There's always a way (1)

One thing about origami flowers is that even if you mess up a fold, you can always do it again. And no matter how many times you mess up, the end result will always look pleasing.

Lieutenant Mickey slowly stopped the truck.

He looked at the watch on his right wrist.

'2 P.M.'

Grey clouds, cold air, and silence.

It was the very same day of when Rando went out of his apartment for the first time and survived a near-death experience with a slime collector, yet the difference between the morning and the afternoon really shows the specialty of a tropical country.

Bright and sunny in the morning, dark and gloomy in the afternoon. Two distinct yet inseparable qualities of the Philippines. The end of the year is fast approaching, and storms almost always visit the more than 7000 islands of the Philippines.

At times like these, the citizens of the Philippines always hype up the Christmas season, even counting down from how many days there are left until the very eve of that special day.

Well, that was before the war happened.

When 2020 came, explosions of fireworks and grenades filled the skies and the earth, loud sounds of celebration and gunfire ensued, and families got together to eat their last hot meal before thay were either taken away by the army or taken to a shelter.

Ever since then, the celebration of Christmas turned loud shouts of joy and gladness into silent sorrows and melancholy.

Even during Christmas, war didn't end. Other countries may have stopped their invasion, but the terrorists replaced them instead.

Now that the war had ended and Christmas is nearing, the people who were supposed to be working hard in order to celebrate the first ever Christmas in three years, are now locked up inside their homes.

Either in fear of the disease... or dead.

'I hope he's alive.'

Lieutenant Mickey wished for someone to be with his side right now.

His friend, who always saved not only him but everyone around him when danger comes, was not with him right now.

'What would he do if he was in my position?'

Three years of blood, soil, and sweat really stuck them together like two wooden planks held by thousands of nails and screws.

Indeed, what would Rando do in this situation?

Lieutenant Mickey opened the door and went out of the truck. He circled around to the back and knocked on the back doors.

"Step out for a moment."

The doors immediately opened and the blank faces of Lieutenant Mickey's three juniors soon came into view.

Mark suddenly saluted and opened his mouth.

"LIEUTENA--!"

"Shh! Don't shout you idiot!"

Hopefully, it wasn't too late.

Mark, who was used to shouting when saluting because of his quiet voice, became embarrased as he realized his mistake.

Mark still remembered when he hit his head on the walls of the truck as Lieutenant Mickey suddenly turned the truck around.

He held his head at that time and looked around to find a place hold on to.

But he suddenly saw something red climbing out from what he thinks is a hole on the highway.

A moving red blob of blood with heads and limbs attached to its body slowly stood up after it reached the height of the road.

And then, it started running.

Mark could see through the windows of the multicab truck the hideous red blob of blood and flesh running with the legs that was attached to its body.

And he specifically remembered how huge and fast the slime collector was.

Before Lieutenant Mickey could even start the wheels of the truck running, the slime collector already halved the distance. And it was just a split-second ago that Mark saw the existence coming out of the hole in the highway.

The blood slime ran more than five meters in a blink of an eye, and it seemed like it was still accelerating.

Lieutenant Mickey reflexively turning around the truck at the sight of a huge red existence from 20 meters away should be applauded. The sudden turn made the truck drift a few more meters towards the hole before immediately accelerating away from it.

His lieutenant could have been an excellent racer if the war didn't happen, Mark thought.

But there was no time that he can waste because his lieutenant suddenly shouted.

"Get a grenade! Throw it towards that thing!"

Having just hit his head from the sudden turn, Mark still couldn't see clearly.

"W-where is the grenade, s-sir?"

"Fucking hell, you grabbed it befor--"

And then air blew.

Mark saw it.

Well, Mark saw him.

Anthony Batoto, apparently one of the best recruits so far. Mark even heard his superiors sometimes talking about Anthony, and he grew not to be jealous, but instead admired him.

There was no other way he could have acted, jealousy won't make him better, but admiration would.

And no matter how hard he worked today, although he might catch up tomorrow, but Anthony is still better at him in many aspects today.

And this time, it was once again Anthony who acted and opened the back door. While Mark was flustered, Anthony was composed. While Mark was confused, Anthony looked calm. And while Mark was afraid, Anthony faced the monster and shoved a grenade in it's face.

*kaboom*

Of course, neither Mark nor Anthony could endure the loud ringing noise of an explosion that took place literally within a few meters between them.

"Close the door! Close the door!"

Lieutenant Mickey's loud and forceful voice cleared their minds a little, and Anthony was able to stop the air from coming in.

The door closed, and the cold air that blew from the back of the truck stopped brushing against the flustered and nervous looks of Anthony, Mark, and Rose.

Their first ever encounter of the spawn of devil, an existence. Loud, cold, explosive, and scary.

That was certainly a very good impression, one that Mark wouldn't let his children to ever experience.

Having experienced all that and survived, not thanks to him, but to his comrade Anthony and his lieutenant, Mark shut his mouth as Lieutenant Mickey hushed him to silence.

All four of them stood outside the back of the dark green multicab truck. Once again, cold breeze was whispering in their ears. Trees, cracked roads, mud, overgrown grass, broken buildings, and them.

Mark couldn't remember when was the last time he saw this part of the city, and he still remembered how he used to cross the large highway just to ride a jeepney to go to school.

"Sasa. We're in Sasa."

Mark couldn't help but mutter.

Lieutenant Mickey didn't miss that and stared at his junior intensely.

Mark noticed this and immediately apologised.

"S-sorry sir."

"No, no. What did you say?"

"Nothing sir."

"No, I'm asking you, where were we?"

"Sasa, sir. We are in Sasa. The road to the right would lead us to Downtown, the road to the left would lead us to Panacan. We're in Sasa, sir."