Corpse As Body, Corpse As Meal

5

EVENING came. Natalia did not expect that she will be opening their apartment’s door for President Carlos De Aguirre and his security. Her face was stoic but her body tensed perplexedly because she was alone in the apartment due to her Aunt Hilda’s overtime at work.

During the pre-epidemic, overtimes at work meant staying beyond work hours at a workplace to meet a deadline. In the medical field, it was either the lack of staff on duty or an emergency operation that extends an employee’s shift. Now—especially for those who work in Team Aegis—overtime means the medics are dealing with someone virus-infected. According to Natalia’s aunt, the only time consuming part of her job and the sole reason for their overtimes was when they encounter a zombie or someone infected with the zombie virus.

“P-President . . .” Natalia slowly stepped back, away from the door that she just opened. The respectable man’s face crumpled a little which made more self-conscious. Something was telling her that it must be the smell. She was aware that her bad odor that was so powerful it could beat the joint-forces of a rotten egg and spoilt food. “G-Good evening.”

‘I bet he’s here because of that zombie.’ Natalia pertain the term ‘zombie’ to Cjay.

The president smiled at her politely, even if his gaze seemed cold and serious. Two bodyguards stood behind him. They wore gray uniforms, had buzz cut hairs, and carried long guns which made it easy for Natalia to identify that they were soldiers from the Lawin Special Ops assigned to be part of the presidential security team.

She opened the door wider for them. “Please, come in.”

As the men walked in, Natalia quickly looked around the room. She recalled sweeping the floor earlier, but the living room still looked like a mess. The furniture were too old and worn out. Some decorations cluttered here and there. When you look at this place, it was similar to those yellowish, vintage photos—that’s how old and lifeless this apartment looked. In spite of Aunt Hilda having a job, they decided to never upgrade the place for hopes that they would be leaving this place anyway. Also, someone else used to live in this apartment during the pre-epidemic. The apartment building was abandoned way too long before the epidemic. It was only offered to the epidemic survivors to stay at since no owner claimed this abandoned, run-down building as their own.

Natalia scurried past her guests and tossed a throw pillow on one of the bigger holes on the sofa where a spring was sticking out. Then, she gestured a hand to the seat. “Please, have a seat.”

When the president got close to the sofa, Natalia immediately headed to the door to close it.

President Carlos seemed hesitant at first if he should sit or not. In the end, he reluctantly sat at the far end of the sofa that had no holes, only chipping blue leather. Meanwhile, the guards stood behind the sofa where the president sat. Their noses scrunched, possibly because of her rotten smell. They even stole glances around the room, as if looking for justice for the torture that their noses were going through. The two had absolutely no idea that it was her who smelled like a one-week old dead rat.

Natalia sat at the opposite end of the sofa, the part that she covered with a brownish throw pillow which wasn’t originally color brown. “What makes you visit here?” she asked, forgetting to act formal out of her restlessness. Natalia was hoping that that Cjay put in a good word for her.

“You should have already had an idea,” he replied formally, “because you took in my son last night when he got drunk.”

Natalia nodded and reminded herself to act normal. She had nothing to worry about because she did not harm that zombie, even if her mouth was already watering that time.

“You have also told my son that you only helped him because you want to receive a reward for it.”

‘That idiot! How dare he make me look like a gold digger in the president’s eyes!’