Zombie in my life

"

Great coffee!" exclaimed a group of young people enjoying coffee in the middle of a long vacation. I and 6 other young men gathered in a cottage in the Pondoan village area.

The natural atmosphere, the mountain scenery that pleases the eyes, the cool air, the friendliness of the local people make this villa our choice for every vacation. We are really lucky because we don't have to look for a commercial villa, you could say this is a "free" villa.

I say free because this villa belongs to our friend who moved out of town, rarely used, we also use it every vacation. Just come and occupy without having to spend deeply. At least we gave enough "thank you fee" to the villa keeper.

The villa, which is quite simple but natural, is not very big, the building is made of bamboo, contains only one room, a small kitchen that can be used for cooking experiments, a bathroom and a living room.

At the back of the villa there is a 5x5 pool, but it is not used. The location near the mountains makes the cell phone signal difficult to reach, lack of facilities, no TV, lights are also not too bright.

But this is what makes us feel comfortable vacationing here, isolating us from the outside world, a world crowded with activities, crowded with problems. We often feel euphoric to the point of doing crazy things. Playing cards naked at the edge of the back pond, to the point of hunting geckos with an air rifle belonging to the villa guard haha, it is natural for a group of young people to gather together to release fatigue and stress.

"Rif where's my lighter?!", called a friend to me. Rif, that's my nickname, oh yes I haven't introduced myself yet, my full name is Syarif, and the one who called me earlier was named Alwi. "I don't know, I didn't see it"

. I exclaimed, because I didn't take it, for the record here if there are matches lying around carelessly get ready to lose them. A bad habit for the majority of us smokers. "Come on, that's my only lighter," Alwi whined. From inside the room came laughter.

"Hahahaha, so don't let your guard down!", . Bager's voice is indeed nosy. "Hahahahaha didn't realize he was aware hahahaha!" accompanied by Nizar's chirp. "Bastard, give it back, it was a gift lighter from my brother". Alwi did not accept it while rushing into the room to check Bager, and Nizar.

This is how our silliness has been since day one, this afternoon on day six there is still always silliness. I took a cup of milk coffee and a cigarette to the living room right in front of the room which was busy with the commotion of Alwi, Bager, and Nizar's silliness.

I went to the back porch near the pool, lying a young man with an annoying snoring sound, he was Ragol, his job was to sleep, from the first day most of his time was filled with sleep.

I sat leaning against an old, unused cupboard, enjoying the blend of coffee and smoking cigarette. The scenery in front is quite relaxing, on the edge of the pool there is a stretch of green leaves, yeah it's really delicious. "duh, lost signal again!". A voice from the top near the pool behind our villa. the sound was heard all the way down to where I was sitting relaxed. "Why mo? Let's have coffee first!", I shouted.

Then Mo came down to the terrace to sit next to me, with a thick blue jacket that he never took off, he took a cigarette from his jacket pocket. "What's wrong with the signal? Yesterday I called and it was fine," Mo said while lighting a cigarette. "Who did you call?" I asked.

"Usually, I call my girlfriend", Mo said. "Can't you call your other girlfriends?" I asked because Mo had a lot of female friends, yes, you could say he was the Don Juan between us. His face was not very handsome, his appearance seemed old fashioned, but there was something that made women attracted to him. "Same thing, still can't do it, the signal is getting worse", mo said.

From the direction of the kitchen came the smell of fried chicken which was quite tempting, "come on guys, let's eat!" shouted Fadil, he was the most diligent in terms of cooking. Mo and I rushed to the kitchen, followed by Bagir, Alwi, and Nizar. Coincidentally, we all hadn't eaten yet. We took a portion of chicken with vegetables. Eat together in the living room. While joking with laughter.

"Ger ate a lot so you wouldn't get worms". Nizar joked to Bager. "Look at me bro, I feel like I have a body like Ade Rai", said Bager unacceptably. "Fellow bodybuilders don't fight, eat first". Alwi joked along with our laughter. Bager and Nizar are indeed thin. "Eh, Ragol didn't wake up?" asked Fadil while waking Ragol. Fadil and Ragol are related. Naturally, Fadil was very concerned. After eating, we all prayed Maghrib in congregation. "Come on guys, get ready after this we go home". Nizar said.

Actually we are still having fun, still comfortable in this villa. But many of us could not linger, because we had to continue our routine activities. Most of us are already working. So a week is enough for us.

"I can't use the network," Alwi protested. "Cell phones, WhatsApp, can't work, internet too". Nizar agreed. Everyone seemed to be complaining about the signal network, we were about to go home, wanting to inform our families and relatives in Boyo City, the city where we live. But from the morning the signal was bad. Can not access the internet, social media, and others. Indeed, this villa is located in a remote rural area, signal is often difficult to get. But in the last 3 days, especially today is so different.

"It is indeed in a mountainous area, maybe later we go down to the bottom the signal is already there" I said. ". I packed my stuff, picked up and folded the t-shirt in the front yard of the villa that I dried on a hanger and a pair of junkies jeans. I walked into the room, there was Ragol who was fresh from the shower, it was rare to see him fresh, mostly he sleeps a lot and looks lethargic. In the kitchen Nizar and Fadil were busy cleaning up, washing dirty dishes from our lunch.

Alwi and Bager cleaned the living room together, sweeping the living room floor which was full of cigarette ash spills. In the room Mo rearranged the folding mattress, which we used to sleep on, I also helped him return the pillows, blankets back to the small cupboard in the corner of the room.

Soon the maghrib call to prayer was heard from the mosque not far from the villa. Signaling maghrib prayer time and our time to immediately leave for home. After praying Nizar, Mo, Ragol, and Alwi heated up the motorcycle engine. I sat in the living room with Bager, and Fadil. About 20 minutes later Mr. Rohim arrived, a middle-aged man, wearing a shabby shirt while carrying a hoe, indicating his work as a farmer.

We all said goodbye and thanked Mr. Rohim, not forgetting to give him money for our gratitude, after using the villa that was like ours. I wore a jacket, not forgetting to wear a mask to comply with health protocols, I was ridden by Nizar, Bager with Mo, Fadil with Ragol, while Alwi rode alone. To relax on the road enjoying the trip home, I wore earphones listening to the song list from my cellphone.

The seven of us walked hand in hand at a speed of about 60 km / hour. The night air was quite piercing, fortunately we all wore thick jackets and sweaters. Nizar and I were in the center, in behind Mo and Bager, Fadil and Ragol, and in front of Alwi. There was not a single vehicle on the road, the road was very quiet even though it was around 7pm. Maybe it was still the post PSBB atmosphere. About an hour into the trip, Fadil honked at us "guys, go to the gas station first". We all followed him, looking for the nearest gas station.

Coincidentally, we all had to refuel even though there was only half of the fuel left. About 18 minutes later we found a gas station. "Is the gas station closed?", Fadil wondered. We all stopped and got off our bikes. It was a little strange that the gas station looked deserted, we saw from the outside that there was no activity at the gas station. There were no officers either, which was strange. Previously on the way, it was also quiet, as far as I remember there were only seven of us, no other riders were seen.

"Duh, I have to fill my gasoline, it's not enough to continue the journey" Fadil explained, indeed his motorbike was the most wasteful among our motorbikes. "Let's go in first", said Nizar. We also entered the gas station area, it was strange that there were no people around, not a single officer was seen, as if it was deliberately left behind. "Where the hell is this officer? Hello mas!" shouted Fadil. I looked at the tank filling machine, it was still on, not locked. That means this gas station is still in use.

We were still standing near the tank filling machine in a state of confusion, after all our motorbikes had to be refueled. To continue the journey to find another gas station is not sufficient. We continued to look for gas station officers around the area, Nizar and Fadil walked out of the gas station area, maybe the officers were outside the gas station. Bager and Mo followed Nizar and Fadil but in the opposite direction. Me, Ragol, and Alwi in the gas station yard while watching our motorbikes.

I entered the gas station office room, the glass door happened to be open, Ragol followed me while Alwi maybe he went to the mini market next to this room. After entering it turned out that the lights were off, I looked around the room for the light switch and there was none. "Let's just use our flashlight" said Ragol while turning on the flashlight from his phone which I then borrowed. After some light, I could see the lobby room.

On the hanger next to the table there is a security uniform with the tagname "Budi Andrianto" I check the uniform, at first maybe there is nothing special and not too important but my instinct tells me to check it, even check all the rooms maybe I find information why this gas station seems abandoned.

After I reached into the uniform I found a key. Maybe this was the key to the room above, right in front of me was a small staircase, I climbed the stairs, Ragol below was muttering because I kept insisting on going up.

I was indeed curious. At the top was a door with a signboard for the manager's room. The key I found from the security uniform below was probably the key to this manager's room. "Hei Rif", it turned out that Ragol was following me, maybe he was afraid of being in the dark and alone. I opened the door. Inside, it was cramped and dark.

Some papers were scattered on the table, around the floor were documents, tape, and boxes. "Come on, let's go down" Ragol pleaded. I ignored him, I was still curious why this gas station seemed to be abandoned and there seemed to be something strange. I still wanted to find info, I checked the locker cabinet beside the table, it was empty, but there was something on the locker door, there were paper stickers, and photos.

"AAAaargh!!!" Ragol yelled while pulling my jacket, until I almost fell down.

"Why?!" I asked. "There's a big rat...!!!" whined Ragol. "Duh you better get off first" I ordered. But Ragol remained standing behind me while looking under the floor in case the rats were still hanging around.

I looked back at the locker door and saw a picture of a 5 year old girl, next to it were some newspaper clippings with headlines, "Beware of the COIT 20 virus, the spread of this virus is very fast", "There is no cure or prevention for COIT 20", "Victims must be isolated, avoid physical contact, used food with sufferers".

". Hmmm Yeah I had heard some time ago, but at that time there was no news about the spread of the virus until now to Indonesia. There are also some clippings below "recognize the symptoms: 1. the patient starts coughing 2. the first week the patient has a very high fever 3. the second week the patient starts to weaken and vomiting blood, the final stage of the pen..." the rest cannot be read because it has been torn. Maybe the photo of this little girl is the daughter of the manager of this gas station, it could have caught the virus, I don't know.

"duk-duk-duk", came the sound of someone climbing the stairs towards our room. "Rif there's someone!" whispered Ragol. the sound of feet stopped right in front of our room door. The person started knocking on the door with a rather loud knock. I didn't lock the door, so why didn't he just open it. I ventured to open the door "tskreek..." the door opened, I pointed my flashlight at him. The figure began to grin and hiss "hhhhhhh.."

"Aaaaarghhh!!!" Ragol screamed in terror. He ran backwards and fell down as she tripped over a collection of boxes scattered on the floor. "Hahahahahahah!!!", the figure laughed out loud seeing Ragol fall down. The figure turned out to be Fadil, he scared us, followed by Nizar's laughter behind Fadil. Ragol tried to stand up, I helped her.

Then we all went downstairs, Ragol looked still pale and did not accept Fadil's actions earlier. The gas station was deliberately left, I don't know why", I explained. After leaving the office, Alwi, Bager, and Mo got on and started the motorcycle. ",.

What about our motorcycle gasoline?" I asked. Bager and Mo were silent and smiled. Then Fadil tapped me on the shoulder and said, "relax bro, now that the gas station is empty, we've been looking for gasoline. so we took some". It turned out that they took a few liters of gasoline which was at least enough for the trip home, so I couldn't stop them.

"Let's go", said Mo. Alwi called me and gave me a packet of snacks and milk. It's strange that he easily gives food, usually he's a little stingy. "Isn't it nice?" I asked.

"huehehehehe take it at the minimarket, not bad, hehe", said Alwi while showing a plastic bag containing several snacks and several soda drinks. "no thanks, enough of us taking gasoline without permission, I don't want to steal food" I refused.

"Duh, your style is idealistic Rif Rif" said Alwi while putting the snacks and bottled milk that I refused into the plastic bag hanging on the handle of his motorcycle.

I got on the motorcycle with Nizar. We continued our journey. Along the way, the road seemed deserted, the road was so smooth. It's a little strange because it's not usually quiet like this.

I was still confused about what was wrong with the gas station until it was left alone, as well as the COIT 20 virus that was still raging in my mind, I opened the browser on my phone to try googling to find out the latest information about the large-scale social restrictions that the government had recently launched. Shit, it turns out that the signal is still down even though we are already far from the villa ...

"tulalit-tulalit-tulalit", a sound that indicates that there is no signal to make a phone call. "Why the hell is this signal? Is today the day without cell phone signal in the world?", Mo protested, "Let's just walk first, maybe later until the city border there might be a signal", said Nizar. We continued our journey.