KATANA.
"SO, PAANO tayo makakalabas ng lugar na 'to? Because obviously, we wouldn’t survive is we just stay here," Kuya uttered with his arms crossed, giving each of us serious glances kahit pa para naman talaga kay Papa ang tanong niya. As obvious as it is, he’s just doing that— averting Dad’s gaze— to ignore him kasi as much as I wanted to fool myself that he do not, I sure as hell that he still hates our father. Hindi ko naman siya masisisi... I mean, lumaki nga akong wala siya pero unlike him, I chose to just be in good terms with Dad kasi we’ll never know if it’s our last day already, ‘di ba? And yep. We're planning again. Pero hopefully, ngayon na ang last, final at firm plan namin dahil kating-kati na talaga akong makaalis dito. Gusto ko na lang manirahan kasama si Papa kasi ‘yon naman talaga ang gusto ko noon pa manKATANA. OKAY, SO the main plan, sa main entrance kami lalabas dahil mas mabilis ang daan doon papunta sa pier. But as we hid from the railings of the second floor, eyes glued in the monsters downstairs, mukhang kakailanganin namin ng alternate route. "What are we going to do now?" Kuya frustratedly asked. Para kay Dad ulit ‘yon, alam ko, pero hindi siya makatingin kay Papa. Pakshet talaga siya. Since yesterday ‘til now, Kuya will literally ask Dad for plans and shits pero kunwari, kami ang tinanong niya. Psh. Unlike me, I’m comfortable with him already. I mean, I just realized that we both love wrestling and The Expendables after he told me. So yeah, no big deals, actually. "I thought these motherfuckers already left," giit ni Daryl bago pa makasagot si Dad sa tanong ni Kuya. Kitang-kita sa mukha ni Daryl na g
KATANA. “HINDI KAYA maging runner na ako ngayon? Kase ‘di ba kanina, unconscious ako ta’s baka ‘yon ‘yong dahilan kung bakit hindi pa ako nagiging runner... baka kasi ‘di pa kumakalat ‘yong virus... ta’s ngayong gising na ‘ko, baka maging runner na ‘ko. Don’t you think so, Jeran?” Okay so... another thirty minutes had passed again and all I did was to blab about me being bitten to Jeran. And I could say for the past half an hour, Jeran has already reached his limit. “Hehe, sabi ko nga...” I raised a peace sign, looking sheepish when he started glaring at me. For the next minutes, I had decided not to talk to him about it any further so he wouldn’t throw me out of the window. Nag-isip na lang ako ng pwedeng i-topic dahil bukod sa hindi ko pa rin
KATANA. “GOSH, THAT WAS CLOSE.” Nagpatuloy kami sa paglalakad. Nangunguna pa rin si Jeran, kasunod ako at si Dad na nakaalalay sa ‘min at sa huli ay si Kuya na siyang nagbabantay sa likod. Nang tuluyan na kaming makatawid ng maayos sa kalsada na puno ng mga zombie na parang mga estatwa, napabuntong-hininga ako at tahimik na nagdasal ng pasasalamat. Ngayon, konting kembot na lang ay nasa dagat na kami. Makakaalis na kami rito. Mamumuhay na ulit kami ng maayos. Kakalimutan namin ang lahat ng nangyari at magiging masaya kami ulit kasama nina Papa. Napangiti ako ng maisip ‘yon. “Nakahanda na ba 'yong sasakyan nating bangka?” tanong ko maya-maya habang patuloy pa rin kami sa paglalakad. “Nandoon na
THIRD PERSON'S POV. “SINO BA KAYONG MGA LINTIK KAYO?!” Jerome’s deep, fuming voice thundered almost all over the place as he stared at the men infront of them. Higit sa labinlima ang bilang ng mga nakaitim na lalaki ang nakapalagid sa kanilang lahat habang sapiitan silang nakasalampak sa buhangin. Their presence are most likely unwanted— obviously— and is clearly wasn’t expected. Sa totoo lang ay gulat na gulat nga silang lahat ng bigla na lang itong nagsulputan mula sa kung saan matapos umalis ng tatay at kapatid ni Katana at sapilitan silang isinalampak sa buhangin, tinalian ang mga kamay at kinuhanan ng mga gamit. And right now, Jerome has reached his limits. Halos nag-aapoy na siya sa galit habang ang ibang mga kasama ay nag-iiyakan at kinukumbinsi siyang manahimik dahil sa takot na baka saktan
THIRD PERSON’S POV. THE NEXT few minutes felt like Jerome’s death. Lahat sila ay nakatingin lang kay Belle at sa lalaking nakahawak sa kanya, kapwa nanlalaki ang mga mata. Jerome wants to do something. Anything to get Belle out of that man’s grip. Anything to save her friend out of the possible danger. He wants to save her, but he couldn’t even move an inch so how would he? Ilang segundo pa ang lumipas na tahimik lang ang lahat. Jerome was still trembling in anger on where he stood, the others were shaking and crying in fear, while Belle was helplessly caged in the man’s arms. Ganoon lang ang posisyon nilang lahat ng bigla na lamang batukan ng ‘boss’ ang lalaking may hawak kay Isabelle. “Tarantado!” sigaw nito dahilan ng panlalaki ng mga mata nilang lahat. “Sinabi nang
THIRD PERSON'S POV. BELLE WAS so stiff. Ramdam niya ang unti-unti nang pamamaga ng pisngi niya kung saan dumapo ang palad ng lalaki kanina, pero mas nangingibabaw sa kanya ang takot at kaba para sa kaligtasan nila. Tahimik lang silang nakaupo habang patuloy sa pag-andar ang van. Nakatulog na nga’t lahat-lahat si Remy kakaiyak pero hindi pa rin humihinto ang sasakyan. Dahil doon ay patuloy sa tahimik na pag-iyak sa tabi niya si Jehanna habang si Lynn naman ay panay ang linga sa paligid, sinusubukang hanapin kung saan isinakay ang iba pa nilang kasama. “Kailangan nating makaalis dito.” Belle slowly glanced at Lynn’s direction when she spoke. Maging si Jehanna ay natigil sa pag-iyak at taka siyang tinitigan. “We gotta escape. We gotta... We got
THIRD PERSON’S POV. WHITE. ALL they could see is white. The floor was tiled and white, the walls and the ceiling are boring, bare and also painted white, the lights are all shining perfectly and there is no windows or anything but a huge mirror in one side of the room. It was a simple, clean room. But Belle, as well as the others, knew that there’s more to it. There’s more than what is shown in the surface. There’s something wrong. There’s something unusual— and that’s the metal beds in front of them. Marami iyon, lahat ay nakahilera sa harap nila. Bukod do’n ay mayroon ding mga taong nakaputi ang nakapaligid sa kanila. They all seemed like doctors— only they wouldn’t he
KATANA. KUYA AND I kept on running despite our sweaty bodies and the rapid beating of our hearts due to tiredneed. Walang ibang nasa isip namin kundi ang marating kaagad ang tulay para makahingi ng tulong at mailigtas sina Papa at ang iba pa. Sobrang daming tanong ang nasa isip ko habang tumatakbo pero ni isa sa mga 'yon ay hindi masagot. Sobra rin ang pag-aalala ko para sa mga kaibigan namin na naiwan sa dagat. Pero gustuhin ko mang bumalik, hindi pwede. I may have turned my back on them, I may have left them, but this will going to help us all. We didn’t just left them behind, after all, because we did this to help us to save them. That’s right, Kat. Be rational. Be tough. You were a weakling, but not anymore. Don’t let yourself be a wimp any longer because that clearly doesn’t help.