HOLOCAUST

fierce; beautiful and charming look, yet not easily attracted
to men due to her more violent demeanor than other
women. It's easy to say, a tough woman. Surviving partner
with Blake; not a lover. Acquainted from the same
quarantine zone; through various joint problems together in
many years. She appears now to be stirring a drink; coffee,
for their morning drink.

Blake did not answer her question. as he lowered his
head and leaned on his hands; rubbing his head and hair.
Waking up in the morning uncomfortable; indeed annoying.

“Here, drink. Coffee”, said Sierra as she handed a cup of
coffee to Blake.

Blake appearance has changed a lot from the last 15
years; his age turned 44 this year. His face began to wrinkle
slightly; his hair looked gray; a beard that is not so thick; yet
physically he remained energetic despite his age; has gone
through many difficult obstacles throughout this doomsday
world.

“What are we gon’ do today?”, asked Blake as he
sipped his coffee slowly.

“I‘on know. Nothing special. Same day…same shit…”,
replied Sierra slowly; as she sat next to Blake while sipped
her coffee as well.

“Oh, well…”.

“Oh, by the way, do you know that Centauries will
come patrolling here again today?”.

50

“Centauries?...uh, sick of it. For what?”.

“I‘on know. Some shit do to, I guess”.

“They gon’ shoot people again, aren’t they?”.

“mhm…that’s what they do”.

“Is there anything they know to do? They only know
how to kill our people, that’s it”.

“That’s what I thought…Is there any other place we can
go other than this place? This place stinks”.

“We’ll see ‘bout that…sick of this fuckin’ place.
Centauries ain’t even do anything. People trusts them too
much”.

“Yeah…agreed. Weak…weak people”, they chattering as
they sipped their coffee.

For your information, a group named Centauries; is a
new system of government established a few years after the
doomsday apocalyptic world; 8 years ago. This group; is a
movement; government mobilization in ensuring the safety
of survivors. The Centauries has gained a lot of trust in
society; for the past few years. They will patrol in a short
time to make sure no one from the survivors is infected;
whoever is caught has been infected, will be shot and killed
immediately in public. Easy to say, the task of this group is
simply to capture and kill all those infected in the community
that who are still alive.

Bulldog Radiant; is one of hundreds of other
quarantine sites, the place where Blake is placed, as well as

51

Sierra. An urban area of 5 kilometers radius; the area covered
in a circle of electric fence gates to prevent any entry
infected from the outside. A small village area, filled with
small shops as well as ordinary houses that were not as large;
with the surviving population there only around 200 peoples.

All the left survivors will be quarantined, as the cities
have been filled with infected that still roaming around;
every derelict town, abandoned city covered in moss;
buildings collapsed, car collisions everywhere. This all
happened due to the impact of the riots that took place years
ago; riots ensued when panicked humans saw the presence
of many infected, running cross-lenged to save themselves. A
large part of the human population has been affected
because has been bitten by another infected. Bite after bite;
attack after attack. Humans are killed. Thus, the infected
population grew longer and larger after that. In this case;
whoever is strong and courageous, then they are the one
who will be saved.

“Don’t move. Put your hands on your head. Now!”,
the scream of a man coming from the outside.

Sierra wondered; then asked,

“Who’s that?”.

“Centauries…”, Blake replied; as he continued,

“…seems like someone is infected today, huh? Well”,
as he sipped his coffee.

52

“Wanna’ take a look on that? Pretty sure there is
blood”, Sierra joked.

“pfft…funny”.

Not long after, Blake and Sierra got up and went
outside to witness for themselves the execution of the
sentence. Then, several people were seen kneeling with their
hands crossed on the back of their head. As the Centauries,
pointing their rifles to the back of their heads; so that they
can’t see the gun for a sign of comfort and respect.

As said by one of the Centuries before they fired their
shots,

“My apologize, my innocent people. May the God bless
you”.

Then, as they all expected; BANG! BANG!

Shortafter; an announcement have been made,

“Attention. Any signs of infection nor infected should be
reported immediately. Any signs of infection nor infected
should be reported immediately. All citizens are asked to
remain calm…”.

“Well…that’s it. It’s done”, said Blake.

“Wish there’s more…”, joked Sierra.

“Erm…wanna grab something to eat?”.

“Whatever…as long as you pay”.

“pfft…funny. Have you ever paid for anything? You’ve
got no money at all, broke”.

53

“Well, I do have guns in my hand”.
“Yeah…for what?”.

“I’ll fuckin’ shoot through your head”.
“huh, as you wish…I still pay, didn’t I?”.
“Uh, okay old man. You better be lose next time”.
“Aha…good girl”, as Blake rubbing Sierra hair vigorously.

Sierra growled, as she pushed Blake hand hard away,

“Don’t fuckin’ touch me…and don’t fuckin’ call me a
good girl!”.

“Oh, okay…good girl”.

They joked as they walked away from there to go to a
store that sells food items. A hot cup of chocolate milk and
Chinese dumpling in the morning will do.

In case you didn’t know, due to the age difference
between Blake and Sierra which is quite far, they already
think of each other as father and daughter. They were indeed
the rude joking type, yet that was normal for them. In the
past, Sierra, who lost her parents due to the riots that took
place; sat alone and cried in the corner, then founded by
Blake shortly thereafter. He felt sympathy then carried her
along to go to the quarantine zone in the Bulldog Radiant.
Then from there, they grew up together. Various things they
have gone through together. Sierra also learned many things
from Blake that made her a mature woman. Blake who had

54

taken care of her from the day they met, was by her side the
whole time; didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

As they walked, they arrived at a bar; named Rest til’
Death Bar. A wooden-walled shop, looking old but still
sturdy. An ideal place to spend time in loneliness; while
drinking a glass bottle of beer and a shot of wine; alcohol.

Blake and Sierra then entered the bar. Even though it
was still early in the morning, the bar was already full of
customers. Some were joking, some were drunk, some were
fighting; laughter and screams are often heard. Such normal
day in the bar.

Blake and Sierra immediately walked towards the front
of the bar table to sit there because the other seats seemed
to be full. But as they were about to sit down, sudddenly a
drunked old stranger came closer to Sierra side; then he
started to touch her on her body as he said; in drunked tone,

“Beautiful girl…wanna dance?”.

Sierra was shocked. Without hesitation, an extremely
strong swing of her fist was unleashed right on the old
druken man face; as the man subdued his body in pain, the
sharp side of her elbow swung piercing directly through his
spine. The old man then fell prostrate and lay on the floor
like a dead man. The whole crowd of customers then cheered
loudly when Sierra overthrew the old man. This does put a
smile on her face.

Even the bartender was impresed; as he said to Blake,

55

“…tough girl”.
“I taught her well”, Blake smirked.

“What do you want me to serve today, sir?”, asked the
bartender.

“There’s no need to call me sir, Joe. We’re all the same
people”, said Blake.

Joe, Joe Shelby; a british man who have been moved
to Bulldog Radiant. Now he works as a full time bartender
there at the bar. As the conversation continued,

“I'm just doing my job, Blake. People are racist
nowadays. They know im british, they make fun of me. “Can I
have a bo’le o’ wa’er?”. Blimey…it’s fockin’ git, you know
that?”.

Blake laughed a bit,

“It's hard sometimes to be you, huh? A british guy,
aye?”.

“Indeed…well, drink?”.
“Um…a sour whiskey would do”.

“Orite’ mate. What bout’ you young lady?”, as the
bartender is now talking to Sierra.

“Just a glass of soda, please”.

“Sour whiskey and soda. Orite’ there, mate”, as they
bartender smiled and left to do his serving job.

“Only a glass of soda?...all of a sudden?”, asked Blake.

56

“What?…at least I didn’t waste your money, right?”,
answered Sierra annoyed.

“Ahaa…smart”.

While the two of them were chatting casually,
someone had entered the bar shortly after; a guy in a black
jacket. As the man was looking for a seat, he came across
Blake. Then, he walked towards him and patted his back as
he greeted,

“Haven’t seen you in a while, ay?”.

Blake immediately turned around when he was called
to see who the person was. As he greeted back,

“Oh, Ray…didn’t see you there. You good? Back from
hunting, huh?”.

Ray, his full name is Rayyand Lee; a Korean-American
borned. They knew each other through the same quarantine
zone as well. 39 years old, erect and fit; has a basket eyes
with a pointed nose. His face was not wrinkled much though
it had aged; a young-blooded man. He has been close to
Blake for years; but rarely seen because Ray often goes out
hunting alone.

“Can I sit there?”, as Ray pointed at the seat next to
Blake.

“Sure”, said Blake.

“Well, I have something to tell you. You’ll not believe
what I am about to say”, as Ray seated on his seat next to
Blake.

57

“Yeah?...what is it?”.

Then, the bartender returned with the drinks that
Blake and Sierra had ordered on his tray. He also then
noticed the presence of Ray sitting next to the Blake; as he
greeted him,

“Bloody hell…didn’t see you there, mate. Long time no
see, aye…where did you go? Want a drink?”.

“Um…a glass of iced water would do”, orders Ray.

Joe took the order and immediately prepared it; then
Blake resumed their conversation.

“I'm pretty sure you've found something weird;
interesting things out there, right?”.

“Yea, it was…it was crazy. But you know what? I might;
found a strange piece of information out there. It might not
be a big deal but I got to tell you this”, Ray replied.

“Go on”.

“So, I was about to go hunting that one day, in the
wood; of course. Then, for some reason; all of a sudden I
came across the Centauries. Few of them. Luckily they disn’t
notice me cause I was hiding in the woods; and I overheard
one of their conversations. At first, I thought they were
talking about, you know; something that related to their job.
But then I heard they said…”

“Here’s your iced water, bud”, their conversation was
interrupted by a drink served by Joe. Ray and Blake looked at
him straight away as he realized,

58

“Oh. I've been bothering you, haven't I?

“Small matter, man. Thanks for the drink”, Ray
replied.

“So, what did you hear from them?”, Blake asked.

“What are they talking about?”, Joe asking Sierra, in
the other hand.

“You know. Men’s business. You don’t want to join?”,
Sierra smirked.

“Not interested. Who am I?”, Joe and Sierra laughed
a bit.

Back as Ray and Blake continued their conversation,

“I know this may not make any sense, but I heard
them talking about something strange. It has to do
something with; something about Serum-124. I didn’t know
what that is, but it sound kind of familiar. Do you know
anything about that?”, asked Ray.

Blake wondered; then replied,
“Serum-124? Never heard of that”.

“Serum-124. You guys talking about Serum-124, don’t
you?”, Joe cuts in out of the blue.

“Men’s business”, Sierra smirking by herself.

Ray and Blake shocked.
“Yea. You know about that?”, Ray asked.
“If I was not mistaken; Yah, I have heard it once”.

59

“Tell us what you know then”.

Joe immediately told them what he knew,

“So, my friend, Kris; ever told me once about the
serum. You know what’s interesting about it? He said that
one drop of liquid present in the Serum-124 container can
immunize all of us from this infection. But unfortunately, only
one bottle can be produced at that time”.

“Did your friend tell you that? How does he know?”,
Blake asked.

“He was part of the Centauries once. Well, now he
is…dead; because of infection”.

“Wait, he’s a Centauries?”, Blake asked.

Ray then cuts in,

“So, it was like a vaccine then. What else do you
know, Joe?”.

“I didn’t know much. Centauries studied this serum
to make a vaccine, and they,ve done it. It can’t heal an
infected, it makes us immune to them instead; in a long
period of time. But they failed to produce many samples
because it was too late. There are infected invading them in
their laboratory; chaos here and there. Luckily, they managed
to bring out the only one sample of the Serum-124. That’s all
he told me. I believe that the serum is still safe now”.

“So you told us that there’s only one left? Where is it
now?”, Ray asked.

60

“I don’t know. Kris never told me that. It’s been a
few years already”.

“Interesting. Sounds like a new adventure for us,
Blake. Well, I guess it’s time for us to find it out”, Ray said to
Blake excitedly.

Blake furiously interrupted,

“Us? You just said us? Joe said that his friend is part
of the Centauries. So that menas that this serum definitely
belongs to them, right? Ray, a fucking Centauries. We don’t
work for the Centauries, remember?”.

“Blake, listen. We don’t work for them. But instead,
we going to steal it. How are we going to steal it? That’s what
we’re going to find out. We’re going to save our people,
Blake. Imagine how this life can be if we found that serum.
There’s still time. We can change the future, together”, Ray
said.

“You guys done talking yet?”, Sierra annoyed.

Blake continued,

“Let me ask you guys something. If they; the
Centauries knew about this, why would they want to hide it
all this time? Why don't they just produce another samples
from that one serum bottle?”.

“Maybe because it was too risky. They lost many of
their scientists already. If they fail to correlate the serum
fluid with the new sample repeatedly, they may run out of
the serum. Then everything is over”, Joe answered.

61

“But surely they know the secret potion to produce
the serum don't they?”

“Probably”.
“Well, get some new scientists then”, Blake replied.

“Bloody hell. How can you find new fockin’ scientists
in this ‘not so’ end of the world? Blimey”, Joe objected him.

“That's why, Blake. That is why. We’re the one who
have to find the serum. If we found the serum, we have the
cure. We can be the future successors of our lives. Think
positive, Blake”, Ray interrupted with his enthusiasm.

“Oh you’ll be positive, I’ll be realistic. Okay, okay
okay, lets get this straight. You want us to go out there, just
to find out where the serum located? Out there? Do you
even know what the hell are we going to face out there?”,
Blake anxiously said.

“Yea, of course. I go out hunting every day”.
“That’s different, Ray. It’s different”.

“Oh Blake, don’t worry so much. We’re loaded. We
have guns; we’re pack our rifles with us. I’m sure that we’ll
be safe out there”.

“Oh fuck it”.

Blake let out a long breath, shaking his head as he
rubbed his hair. As he said right away without thinking long
about it,

62

“Give me some times to think about that. Sierra,
let’s go home”.

Blake placed the fee on the bar table, then got up
from his seats and left the bar. Sierra just followed his side
without knowing anything.

Serum-124 was one of the successful vaccines;
successfully produced by the Centauries scientists. A serum
that can immuned us from the infection of the bite of the
infected. Yet it was hidden and kept secret by them from the
public. They had to do so because they didn’t want the news
to be made a fuss, fearing the riots that would ensue if the
serum was not enough for the public. So after one bottle of
the serum was produced, they tried to produce another of
the same sample in large quantities. However, all their hard
work was not accomplished when a group of infections
managed to break into their laboratory, bitting each and
every last scientists that trapped in the laboratory.
Unfortunately, no one was able to escape; they are all
infected. But the only one serum bottle remain untouched.
The left surviving Centauries then took the sample and left
the place, in the hope that they would like to reproduce a
new artificial sample of the serum. Unluckily, no one knows
how. The serum remains untouched until now in some places
no one ever knows.

Blake and Sierra walked out and headed straight
out of the bar. Sierra immediately asked Blake something
with curiosity,

63

“Hey, hey you got to tell me. What has just
happened inside? What are you and Ray talked about? And
why the hell are you so mad right now?”.

Blake just answered,

“Just don’t ask”.

“Well, I guess I’ll keep on asking you. What just
happened? Tell me, fool. Maybe I can help”.

“None of your business”.

“None of my business? Seriously. Your business is my
business too, remember? What kind of business”.

“You just a kid. You don’t have to know”.

“A kid?! Oh, maybe because I’m a women right? Just
because I am a women and I’m not that important…”.

“Shut up”.

“…why do I have to shut up if I can talk? Is it because
I’m too loud? Oh, now you care. Sierra Miller. S I E R, I don’t
have to fucking spell that name. The story begin with a girl in
the town who nobody likes…”.

“Sierra, enough”.

“…how is it huh? To be a men. Talking about men’s
stuff and all that bla bla bla. It must be fun huh? That you
guys meet each other everyday and talk about same bullshit
again and again…”

“I said enough”.

64

“…who am i? I am just woman who has no friends
because I was too orphaned, because I was too violent. Who
wants to be friends with a dirty and disgusting woman like
me. Who will like me? There is none shit of an ass. Nobody.
Haha funny isn't it? A girl who has no fucking friend and…”

“SIERRA, I SAID FUCKING ENOUGH”.

“…NO FUCKING ONE TO TALK TO!! Do you even
care about me, huh?”.

“Have you forgotten why you're still alive here?”.

“My mom and dad left me because they lost me at
the time the chaos happen. Doesn't mean that they won't
find me after that, right? Why did you have to pick me up?”

“It…it’s because you are alone”.

“I don’t care. Why do you have to care so much if
I’m alone? They will find me. Not you. My mom and dad
probably be dead by now. I would rather die with them than
live with you. Look what am I now? Do I have friends? Do I
have someone to talk about my feelings? You didn’t seems to
care at all”, a single tear falls from Sierra eyes.

Blake left speechless.

“Sierra, let’s just go home”.

“That’s not my home. It’s your home”.

“Just don’t talk and walk away then, if you dare?”.

“Fine! Don’t ever fucking talk to me again you
fucking piece of shithead!”

65

Sierra turned and just walked away without even
looking at him. Walked further and farther ignoring Blake
who was still standing looking at him. It seems she really
really doesn't care anymore.

“Hey!”, Blake shouted at her direction.
Yet, she just walked away. Blake took a deep breath
and exhaled a long frustating breath. Blake starts to feel
guilty that he has been a little rude to Sierra. He himself knew
that Sierra was a stubborn and unyielding woman. His
thoughts was also confused at the time. He tried to remain
himself calm, but what could he do. He just left standing
there alone by himself on the street. Wondering.

66

CHAPTER 6:

67