Invasion
Chapter 7

Theycontinued to talk as they waited for their food. As usual, he felt awkward whentalking with other people, while she just smiled and laughed, trying to get himto relax and just talk. “Oh, so you’re going all psychologist on me,” he said,semi-joking. “No, no psychology here. Just two friends talking to each other,”she replied, “Takashi, you don’t have to hide from me. Cause I know the realyou, the one that you hide from everyone. And I like him.” “You shouldn’t. I’mthe weird guy that no one wants to hang out with.” “I do. Takashi, listen: firstof all, you are weird and a little strange sometimes.” He laughed. “But, you’realso funny and very smart and talented. Most importantly, you have a heart, anda very strong one at that. Yes, you are a bit emotional about things; you takethings to heart. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but if you do it every time something happens, you’rejust gonna make yourself feel bad. Okay, sorry. I am going psychologist on you for this part.” “Hahahaha, it’salright. Thank you for saying that.” Smiling, “You’re welcome.” At last, theirfood finally arrived. The cashier asked them if they would like to add salt fortheir fries, but they said no. “Oh, finally. Hello, delicious,” she stated. “Itdoes look good,” he agreed. “We’ll talk again later, okay? But, for now, weeat.” “Haha, alright. Bon appétit.”

Oliviaquickly cut her chicken and ate it. She was enjoying herself too much. Takashicould only just stare at her in amazement. He ate some of the fries first andthen cut his chicken. As he looked at it, he prepared himself. “Just eat it. It’sreally good. Come on, I wanna see your face when you eat it.” “Seriously?” Helet out a sigh and put it in his mouth. As he chewed it, he smiled. “Holy shit!This is delicious.” “Huh, huh. Didn’t I tell you??” They spent a good 15-20minutes finishing their food. And, again as usual, he ruminated about his lifeas he did so. He does this a lot and realizes this; he knows it’s not very goodto introspect or ruminate too much.This would only make him feel worse. He wasn’t not sure if this is a product ofalways being alone or if it’s just who he is. Why do people make friends? he thought to himself, I mean, not like that. I guess we needfriends. But it’s interesting how they do it. Well, different people do itdifferently, I guess. I don’t quite understand. ‘How can someone know youlov—care about them, if you don’t tell them?’ Do we have to be friends withthem first? It’s part of the love cycle. You don’t have to be best friends—althoughthat would be better—but two people can be together even after only beingfriends. He clutches his hand in anger.This is life. IS this life? Why is the world like this? It’s not really life’sfault. Life is only a canvas after all and the world is the painter. She noticedthis as she was chewing and tried to snap him out of it. She swallowed and toldhim, “Hey, stop doing that. Just eat.Don’t think too much.” “I know. You’re right, I’m sorry.” She laughed, “You don’thave to be sorry. But, you’re not gonna feel any better thinking abouteverything too much. You have to let it slide sometimes. You can’t bear all the weight on your own, and youdon’t have to. I’m here for you.” “It’s a habit. A bad one, I know. I guessI’ve spent too much time alone. You know, when you spend a lot of time alone,you tend to talk to yourself,” he chuckled, “I used to think I was talking toGod. But then I realized, this is what happens when people spend too much timealone.” “That’s good,” she said to him, “at least you had someone to talk too.It’s also good because it doesn’t expose you too much to the outside world. Bythat, I mean, most people make friends and party and all that, they don’treally have time to think about themselves, to reflect. There are benefits to contemplatingand introspecting; people who do that learn more about themselves and the worldaround them. It teaches them to think and reflect on their actions. And they dooften care too much, much like you. You take things to heart and you’re veryemotional. And there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s who you are. Now, can weplease finish eating first? Because this is really good.” “Haha. Yeah, ok,” helaughed.

After finishingtheir meal, they brushed and wiped the table to clean it and brought theirplates to a spot near the kitchen. She grabbed her bag and they left. It wasalready drizzling outside; they quickly rushed back to the bus stop. They reachedthe crosswalk to get to it, but still had to wait for the light to turn green.It started raining. “Oh, man. Come on,” he said while pressing the buttonendlessly. “Relax, it’s just a little rain.” At long last, the light turnedgreen and they ran for it. Unfortunately, this particular bus stop had no coveror canopy to shelter them from the rain. “Urgh. I knew I should’ve brought myumbrella,” he regretted, “sorry about back there.” “For what?” “You know, how Ikeep doing that. The thinking too much.” “Hey,” she said to him, “if you everneed someone to talk to, you can always talk to me.” He smiled at that, “Okay.Thank you.” “I really like you a lot. I mean, the real you. You’re different.And different is good. I’m here for you. Okay?” “Okay.” They both stared ateach other as the rain poured heavier; water dripped from their hair and cheek,and wet their clothes. She pulled him closer, hugged him and they shared a longkiss as the bus arrived.

Lightningflashes in the sky followed by the roar of a thunder. “Hey! I think he wentthis way,” she screams as the rain is still loudly pouring. He’s still caughtin his memories, standing there staring off into space. She turns to him, “Uh,what are you doing?” she asks. He returns back to the present; he looks at herand smiles. “What?” she asks, confused. “You still look as beautiful as youwere that day. When we shared our first kiss in the rain.” “You remember that?”she asks, “argh, I can’t remember!” He hugs her, “It’s okay. You will,”releasing her, “Don’t try to replace it. Let it come to you,” he explains. “Okay.”“Alright, let’s go.” They continue their search for the mysterious man, throughthe pouring rain. They shiver as the air starts to get colder and colder. Shewonders if they’re gonna contract a disease or a cold. They decide to takeshelter for a while in one of the buildings. At the front entrance, shetelekinetically pulls the boards and opens the two, big wooden doors; they headinside. It seems to be an old hospital; gurneys fill the hallways and thatweird hospital smell still faintly permeates the air; some debris litters theground. The walls are painted sky blue, although barely noticeable as it has startedto deteriorate. A flickering light fixture hangs from the ceiling. They standin the reception area where they replace a flowerpot broken on the ground—theflower had wilted away. A few wheelchairs sit in the corner. They head into thehallway and check the rooms. Some of them are still littered with medical equipment,bottles, and even food, old and rotting away. Olivia shields her nose from thefetid stench. They head back to the hallway. “I don’t think we’re gonna replaceanything useful here,” he says. “Well, it isan abandoned hospital,” she remarks. She goes and sits down on one of thebenches, still dripping wet; she removes her jacket to get rid of some of thewater and hangs it on the side. He joins her at the bench and also removes hisjacket; he brushes his hair to remove some of the water. “Hey! Stop that!” sheslaps him on the arm, “you’re getting me wet.” “Sorry!” he laughs, “we shouldn’tstay here too long, I think.” “But it’s cold and raining, hard. The guy’s gottabe taking shelter from it too, right?” “Do you really believe that?” She chuckles,“Not really,” sighing, “ok, fine. But, let’s just wait a few more minutes.” “Alright.”He takes a good look around, “I hate hospitals, especially abandoned ones.”“Why?” “You know, because of the ghosts.” “Seriously?” “It’s just scary, okay??That’s all.” She laughs and then he hears a noise and hurriedly stands up tocheck. “What was that?” he said.

“Whatwas what?”

“Thatnoise.”

“You’rehearing things, baby.”

“I don’tknow.”

“Relax.It’s nothing. Alright, let’s go.” “Alright.” As they put their jackets back on,they both hear a rustling noise. “Okay, you heard that, right?” he asks,terrified at this point. “Yeah.” It gets louder and is followed by a loudcrashing sound. “Okay, I’m scared now,” she says. “What happen to ‘you’rehearing things’?” “Shut uuup.” They slowly go to investigate. It seems to beemanating from the end of the hallway, around the corner. The storage room isthe only door in that hallway, and the sound is coming from within. Takashibraves himself and walks slowly towards it, with Olivia behind, scared. Hestops midway and points his hand towards the door. With a gesture, hepsychically moves the handle and opens the door; it creates a somewhat loudcreaking sound as he swings it open. They both flinch at that and cover theirears; the door is open. “Well, that was loud,” she says, being sarcastic, startlinghim. “Don’t do that!” he yells at her quietly, clutching his chest and lyingback against the wall, “you’re gonna give me a heart attack.” “Sorry,” sheapologizes. “Alright, let’s go.”

The roomcontains many bed sheets, towels, food and drinks. It’s separated into sectionsfor each with shelves dividing them, extending to four shelves in length. Aseparate room on the right contains medical equipment and another on the leftfor the medicines. Crash! The noise is definitely coming from the medicinestorage. As they approach it, they can barely see a man sifting through theitems. “Uh, hello?” Takashi speaks. The man, shocked, turns around; it is theman they saw back in the city. “It’s you,” she says. She thrusts her handtowards him, sending him flying and pinning him to the wall. They notice that he’scarrying a gun, holstered on his right leg: a Beretta M9 9mm semi-automaticpistol. “Who are you?!” she asks, “why aren’t you asleep like everyone else?” Theman then starts laughing. He raises his head and looks at them. “They are notsleeping,” he says with a Russian accent, “they are dead.” They both freezeupon hearing this revelation. “What?” she asks, shocked. “Nerve gas. Deployed byyour military,” he explains. “They are not our military!” They both then suddenlyexperience slight headaches. “I can help you,” the man tells them. She pusheshim against the wall. “Shut up,” she says. Remnants of a memory return to them.She remembers entering the bathtub and hearing the screams of people outside;She looked out through the window and saw a gas sweeping through the streets.People fell to the ground, motionless. It entered the room and she breathed itin. She started to convulse in the bathtub; the light flickered. Finally, herbody gave in and she closed her eyes. Takashi also experiences these flashes.He was in a restaurant, waiting for his food. He wrote his name on a piece ofnapkin as people outside screamed and fell. He put the napkin in his jacketcoat and got up as the people inside started to worry. The gas entered and itseffect was immediately felt. Everyone started convulsing and fell to the floor.He too was affected and fell, knocking over a table.

Theman stares at them, confused. They eventually snap out of it. “I remember,”Olivia says, “pieces of it.” She then looks to him, “Who are you?!” “Relax. Iam a friend. A friend. We are on the same side.” “Prove it!” she continues. “Ifyou would please, let me down, I will tell you my story.” She looks at him withdistrust. “Liv, maybe we should hear him out,” Takashi says, still recovering.“Seriously??” she asks him. “Surely, with the powers you both possess, you arenot afraid of a simple man like me,” the man speaks. “Alright, we’ll let yougo,” Takashi says, holding Olivia’s shoulder, “but, the first sign of a betrayal,you’re dead. Understand?” “Yes,” the man answered. Reluctantly, she lets him goand the man drops to the ground. Olivia turns around and leans on a shelf with onearm, still trying to recover. “Thank you,” the man expresses his gratitude. “Whatever,”she replies. “What’s your name?” Takashi asks. “I am Sergey Markovic,” heintroduces himself, “I am part of the resistance formed to fight the invaders.But, when they began reporting of strange creatures appearing, we had toinvestigate. I had just finished my reconnaissance and was returning back whenyou saw me in the city.” “What are you doing here? In this hospital?” he inquiredfurther. “Several of my men were injured during our encounter with the invaders.I was looking for anything that could help.” “I’m sorry,” Takashi offers anapology. “Me too. But, it is not serious: just some cuts. They are soldiers.They will be fine. All I need are some bandages and penicillin, in case ofinfection. Yes?” “So, did you replace all that?” “Yes. I will grab it and we willgo,” he speaks with enthusiasm, smiling. “Wait. Wouldn’t it be expired orsomething by now?” Olivia asks, carefully leaning back against the shelf. “No,”Sergey replies as he grabs the items, “these things can last for a very longtime. Plus this hospital was only abandoned about a year ago, so should befine.” “Oh, well, in that case....”she says sarcastically. He wraps the items in a piece of cloth and puts it inhis jacket pocket. “Wait. Sergey, where are we going?” Takashi asks. “To mybase…our base. Come, I will show you.” After he leaves, Olivia asks Takashiwhether they can trust him or not. He answers, “For now, at least. Besides thiswas your idea. But I mean, if these people can really help us, then why not? If they turn out to be bad news, thenwe’ll take ‘em down.” “Alright,” she agrees, “let’s go then.” They then headout.