Ex animo, p.1
Ex/Animo, page 1
part #1 of Ex/Animo Series
EX/ANIMO
ALWIN JOSEPH
Copyright © 2021 by Alwin Joseph
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, objects, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Contents
Z Day-1; The Calm Before the Storm
Z Day; Day of the Undead
Z Day+1; Let’s Go Play Outside
Z Day+2; The Church of What Now?!
Z Day+4; The Mad Scientist and His Old Pal
Z Day+8; AREA V3
Z Day+10; Back Into the Birdcage
Z Day+21; In the Belly of the Beast
5AA; A World Born from Sacrifice
EPILOGUE
Z Day-1; The Calm Before the Storm
“Sup, dude? How was college?” AJ had a smirk on his face.
There was a slight taunt to AJ’s voice when he had asked the question. This was because he had been at home the entire month, watching anime and playing games. He never bothered to study for the upcoming semester exams while MRJ had to go to college every day.
They went to separate colleges. They were among the many who left their homes in pursuit of higher education.
AJ was an introvert and took a long time adjusting to new places. He did not bother to try and change this attitude. He felt it better to remain a lone wolf as his course was for no more than three years.
His parents moved around a lot due to work. MRJ’s parents had agreed to look after AJ, and hence, he had been with MRJ since elementary school.
MRJ wasn’t exactly an introvert like AJ but did face trouble adjusting to people. He often complained about how none of his classmates shared his interests in conspiracy theories, music, TV series, etc. Like AJ, he didn’t think much of studies and took it up only when it seemed indispensable.
They believed hardcore studying mattered only at high school, and college was meant for fun and games. Even when their grades proved them wrong, they refused to put in any more effort than they deemed necessary.
MRJ usually went home on weekends as it was only a three-hour journey while AJ had no actual place to go to. Therefore, he stayed in during the weekends.
It was MRJ’s idea to share an apartment, and AJ had found the place. Unfortunately, they were unable to get into the same college. But they found peace with it and saw it as a window of opportunity to meet new people (not really).
Their college lives were stuck on constant notes of boredom and procrastination. That was not what they had in mind when they graduated high school.
Tossing out EPs, indulging in epic quests of finding hot babes, and taking college life easy were some of the things they had dreamed of. And they hadn’t given up on them yet. They were still in search of the ‘motivation’ they needed.
“It was fine,” MRJ sighed, tossing his backpack beside AJ’s desk.
“Why did you take so long to answer one simple question?” AJ narrowed his eyes at him.
“Thought it would be rude to interrupt the narration on our boring lives,” MRJ rolled his eyes.
“Dude!” AJ exclaimed. “You can’t do that!”
“Yeah, sure I can,” MRJ smiled mischievously.
“Stop!” AJ demanded. “It is too soon to break the walls.”
“You mean the pages, right?”
“Dude!”
“Okay, okay. What you watching? The same one from yesterday?”
“Come on, bro. Does this particular animation style remind you of that one?”
“You need help, man,” MRJ shook his head. “Haven’t met anyone this crazy about something like you are!”
“My Internet buddies would prove you wrong.”
“Anyways, what’s up with this gory monstrosity? Zombies?”
“Something like that,” AJ nodded. “Felt a sudden urge to rewatch this one. It’s filled with fanservice moments but hey, who’s complaining?!”
“This stuff is traumatizing, man,” MRJ looked away from the screen. “Killing people, they once knew… that easily?”
“And they say anime is for kids,” AJ chuckled.
“That’s not the point,”
“Come on, we’d be doing the same if we were thrown into such a scenario,”
“So, you are telling me that a zombie apocalypse is a plausible scenario?”
“Yep,”
“Any logical reasoning behind your claim?”
“You do acknowledge that the field of medicine has achieved so much over the past several decades, right?”
“Right,” MRJ nodded slowly.
“Well, if making an effective cure is possible with the latest technology, why not the opposite of that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Bio-weaponry,”
“C’mon, man, that’s stupid. Those are just ‘plots’ in movies, that’s all!”
“You’re saying bio-weaponry is farfetched?”
“Of course not. But I don’t think any country would develop something as stupid as a Zombie… Virus?”
“Z virus,” AJ pushed his glasses back.
“Whatever, it’s just stupid,”
“Oh, just like how HIV wasn’t created ‘artificially.’”
“Yeah, wait–did you just agree with me?”
“No, dumbass. It’s called sarcasm.”
“Your point?”
“HIV is manmade,” AJ sighed.
“Oh really,” MRJ looked skeptical. “Where’s your proof?”
“Well, think about it; AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease, right?”
“Right.”
“It is not airborne, not caused by bites from animals, not from water, nothing. Just sexually or by blood transfusion, et cetera, et cetera,”
“Yeah,”
“How did it originate then?”
“What?”
“How can one test positive for HIV?”
“He caught it from an infected person, duh.”
“Okay, how about the first guy who got it? How did that happen? Where did he get it from?”
“Might have put his dick in someplace where it doesn’t belong,” MRJ joked.
“Seriously, dude,” AJ narrowed his eyes. “Someone has to have made the virus and used it on the guy or something. And that ‘someone’ cannot be just an individual who decided to test drive their pet virus on somebody. That someone has got to be a super-secret organization backed by some government or something, you know? Nobody’d suspect a thing! It’s a perfect crime!”
MRJ suddenly burst out laughing.
“Dude, you want me to believe this? The government killing people with AIDS?!”
“It could have been what they intended, but they lost control over it as the thing spread from balling,” AJ looked annoyed. “Okay fine, tell me this, why hasn’t there been an actual cure for AIDS, like, at all?”
“It just hasn’t been found yet. The scientists are trying-”
“Don’t give me that crap. The thing was discovered over a hundred years ago, and no cure has been found for it yet?! Isn’t that a bit sus?”
“Then why don’t you explain it, Einstein?”
“Very well,” AJ pushed back his glasses again. “My bet is that several cures were indeed found over the course of time, but the organization or whatever is making sure these cures never see the light of day!”
“That’s a dumb theory,”
“Then why don’t you come up with one?”
“I’m standing with the ‘cure hasn’t been found yet.’”
“This is the problem with society. Gamers have to do everything!” AJ stood up and placed a leg up on the chair, facing an imaginary audience. “Wake up, sheeple! Rise from thy slumber of blissful ignorance at once!”
“Oh dude, fine!” MRJ facepalmed. “I believe your bio-weaponry and AIDS theories. Satisfied mucho?”
“They could have already made the Z virus too!”
“And the Zombie… Virus thing too,” MRJ sighed in exasperation.
“Yep!”
“You ‘proved’ your point. What now? An award ceremony?”
“Now that we are on the same page, we need to prepare for what’s coming,” AJ sounded serious.
“What’s… coming?”
“The Zombie Apocalypse, duh.”
“Oh, of course,” MRJ nodded sarcastically. “How did I forget?!”
“Why are you still in uniform? Get changed. We are getting down to business,”
“What are you going to do?”
“Why–prepare the coolest, most badassest survival guide to surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, of course!”
“‘Badassest’ isn’t a word,”
“It is from now,”
“You mustn’t use ‘most’ and ‘-est’ together.”
“Just shut up and help me with this already!” AJ grew impatient.
“Okay,” MRJ rolled his eyes. “Geez.”
The Sun had set. The duo found themselves sprawled on the floor.
“Book, pen,” MRJ reported. “C
“Perfect!” AJ sounded enthusiastic. “Cue the montage!”
“Uh… that’s not how this works. We’re not in some movie.”
“Just note down what I tell you,” AJ sighed.
The evening passed slowly as the duo brainstormed over creating the most efficient guide to surviving a zombie apocalypse.
“How much more?!” MRJ complained. “I’m hungry!”
“Fine, let’s go out,” AJ said. “I gotta check up on some stuff too.”
“Woah! Really?” MRJ was taken back.
“Yep,” AJ nodded. “What’s wrong?”
“That isn’t like you, man,” MRJ narrowed his eyes. “You are usually super against eating out.”
“Usually,” AJ sighed. “I wanna catch some fresh air. You never see how much you take things for granted until you lose ‘em.”
“Huh?” MRJ looked puzzled.
“Let’s go!” AJ got up.
“Not gonna argue with that!”
The duo stepped out into the cool breeze of the night. Though it was pretty late, they found a few people walking about. They came across the park where the kids played.
“Man, I don’t know,” MRJ glanced at the people outside the park. “I miss my fam all of a sudden, and it’s not been two days since I last saw them!”
AJ started walking in the direction of the mall. MRJ caught up with him.
“December is right around the corner,” he pointed out. “Your parents coming to see you this time?”
“I don’t know,” AJ spoke nonchalantly.
“They didn’t talk anything on it?” MRJ inquired.
AJ shrugged despondently.
“Hey, it’s chill,” MRJ patted him on the back. “Don’t be a downer now.”
“Uh-huh,”
“You can always come to my place, you know? Dad’s been asking to see you,”
“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind,” AJ put on a small smile.
“Now cheer up,” MRJ grinned. “You look like someone who broke up with the love of his life.”
“That bad, huh?” AJ laughed. “Well, race you to the mall, you cheer-freak!”
AJ took off running.
“Hey!” MRJ chased after him. “Not fair!”
The duo stopped in front of the mall. They saw the place bustling with people. To AJ’s amazement, he found the mall decorated with skeletons and jack-o’-lanterns and orange streamers. The sign ‘Mooncourt Mall’ had an orange glow instead of the usual blue. Guessing what was going through AJ’s mind, MRJ burst out laughing.
“Please don’t tell me you forgot Halloween!” MRJ guffawed.
“Shut up!” AJ was quick to refute. “Of course, I remember Halloween!”
“Yeah, right! You know what? This wasn’t a bad idea. You could really use a break from anime-”
“Not a word about anime. It’s the only thing that kept me sane during the break!”
“Yeah, sane enough to forget something like Halloween!”
“Whatever, man,” AJ rolled his eyes. “Huh, why were there no trick-or-treaters in our street?”
“Dude, you really need to live in this world,” MRJ laughed as he walked past the sliding doors.
AJ looked around.
“The mall’s throwing a Halloween party. The rides in the Game-Corner are free for the evening. Who needs trick-or-treating when they can play Rambo on the arcade machines a dozen hundred times? I thought the party was the reason you decided to come here in the first place.”
“Damn, bro!” AJ exclaimed. “I had no idea! Free food?!”
“You never change,” MRJ sighed.
“What are we waiting for?” AJ grew impatient. “Let’s go!”
“That’s how it is now, huh?”
“C’mon!” AJ ran up the escalator, bumping into people.
“Wait up!” MRJ smiled awkwardly at the cold stares they received from the mallgoers.
MRJ pushed open the double doors to the main hall where the teenagers were partying. Loud music blasted through the speakers. Cold air rushed out to meet them.
“Ladies, first!” AJ appeared smug.
MRJ shook his head and entered the hall. AJ walked in after him. The air smelled of candy. The atmosphere was full of cheers and laughter. Glaring lights swayed with the beat of the music. It was enough to cause someone a seizure.
“Ow, my eyes!” AJ cried out. “This place is swarming with kids! Ugh, and they are doing the Forknife dances.”
“The what dance?” MRJ looked confused.
AJ pointed to the dancing kids.
“Hey, I can do that too!” MRJ beamed. “What seems to be the problem?”
“Nothing,” AJ rolled his eyes
“Oh,” MRJ laughed. “You are just salty cos you can’t disco.”
“Really? Salty, over that?” AJ frowned.
MRJ grinned.
“Why did you bring me here anyways? The party on the second floor seemed more enticing than whatever crap this is. Or did you suddenly forget we’re nineteen?”
“Well, sorry,” MRJ rolled his eyes. “I thought you might wanna socialize instead of staring at tits all night.”
“What?!” AJ scoffed. “I could have actually had fun socializing there!”
“Some of my friends from college are meeting up at the back,” MRJ pointed. “And since we’re here, might as well introduce you to them.”
“Aw, c’mon, man,” AJ sounded dispirited. “That wasn’t part of the plan!”
MRJ ignored AJ and made his way to the back. AJ managed to catch up with him to find him facing one of their ex-classmates. AJ slowed down when he recognized Marvin.
Even though he was at a party, Marvin was dressed as if he were to attend a wedding. Coming from one of the most influential families in the country, he had everyone they knew in the palm of his hand from middle school to high school.
AJ, unlike his classmates, never liked kissing anyone’s ass. This had angered Marvin. He had the others testify against AJ on misconduct and had the teachers take action against him even though they knew AJ was innocent.
Inevitably, many fights had broken out between the two, with most of them having AJ get an ISS. MRJ stood on a gray area in their dispute. He definitely didn’t like Marvin but thought it would be better to steer clear of his path.
When the two decided to move to Oklahoma for college, Marvin seemed to have the same idea.
AJ thought he was better off dancing with the kids at the front than confronting his arch-enemy.
“Hey, if it isn’t Joestar!” Marvin smirked.
“Yes, Marvin,” AJ rolled his eyes. “That is my username.”
“And what brings you here?”
“Same as for everyone else,” AJ scoffed. “Legs.”
“Always with the sarcasm,” Marvin shook his head. “What I meant was that I never took you for a party animal.”
Marvin’s lackeys walked up to them.
“So, the rumors are true,” AJ smirked. “You don’t go anywhere without your babysitters.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Marvin yelled.
AJ crossed his arms.
“Hey, are you sure about having parents?” Marvin sneered. “Cos I’ve never seen them my entire life!”
AJ glared at Marvin but didn’t say anything.
“Hey, does being a memer pay?” Marvin continued. “Well, you gotta make a livelihood someway! You know, since your parents jumped ship on your pathetic existence!”
“Unlike you, I have a father,” AJ muttered.
“What did you say?” Marvin gritted his teeth.
MRJ appeared worried.
“I said it’s better than living off on the money your father earned by selling illicit drugs,” AJ snapped. “And I’m pretty sure he bought you at a yard sale somewhere,”
“Son of a-” Marvin turned to his lackeys to find them snickering. “What are you clowns standing around for? Give the hurt to him!”
Marvin’s lackeys approached AJ. They grabbed their baseball bats from under the table.
“Ooh, I’m shaking,” AJ imitated a fighting stance he had seen on a video game. “Come on, pussies! This will be a good practice!”
AJ smashed the glasses of the goon closest to him with an upper kick.
“My eyes!” he dropped the bat.
Marvin gritted his teeth.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” MRJ dragged AJ backward.
