Army of True Salvation - Chapter 10：This is Now the Emergency

Sheloah looked at Veon. “What time is it?”

Veon looked at his watch. “Exactly 4PM,” he answered and they both looked at their classmates.

They planned on getting melee weapons from their school’s home economics room. Whatever they get would have to be given to the three volunteers so at least, they would have some possible weapons they could use.

Sheloah called their attention. “We will leave at 4:30 in the afternoon with Veon, Josh and Tyler. We will get resources from SM but we will go to the home economics room first to get some knives and some other possible weapons for Dean, Ace and Edward to use.”

Their adviser stood up and approached them. “Then be careful and make it fast. It’s dangerous out there,” she said and the four of them smiled at their adviser.

Sheloah spoke again. “We will stay here for two days. Once we return later with the resources, we will make a new plan on leaving the school on the third day. We won’t stay here long.” Now their classmates started to discuss among themselves, quite surprised that they only have a short amount of time to stay at the rooftop.

“Don’t think about that yet. Just wait for us and leave it to us. We will think of a plan,” Sheloah assured them and they all calmed down.

“Sheloah, take care.” Dean was concerned about the four of them and Sheloah smiled at him, telling him not to worry.

“Keep your phones on silent. Later around six to seven in the evening, we will return with a scrumptious dinner.” Sheloah motivated their classmates and they grinned, a little expectant.

Tyler poked Sheloah’s arm, getting her attention. “It’s best if we use these sticks for the meantime,” he said as he handed the sticks to each one of them. The sticks are one and a half meters long.

Josh smiled at Tyler. “Did you get this at the side of the rooftop? This was our school’s billboard!” Tyler slightly chuckled.

“We won’t need the billboard anyway. We don’t have a sports fest anymore,” Tyler said and they all shook their heads, slightly laughing.

Sheloah looked at her comrades. Once they leave the rooftop, they would have to make it fast so they could make a plan on how to leave their school for them to get resources from SM.

When Sheloah looked at her phone, her heart skipped a beat because she remembered her family.

‘Damn it!’

What happened to their families? They forgot about them! They were supposed to contact them as soon as possible now that this emergency had happened! Why didn’t they think of this sooner!?

Sheloah looked at her classmates with panic then announced. “Guys, aren’t we forgetting something? Our families! You have your phones, right? Call them. Ask about their situation. We almost, completely, forgot about them!”

The moment she said this, every one of her classmates rushed in their pockets to get their phones and called their family.

Sheloah got her phone and dialed her mother’s number but it was unattended. “Shit!” Sheloah now then tried to call her uncle’s phone number, her panic increasing with every ring she heard from the phone.

‘Pick up the phone!’

Sheloah loved her family so much. Well, who wouldn’t? But when it comes to Sheloah, she was really close with each member of her family. She grew from a broken family, having no father to help her grow, but despite that, the extended family that she had now was enough to make her feel loved and accepted. She always lived with her mother, grandmother, her mother’s brother, together with his wife and four children. Sheloah was the eldest among the children at their home and to her, she saw them as siblings, not as cousins.

She didn’t want to lose them!

The ringing of the phone made her panic more. Why was her uncle taking too long to answer the phone?!

‘Dear, God… keep them safe…’

She looked at her classmates once again. They were now scattered everywhere on the rooftop, talking with their family through a call or text. She could see others crying in joy, knowing that their family’s safe. Some were also seen grieving by the thought that their family might’ve not survived the situation.

The breathing on the other end of the call got Sheloah’s attention. Finally! Someone picked up!

But why the heavy breathing?

Sheloah started to feel nervous. “Tito?[1]” She heard that it was quiet—to quiet… and only her uncle’s breathing could be heard.

“Sheloah.” She let out a sigh of relief when she heard her uncle spoke. She sat on the ground, unable to hide her relief, knowing that her family might be safe from the situation.

“Tito, how about the others? Are you all okay? What happened?” Her uncle hesitated to answer. This made Sheloah more nervous about the others.

“No…”

Her uncle was hesitant to continue giving his niece information. Just a single word but it was enough for Sheloah’s heart to break into pieces. She held her mouth with her free hand and tears started to escape from her eyes.

“Who,” Sheloah asked weakly, trying her best to stop crying so she could speak properly, but she knew her uncle couldn’t hear her clearly. “Who… disappeared?” She didn’t know what word to say. The word ‘died’ was too difficult for her to say.

“The only one left is me, your mom, your aunt, and Ivan. Mother and your three cousins… didn’t make it.”

Her grandmother, her three younger cousins whom she considered siblings… now gone. Only her mom, her uncle and aunt, and her eldest cousin, Ivan, survived.

‘This zombie apocalypse… it’s too much!’

Her uncle tried his best to speak. “Where are you?”

Sheloah cleared her throat then answered. “We are here in our school’s rooftop. Only our section made it. I don’t know if there are other survivors. Veon, Josh, Tyler and I lead the class here.”

“That’s good,” her uncle commented and Sheloah was now very concerned about her family’s situation.

“How did you guys manage?” Sheloah wanted to know how they were able to fend for themselves until this point. If they didn’t protect themselves, then everyone should’ve been dead by now.

“I used ‘dad’.”

One sentence and Sheloah already knew what her uncle meant.

By ‘dad’ her uncle meant the gun his father used to have back when he was a police man. Originally, Sheloah’s grandfather was part of the Philippine army but because of some circumstances, he was moved to a different department and became a police man instead. Before he died, he gave the gun to his youngest son, Sheloah’s uncle, to use for emergencies.

And this is now the emergency.