It's a surreal feeling, sleeping at school, as if I could even sleep.
A day passed.
I woke up to the intercom at around 11 AM; the principal, Mr. Alon Rivera, had something to say.
"To the students still alive, I have news for you all. The school is rampant with infected. A virus has been raging across Manila, and it has come here.
I've contacted everyone I could, but the outside is practically dead. Fortify the highest points of your buildings and stay there for now.
I will be headed to the Main Building Auditorium. If any student can hear me, I hope fate stays on your side. This has been your principal. If you don't hear from me again… live as long as you can. Goodbye."
Nico woke me up to hear the announcement, "The auditorium? This building doesn't have an auditorium, right?" I asked. "That's because this is the annex; this building is for Year 7 to 8, then Senior High Schoolers," Ms. Isabela said. As for now, we went to the gymnasium, which was on the highest floor in our building.
On our way, we also met some other people walking to the top. A tall lady walked by me with a chained-up table leg. My class advisor, Mr. Tomas Delro, limped forward, clutching a nailed bat. I saw some injured, I saw some shaking, but the constant between them all was that they were silent.
Once I got to the gymnasium, I saw the silent chaos outside.
Smoke tinted the air, a helicopter flew by close to the building. The restaurants and street stalls just outside were abandoned, cars were parked in the street; a part of me asked, has the world died? In the gym, everyone was silent, and the air was clean.
Ms. Isabela broke the silence with a guttural shout as she stood on the bleachers, "Get in line by your years!"
We lined up and Nico counted us. Even though there weren't exact numbers on how many students were gone, we at least knew how many we still had.
Ms. Isabela stepped down off the bleachers, and Mr. Tomas helped her take a seat. "Didn't think you'd be the one to break the silence," he remarked. "If it wasn't gonna be me, it was gonna be nobody," Ms. Isabela replied.
Nico walked up to the two of them and said, "We have 83 students accounted for". Even though there were so many people, I didn't recognize a single face, except for the teachers.
"Ah! About our food situation." I told Nico. He thought about what to do, and then remarked, "Shit."
"Language." Ms. Isabela said. "Ahh… But the kid makes a good point. Where the hell are we getting food?" Mr. Tomas thought.
Ms. Isabela remembered, "The cafeteria is good, but they only prepare food there. The ingredients are stored elsewhere."
"Crap." Mr. Tomas knew what Ms. Isabela meant: the food was in the Main building. "Language." Nico joked. "No, I'm serious. The bridge to the other building is filled with the infected. I saw it!" Mr. Tomas warned, visibly shaken.
Nico thought to himself, "Alright, then that's probably our next move."
I saw him grasping a notebook. He scribbled down some stuff and gave the notebook to me. "Uhm… What's this?" I asked him.
"A list." He replied. "Anyone who's able to carry and scout for supplies is there."
I scanned through the list, my hand leading my eyes along as I read the names out loud.
"Mina Delgado. Miguel Santos. Lucio Reyes… M-Me!?"
I jumped up in shock. "You must be mistaken." I said, trying to convince them.
Nico assured me, "Everyone listens to you, even if you don't want them to."
I sighed and fell back onto the bleachers, closing my eyes. Once I opened them, I saw the rest of the survivors setting up camp. Setting up chairs and getting into groups.
I glanced at the window behind them, and I saw the smoke again.
Even if there weren't any people left outside, there were at least people here. Yet, even though we were alive, we fell into a deep silence.
Almost as if we were dead.