100 Systems Invasion

12. What Trap?

Seth tightened his long fingers around the steering wheel of Amy’s second-hand car and breathed deeply through his nose.

Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Baby Shark

He would have closed his eyes and banged his head against the wheel just to make the song end, but that would mean he had to sport a bump on his handsome forehead. Not that anyone agreed to it, but he was particularly confident that he was, at least, handsome enough to get a girlfriend.

Ex, now. Sarah Dickson was nothing but a former lover. Hopefully, she was turned into an infectore, so he had a reason to kill – maim her. He wanted to get payback for that punch.

There was no traffic, but the road was full of turns and hills. He had never visited Cold Spring, but he figured depending on the one and only maps he found in his phone was good enough. Hopefully, they didn’t go in the wrong direction and ended up in a busy area or a big city instead. He only needs to concentrate.

However, the cacophony of childlike voices from Amy’s phone speaker made it difficult. Knowing they had an infection somewhere close to them was not reassuring either.

Seth glanced at the home décor sales girl sitting in the back seat. Amy pressed her head back against the seat, but her eyes were closed. She almost appeared calm.

This hellish song that played on repeat was her idea all along.

“One more hour of this and I’m cutting my ears off.” Seth grunted, eyeing the second-hand car owner in distaste.

Amy grumbled, too, opening her eyes to glare at him through the rearview mirror. “It’s not like I love it either.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“Do you want her to cry again?” The sales girl nodded to where Marnie was lying sideways on the back seat, curling into herself with her head on Amy’s lap. “It’s the only thing keeping her nightmares away.”

He didn’t retort, knowing well that despite his protest, what Amy said was true. Marnie had once again cried her eyes out when he moved Wade the infectore to the trunk. She thought he would do the same to her, and even didn’t believe him after ten minutes of explanation.

Then, Amy took the initiative to hug Marnie, caressing her back like a mother would. Seth merely stared through half-lidded eyes, thinking nothing at first when the six years old wanted to listen to her favourite music.

Alas, out of millions of songs in the world, of course, Marnie’s chosen song was–

Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo

Baby Shark

Seth slammed his handsome forehead against the steering wheel. The only good the song did – besides making him go crazy – was to drown Wade, the infector’s struggling to be unnoticeable background noise.

“If you want the song to end, just drive faster and we can get out of the car.” Amy said in an even tone. From the look of it, he wasn’t the only one who hated that damn song now.

A loud rumble was heard. Seth’s face flushed pink from embarrassment. But he remembered that his mother’s new husband had shoved some snacks into Marnie’s backpack earlier that day.

“Can you get me–“

Amy cut him off, “I will not steal a kid’s snack for you.”

He scoffed, “Where did you lose that camaraderie?”

“How can you be hungry in a time like this?”

“That’s the question I should ask, how can you not?” Seth was baffled, to be honest.

Between the last sandwich he ate and now, many things have happened. He saw his professor, who came from the future, spontaneously explode right in front of his eyes, he was forced to babysit his half-sibling, and he reluctantly accepted that a System was real. All that happened while he teamed up with a home décor sales girl and a chain smoker to survive a world-altering event.

It was exceptionally the longest night Seth had ever experienced. And it boggled his mind that he only felt hungry now. Perhaps, adrenaline and infective-induced apocalypse were necessary for a diet plan.

“Just drive, there’s a little town ahead. Maybe we can find a twenty-four hour diner or something.”

And true to her word, they find a little town about twenty minutes later. He didn’t bother looking for the town’s name as his stomach rumbled impatiently.

The place was empty of people, probably asleep under their fluffy blankets or busy shagging each other before their kids awake. It was about five in the morning, and no twenty-four-hour diner was open. It was a very small town, after all.

Thankfully, a convenience store was open at the end of the street. He pulled over, stopping just before the store to see that someone was inside behind the cash register.

Seth turned to face Amy, still hugging Marnie’s now sleeping form to her side. “Don’t expect me to get something for you.”

“Of course, why would I expect a broke uni student to buy me breakfast?” The sales girl rolled her eyes. “But surely you’re not dumb enough right? How do you expect me to move while your sister just cried herself to sleep a minute ago?”

Seth huffed, protesting, “It means she will stay asleep even if you move her around. Come on.”

He expected her to follow and was glad she did a minute later. It’d take too much time to sort out and get as many necessary things as they needed to wait out the first wave of invasion to die down.

“Oh, I’m sorry, we’re not open right now.” the Asian girl behind the cash register said, stopping their venture on the doorway without looking up. “I’m only here to take my savings. I’ll open again next month.”

Seth eyed the cheese sticks and slices of bread displayed near the woman. He was obviously pointing to the fact that the store was open. “We just want to grab a few things.”

“I don't have much time,” the Asian girl looked up and faltered. She fixed her eyeglasses, scrutinising them openly. Perhaps, it was because of Seth’s broken nose. But then, a smile broke out on her face as if a switch was flipped. “Sorry for that. Of course, you’re welcome to shop here. Look for something to fix your nose too.”

Then, as if an afterthought, the Asian girl said again, “You know what, why don’t you two come over to my house over there. I’ve made too much breakfast and not enough mouth to feed.”

Seth shared a look with Amy. He nodded right away while she shook her head. “It’s free food.”

“It could be a trap.”

“What trap?”

And they ended up sitting in the woman’s kitchen, waiting for the warm breakfast to be served.