章 4: Just One More Day

If one day you wake up and discover that your monotonous life suddenly turns into a torrent of uncontrollable emotions, from thinking about how to survive until the end, what kind of story comes to mind at that moment?

When you find that the streets are filled with the undead, just close your eyes on top of a building and try to breathe deeply, because perhaps you will discover that in that contaminated city where you lived for numerous reasons, after this catastrophe, you can breathe better.

In a biochemical apocalypse, what attitude will you adopt to face it? What mindset will you use to welcome this special change in your life, and how will you face the days ahead?

No matter what, all stories can be simulated from one point to another countless times, yielding billions of alternative endings.

I think that when one day you learn that this biochemical apocalypse is due to the fact that humanity dared to play with a power they cannot control, what would you do then? The answer is a resounding no: no one would do anything because they cannot do anything.

Everyone had forgotten that just a few weeks ago, after spending almost a whole year in quarantine due to a pandemic, the whole world rejoiced when it was discovered that an effective vaccine had been found against the dreaded virus called COVID-19, but in the dark web, everyone called this virus Aion because Cronos was a synonym for world leaders and Kairos was a title reserved for what was to come.

If you are cultured enough, you will know that Aion, Kairos, and Cronos are gods. But what do they resemble? Well, they are the gods of management and leadership.

It is known that Cronos is represented as a mature man who devours everything and everyone, including his children, to maintain his power. He is the god of sequential, chronological time that inevitably passes. It is the "tic-tac" time that irreversibly and linearly leads us toward our future.

He is the god we turn to when we set goals, make action plans, and implement them. When we act under the auspices of Cronos, past actions become obsolete upon reaching the goal. Then Cronos demands that we set new goals, indifferent to whether we are satisfied with what has been achieved or not.

Meanwhile, the 'tic, tac, tic, tac, tic, tac' of the clock measures how mortals approach death, clinging to success and controlling events, our lives, and those of others.

In short, that's humans. Everyone does their best to maintain power and have much more than in previous times. We stop reasoning about what is right or wrong, what is good, and, of course, what is bad.

So why do we call COVID-19 Aion? Very simple. That's the name of a God who doesn't need to devour anything to be eternal. The virus we fell victim to crushed us, stepped on our faces, and left when it wanted to. It entered our bodies uninvited, unexpectedly killed our relatives, and left, completely disappearing from our lives as if its power had not been lethal enough.

So many think that what this world needs most are opportunists, conspirators, and geniuses.

When you have to face the threat of death at any moment and in any place and fight against the teeth and claws of the undead, will you ever feel tired and want to shoot yourself, or will you fight?

When you start playing hide-and-seek with the undead, can you imagine that one day the undead will also play hide-and-seek with you?

When an undead becomes conscious like a child and develops intelligence, is it an undead or a human being?

When a flower, a plant, or an ant is given the characteristics and life of an undead creature, is the world dominated by the living or the dead?

Indeed, it's often like a cliché from a bad movie to say that the most terrifying thing in this world is not some kind of undead in an Apocalypse with obsolete zombies, mutated monsters, or aliens, but the human heart.

If one day you discover that in this crisis-ridden world, what you need to protect yourself most from are not the things affecting the world but those hiding in the shadows like you, yes, you will feel lonely, but that's the price you have to pay to survive. You will have to control people; all of them will be objects to recreate the perfect world. There will be an opportunity—just one chance—to be the greatest power in the world and create a new supreme order.

In a matter of months, humanity developed a supposedly effective vaccine against COVID-19, started mass-producing it, and sent it to different parts of the world, forcing humans to take dose after dose, vaccine after vaccine, and it started to be required at work, school, and even to take a taxi.

But when you think that this vaccine is just a business to make money, reduce the population, and, by the way, have the world under absolute control, what would you think?

If humanity's alternative immortality is achieved at the expense of becoming undead and based on fear of pain, is anyone willing to give up their current life and become infected?

As the days pass after world governments have lifted their restrictions at airports, will you start traveling like you used to? The answer is as simple as a simple yes.

No one cares after a few months; everyone forgets and enjoys watching others' lives on the internet, creating much more interesting cases than a pandemic, and the past is buried as if millions of people hadn't died.

In the end, even someone like me is just as simple as everyone else; I only worry about simple things like whether I'll be able to write the next day, whether lightning will strike me right on my head when it rains, or if my heart, due to some unknown illness, will stop beating. When our fate is led by a human taking the stance of Cronos, there is very little we can do to avoid things. We are weak and fragile, and at the same time, we are the ones who cause the most harm. I would have liked to bring out that dark side and be a predator, but it's not worth it in a world like this.

The moment your destiny is connected to this world, you become the future of this world.

When nothing can harm you, when you become a hero, when you are enveloped in everyone's glory, you become just another one of this world. But when one day you discover that the enemy you will ultimately face is yourself, how will you feel at that moment?

What you are about to feel is my experience in a world where the undead walk and where human naivety can be seen everywhere you find me. Like anyone normal, how do you expect me to understand the world's corporations, catastrophes, and what is about to crush us?

When the time comes, all of us will face those who are to come, but in the meantime, let's be happy with the little things we have at our disposal.

I, as a supposed young man just seeking survival, once told me that I cannot escape the destiny the world has prepared for me; I only hope that it is the best option that what remains of the world can aspire to have...

Maybe I was glad it was that way.

2010 was a night like any other. You might be wondering why I'm in the year 2010 when I should actually be on October 10, 2022. Well, all of that would be explained in a very simple way... It turns out I stayed in a country that wasn't mine when the infections started; I was one of them, and after fighting for a long time in late 2022, I died from a new infection that I never thought would happen again. To tell the truth, I fell asleep, but being in a completely new life and in a year that I never thought I would live, it doesn't sound illogical to think that I had died. But well, a new life means having new opportunities, especially for a young person like me who is in high school.

"Hey, what am I doing with my life playing with an unemployed guy at three in the morning?"

"Hey, idiot, show more respect to this old man because when I earn my first salary, I'll take you to meet the bad girls!"

"You've been saying the same thing for three years; can't you come up with another line of words that's more believable?"

"Hey, Dominic, are you telling me you'll get a job right when you graduate from the course you're about to take? Let me tell you that thousands of other people graduated with you, and possibly each of them has a better resume than you."

"Tell me, idiot, how the hell do those bastards expect me to have 5 years of work experience if all I've done in life is study and take part-time jobs to pay off the damn loan that has me drowning in debts?"

"Alright, see you later..." Dominic shook his head as he hung up the call and removed his headphones. The first thing he did after that was stretch his waist, and when he saw the time, he just muttered, "It's time to sleep; I wake up half dead tomorrow."

Life during summer vacations is always boring, especially for someone who is about to apply for a university exam right next year. Not only does he have to prepare, but he also has to apply like crazy for exams at the best universities within his economic possibilities and be lucky to receive acceptance from any of them.

Taking a chance on all the opportunities he can get is the kind of person Dominic is. Like many other people, he had no good expectations for his future. Although he has good grades, that somehow prevents him from moving forward.

He wasn't extremely intelligent, either, to remember good companies where he could make investments and become a millionaire in the future.

Dominic wanted to continue his studies, at least now having the chance for something much bigger than in his past life; obviously, he wouldn't waste it.

University life is on a completely different level; right at that moment, the important option of choosing his future arrives. That filled Dominic with stress, so he simply said, "If it doesn't go well, I'll join the military and aspire to reach as high as possible like my father... Investments will be made in that course."

The military is the only opportunity to aspire to something better outside of studies within the United States; it just changes his path a bit.

Dominic, who was getting ready to sleep, watched a lot of news on his laptop, which made him open his tired eyes to see if he wasn't seeing anything wrong.

"[Young university student sold a testicle for a sum of $35,000 to a private university just to buy a motorcycle he won't be able to use in the coming months!]"

Dominic's originally sleepy eyes narrowed as he read this news and smiled. Seeing such cheerful news immediately gave him a bit of energy, and he wondered if anyone else was buying some good testicle.

"For these very things, God gave us two organs except the heart; that's the only one that's alone inside us."

"The World Health Organization warns civilians worldwide that it's not the time to travel as a new virus has been discovered! They are warned that this new virus comes from India, and if appropriate measures are not taken, something very bad could happen again."

"Haha, I'll probably never get to a battlefield if I ever become a soldier; at this rate, we'll die from a virus again!" As soon as Dominic finished reading that news, he checked the last message his father had sent him and got confused due to the extensive data information that thing contained.

"Father, over 100GB in one message? I hope it's not a virus. I have the latest photos of my cat, Mr. Whiskers, on this computer." Dominic started downloading the file and then went to sleep.

It's common for people with very little knowledge of technology to end up with their phones filled with viruses, downloading adult videos from compromised sites, or even downloading a song illegally.

Beep-beep! Beep-beep!

Dominic woke up at eleven, seven hours after falling asleep. After sitting up, he regained his senses and began his daily routine of washing his face and brushing his teeth.

Only then did he realize that his father hadn't returned from work as he usually does. Dominic knows that his father's job involves traveling for business to different countries and being absent for weeks, but this time he had exceeded the allotted time, something he had never done before.

"Don't you have another family? Old man, bitter, you know I don't care if you remarry... It's been ten years since mom's incident." Dominic, after getting dressed, left the house because he was hungry. After that, he met up with friends before the final year of classes started.

Putting on headphones, Dominic walked quietly alone down the street. He knew it was good to walk and get some sun, as being locked up for a week might leave him with sequelae later on. However, people's carelessness, the numerous cars, and the indifference in their eyes made his tranquility lost in a strange feeling.

At that moment, Dominic suddenly stopped. What he saw was a man half-lying on the ground. To be precise, it was a beggar. It wasn't uncommon to find them on the street, much less in a bustling and materialistic city. Although, in a way, Dominic lives in a quiet place, things like these can happen from time to time.

No one cares to see a man in ragged clothes barely recognizable as clothes and his hair disheveled lying on the street. To many, it gives the feeling that he's just a drug addict or simply a man who made bad decisions in his life.

The dirt on his body couldn't be hidden. Living with that indescribable feeling, Dominic couldn't describe what he felt. He stopped and stared at him, trying to see through his bare eyes.

The eyes of the people walking down the street turned unpleasant when they saw this man, whom they associate as just another drug addict. Dominic was not far from him, and he stared at him fixedly. The beggar also noticed Dominic's gaze, which was more special than the rest, so he also gave him a look. By then, Dominic finally figured out where this feeling came from; those eyes were so clear they seemed to be able to reflect the whole world. The semi-lying posture had a kind of posture that everyone seemed to ignore, but it was an absolute reflection of freedom.

After a while, the beggar smiled, showing Dominic a meaningful smile. There was a sensitivity in his eyes. Dominic did this quite often; he liked to read people, or at least he considered it that way. Generally, you can see a person through their eyes. A person's eyes often reveal a lot of information that most people don't understand. He analyzed and classified them into a group, knew how to talk to them, and made them end up where he wanted.

While he was still thinking, Dominic approached without realizing it.

"What's your name?" Dominic asked in a very simple tone, without sharing the contempt of passersby, without condescension, without a trace of sympathy or pity.

"Curiosity isn't a good thing, kid." That beggar simply said this phrase.

This phrase really left Dominic speechless for a moment.

"What do you want to know? Just my name?"

Dominic then didn't know what to say. He had come here just for that look and wanted to observe the beggar more closely, so he really didn't want to know anything. He frowned slightly when he heard this question. He didn't know what to say for a while.

"Do you want help?" Dominic said after a while. Even he himself didn't know why he said this. Sympathy? He's not someone who feels that way towards people—maybe only towards cats, but it's limited to just that. Dominic never portrayed himself as a guy who helps people out of pity; that would be a rude insult to others in his eyes.

"I can't save myself; how can you help me? Haha" The beggar suddenly looked up at the sky and laughed. The rough laughter made the people who were already looking at him hasten their steps.

Dominic turned around and left, not thinking about wasting time to continue with the boring verbal entanglement.

"Hey, most people in this world now live in dreams and will soon feel desperate. Kid, appreciate your last time living with the comforts you have; after a while, these will only be dreams." After saying this, the beggar stood up, with a figure hinting at fragility, and his hands behind his head disappeared into the crowd.

Dominic frowned, thinking that today a free man treated him like an idiot. He couldn't help but shake his head and laugh at himself. After taking a few more steps, he completely ignored the last words of that person.

As he walked, a light rain suddenly fell from the sky. In this spring drought season, spring rain is as precious as oil.

Due to the sudden light rain, people's steps no longer seemed as slow and heavy as before. Walking faster generates body heat, and rain is a refreshing curtain on life.

In this boring place in the suburbs of Los Angeles, although the largest and most beautiful city is nearby, it's still a very boring place. Living in California, to be more specific, in the suburbs near the city, could have many varieties of good and bad things.

When Dominic reached the city, his mood improved a lot. Walking in the light rain is always good to clear the mind.

People come and go, very lively, talking about their salary increases or the possibility of taking out a loan to buy their dream home. But when they pass by a man lying on the ground, all they do is look away as if that were an unpleasant sight.

Dominic turned the corner and was thinking about what to eat for lunch. At that moment, a woman stood in front of him—not a girl, not an old woman. The word woman is more appropriate for someone who is between thirty and almost forty years old.

Looking at her from a distance, she seemed to be incredibly happy. This is the first feeling everyone will have.

At that moment, she was standing in front of Dominic at a short distance.

Of course, Dominic didn't look at this woman with any other thought than anyone would, because he knew the person he had in front of him.

Dominic finally sighed with fatigue.

Why go down this path? Why do you want to go out to eat at this time?

Dominic smiled slightly. "Long time no see, auntie; every time we meet, I notice you much better. Should I tell my father that an idiot is approaching you again? Well, since I haven't eaten anything yet, let's chat next time!"

The woman in front of her was smiling, but when she heard this and saw Dominic getting ready to leave, she frowned.

"Dominic, stop!" A slight reprimand sounded from behind Dominic, and by this point, he couldn't pretend not to have heard it.

"Come on, auntie, couldn't we talk after I eat something and you sort out your urgent matters?" Dominic smiled close and said it in a believable tone.

The brown-haired woman with a well-maintained body looked at her nephew. The boy in front of her was the vivid image of her older brother, but after that, she showed some sadness and anger. After thinking about certain unpleasant memories, she said, "Visit me more often; your useless father isn't around enough for you to know if you're leading a good life; I even doubt you have enough money to buy food."

Dominic thought after hearing that: "Do you still hate my father? Although I know the circumstances, they just direct their hatred towards him for the accidental death of your husband on a dangerous mission they were on. You should get over it, auntie; it's been five years." He knew that his father used to work for a private security company alongside his aunt's husband, who at the time was his father's best friend. To make this story brief, his aunt's husband died on a mission, and since then, his aunt hates his brother for not quitting that job when she had been asking him to for countless years.

But life was like that; the circumstances they're subjected to are something they can rarely predict. Dominic's father, after that, resigned, joined a company that traded in ham, and took care of selling it in different states and countries.

The woman in front of him thought that his father never quit that job, so she hated him so much, but she couldn't direct that hatred towards her nephew, so she said, "You can come to eat as many times as necessary when the uselessness of your father is not around; don't forget, I'm his aunt."

After finishing saying those words, she turned around and left. "I hope you're not like your useless father; that would be really annoying to think about."

Dominic watched her turn around and quickly went to eat, remembering something before. "It's just another day, auntie; if you don't move on, you'll end up alone for the rest of your life, and that hatred will turn into guilt."