Doppelgänger

11. Survival Mission

[ZACK'S POINT OF VIEW]

Being able to meet dawn again on the fifth day after leaving home is one of the little things that I am very grateful for. Who would have thought that I could survive for five days without my parents beside me, especially considering that for the past five days, I have only been able to eat some instant food due to my lack of skill in cooking? Even though I depended on my parents too much all this time, I was surprised because it turned out that I could still survive.

From the time on my phone screen, I could tell it was five in the morning and downtown district one was still quite dark. Do you remember when I heard someone screaming from across the house? At that time, I intended to see what was happening because maybe someone needed help. Moreover, during these five days, I had never seen anyone other than myself.

But, timid then, I hid in one of the rooms and immediately closed the door tightly rather than running to the opposite house to save that person. I still don't dare to leave the house even one step, especially with all kinds of bad possibilities that still haunt my head.

In a way, I'm on a mission to survive.

If I were playing a game with a similar theme, I would be the one who would passionately want to win the game. However, who would have thought that I would have to do that mission in the real world in the real world? Because now I know how difficult it is to carry out the mission, I will firmly say that I would never want to play a game with a survival mission, even if it's only through a game.

It feels very stressful when thinking about whether we can still live tomorrow, not to mention looking for various ways to get through this survival mission. Even though I often watched several films with the same theme in the past, I still didn't expect to experience it directly. It's terrifying, especially when I'm currently struggling alone.

But to be honest, in the past five days, there have been quite a lot of changes that have occurred, including how I have overcome my fear. I have become a little braver in the last two days. I can't believe I have left this house, even though it has only been counted once. I've also obtained some additional information. Most importantly, I'm preparing myself for my trip to the other districts in two days. How could I change so quickly in just a few days? Let me summarize what has happened in the past few days.

On the second day of my hiding, I just found out that my parents could talk to me through the voice in my head because they have the ability as a Telepath, the end of our conversation at that time stopped when my father no longer answered my question until it was followed by a voice that I heard from home across.

I was terrified then and chose to hide in my old room until the afternoon. While locked in that room, I exchanged messages with Tamara. I learned that those black hooded people were not only in my district but had also come to other districts. Another thing I got after sending messages with my best friend was about my flash of vision on her doppelganger that she would die because of those hooded people, not forgetting the alert message I also sent her.

From the evening until morning returned, I just sat silently lamenting the emptiness around me, not forgetting to fill my stomach with various available foods until I unpacked the backpack I was carrying because it turned out that a lot of the food supplies that my father and mother gave me in this house had already passed their expiration date. Or in other words, it is no longer suitable for me to consume.

However, when I unpacked the backpack, I was surprised to find a folded piece of paper that I opened turned out to be a travel map from district one to district ten. On that map, I saw several waypoints marked with red markers and other clues I could easily understand. If I'm not mistaken, it seems that this map is a map my father made especially for me as a guide for now.

Father didn't lie; he tried hard to make my journey easier, so I wouldn't get lost.

I want to thank them right now, but I don't know how to get through to them. I'm so scared because since I lost contact, neither my father nor mother has spoken to me since yesterday. So, at that time, I could only wait and couldn't do anything else but hope—even though I hated it, that my parents would still be fine there.

I spent the full day on the third day just studying the map, also reading some notes that my father had also left, and I managed to find them in another corner of the backpack. I had to take out everything to look for some traces or notes they might give as clues. I can't miss a single thing.

I've never been to the other districts besides district two because that's where my grandmother used to live. Besides, my knowledge only extends to the boundaries of district one. I was confused when I saw the map for the first time. I could immediately tell that it was my father who had given it. Still, one question arose when I saw how detailed the instructions were on the large paper.

"How can dad know the blind spots in each district so clearly when I know that every day he only works in downtown district one?"

The map is made with great detail. I can say that with one hundred percent confidence. So that's why I was so confused... how could my father know all that? It even got to which path I should take when passing through several other forests, also with safe hiding places in each district, even with which roads I could take to escape the radar of those black-robed people.

I can't remember how much time I have spent studying and reading each part of the map and the notes they provided. I just remember that the day has started to enter the night. Finally, I had time to fall asleep because I was too tired to read and understand everything.