another, it would take ages to reach the hospital. He had to find another means of transport, he found the possibility of running over people very excessive. He abandoned the car and walked for a while; the man was already beginning to adapt to the new situation by avoiding the area of action of those affected. He made as little noise as possible and, if he had no choice, Rapha would shout for help, just like the others.
He found a moped, he had never been skillful at driving them, although it might help. He drove clumsily to the hospital, and of course this vehicle was much more practical with which was easier to avoid people and vehicles.
He went into the emergency room, it was very much like the zombie movies he liked so much, chaos and disorder everywhere. Of course, the health staff was also affected, no one helped anyone, and everyone had enough to do. She wandered through the corridors, the rooms and the doctors’ offices, she couldn’t find her, where would she be, she suddenly remembered that last night Alice had told another colleague that she was leaving at eight in the morning, so she thought maybe she could be in the car park. He went there by bike but didn’t find her. She looked around a bit, until she saw an area under construction with a sign that said staff parking, forgive the hardships, we are working to improve. He approached and suddenly saw her, she was sitting on a curb in the shade, with a big pair of sunglasses covering her eyes, someone was with her, and he assumed it was a companion.
“Hello, do you need help?” Rapha asked.
Alice stood up with a start, between frightened and surprised.
“Yes, yes, we’ve gone blind after the great glow, take us to the emergency room please, no one’s been here for hours. We haven’t dared to go ourselves because the area is full of holes and potholes from the work.”
Rapha explained that he was on a motorbike and that they could only go one at a time. He helped Alice up, told her to hold on tight, and they set off while he noticed Alice’s breasts placed on his back.
Rapha thought it was time to decide, he certainly was not going to the emergency room, why? There would be no one there to help. He decided to take her home and hide the fact that he had been her patient the night before. When she got off the bike, Alice, who was surprised, told him that it had taken too long to get to the emergency room. She asked what was happening, after hearing the cries for help from the people who were clumsily heading towards them, following the noise of the motorbike. He hastily informed her that they were not safe there and were in danger. Then he would explain everything to her more calmly because it was imperative to go out there, he implored her for a little confidence and after overcoming Alice’s suspicions, he got her home.
He sat her down on the sofa, Alice asked for water, Rapha went to the kitchen to get a glass and surprise! The neighbor’s cadaver was still there. Because of the frenetic succession of events, he had completely forgotten about it.
He felt sorry for him and lamented his bad luck, the killer understood that because of his blindness he had entered his flat by mistake. The remorse punished him because that situation could have been avoided if he had acted differently, if he had tried to scare him, if he had tried to dialogue… Of course, everything became clearer after that but there was no solution.
Rapha returned to the living room and after giving the glass of water, Alice asked for her colleague who was waiting in the hospital car park. Rapha, first of all, gave her a brief explanation of the current situation, where everyone had lost their sight, where no public service was working, and told her, with great exaggeration to horrify her that gangs of survivors were looting, pillaging and killing. He told her that because he was sleeping completely in the darkness when the phenomenon occurred, he got no affection. He suddenly got the idea that more people like her partner might not be blind. But the tricky man saved that problem for later.
He asked Alice to wait for him there, while he went to pick up her friend. He closed the door of the room for safety and so that she would not notice that he was taking the killed neighbor’s body out. After dragging the heavy neighbor to the street, he placed him next to a wall.
Well, he had to start getting organized and setting priorities. He had to think about food, security, medicine, how lucky he was to have a doctor at home. He would solve any problems that arose by improvising as only he was good at.
He went into the supermarket under his house, where he met his neighbor, the manager. Under protest and a struggle, he took him out to the street, took away his keys, closed the doors and lowered the security shutters. The manager was left outside helpless, banging on the door and shouting.
“He’ll get tired very soon,” Rapha said.
He made a small inspection; the market was fully stocked with food and all sorts of products. All the freezers were working and replete of goods. It had a back door with independent access to the block’s aisle, he could enter and leave the store comfortably without having to go outside.
While walking by the grocery store, he had an unexpected encounter, the supermarket assistant, a young blonde girl was lying in a corner. Rapha approached her stealthily and found that she was asleep. Rapha did not count on this setback. Now he would have to open the heavy metal blinds of the big door again to get her out of there or he could take her out through the back door and go out through the entrance of the block. He thought about it for a few moments as he watched her. The truth was that the young woman was attractive, she wore a short gown that left a smooth, soft thigh in the air, and her lips were fleshy and pink. He thought better about it and after a lewd smile, it occurred to him that her situation was ideal for satiating his base instincts repressed for years. Now was his moment and he was not going to waste it, his imagination evoked the pleasant instants of a sultan with his concubines, his particular harem. He felt powerful, strong, and euphoric and a surge of self-esteem encouraged him.
There was plenty of food there, he could feed her as well. Determined not to expel her he thought he could not leave her there, she would put his pantry at risk, and could spoil something, break it, or cause a fire by accident. He could lodge her in his house next to Alice, although he thought about it more carefully, perhaps later. Rapha had to think, consider, he came up with a brilliant idea, the house of his neighbor, who died “by accident", was the house next to his own, because of its proximity it was much more practical for such plans.
He needed those house’s keys, so he went out the front door of the building, approached the body of his dead victim. He looked for the keys and when he found them, he went up to the flat which it was empty. Quickly he prepared it, tidied it up a bit, removed the elements dangerous for a blind one, and went down again to get the girl. She was still asleep, he had to make up a coherent story to get her to come up to the flat without any problem. He looked in the office and found a portable radio, he tuned in to the station he was listening to, there was still that announcer with his short piece of news, more exhausted, but there he continued. Rapha gently woke the girl, who after a few moments reacted sharply:
“I still can’t see, I can’t see anything, who are you, what happened?” the girl asked nervously.
“Calm down, my name is Rapha, I am a friend, listen to the radio for a moment and you will understand the situation.”
The girl heard the news and fell silent in surprise. After a brief cry, she asked for her manager, Rapha told her he didn’t know, that there was no one else there, but the girl heard the knocking on the door and asked for them. Rapha explained to her that they were gangs that wanted to enter the supermarket to rob it and that they had to leave from there since they were not sure. The girl nodded and they both went up to the neighbor’s flat where he placed her as comfortable as possible.
Rapha gave her a long talk about the new situation, the world had changed and they had to survive. She was blind, weak and defenseless, unable to fend for herself. The outside had become dangerous,
