Bab 2: Seven Survivors
Bewildered by the situation, Noir took a breath and calmed himself. He sat on the couch where the girl was supposed to be. But now, that very girl's body was missing, and only her clothes remained.
"What the hell? Are they really exhibitionists?"
He shook his head.
"No. I didn't hear the door being opened," Noir said, staring at the metal door.
Getting no answer from pondering himself, Noir surfed on the internet to see what was happening in the world, especially under the odd storm apocalypse.
He found six articles and posts with similar context. They were about people missing.
— [JoeLaa]: What the heck?! I just saw my sister suddenly disappear in front of me, leaving only her clothes! What in the world is happening?!
— [Disnatz]: First, the storm. Now, people are disappearing?
— [Darkmaster69]: I was sleeping in the middle of class, and when I woke up, I was alone in the classroom. I thought everyone pulled a prank on me, but damn! Everyone in my school had disappeared without a trace!
— [ForgetMeNot]: The people in my neighborhood all disappeared when we were watching and recording the approaching storm. I don't know what's happening, but I'm scared. If there are people nearby, please let me know! Here is my address…
— [ClownX]: Haha... this is insane... just when I was about to get my first kiss... people vanished, including my girlfriend…
— [Komodo Lover] In the blink of an eye, the city suddenly went quiet, leaving only the sound of my footsteps. Not only the people are disappearing, but the animals too.
Blinking a few times, Noir threw his phone at the couch.
He massaged his forehead.
"Come to think of it... it's not 'apocalypse' that person said, but 'the end of the world.' But, is this really the world's end?"
Closing his eyes, Noir recalled the past and his encounter with a suspicious stranger. Yet somehow, their words were instilled in Noir's mind, and he believed them until now.
12 years ago, when he was only 7 years old, a blinding light flashed in his room after he watched a zombie apocalypse. When it faded, a person with white hair and a blue gradient at the hair's root appeared.
At that time, everything besides Noir and the stranger was frozen. The stranger's aqua eyes stared at Noir softly.
The little boy couldn't help but be amazed by the situation. For him, that event was something he couldn't forget.
Then, after the stranger warned him about the end of the world, they disappeared, and the time within his house clocked again.
The warning and message that sounded like this:
"Listen, kid. I don't have much mana left to maintain this form, so I'll be brief. 12 years from now, the world will meet its end. You must be prepared."
That was the event that led Noir to prepare for the world's end. However, at that time, because he had just finished watching a zombie apocalypse movie, he thought the ending of his world would be like that.
A year after that, Noir doubted the message. But starting from ten years old, because the stranger's words kept ringing inside his head, Noir began to believe it.
Thus, for nine years, he prepared for the zombie apocalypse. He created a forum and community that were filled with people who either believed that a zombie apocalypse would break out or just people who were having fun with those kinds of stories.
Noir convinced and gathered many people, creating squads out of them, discussing apocalypse theories, and inventing new technologies along with capable people in the communities.
Thinking back, Noir thought it was so absurd that he could convince and gather so many talented people into his cause.
He sighed.
"But they're gone now..."
That's true. The people he had gathered were all now vanished. For 12 years, not only did he misunderstand the stranger's message, but his years-long effort turned out useless.
Burdened by mental exhaustion, Noir fell asleep.
When he woke up, he immediately checked his phone.
12 hours had passed since he passed out. It was now ten o'clock in the evening.
Sighing, Noir looked around the secret base, searching and hoping that someone else was there, but to no avail. He was the only person in that place.
Sitting back on the couch, he checked the internet and noticed something was wrong. For half a day, no activities were recorded on the internet except for the six users.
Despite the confusion, Noir rushed to the operator's room, turning on one of the computers, hacking into the six users' database, looking for their IPs, and inviting them into a private room.
"Hello, John, Nathan, Matthew, Florence, Andrew, and Mara," said Noir as soon as he gathered all of them.
After that, the private room would soon fall into chaos.
"What?! How do you know my name?!! Who are you?!!"
All six of them, more or less, said similar lines as that.
"My name is Noir. A survivor of this mess just like you all. Oh, right, can you guys turn on your camera?"
"What?!"
"I'm not gonna do anything. I swear."
They hesitated at first but eventually turned on their cameras.
Noir checked and tried to remember all of their faces. Once he was done, he began talking again about the preceding event, which turned into a discussion.
Every day, they would enter the private room and talk to each other. They shared about their daily lives in a world where only seven people remained. And to make it worse, they lived far from each other.
The only place where they could fill their social needs was the private room provided by Noir.
A week later, Andrew or ClownX suggested that they should meet up and stay together.
"But how?" Mara or Komodo Lover asked.
John or JoeLaa cleared his throat. His wide smirk could be seen all over the screen.
"Hehe! Don't worry. With so much free real estate transportation here, especially airplanes, traveling the world and picking you guys up is a piece of cake!"
"You're a pilot?" Florence asked John.
"I was, but I was fired. Just so you know, it's not because of my skill, okay?"
Thus, following Andrew's suggestion, Noir shared everyone's coordination to the private room's chat and asked John to pick Matthew first since they were close to each other.
Although there were some sarcastic remarks from the others about Noir's ability to track or hack into someone's private life, they were all actually glad that Noir had that competence.
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