The Torch Chapter 6-You Are Not Alone!

Tanaka had gone through several rooms, at the Southerland Heights court, a flat that had several rooms and an old fashioned inner room structure. He had come across six rooms that were totally in a mess; b.l.o.o.d.y bath tubs and a lot of sickening imagery to come with the rest of the apartment. He finally opened a door, which led to an unspoilt room. It was clear of any blood or severe gratuity. It was simply austere and clean. It was a 5 roomed apartment with 2 bedrooms, 1 dining room, a kitchen, and a toilet with a bath tub. It had a balcony just adjacent to the dining room, which was locked and concealed by brown drapery. The room had blue walls and simple furniture. It had pictures of an old man with his supposedly old spouse and pictures of him wearing a white coat. There were other picture frames of younger adults who Tanaka a.s.sumed to be his children. He might have been a doctor in the previous world, saving people or killing them at Parirenyatwa. Old clocks and a florescent smell in the room was a relief for Tanaka. The putrid smell outside was now gone and now he had this pleasant apartment to himself. He did a preliminary check of the place, checking the bathroom and other rooms. One of the bedrooms was locked and he didn't bother with knocking or finding out why. He just left it alone and proceeded to the free room. He got in and noticed that it was effeminate. It was a girl's room full of pink and cuddly stuffed animals. The paint was pink and orangish and had One direction posters. There was also an examination time table with only 3 subjects: chemistry, physics, and biology for studying. He a.s.sumed she was doing her A 'levels, probably in upper 6. The room was also full of mirrors. His torch light hit one of the mirrors and bounced back the light, something that never failed to dazzle Tanaka. The room immediately lighted up, erasing the encompa.s.sing darkness. Tanaka then came up with a good idea to make sure that nothing would happen to him during his sleep. He took a number of suit cases, opened them, hoping to fill them up with anything heavy to place them against the door. He wanted to make sure that he wouldn't have any of the creatures invading his s.p.a.ce during sleep. He found a number of romance novels, lingerie, maxy pads wrapped in their plastic casing and a box of women's condoms. Tanaka then commented, "I guess she was getting smashed a lot, girls of today." The previous owner of the room had a collection of items, which showed that she was the focused girl who at the same time loved to have fun. Her certificates for school academics, enormous text books, and trophies for extracurricular activities were all in plain sight. There was even a picture of her at Victoria Falls with a guy groping her in the form of a hug. It was most probably her boyfriend. Tanaka kind of felt jealous, but it didn't matter anymore, they were probably both dead. After mounting all the suit cases at the door, he dragged all the mirrors into a strategic position. They were all set up in a way that they would be able to bounce the light into each other. It was a trick he had learnt from Collin when he was young, a trick that came in handy in this particular situation. Everything was now placed where it was supposed to be and he jumped onto the bed. The blood on his body soiled and stained the clean sheets, but Tanaka didn't care about neatness in that moment. He just wanted to sleep. He covered himself with the blankets and became cosy. He even hugged the stuffed animals that had decorated the bed into an extremely girly specimen. His torch was left on his bed, facing the mirror, which lit the whole room. In a matter of seconds, he fell asleep. Whatever he would dream about, may it be a nightmare, or sweet dreams, Tanaka had finally found rest ever since the apocalypse had begun.

13hours had pa.s.sed as Tanaka had been asleep. He woke, up feeling refreshed and his left arm was feeling much better. He then uttered to himself, "Girls really do have comfortable beds." He remained limp, gazing at the ceiling until he heard the sound of something burning or cooking as he had a.s.sumed. He immediately woke up, grabbed his torch and took the lamp stand in the room as back up. He removed the suitcases, opened the door, and ventured into the rest of the apartment. The sound was coming from the kitchen. What he saw was something puzzling, a surprise he didn't expect at all. It was the old man from the picture frame wearing shades and he was using the gas stove in the kitchen. He was cooking eggs and adding tomatoes and green pepper to the frying pan. Tanaka was shocked at the very fact that this was possible, but what was more puzzling was how complacent and calm the old man was. Was he oblivious of the h.e.l.l outside? Tanaka then took a step and heard the old man utter, "You decided to come out of my granddaughter's room. Well don't worry; I am open to different kinds of people. Dinner will be ready in 15minutes so be patient." The old man was alive in this now horrid world. Tanaka who was surprised could not help but oblige. He only replied nervously with a hint of uncertainty in his voice, "Sure thing...old man, I will wait."