The First Survivor to Snap

When I came to again, I found myself lying on the bench I sat on earlier. It seemed that I managed to sleep off when the emptiness took over my mind. At least it was a good thing that I had not expected to feel better or calmer when I came to again, because I was still not at the least of feeling that way. As I stared back at the ceiling, I noticed that my surroundings had become a bit darker than before. I finally looked at my watch, and realized that it was already 04.45 p.m. in the afternoon.

Even though I had not been feeling any better for my mind, I had to admit that I felt like my energy was somewhat restored. It was probably due to the long nap that I accidentally took earlier from early at the noon. I closed my eyes for a bit more, before I took a deep breath and released it as I stood up from the bench.

Just when I turned around, I was a little bit surprised to notice Jonathan was also there on the second floor. He was standing on near the office room, leaning his left side to the wall as he looked like he was staring the street road down below from there while also folding his arms. He also seemed to be still extremely cautious towards any possible timing for threats as I looked that his rifle was leaning against the concrete railing right in front of him.

Noticing that he did not put down his defense even for a bit, I just came to my realization that I had left my submachine gun on the third floor. Thinking about it, I became quite upset with myself as I realized how reckless I was to venture alone to another spot without something to defend for myself. It was a really good thing, or rather very lucky of me that no aliens came and finished me off in my nap. I sighed lightly as I took my step to go to the third floor again while glancing at Jonathan's direction.

I could still feel the heavy atmosphere as I was going upstairs, and the words of Jonathan and Captain Quentin as the ending statement during our last discussion kept going back to my mind. When I finally reached the third floor, I could no longer see anyone else on the platform corner where we gathered earlier. In fact, I did not sense any presence of the others on the third floor.

I began to get myself confused as it would be almost impossible and extremely dangerous if the rest of them decided to venture out to the street again when it was already starting to get late in the afternoon. But then, I saw a silhouette of someone from inside the nearest train car. When I tried to recognize the person, I realized that it was Ryan.

About a little while after that, I heard a faint sound of stabbing from the direction of the other corner of the platform. As I approached it, I began to slowly see the silhouette of another person. Eventually, I recognized that it was Kyle, who looked like she was practicing knife-throwing. It seemed that she used the dead bodies of the aliens as the target.

At first, I was rather confused on where she could have obtained the knife from. But then, I also remembered that she might have obtained it during her venture to the Chinatown with Ryan and Captain Quentin earlier in the morning.

I was also sure that the knife she was currently using was definitely not the type of a folding or a throwing knife, but rather a close resemblance of what they might call the butterfly knife – a type of a short blade weapon used in Chinese martial arts. When I looked closer, I noticed that Captain Quentin, Virgil, and Della were also there near her. Once I realized where everyone was, I became a bit relieved to know that no one was leaving as it was getting darker outside.

Seeing how some of us could still not let down their guards, and even learning or training their skills put myself to wonder, how they could still manage to do those things while a whole new and bigger pressure was upon us. It was at that moment that I had decided that even though I could not do target practicing like what Kyle was doing, I could at least assist Jonathan to guard the station with him.

With my mind a bit refreshed, I walked to where we had gathered earlier to pick up my submachine gun, before heading back downstairs to the second floor. As I stepped my feet there, I noticed that Jonathan was still standing, seemingly not budged at all. It was right after I was about a few feet away from him that he started to speak to me.

"I owe you and Ryan for not snapping up there earlier…" he said to me as I stood beside him.

"Sorry?" I asked him, confused.

He then told me that not too long after I went downstairs, Della started to panic after we were faced with the truth that we would have to encounter a greater danger ahead of us. Based on how he told me, it seemed that she had already been holding herself for quite some time, and the realization that we had to directly face the aliens in greater numbers was the final button to make her break. He did not mention any further about her after that, but I assumed that it would most likely the reason why the other three gathered together with her

When Jonathan told me about that, I had myself feeling both relieved and guilt. I was relieved that Della had managed to return back to the station with every horror that she had witnessed. However on the other hand, I felt like I should have realized about it sooner when she shared about how she had managed to survive so far. Probably by then, she was already struggling with herself since she was already at her edge. It also seemed that Jonathan had at least guessed on the causes of her breakdown, since he did not ask me anything regarding it.

Witnessing so many people disintegrated right before your eyes would already be very terrifying. But seeing a severely damaged dead body with a large hole behind their skull and realizing that they were without their brains, combined with the gripping dense fog that almost completely engulfed your surroundings, and the fact that the dead bodies rained directly upon you with one of them dropped right upon you? That would be very sufficient to make every person who had always been living in peace to break.

"I… suppose… I should be more sensitive about it next time…" I responded to his words, with nothing else in my mind to say to him.

Jonathan did not give out any responds or words. Thus, I felt like I was supposed to join the four of them on third floor. However, as I was about to head for the stairs, he mentioned another thing to me.

"There is one more thing." Jonathan said.

"Yes?" I responded.

"I am planning to go to the nearest hospital tonight. We need more medical supplies with the number of survivors that we have now." he continued before pausing, "but…"

I did not respond anything when he paused, realizing that he was about to emphasize what he was about to say.

"I had to do it when everyone else is already asleep. So it had to be at midnight" he finished.

At first, I did not understand why he wanted to do it at that time, other than if the reason was to avoid having anyone else with him breaking down in the middle of the street. But then shortly, I had the feeling that he probably wanted to avoid anyone else panicking because the numbers of the survivors at the station that could guard them will be reduced. Not to mention Della, because it would also definitely worsened her condition.

"Okay, I understand." I responded to him.

"And if you want to tell any of them, be my guest." he said, "As long as they are not Della or Virgil."

'What does Virgil had anything to do with this?' I asked myself in my mind.

However, I also understood that he might be more sensitive about Virgil's condition, and thus I did not ask any further questions to him. I only nodded as a response, before saying that I also wanted to go with him later at the midnight.

"Then, do you mind if I come with you?" I asked him.

Jonathan was silenced for a while, before responding to my request.

"In that case, only tell Ryan." He responded, as he turned back and stared again at the already darker street.

With another new objective now added on my mind, I felt like I had another important reason to stay calm and clear my mind faster. I decided to go upstairs to the third floor, and sat on one of the benches there as I waited for everyone else to rest, even though I realized that it would take some time for me…