"It's not that simple, Sherlock. They were once people too," Bright stated.
The two began to argue, and they somehow managed to pull everyone into their argument too.
By the end of the day, we established that even though the infected used to be people, if they came after us, we had no choice but to save ourselves using any means possible.
As a result, we gathered all the supplies available within Bella's home and calculated how long they were going to last.
"Damn, how does it feel to be rich?" Bolaji asked Bella with a covetous look as he stared at the supplies.
"When you get rich, you'll understand," Bella replied with a blank stare.
"I don't know if that was an encouragement or a diss, but I'll take it as motivation," Bolaji pumped his fist up while responding.
"Your motivation should be trying to survive right now," I said to Bolaji. "We don't even know if the world will ever get back to normal."
"Way to kill the mood dude," Bolaji sighed.
"This should last us for about two to three weeks at the very least," Bella's father voiced out.
"Enough time for this whole situation to die down since the military is already handling it," my mother spoke with a relieved expression.
"It would last us longer if father didn't turn the house into a shelter for the poor and needy," Collins blurted out rudely.
"What did you say, young man?" Bella's father's face turned dark as he grabbed the right ear of his youngest son.
"It's true, father, ouch," He winced in pain while speaking.
"Shut up!" Bella's father landed a heavy knock on Collin's head in the next instant, taking everyone by surprise.
"Please spare him. He is just a child," my mother and Bolaji's parents pleaded on behalf of the disrespectful Collins.
I on the other hand, didn't care. If anything... I would have loved it if Collins got a slap and an extra knockout wrestling move to match.
He never showed me any respect since I started dating his sister anyways.
A week went by in a flash and the contents in the pantry, reduced significantly.
We realized that it might not last up to three weeks like we expected but we still wondered why the current situation hadn't been resolved.
The CCTV showed us the multiplication of infected on the streets so it was not a good decision to step outside.
While I was thinking of how to safely acquire more supplies, I heard a loud voice from the living room.
"You all, you need to see this!"
It was my little sister's voice.
Worried that something might be wrong, I left the room and headed straight for the living room.
My little sister was there with Bella watching a footage play out on a laptop. We all gathered around her.
On the screen was a live video of a man who had left his home to get food.
He claimed to have a wife and two kids who were relying on him. There was no way he could let them starve so he had to go out and get food.
"The authorities keep on saying we should stay at home, but how do they want us to survive?" the man questioned while looking into the camera.
"Huh?"
This social media platform app was called 'Live Bird'. It only allowed its users to take live videos.
I wasn't a big fan of social media but Bolaji used it frequently when he was at work or less busy so he had a lot of social media accounts.
I on the other hand, only had two social media accounts due to work.
Now, one 'AwesomeJoshua56' was using it to show the world that he could do something useful for his family.
"Didn't they say the military was on their way? Where is he going?" Bright asked.
His brother was quick to answer. "Won't they be stuck fighting the infected?"
"Even though—"
"Will you two keep quiet?" Bella scolded with a cold tone.
The two of them immediately shut their mouths knowing how scary their big sister was.
For a few minutes, the only voice we heard was the man who had stepped into the street.
In the comments, people asked if he was carrying a weapon while others advised him to return home.
To answer the former, he showed us an axe. It looked sharp and sturdy. Hopefully, he wouldn't forget how to swing if it ever came in handy.
"Okay, I can't hear a thing," the man voiced with a face full of perspiration.
It didn't seem like he had even killed an infected before. It felt like he was only doing this out of desperation.
"He looks really scared?" Bolaji's father pointed out.
"Who wouldn't be?"
Bolaji and I knew just how scary it was coming face to face with a crowd of infected humans.
The man kept advancing, ignoring the comments.
He slowly began to walk down another street. Luckily, there was no infected in view yet.
I soon noticed some at the periphery of the screen but they didn't sight him.
"Here's one thing I've learned watching people from zombie movies," the man said in a low tone and everyone perked their ears attentively.
"If you're silent, they won't notice you. Now, where I'm going is just down the street. If I'm able to get food for my family, it means that you all can also do it and we can—" He didn't finish his advice...
An infected had spotted him.
"Kiiooouuhhhyyyaahhh!"
The infected snarled as she began to run toward him.
His arm trembled as he turned around with the axe raised and swung it at the infected's head.
Krraaakkk~
The female infected's skull split open causing blood and brain matter to splatter all across his face as it fell over.
He also fell to his butt while panting heavily and staring at the corpse with an horrified expression.
Unfortunately, the noise drew in other infected and they began to stumble towards the source.
Josh swiftly jumped to his feet and pulled the axe out of the infected's head.
Comments began to appear in a frenzy on the screen advising the man to return to his home but instead, the man began to flee in the opposite direction.
"He's is still going to the store at the end of the street!" Collins shouted.
We could hear the large intake of breaths as the man ran towards his target.
I was earnestly hoping he got in there and sighed in relief when the man opened a glass door and then shut it behind him.
It was the only obstacle between the man and the bunch of infected behind. Through his camera, we were able to see a group of infected gather. They began to hit the door but it seemed strong enough to hold them out.
"I'm inside!" the man said with a laugh. "Now, I only need to get food."
From what we could see, the man hadn't been the first visitor to the shop. Some windows were broken but fortunately for the man, the infected were not smart enough to jump and climb through since the windows were a bit high up.
The contents on some shelves had been carted away but there were still a bunch of items here. The man began to pick them up.
"Canned beans? Well, still something to eat. Oh, what do we have here? Packs of spaghetti! Wow. I'm so glad I came here!"
Follows were popping up all over the screen as many of the comments applauded his bravery.
As he kept picking up food items, I moved away from the others and began to pace around the living room in though.
I could feel eyes on me and saw Bella staring at me.
She patted my sister's knee and then rose from her position.
I slowly raised one eyebrow before saying, "No,"
"I haven't even said anything yet," Bella raised her arms in surrender as she arrived before me.
"Okay, what did you wanna say?" My nose wrinkled up in suspicion.
"I wanna go out there and get more supp--"
"No!" I cut her off before she completed her statement.
"Babe,"
"I fucking knew that was what you were thinking," I shook my head while yelling in my mind, 'I have a crazy girlfriend!'
Bella's siblings watched as their sis turned submissive whenever I spoke and wondered, 'How is he doing this?'
"If anything Bolaji and I should be the ones plotting to go on a suicidal mission," I said to Bella while embracing her.
She completely melted in my arms while embracing me back. Her siblings stared at us in disgust while the others had looks of envy.
'What does she even see in him?' Collins thought internally.
I always considered myself to be quite handsome so I would have murdered him if I was aware of his thoughts.
"BJ and I will make plans to go out there and get food."
Her eyes narrowed. "Go out there and get food? Can't you see the crazy number of infected out there? Its too dangerous!"
"Eh?"
"Huh?"
"Uh?"
Everyone stared at Bella wondering internally if this same scenario didn't just play out a second ago but in reverse.
"If we go out, we could get more food. Some stores are—"
"Victor, that's suicide!" Bella hotly whispered.
I was taken aback.
"You... you... but you just said you wanted to do that," I said while pointing at her in annoyance.
"That's because I'm stronger than you," Bella retorted.
"..."
She smiled knowing she made a point. After all, she was more skilled in combat whereas I had never truly been in a physical altercation until the world went to shit.
However, I felt intellect was better than being a brute so I made a low "hmph" sound.
"And that's why I don't want to let you go," I decided to use another approach.
"If you get hurt, who is going to protect us?"
She chuckled. "You sneaky little..." Bella voiced while rubbing my hair.
"Also, any plan we come up with might not be actualized since they mentioned the military is on their way. So long as they get here before we run out of supplies, things should be fine. The man over there—"
"Oh, my God!" Bella's mother suddenly screamed with her hands over her mouth.
"What is it?" Bella yelled as we swiftly moved over to their position.
The others had looks of horror as they stared at the laptop screen.
From the sounds of screaming and snarling, I could already predict what was going on. The moment I arrived behind everyonee and caught a glimpse of the view displayed on the screen, my thoughts were instantly confirmed.