Chapter 44: Mother (1/2)

They arrived at the Barangay Hall a while later. The episode of Simon getting scared could be seen along the way.

Nile is at the rear of the group, behind the four horsemen.

The moment they step inside the Barangay Hall. Dozens of eyes stared at them.

And like ants getting attracted to a sweet candy. The people rushed towards the trolleys that are full of goods.

They took every food they could until they could not take anymore.

Not a minute later, the four trolleys full of goods are emptied.

'Just how famished can this people be?' Nile thought upon seeing the scene.

Ombit and the others stared wide eyes at the people in disbelief.

The worker ants bring home the food for the colony. But the entire colony took all the food for themselves, not living anything behind for the worker ants.

The people here are greedy. Ombit, Goryo and Polonyo, even the four horsemen realize this.

Ombit could not hold out his anger anymore as he stomps his feet on the ground with significant force. The ground cave in with that stomp.

The greedy people stop what they are doing, and they fixed their attention towards Ombit. Still, they hugged the foods they scavenge earlier just like it was their newborn baby.

Ombit calmed himself. He walked and step into the stairs leading to the 2nd floor of the Barangay Hall. Goryo, Polonyo and the four horsemen followed behind him silently.

Nile was also about to follow them when he saw something in the corner of his eyes.

On there, he saw a woman on the corner of the room crying silently; she seems to be staring at something on her hands as she cried.

Nile came close to the woman. Actually, it was not only the woman in this corner of the room. There are others like her that also gave a grief expression. But unlike her, they are not crying. They only stared in the void.

Nile understand something at this point. This people are those who could still not adopt to the state of the world.

Nile stared at the hands of the woman. It was a picture of a family of three. Nile could tell that it is wetted by the tears coming from the woman.

Nile stared at the picture for a long time as he felt guilt. In the middle of the picture is a boy riding an arcade ride happily. The boy in the picture is the boy zombie he just killed earlier.

He stared at the woman. She is the mother of that boy. Nile could feel the grief and sorrow from those tears that keep on falling in her eyes.

As if sensing the eyes staring at her, the woman looked up and her eyes met Nile. On that eye, she could tell that the man in front of her felt pity and guilt for her. She could understand the reason for the pity, but how about the guilt?

She wiped the tears on her face. She made a force smile and said, ”Uhmm, do I know you?”

She is sobbing while she asks the man.

The woman had a messy hair that had reached up to her shoulder. Dark circles formed underneath her eyes. Her face is skinny, just like her body. She thinned a lot compared to the woman in the picture. The smile she showed while asking could not hide the sorrow and grief on her face.

Nile shakes his head. He took off his mask and sat beside the woman.

”Sister, who is that on the picture?” Nile ask as he pointed at the picture. Even though it was quite obvious, he could not think of anything other than that to start the conversation.

The woman started to cry again, hearing the question.