Merry Christmas, Dear!

"Uhm... Esteemed guest. How should I handle the live show you scheduled?" Dorfon asked during the dinner. This time, they all ate together. But in a room on the 21st floor. The 23rd to 25th was still restricted to Jose, his family, Clara, and her family.

"It's outside manila, right? Continue it." Jose coldly said. All of them noted the ones important to them not to go out of the house in three days. Much less to go to such events.

"Why? You'll know soon." He answered simply.

There were lesser ambulance sounds in their area because Ashei Mojo contacted the owner of the nearby hospital to not accept any patients anymore. This was planned by Jose to avoid having a 'Huge' population of infected in that area. Ashei Mojo also closed tight the rest of the Golden Summit Hotel.

That evening, the Mojo Group of Companies announced that their hotels and establishments will close till the 26th of December due to 'security reasons'. The news spread like wildfire that even 'overcame' the news about the virus.

The next day, the promotion was continued by the organizers. Jose simply handed the invitation to another organizer, via Dorfon's efforts. That event means money to the organizer, meaning a more merry Christmas. What Dorfon wanted to do earlier was to warn the organizers. And although he warns them, the organizer still has the last call whether to continue or not. Hence, Jose and Dorfon were out of the blame if a tragedy happened.

As usual, on the 24th of December, Everyone prepared for a midnight celebration of the Christmas day. Despite everyone being busy helping prepare for the celebration, they didn't forget to remind those who were close to them about what Jose said yesterday.

Jose warned them not to maintain silence as much as possible. Hence, the typical karaoke session was not done. And the fathers' league can only drink and laugh. As for the mothers' league, they all cooked and prepared for the celebration.

The girls' league helped in the preparation. Ashie Mojo, Jerry's family, Dorfon's family, and the PANDAS girls watched a movie on the television.

Jose stayed in the living room on the 23rd floor. He closely watches the developments around the city, and even in some parts of the world.

~~~~~~~~

11:30 PM, December 24, 2031.

"Almost done!" Liya cheered as she watches the last batch of spring rolls being fried to be done.

"Clarissa! Go call your brother! That boy... He thinks too much!" Grandma Clarita complained.

"Uhm!"

"Wait! Can I go with you?" Clara asked.

"Sure, elder sister. Let's go!" Clarissa replied.

Ding!

The elevator opened.

"Brother? Brother?" Clarissa shouted as they walked slowly in the hallway.

Their hallway headed straight to the door of Jose's room/floor. It was the same as the 24th and 25th floor. A hallway will great you upon going out of the elevator. That hallway will lead straight to the only room's door.

Clarissa twisted the nob and learned that it was not locked. She pushed it and the darkroom greeted her. The only light that illuminates the room was from the TV and other gadgets that were open in the living room.

"Brother?"

Clarissa wasn't able to see it fully but both she and Clara noticed that Jose was looking at them with a frown.

Clap! Clap!

Jose Clapped and the bright lighted the room.

"Oh... It's just you two. Do you need anything?"

"This?"

Clara and Clarissa were flabbergasted. On the different screens were different news agency around the world. Instead of the Christmas countdown, there was news about the virus. And the only seemingly timer that was counting down was a clock in Jose's room.

"What is happening, brother?"

"Yeah? Yeah? What's with the TV sta~"

"IT STARTS!"

before Clara can finish her question, Jose burst in anger as he stares in the television. Clara and Clarissa reactively glanced at the television.

"As of now, the authorities said~"

"WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT! Krrrrug! Krrrugg!"

A reported was speaking when... A very pale patient stood and attacked the news reporter. The cameraman seemed to panic as the camera was dropped and the news reporter was bitten. The blood spilled through the floor that even covered the camera.

"AAAAH! AAAH! AAH!" the news reporter screamed.

Tuuuuuuuut!

The signal from that channel was lost.

"Oh my God!"

Clara and Clarissa can't help but be frightened. Seconds later, their glance shifted to Jose.

"Now... You two know what I feared." Jose stood as he glanced towards Clara and Clarissa. The two were still shocked by what they saw. Soon the other news channel shown in the Laptops started losing their signals.

"What... What was that?" Clara mustered her courage to ask Jose.

"That? A zombie!"

"A z~zombie? That is impossible, brother!" Clarissa trembled in fear.

Jose approached her sister and hugged her to calm her down.

"Don't worry. Elder Brother's here! I will protect everyone here!"

"You're just messing with us! Hmph! It's Christmas, not April fools day!" Clara crossed her arms.

"Tch! You never trusted me! Ok, let's make a bet! If there were zombies, you'll be my wife! If not... Then I'll give you our new car?"

"Tse! You better not back out of your own words! HAHAHA! Tomorrow, our classmates will envy me for having such a luxury car!"

"So you're in?" Jose provoked.

"Bro~ther..." Clarissa wore a worried look but Jose glanced at her with a confident look.

"You're on! HAHAHA!"

They walked to the elevator, to see everyone else. Clara and Jose kept quiet and ignored each other.

~~~~~~~

"We're here!" Clara said in an annoyed manner.

"What's with you?" His father asked. Clara simply pointed to Jose.

Everyone looked at Jose as if waiting for his explanation.

"She had a bet with me. Whether zombies were real or not. Sigh..."

"See!"

"Now... Now... You two love birds, stop quarreling! We are about to celebrate!" Grandma Clarita interjected with savageness.

'Love birds?' Jose and Clara can't help but stare with each other.

'I have enough of these... It is not a moment of celebration anyway. At most, I need to safely get as many mutarts as I can.'

Jose took the television remote and changed its channel. He switched from channel 1 to 40, but all of them had no signals. This surprised everyone specially Ashie Mojo. Golden Summit Hotel was a prestigious hotel. How could they lose a mere channel signal of the different TV stations? It was impossible. Unless the stations itself didn't send a broadcast.

But it was impossible! It was Christmas eve! There should have been countdowns! Whether on concerts, on news, or even a pre-recorded countdown. But there was none.

Tutututut! Tutututut! Tutututut!

Before they could speak, a phone alarmed. When they looked at the time it was midnight. The television suddenly got a signal and played.

"Good evening, my fellow Filipino people. This your president speaking... I am to announce a piece of breaking news to everyone. The virus that was..."

After a minute, the President's announcement made an uproar in the whole country. However, it was not the only country that had that case, but the whole world. This announcement played repeatedly on the television.

"Sigh..." Everyone in the room became speechless. Jose, on the other hand, sighed of relief. He went to the dining table and took a spring roll.

"Merry Christmas, Dear!" He mocked Clara.

Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!