Chapter 4: Off the Radar

The group was outside. The sun was now setting and the air outside felt cooler. But even the nice weather didn't push the negative thoughts away. Monika was restless, she couldn't go on any further without answers to her questions. As if answering her thoughts, the man replied, "I'm a doctor or what you would see as a scientist. I work for the government. I was told to come here  and inspect this new case of some sort of virus. We don't know where it came from or even how it can infect people. Since we should be immune. None of us understand the origin and this is as much of a surprise to us as it is to you." Monika still seemed restless. "And those creatures are what happens once someone is infected, and my name is Robert by the way. But people call me Rob for short." The group came to a halt. Monika asked "Why was Dan's vomit that colour? What hapened to him?". Rob replied, "That computer, well, government computer's are embedded with a device called Deep Fryer. Yes, its a play on words, courtesy of our government, who believe they are all comedians. Anyways, that device lets out a certain frequency of sound and also an electro-magnetic pulse that destroys any electric device around. Basically 'fries' it. My question is, why the hell is the computer there? Only highly-classified, high clearance personnel get this kind of device to protect sensitive info." Monika looked him in the eye and said "You still didn't tell us what happened to Dan." Rob replied "Oh, yeah, sorry. It fried the chip in his head, the medicine I gave him contained nano-bots, these cleaned up the mess the Deep Fryer caused. The vomit was actually the debris and his bodily fluids mixed together." Dan finally spoke out "Revolting." And chuckled. Monika seemed relieved that he was recovering and quickly too. "So I'll be fine then?" Dan asked Rob. "Yes you will." he replied. "Now we should get going." But the sound of footsteps, lots of footsteps signalled otherwise. Behind them, the horde was drawing in closer. The group turned around and saw the masses of the creatures. "Oh shit." replied Rob. Dan replied sarcastically "Just what we needed."

The horde was advancing still with one man at the front of it laughing. "You can't run away from us." the man said. He was advancing with the horde, but once he took a step forward, a car slammed into him, drifted around swatting the horde away.  A woman from inside shouted, "Need a hand?". Rob loosend up a bit, "Of course. Everyone meet Dani. She's a... friend of mine" Dani narrowed her eyes, "Partners in crime, not friends, now get in before the zombies decide to eat your brains. Not that you have any." Rob chuckled and gestured for them to come inside. The car looked tough and deadly on the outside, but on the inside, it was comfy as hell. Dani lowered herself put of the makeshift cockpit. "I'm Dani as you all know already. Welcome to our humble abode." Dani said with a sarcastic voice "Anyways, who are you , I mean, what are your names?" Everyone remained silent, it was extremely awkward. Rob spoke on behalf of them, "This is Dan, Isman and Monika." He said gesturing to every one of them. "Not a talker are they?" Dani replied. "Well, we are heading to our home. "Where would you like to be dropped off?" Dan spoke, "I don't know. Our parents work for the government. They won't be in." Dani thought to herself and spoke out "Nor will they be in at all. They've been taken hostage." Dan seemed startled, "What? Why? How? I-" Dani cut him off, "Okay, listen, I'll tell you everything once we get to the safehouse. Okay?" Dan nodded. Monika seemed deep in thought, she thought she knew what was happening. This zombie-like virus, overthrown government, soldiers patrolled around the city. "This virus, it's not a freak accident, it's not a natural occurrence, it's the government isn't it?" Monika replied. Dani nodded, "It may be. There's a large probability that it is." Isman looked at them in disbelief, shaking his head slowly. "What if it isn't the government? It can't be... they, wouldn't do that to us. Why would they do that?" Monika chuckled menacingly, "Of course they would. They've been overthrown." Dani shouted "Duck!" They followed suit. Rob bought out his handcannon and Dani went into the makeshift cockpit. A spray of bullets hit the vehicle, making the glass shatter. Glass shards flew everywhere, landing on heads and covering the seats.

"This is madness!" replied the mother of Dan. Isman's dad nodded furiously. Monika's mother and father were behind computers typing quickly. Monika's mother murmured "Do as they say. There's no way out of this!". "Oh Beatrice! You're going to let them kill the entire population? Just to save your own skin? You're pathetic!" replied Dan's mother. "Oh sorry Rebecca. But would you rather die? Would you rather be fed to that horde? Do you want your children to die?" replied Beatrice. Isman's father felt defeated. He patted Rebecca's shoulder reassuringly. "Come on, we have no choice, we'll find a way out of here. In the meantime, we need to play along" he whispered to Rebecca. "Thank you Abdul" Rebecca replied. "Let's get this done and over with." She went over to the screen which showed the inside of a government vehicle. She saw that they were chasing someone. "Abdul, can you help me out." She said out loud. She then whispered, "Can you enhance the image of the vehicle they are chasing? More importantly, of who is inside?" Abdul played along and said, "Sure thing!" Out loud. "Wait a minute" he replied and went over. He typed different commands and bypassed the security, he zoomed in and enhanced the image. He was shocked, and so was Rebecca. "That's our children." He whispered. Rebecca took control and typed in a single command in the vehicle control system. "RemoteCarControl enable" She then typed in, "AllCarSystems SHUTDOWN" the car in the image skidded along the road as all it's systems shutdown. It crashed into a wall and the impact killed the people inside. Rebecca smiled to herself and returned to the original task of hers. She was going to do what it takes to get out of here. With Abdul and her friends.

Dani came down from the cockpit confused. "They just crashed" she said. "Well then, you can get up now." She then saw another vehicle come over, this time it was a killer drone. "Shit! Get down!" she was going to go into the cockpit, but the drone shredded it to bits. "Rob, I will need your help" she looked behind her and grabbed a weird contraption. By the looks of it, it was some custom weapon. She handed it to Rob. Rob opened the door and held on to the rail on the side, whilst exposing half his body out. He held his gun with one hand and pointed it at the drone. He shot it and it came crashing down. There were more coming their way. Dani held the flamethrower and blasted it at the drones nearest to her, they came crashing down. The drones in the distance opened fire and missed the wheels by millimetres. Dani shouted "When I reach zero, swerve the car!" the driver nodded. She told Rob to hold on. "3" she said whilst she shoot one drone down. "2", Rob shot another down. "1" she held on, her knuckles white. "NOW!" the car swerved around, its side exposed. The closest drones couldn't stop and slammed into the car, falling to the floor like dead flies. Dani grabbed an even larger weapon. She held it and pointed it at a spot on the floor. It charged up and shot out a lazer, the lazer made the floor erupt with the last of the drones caught up in the explosion. The driver saw the explosion in the mirror, and started to  drive the car. Dani and Rob came back inside and closed the doors. The car drove off.

It was a monotonous journey but they made it to a building and drove inside the garage. It was a derelict building on the outskirts of the town, it looked like an abandoned car mechanic garage. They got out and helped the children out. "Welcome to this place!" Dani exclaimed in mock happiness. "This is our hideout." Monika spoke out, "Okay, who exactly are you guys?" Dani looked at Rob and at the driver, they both nodded. "We're ghosts" she paused for a minute and spoke again, "Basically, we have no identity, we're off the radar and we're used by the government to do various tasks in return for freedom and money. Our parents, well, they left us just after birth. Before we even got registered as citizens. That led us to becoming what they call 'ghosts'"  Monika looked at her, Rob, and the driver. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." She said. Dani chuckled "Don't be. Without those events, we wouldn't of been these badass people." Rob couldn't help it but smile. "It's true" Rob replied. People approached the group from somewhere ahead. There were three men and two women. One of the  three men with ginger hair replied "I see we have some new guests!". Dani smiled and turned around, "Jerry! Nice to see you in a happy mood for once!" Dani pointed to the ginger man and said "This is Jerry". He had short ginger hair that erupted into various curls. He had a tattoo of an anchor on his neck and various tattoos on his arms, which were exposed by the lack of sleeves on his shirt. He had a full grown beard and mesmerising emerald eyes. He was smiling, revealing rows of perfect white teeth. His facial features were strong and beautiful. Dani then pointed to a man who looked nervous "This is Tommy", Tommy smiled and made a little wave. He was small and had curled, brown hair that reached his shoulders. He too had green eyes and a stubble. He wore a simple white shirt that showed the word "Badass" in bold. He had skinny blue jeans which hugged his legs, threatening to suffocate them. He had a pair of glasses which hung from the neck of his shirt. "Meet Cameron, our personal drama king!" Cameron did an over-exaggerated fainting gesture. But then chuckled, "Nice to meet you!" he replied. He had blonde slicked hair that revealed his forehead. He had a tattoo of an eye on it. He had deep blue eyes and wore a loose fitting hoodie. He wore black jeans. He had pale skin and his smile was enough to make even the grumpiest person smile. Dani pointed to one of the women and replied "This is my sister. Sara." Sara waved. She had brown hair that faded to blonde on the tips. She had deep brown eyes and tanned skin. She wore a white tank top and black formal pants. She finally pointed over to the last girl who seemed really young. In fact, she looked like she was seven. "This is my daughter, Jess." She smiled. The little girl seemed bold and brave. She smiled and ran up to Rob and hugged him. She had rich brown hair and deep blue eyes. Here skin was naturally pale and she seemed capable of looking after herself. Dani replied "Oh and the driver, meet Spencer." Spencer wore a formal suit and had jet black hair. His skin was hazelnut in colour. He had a black moustache. His hazel eyes complimented his whole look. He was very handsome. Jerry broke the chitchat and said, "So who are our special guests?" Dan spoke "Well, umm, I'm Dan. I'm a student at a school which was attacked by this creature thingy." Jerry replied "We've heard. Its messed up that you had to see it happen." Monika spoke, "I'm Monika. It's nice to meet you. Thank you for helping us out there." She looked at Dani, Rob and Spencer when she said the last part. Dani replied, "It's fine. Honestly. It is." Isman stayed silent. Truth was that he was extremely nervous. "And who is this?" Jerry said looking at Isman, he was smiling warmly at him. Isman built up his courage and spoke, "I'm Isman." Jerry smiled. "Its nice to meet new people. I bet you're pretty hungry. Follow me. Off to the lunch hall we go!" He led them down hallways, showing the newcomers the various "attractions" here. He was their tour guide for the day. They finally made it to the lunch hall. It was huge and comfortable. The walls were panelled with dark-coloured wood. The floor was made out of marble tiles. The food was prepped and ready, on the counter ahead. A man stood ahead, he looked like a typical Italian chef. He smiled, his smile radiated warmth and his eyes were full of kindness. He had a black moustache, peachy skin, and dark brown eyes. He had wisps of brown hair protruding from under his chef hat. He exclaimed, "Guests! You are very lucky children to have the opportunity to try out my food. Come sit down, anywhere. I'll bring over the food!" Dan looked at Monika and Isman. Dani replied, "That's Pietro. He is the chef. He comes from Italy. His food is wonderful. Feel free to sit down." Dan walked over to the nearest chair and sat down. Isman and Monika sat either side of him. The chairs were extremely comfy. Pietro came back with some sandwiches, he placed them down in front of the children. He went back into the kitchen and came back with a kitchen trolley. It had bowls of pasta, plates with garlic bread, glasses that had some sort of liquid inside. The most eye catching thing there was the dessert, it looked sophisticated and delicious. He placed them down in front of the children. He also gave each of them some cutlery and napkins and finally said "Bon appetite!". The other people sat down on the same table as children and sat waiting patiently for their food. "How is it?" asked Cameron. "It's really good." replied Dan eating the pasta. Cameron smiled, "He is the best chef we ever got to meet. Trust me. He is also really good at other things too. He's like the jack-of-all-trades here." Pietro returned with more food which he handed over to everyone else. Jess eagerly began eating her food. She seemed really happy. Pietro asked the group of children, "Do you like it? I personally think that it lacks seasoning and maybe some spice." Dan smiled, "What do you mean? It's amazing. It's literally the best thing I've tasted." Pietro smiled, "Thank you." he said gleefully. He stood there watching them eat whilst smiling. "Why don't you eat with us?" asked Isman. Pietro replied, "Oh no, no, it's fine. I'll eat later." Jess stopped eating and replied, "Come eat with us. Please?" Pietro sighed, "Okay. Okay. I'll eat with you." He grabbed some food from the tray and sat down to eat with them.

After some time, everyone finished eating and Sara volunteered to clean it up. They made their way to the meeting room and discussed what had happened. They were deciding what they were going to do next and for a moment there was silence until Jerry broke it. "Okay. The children can stay with us, for as long as they need to. Their parents are god knows where, and none of us can go against that government. We are well aware that they may have started this zombie virus. And that it may have been a death trap to the remaining soldiers, and a way to spread this virus. We should be safe here. We just need to set up some barricades and etc. For now, let's focus on actually staying safe and creating a safe place for us. We can't really stay here for long though, the food supplies won't last us that long and we will need to find some other place to stay at. Tomorrow we will have a meeting here at 2pm. Until then, just go about life as normal." He paused and continued, "Rob, you know them best so far. So you will be their guide. You are therefore excused from any duties that you were assigned to. Meeting is over. Thank you for your attendance everyone." Everyone nodded and said their goodbyes, the group waited for Dan to finish speaking with Jerry and followed him out he led them around various parts of the building and then to the sleeping quarters. "Get some rest guys. If you need any help, come next door and knock. Someone will be in there to help you out. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. And don't worry about your parents okay? They'll be alright. Whenever possible, we'll try to break them out." Dan nodded and dozed off. Isman was already snoring and fast asleep. Monika was the only one who couldn't sleep. There was too much on her mind. She got dressed in her clothes and went out of the room. She made her way down the hall, past the leisure room where a group of people were laughing, she went to the garden  and felt the cool breeze blowing against her. She went to look for a place to sit and saw a person sitting down on the bench. She approached them and realised it was Pietro. She sat down next to him and saw that he had a distant look on his face. He was gazing ahead, at the stars. He hadn't noticed her yet. She gently tapped him on the shoulder and asked politely, "What's bothering you?" He almost jumped out of his seat, "Oh it's you" he replied. "Why aren't you sleeping?" He asked her. She replied, "I couldn't fall asleep. Besides, you're changing the subject." He smiled, "It's a beautiful sky tonight isn't it?" Monika replied, "You're still changing the subject. I know something is wrong. You don't need to hide your feelings from others." He sighed. Paused for a moment, and replied, "I'm just wondering, I used to have a great job you see. I was a 5-star chef and cooked the tastiest food. But the thing was, I couldn't keep hiding the fact that I had no identity. The government caught up on it and quickly got rid of my success and threatened to hurt my family and the people I loved. I couldn't let them get hurt. So I surrendered to them. They took me to this government facility where they tried using me for war fighting." Monika looked surprised. "What do you mean by war? I thought that there was a peace treaty signed by every country." Pietro sighed, "It wasn't a war between countries. It was a war between good and bad in our own country." Monika pressed the topic, "What do you mean good and bad?" Pietro looked at her and thought for a minute, "The bad guys wanted to decrease the population, as you are aware, thr population is becoming too large to sustain. The government, or known as 'il brutto', they would shoot a set number of random civillians each week. They wanted me to do the same." He paused and spoke again, "I didn't comply with their orders and so they were planning a public execution of me. To warn the public against revolting. And Jerry was there, he was my executioner. But something broke in him and he didn't execute me. Instead he used the syringe against the mayor. As you can imagine, the crowd went wild, everyone was attacking what they deemed to be their enemy. The government was overthrown too and there was a new order put in place. But it didn't last long, the army was alerted and came in shooting everyone that came in their way. It was a bloodbath." Monika was fast asleep on Pietro's lap after he finished speaking. Pietro smiled and picked her up gently. He held her in his hands and took her to the bedroom where he lay her down on the bed. He tucked her in and left the room, gently closing the door behind him. He walked off to the leisure room and joined the group.