Devil's Playground @ NSMC

Fung Sheng Fatt is nineteen years old. He studies in the “prestigious” Negeri Sembilan Matriculation College for “brainy” students. Pretty impressive, isn’t it? Besides that, he is a member of the student council. Now that’s cool. I mean, twenty nineteen-year-olds being representatives of two thousand teenagers living away from home? Wow.

Now, it so happened that the student council, being aware of the general inability of the students to take care of themselves properly without the chaperoning of their parents, organized a “Love Yourself” programme, designed to give the students awareness on taking care of themselves properly.

The act was pretty commendable huh? Yeah, obviously. However, who was to know that the free dental checkups were part of a drug trial by the government? For those who went for the checkup, a jab (of the H4N3 virus strain that was said to give immunity against the next wave of influenza which would drastically hit South East Asia) was given to them.

Sheng Fatt, being an active member of the student council, was among the first to volunteer himself for the checkup. Positively filled with glee after receiving the jab, he was seen boasting around, describing how stronger he felt after the checkup. The rest of the day passed as usual. Class. Quiz. Homework. You get the idea.

But when the night came, and the moon rose, everything changed. My name is Sean, and I live in the college compound as well. There is a really tough, buff guy called Tilak, and he lives in the room right above mine, We are in the same lecture and we study together in the ironing room of our hostel whenever we are free.

Everything was as usual. Our discussions comprised of a wide range of topics from Biology to automobiles; from the tyrannical school rules to girls. All of a sudden, screams shattered the peaceful serenity.

That was the sign of danger.

I am a boy, and no girls were allowed in the hostel. The only time a boy would scream with such enthusiasm would be when he was caught naked by a woman, unless he woke up and saw a cockroach on the back of his hand.

But it couldn’t be, because the screams came from everywhere! Different directions, different people. There couldn’t be so many cockroaches in a place at a time. Or SNSD (the Korean pop group, anyone?) couldn’t be in our hostel.

“What the?”

“Hey bro, let me go check out what’s happening. You want milo?” Tilak asked.

“Nope, thanks. Just go find out why – “

Just then, there was a crash and someone I didn’t know stumbled into the room.

Hey, hold on, it wasn’t someone I didn’t know. It was Eiswaran, Tilak’s roommate. I couldn’t recognize him at first because….his features were so badly disfigured.

He struggled to keep himself standing. “Run….Tilak…” was all he managed to say before collapsing onto the floor. Being a first aider, I rushed to his side immediately. He wasn’t breathing anymore.

Around us, the commotion was getting louder by the second. Howls, groans, moans and other inhuman screams were deafening from every direction. Without pausing to think, the two of us sprinted to Tilak’s room.

And what we saw made our hearts freeze.

Shawn, Eiswaran’s best friend, had changed completely. Not his size though, he still was expanded horizontally as the day before. The difference was, he was pale white, with blood oozing out of his orifices. In his hand he held Eiswaran’s guinea pig, and as we watched, he stuffed the rodent into his mouth, making an inhuman growl as he did so.

We did the most sensible thing we could think of. We ran.

We rushed to the room of our warden. It was empty. Fearing the worst, we tried to look for his car keys, only to see the warden, half transformed into one of the undead zombies, staggering into the room.

He stumbled towards us, but Tilak, an accomplished archer, took the warden’s set of bow and arrow, and shot him. The arrow flew through his left eye and he collapsed.. One zombie down, two thousand more to go.

“C’mon Sean, get the car!! I’ll cover you!”

I fished the keys out from the back pocket of the warden’s tight jeans. So much for banning the wearing of jeans in the college. Around us, the zombies, it transpired, had the ability to smell humans. They rushed out from the blocks towards us, the fresh meat that had not been devoured.

As we made our way to the car, the zombies started attacking us. Their speed and strength were obviously devastating assets to them. They clawed and roared, trying to get to us, but Tilak’s arrows were equal to their attack. A shot from his bow took out three zombies at once. Awesome.

“Hurry Sean!”

“Hop in!” The engine was started but there was no clear path in front of us. We were COMPLETELY surrounded!

“Sean, step on the accelerator!”

“But…but…they were our friends,” I wailed, suppressing a sob.

“And they want to eat us now!”

A crash brought me to my senses. An arm smashed through the passenger seat window and grabbed Tilak’s bow. I stepped on the accelerator, hard. There was a great ripping sound and the arm was detached from its owner. The zombies in our path were knocked down like pins in a bowling alley.

We sped uphill, all the way to another of the boys’ hostel. As I drove past the building, a body was thrown out of the first floor window. It was Petra, a good friend of mine.

There were no zombies around us so I hit the brakes. Tilakrushed down the car and in no time at all, Petra was in the back seat of the car, moaning for painkillers.

Nothing could be done to save the rest of our friends. It was all about escaping this Devil’s playground or being turned into tasty snacks for our ‘friends’. The zombies were advancing towards us at an alarming rate. It was an alarming sight to behold.

“Sean, we have to get out of here now,” Tilak whispered.

Petra moaned, “the girls’ block. Mickey, Mickey…”

I stepped on the accelerator. It was a tad too late. There was an almighty crash and both Tilak and Petra yelled. I looked into the rearview mirror and saw a zombie standing on the boot of the car.

Lucky I watched Initial D. I turned the steering wheel as hard to my left as possible. The car drifted as if it was a Subaru AE86 and the zombie was thrown off. I sped down the road to the girls’ hostel.

There was a riot at the area. Zombies were tearing the place down, looking for fresh meat. I knew there was no hope left. Mickey couldn’t be saved, nor the rest of our friends whom we have gone through thick and thin with.

And then I heard a scream. Not the inhuman scream the zombies make, but something…hmmm…human. Once again I looked into the rearview mirror, praying I wouldn’t see the sight I saw a while ago, and what I saw surprised me.

Mickey and two of her good friends were climbing out of a drain.

I stopped to let them in.

A girl named Felicia, supporting a bloody cheek, was helped into the back seat by the two girls. The other girl, Sung Cheng, leapt into the passenger’s seat (which was vacant because Tilak was caring for Petra in the back seat).

“Are there anyone else we might be able to save?” I yelled.

The girls were crying uncontrollably. Their inaudible answers were drowned by the inhuman growls from every direction.

“Sean, GO!” Tilak shouted.

I sped away.

You know I managed to drive all the way to safety now you’ve read this story. I expect to be arrested under the Internal Security Act for whistleblowing this national secret but don’t worry, I’ve gone into hiding just like Paul the Octopus. The Malaysian government is in the process of destroying the college and the town of Kuala Pilah, just to remove all traces of this destruction, and of course, those whom we had, once upon a time, addressed as friends. And so, I’m making a correction to the beginning of the story.

Fung Sheng Fatt was nineteen years old. He studied in the Negeri Sembilan Matriculation College and was a member of the student council …until the government’s sinister plan was put down to action.