The bus was filled with noises from its mounted television upfront, a reality game show played in full volume—the male host currently explaining the rules of the game to the contestants as to how they could acquire 2 million pesos while the alluring dancers behind the host each held a mystery box. Most passengers inside the packed ride have their eyes on the show, waiting with anticipation which could possibly contain the huge amount of money.

Onyx black eyes watched the public transportation took a turn on the right—the entrance to Ophir's richest and largest business district, Evergreen City. The surrounding was quickly changed to towering buildings of outstanding structures, those eye-catching glass-panels, pillars and overall vibes that scream sophistication.

She glanced at her wrist watch—it was an hour and 45 minutes before the start of her shift.

"80,000 pesos! Money or box?!" The male host's question rang loudly inside, showing the wad of money worth the amount he mentioned.

"No, that's way too small, go with the box!" One of the passengers shouted at the TV.

The contestants glanced at each other uncertainly then back to the host, "We'll choose the box!"

"We're sure the 2 million pesos is inside!" Followed remark by the other contestant.

How are you certain it's inside? She couldn't help but retort internally, throwing an uninterested look at the show, recalling the episode yesterday where the contestants were offered worth 100,000 pesos but still chose the box and ended up with nothing.

"SHIT!" A loud screeching sound and the bus came into a hard stop that sent the people stumbling forward. Even the driver was pushed roughly against the steerer and hit his face on the glass.

Arisha was seated near the window so she was fortunate not to be hurt, she was able to shield herself with both arms before hitting the seat before her. The rest, especially the ones standing in the middle aisle were thrown off-balance, toppling one another. There were a lot of painful groans and strings of curses echoed after the unexpected stop.

"Damn it! What the hell is wrong?!"

"...hurts! Get off me, my legs—"

"Can't breathe—"

"Wait! Stop moving like that, you're making it worse—"

It took a couple of minutes for the issue to get resolved, everyone was forced to get out despite still being far from their designated stops. The conductor found an issue in the wheels behind which was unusual because the wheels are thick and brand-new, it'll take something two-folds sharp to pierce through it.

"We'll need help, man, this might take a while" The driver stated after inspecting the complication himself, he pulled out his phone and made a call.

"Good thing it's still early, I have plenty of time to walk" The office building wasn't that far anyway and she's used to walking in heels.

The conductor loudly called for the rest of their passengers who are still quite far from their destinations to fall in line so he can return a portion of their payments while the others also started leaving.

Arisha decided to drop by Seven-Eleven to get some takeout food to eat and after paying for her order, she stopped in mid-steps upon seeing a familiar figure sleeping on the table near the glass.

Frowning, she approached closer. "Myrrh," Her hand went to shake the girl's shoulder. "Hey, wake up, kid"

The sleeping figure finally stirred awake, half-lidded blue eyes quickly turned into large saucers. "L-Leader!" Her back straightened and the sleepiness was gone an instant.

Arisha observed her colleague's messy long platinum white locks, "Why are you sleeping here?"

"I arrived way early than usual" Myrrh rubbed her eyes and yawned, "I don't want to suffer a heavy traffic in EDSA so I woke up and left home at 5 AM but I obviously miscalculated" A tired sigh escaped her lips, she took her black Jack Skellington backpack next to her and slung it behind, its Kuromi and Hello Kitty key chains dangling.

She knew the younger woman lived in a different city so the commute she takes is longer than hers. "5 AM is way over the top, try leaving at 6 AM, 3 hours is enough time to get here from Elune. Let's go, I'll treat you to an iced cold dark caramel coffee since you are such a literal hard worker," Chuckles.

Myrrh gave her a bashful grin, "Don't say such things, leader, you are making me feel mushy!" And she added a laugh. "...But thank you so much, you are one of the reasons going to work is exciting"

Arisha felt overwhelmed, sometimes her colleague's honesty and open admiration leaves her speechless but it never left a bad taste in her tongue. She patted Myrrh's head, "You're weird, kid" Then pinched her cheek playfully.

-*-

Sentinel Global Solutions have been at its busy peak the rest of the day, nothing highly unusual except for the lengthy hours of meeting here and there, assistance the team requires and doing of reports. It was a task Arisha got used to already for years she's been with the company but of course when things overflow, the stress she got from it all is not something she will whole heartedly absorb.

"I'll see what I can do about this matter" Her voice is flat and aloof; face is grim and eyes reflecting seriousness. It wasn't even lunch time yet.

The Business Unit Head leaned back on her seat and folded her arms defiantly, "You better, the clients want him out asap and the only way for us to change their minds is to prove that Jay can do better than his past numbers"

"Of course, I will take care of it" Arisha said nothing more, she walked out of their Manager's private office and closed the door behind.

A tall, well-built male appeared carrying two mugs. "Hey, perfect timing"

"Uh, what?" Arisha looked up at Paul's face then to the mug he was holding in his right hand, she took it carefully after noticing it's hot. "Jasmine tea?"

Paul nodded, "Yes I thought you might need one after that grueling session inside—" His voice turned an octave lower, "—the principal's office" He took a sip from his own mug which is a black coffee.

As they walked side by side, Arisha took a sip from her own mug, relishing the warm and soothing taste of tea lining down her throat. "Thank you this really helps in preventing my sanity from dropping down to Fahrenheit"

"So, what did she say?"

"The clients overseas want to remove Jay because they believed he wasn't performing well; his utilization hours have been really low for the past 2 weeks and they found that iffy"

"But he just started recently here, can't they be a little considerate?"

They reached the production floor where their teammates were seated in an area close to each other—a fierce-looking short sunset-haired-haired girl was standing near Jay, pointing at his computer screen while talking, Roan who looks calm and chill like usual and Alcel—the youngest in the team who was near Myrrh showing her phone to the latter.

"Cutie! I love black cats too!" Myrrh exclaimed happily, eyes sparkling.

Yep, cats again. Arisha thought as she glanced at the two young women quickly. They shared mutual love for animals especially cats.

"Johanne thinks 1 month is enough to hone Jay's skills and keep up with the team's pace" Arisha replied to the tall male's question, she gulped her tea again.

Paul muttered, "Harsh as always but if you'll need help in keeping Jay in the team, I can always guide him or have a coaching session with him to refresh his knowledge about the process."

"Come on, you don't have to do that" Plus, it will take a lot of his time. Arisha knew majority of them—mainly Paul and Mikaela dislikes going over time since it's not paid.

Paul chuckled lightly, "Hey, we're a team and we're supposed to help one another, yeah? You already have a lot in your plate, Arisha. Like what Myrrh always say, you have us to rely on when the rest of this account's leadership team is being blind about the volume of your work"

An idea popped in Arisha's head, "Alright, I just don't want to cause you all any trouble but if you really insist...and thank you, Paul"

A lopsided grin and a wink, "You're welcome always"

It was half an hour before 12PM that Arisha called the credentialing team inside the glass conference room for a huddle; while standing in front of the long table she noticed the dark gray sky and rumbling outside the window.

"It looks like the sky got a diarrhea or something" Mikaela commented offhandedly who was already inside, standing near the glass window. "But it's so extra sunny earlier! So weird!"

Arisha couldn't help but smile a little, "Extra sunny?" Although she kinda agree because the sky now looks definitely angry, she became worried that the commute after shift is going to be problematic with the heavy rain. "Are we all here?" She turned away from the scene outside and checked if everyone is present.

She internally counted the people inside the conference room—Paul, Roan and Jay are seated close to each other on the left while the ladies—Alcel, Myrrh and Mikaela are across them.

"Alright good," Arisha nodded shortly, "The reason I called for all of you here is to discuss how we can maximize our productivity within the shift. Going overtime and not taking breaks or lunch is not a sign of a great employee, the board of directors and clients raised eyebrows because of the overall percentage they got from us and it's also not good that it's below the threshold..."

-*-

The security guard frowned, eyes going up and down the tall man in front of him—pale wrinkled skin wearing dark blue dirty long sleeves and an old denim jumper, he looks definitely burly, his head can probably reach the fluorescent lamp above.

"Excuse me sir, do you have an ID? And what's the purpose of your visit here?" Did this man even know where he is? The SGS security guard wondered internally, when the stranger stepped out of the elevator he almost freaked out because of its composure and manner of walking. And...he glanced down at the big brown sack in the stranger's hand. What is that?

"Sir—" He called again but the tall burly stranger let out a deep strange laugh almost akin to someone mentally challenged. "—I cannot let you in unless you state your purpose and identification" The guard could feel cold sweat trickling down from his temple.

The long arm of the clock hit 12 PM, at the same time a loud shrill scream shattered the mundane routine of everyone inside Sentinel Global Solutions.

Arisha got out of the conference room, rattled by the voice of their colleague—she heard the rest of her teammates followed out but she was too delved in finding out the cause of the wave of terror that hit the production floor.

"SHIT!"

"HELP!"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!"

The double glass door entrance was shattered, blood stains everywhere but most eyes zeroed on the rusty and long barbwire in a huge hand and laying on the ground is the headless body of the security guard.

Its head was held up high by the stranger, long tongue stuck out and licking inside the exposed parts of the neck and esophagus connected to the head.

...

It was a scene straight out of a movie—no one saw it coming at such a fine ordinary Monday. Evergreen turned into chaotic mass of crumbles, tall blazing fires erupted from everywhere and thick cloud of smoke tainted the bright blue above. At 12PM the madness made itself known to every single person in the central business district, with the sun still up above, the madness hit everyone in a rampage in THEIR form—mutated and handicapped-looking people but with so much hunger reflecting in those eyes and in Evergreen they found a means to satisfy their stomachs.

Screams of agony. "Help! Somebody help me!" But no one ever did come to anyone's rescue. Bodies being slashed by sharp and strange weapons, innards pulled from within and if not straight in the mouth, these hungry creatures drag their prey alive and bring them elsewhere. Majority just continue to eat right on the spot—like that young boy near the bus stop who dunked his full head in the open stomach of a business woman, eyes still wide open. He relished in the tastiness of her intestines, kidney and diaphragm.

"Kill them all!"

"We got orders to eradicate the whole city! Do not hesitate—AAAHHH!!!"

Men in black vest and gears armed with guns came from the west, aiming for the wild group of undead devouring the people their eyes laid on—the sound of gunshots echoing, some bouncing back or missing their target—for what set them apart is their insatiable appetite didn't make them less intelligent.

It's quite the contrary.

A loud explosion in the middle of an armored huge-wheeled vehicle—bodies got tossed in the air and shrill cries of pain from the rescuers mixed with it.

The city was painted in red and madness at such a fine afternoon.

-*-