AFTER talking with his father in his office, Cjay spent the next hours putting concealer on his face, neck, and hands, the only parts of his body that won’t be covered by the shoes, jeans, and long-sleeved hoodie that he would be wearing. He got some of his facial features altered using makeup. In particular, used eyelash extensions for thicker lashes, and an eyeliner to make his eyes look smaller.

When evening came, Cjay sneaked away from the building’s security team. He spent his stolen moment of freedom by going to the places where he wanted to be.

Even if he’s got mad makeup skills and he already got outside the presidential residence, Cjay kept his guard up. He had to be careful because once someone recognizes him, it’s over for him.

First, he went to the public park. At this hour, the area was almost isolated by people. Only the patrolling militia guards from Lawin Special Ops or some night joggers could be seen here occasionally.

The park looked so alive at night because the soft, yellow lighting from the lamppost made the green shade of the grass and trees look so lush and vivid. Some of the pathways and areas were blanketed by dark shadows though.

He sat on a wooden bench, slightly beneath the shade and shadow of a tree and breathed in deeply. He looked up to the sky but could not see the stars. Unfortunately, the glass of the dome reflected back the lights emitted by this city.

Cjay heard the alarm tone of his cell phone. When he looked at its screen, a notification popped up to remind him about his medication. He shoved the cell phone back in his hoodie’s kangaroo pocket. What came out next from that same pocket was a small, silver canister that contained the immortality pills.

He took one pill from the canister—a light-green colored liquid gel capsule. It seemed to be glowing even if that was not even one of the capsule’s features. He immediately swallowed it, then capped the canister close before shoving it back in his hoodie’s pocket. Cjay was always salivating, so needing water to push down the capsule was never a problem for him. Being a zombie made him produce more saliva, have thicker saliva, and swallow more frequently than ordinary people. In time, Cjay learned how to manage it by storing it in the middle of his throat first and swallowing it all when his throat felt full.

The immortality pill’s effect only lasts for seventy-two hours, which was why Cjay’s father strictly instructed that he should take it in the safety of his house at eleven in the evening. It would be scary if the effect of the pill wears of in a public place where Cjay should not be. What if he loses control and began eating people?

According to Cjay’s father, the immortality pill was formulated way before the epidemic. It wasn’t intended to cure the zombie virus, but when the situation grew fatal, his father was left with no choice but to make him intake the capsule. His father’s leap of faith paid off. It helped reduce the spread of the zombie virus by providing immunity to any human that intakes the pill, so they mass produced it.

But once the situation stabilized, the pill was priced pretty expensively in order to moderate its distribution and secure enough stocks for it. Moreover, stricter rules and regulations have been imposed on the sale of immortality pills when the militia began reporting to the president more frequently about the people who use immortality pills to commit crimes. Apparently, some of these criminals became bold, thanks to the pill, because their immunity help them survive physical combats or crossfires with the militia.

The immortality pill has room for improvement. It could be developed into something more, but during the chaotic first years of the Filipinos inside the Citadel, the scientist who made and formulated the pill died. Cjay’s father--as the president and gatekeeper of the formula--has all the means to assign another scientist to work on the pill, but he feared that selfish interests might put the immortality pill at risk. That’s why, the immortality pill stayed as it is. Worse, its production was discontinued and two warehouse full of its stocks solely belonged to Cjay now.

After thinking about the immortality pill, Cjay got bored in the park so he visited a café next. Thanks to his makeup, no one recognized him that easily.

Everything looked and felt so warm in this café. At one point, he forgot he wasn't human anymore. It was the yellow lighting of the place glowing like the 4 p.m. sun, the well-placed indoor plants, and the gentle tinkling of ambient music. The soft and sweet scent of milk, coffee, and freshly baked pastries just breathed new life into him.

“Thank you,” he smiled slightly while receiving his coffee cup at the counter. He was careful not to show his signature smile.

Cjay sat on a seat beside the glass wall. He lifted the coffee cup close to his face and felt the warmth of its aromatic steam on his face while he was staring at the world outside, covered with the shadows of the night. He was about to sip his coffee when he remembered something . . .

It had been so long since he had been into a nightclub.

***

TEARY-EYED, Natalia stepped away from the small glass window of the hospital’s blood and organ bank. From where she stood, she could still see the refrigerators with transparent glass doors full of red blood in bags and certainly, organs were stored in the chest fridges there.

While she was gazing longingly at the refrigerators, the woman behind the booth kept on inquiring. The hospital staff had every right to ask her questions after she asked the prices of almost every organs stored in there. As of the moment, the woman was already urging her to specify what organ does the patient need, assuming that Natalia was interested to buy a particular organ for a patient in the hospital.

“N-No need . . .” she shook her head. “T-Thanks . . .”

The hospital staff was still talking but Natalia already turned on her heels and dashed out of the building. Then, she regretted running away because she felt like she was going to faint. Her hands rested on her knees as she panted and tried to catch her breath.

Natalia didn’t know what she was being too nervous about. She intentionally came to the hospital at the wee hours of the night so that no one will easily notice her. She also thought that the nurses and hospital staff might brush off her weird questions about body organs because they might think they heard things wrong out of their drowsiness.

Natalia has no money, so she endured walking back to her apartment. A few minutes more and she finally bit her dry and slightly cracked lower lip.

‘H-How long do I need to bear this? H-How lo . . . l-lo . . .’

Her eyes instantly widened. She began sniffing. Her nose just picked up this pungent smell. That smell might be unpleasant, but for her, it doubled her salivation the way a newly-cooked steak does to a street dog.

Her adrenaline kicked, making her sluggish body breeze by, darting across street after street. The smell brought her to a wide parking lot that belonged to a nightclub. It took her seconds to confirm that the smell came from inside the nightclub. She swallowed because she didn’t have the money and the outfit fitting to blend in in that place. For sure, the bouncers would not let her in.

‘That smell . . .’ she sat wearily on the one of the yellow and black striped concrete wheel stops in the parking lot. She looked at the nightclub’s establishment with its signage made of bright neon lights. She could not hear the music, but the bass reached her and rhymed to the rapid, panicky beating of her heart.

Natalia propped her elbow against her knee and rested her chin on her palm. While still staring at the nightclub, she pouted disappointedly.

She waited and waited for hours. It had been quite boring she began feeling confused if she was waiting because she was expecting to have her first decent meal in years, or if it was her hunger and lethargy that was disabling her legs from walking away.

But at last, her spirit was brought back to life when that smell became stronger.

More pungent.

But it was different from the first time she smelled it. This time, it was pungent but also burning.

‘Burning?’

Natalia stood up, bothered. Her eyes scanned the surroundings until she found a guy staggering toward her direction. She curiously watched him, studied his every move.

As he walked closer, the pungent smell became more overpowering. The burning smell that comes with it almost choked her. He did not reach her because he weakly dropped on his knees and began throwing up.

Disgust was all over Natalia’s face at the sight of a young man vomiting. But the rotting smell of a cold, deceased flesh burning tantalized her so intensely, she could not look away from him.

Her mind began battling her rumbling stomach. Her mind was telling her to run away, but here she was, approaching the young man. She shrieked upon seeing the things he threw up on the ground—a mix of human flesh and blood!

With wide eyes, she stared at the coughing, hooded young man again. ‘The only zombie in this city is the president’s son! If he isn’t this idiot, that would mean the epidemic has gotten inside the Citadel.’

Natalia went behind the young man and used all the force she could muster just to carefully help him stand up.

“L-Let go of me!” he hissed before he coughed continuously.

“Let me help you—”

He turned to her and shuddered his shallow chuckle. As soon as his lips parted, his foul breath escaped. “You’re the one who will be needing h-help, m-miss . . .”

He flicked up her chin with a smirk, making Natalia glare at the young man and immediately knock down his hood. She grabbed his chin and tilted his head on both sides for several times. The strategic face altering makeup, smeared eyeliner, and wet eyelash extensions made it take her a few minutes before recognizing who he was.

‘Well, who knew? It’s the animal, Cjay. Now I know why . . .’ Her dilated eyes stared at the drunk young man smirking goofily at her. ‘Now I know why, I am attracted to his smell!’

An evil smile exposed some of her teeth that seemingly sparked in that shadowy parking lot.

“Come,” Natalia assisted him to walk, taking him away from that place.