment to spat at them a Philippine insult.

‘Look!’ I shouted. There are zombies. There were zombies trying to break-down the gate, a multitude of them- more than I had seen before. A soldier, holding his gun, tried to back-off from the walled section of the sealed parameters held by a chain fence was caught in one of their hands, he screamed- then, was, shot. 

“Quiet!” the Vietnamese’ said. He held his arm up. You can’t do this! Not us! You can’t! I shouted, spittle flying out of my mouth as a gag was placed on my mouth. 

“Mmph!” 

“Do you know, why, ‘Vietnam’ grew to be so powerful?” the man asked. “It’s because of this-” 

He held up a green vial- a mutagen. Under the sun-light, it could have passed for a type of perfume. He weaved it between the sun-and-the-shade, turning it between two different colors- ‘Green’ and ‘Yellow’. 

“It’s more than your lives,” he said. Much- more. 

I barely had any chemistry in my mind before he set it down in front of me. 

“Drink it,” he said. Just make sure it is every drop, this thing, like I said, is expensive. 

Why? I turned to look at the bitten-corpse of the soldier on the security net, a hole, blasted in his forehead. A soldier had done his duty, well, enough for him to throw up. 

“Let them have it,” the man said. 

This? I wondered. Why? 

Then, my surroundings turned to red as I heaved-out droplets of blood. Probably, because I was about to become a half-dead corpse. Then, the only reason they’d have left is to shoot me. 

If I can’t save myself, then I’ll have to be focused on saving everyone. 

“Wait!” I said. 

“How about your people?” I asked. 

“How are you going to get out?” I said. 

“The bomb’s not coming in until the next 2 hours or so,” the leader said. He then took out his radio, it’s all been done, Sir! He puts his feet together and then gives a salute. All soldiers on-site do the same. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I say. I eye the gun on the soldiers hips. No use. I thought. Too slow. 

“You know, you can be a hero...” I said, recollecting a scene on a poster about the spoils of war. 

“If you save us, then I can guarantee that you will get much more than that man over there had to offer.” 

“How much?” The soldier asks, intrigued. He eyes his watch. 

“Enough, but only enough for you.” 

The other soldiers look at the soldier in question. They give a dirty look, then get poised. 

Got it- I thought wildly. 

“Sir! How about we split it?” one of them says. “Surely, it’s enough for all of us?” 

“Let’s not be greedy,” the commanding officer said. There were four of them, left. One including the other who left to throw up and excluding the other one who died. 

Moments of talking, led to blood-shed. I shifted towards the guns- grabbed one and wriggled myself out of the constraints. 

The other one, who had just left, might come back... 

“You there!” shouts the officer. “What have you done?” 

He gets his gun out. Bang!