Before The Year 3333

-6-

“Rafael, you know. I found so many things I can use for research on my formula.”

“What is that, Ethan?”

Ethan, who had just come from town, immediately ran to Rafael’s house, because he felt that Rafael was the only person who trusted the most in everything he did. That was why Ethan had great hopes for Rafael, he even hoped that Rafael will give him full support and help him in everything.

“I went to town.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Stop your words. I will tell you briefly before I head to my work chair after this.”

“Tell me.” Rafael was quite curious about Ethan’s story.

“I went into town earlier, intending to find out what really happened. However, when I had not yet reached the downtown, I was just on the outskirts of town, my car glass was banged on by people who had been infected with the zombie virus. Oh my God, Rafael, just so you know that was pretty awful. In fact, I think it’s almost impossible for humans who have been infected with the zombie virus to live. They really are like the zombies in the movies we often watched!”

Ethan was so enthusiastic about telling what he had just experienced, because he felt that he had entered another world that was very scary.

“Their bodies were unbelievably pale, their veins were showing through all the black layers of their skin, their eyes were almost bulging and jumping out, their fingernails were long and black, even their mouths secreted a greenish saliva with a bad smell. Which is not pleasant at all, and when another human zombie is in front of me, I purposely run into that figure and you know what happens?”

“What? Don’t make me curious about your interesting story, Ethan.”

“It’s true that the zombie man was unconscious for a moment, even his head was crushed at that time, Rafael. I took some slime and a photo of it, but suddenly to my surprise the mangled head of the zombie was completely intact again, and the human zombie came back to life.”

“Your story is terrible, Ethan. Does that mean that zombie humans will live forever because they can never die? So, what about the first case? Why was it successfully exterminated?”

“That was what made me think again, the first is how it is possible to annihilate human zombies at this rate. They are no longer human, they are a bunch of zombies that seem to live forever, and secondly, how can you make a formula to cure them? The condition is that these zombies cannot be saved and can’t turn into human again, Rafael. They had actually turned into extremely terrifying monsters. And the second is, how do you annihilate all these human zombies, if they have been hit in a destroyed condition, miraculously their body parts will be back intact and they’ll rise again without any scratches, Rafael.”

“This is really horrible, the world is not okay at all, Ethan.”

“And you know what, they really look like corpses, they smell so bad, you can even get sick to the point of vomiting and can’t eat for days because of the smell.”

“Then after all these things, what are you going to do?”

“I’ve got the slime, I’ve got the photo too, a few strands of hair too. I have to examine it in great detail to analyse and see what’s in the slime and hair, we have to look for the DNA, and we have to find out what virus and what content is the main cause of the spread of this zombie virus.”

“Look at you, Ethan. A genius always has very extraordinary thoughts.” Rafael praised him. “Okay, now what should I do to help you? I have prepared my extraordinary power to help you with all my heart.”

“Really?”

“Of course!”

“Okay, let’s get ready soon. Tonight we’re going to stay up late and not sleep until morning, Rafael.”

“Alright, I’ll prepare lots of coffee so we can open our eyes as wide as the world.”

Ethan chuckled, he immediately patted Rafael’s shoulder then he ran back to the house.

“Don’t forget to bring some change of clothes. We’ll be living in my room in the next few days!”

“Okay!”

Rafael waved his hand to Ethan, then he grabbed the shoulder that Ethan had tapped earlier. For some reason Ethan’s pat hurt him. And Rafael’s body was getting weaker and weaker and it was so very annoying.

“It seems like I also need Ethan’s formula, it’s like I have a bad cold. My body really doesn’t feel good at all.”

*****

“Shit!”

“What?” Rafael asked.

It was already the 5^th day, Ethan and Rafael were both trying various things to find a suitable formula to treat these human zombies.

“Why does everything always fail, I really can’t stop thinking about this.”

“Maybe you should rest first, Ethan. Forcing yourself like this is also never good at all, is it?”

Ethan immediately sat in his chair, then he massaged his temples which hurt so much.

“Did you see those zombie pictures?”

“Yes of course.”

“What did you see?”

“His body became pale compared to a normal human.”

“Yes.”

“There are purple spots in the pores of his skin, am I right? I’m quite curious about this purple speck.”

“Isn’t it the same colour as the slime in the blood part?”

“Yes, I think it did turn purple,” said Raphael.

Ethan nodded his head perfectly, then he was silent for a moment.

It was quite a strange purple colour, and a purple that made Ethan feel as if he had seen a purple like this before.

“This colour seems really familiar.”

Ethan immediately took a deep breath, then he glanced at Rafael who suddenly fell silent.

“You should go to sleep, Rafael. I see your face looks pale, I’m afraid your anaemia will recur because of me.”

“You’re right, staying up late and drinking too much coffee really makes my body fly and nauseous. It seems my stomach is becoming troubled because of this.”

“I guess so.”

“Give me some medicine, I will rest so I can recover.”

Ethan took some green pills in a wooden rack and gave them to Rafael.

“Drink then rest, after this, if you want to go home first tomorrow, then go home. In the afternoon take me to the forest to look for some potions.”

“Okay.”

Rafael immediately covered his body, he began to shiver with extraordinary cold. He didn’t know what happened to him, it was just that Rafael felt if he wasn’t okay now.

 Until Rafael accidentally tugged at the end of his sweeter sleeve, he was stunned to see purple spots appear in the pores of his skin.