It’s a calm, normal, snowy and chilling winter day on February. The park is covered by the snow, still fresh from the blizzard that happened the night before.

      The snowfall came as a surprise since there’s none that fallen from the sky since mid-December, as if it was a premonition that something unusual might happen.

      And coincidentally, today also the day of love. Valentine’s day.

      In the park that pretty close to one of college on the city, some people’s are taking a stroll with their partner or pet dogs that wrapped in thick sweater. A few others just sitting on the bench. Some just staring blankly at peoples that walking past them and some were sharing sweet moments together with their lover while some staring at the lovebirds with envy. Kids with oversized coat and sweater throwing snow ball to each other and some kids making snowman, although there’s a few oddballs that seemed to be enjoying their snow snack while the adults that supposed to watch over them is gossiping random topics by themselves and tried to guessing what kind of sweet things their husband and lover going to gives them or the news about some epidemic from the morning daily news to the stock market conditions they seems so proud to know about.

      The sun is covered by the clouds, but the skies doesn’t look gloomy at all. Love is in the air, the cold wind blowing slowly and everyone seems happy.

      Until an annoyed sounded voice disturbing the much peaceful morning.

      “I said, SHUT. UP!” the boy with the messy red hair said—or shout.

      “Oh, come on Bree! Today is Valentine day! VALENTINE! It’s only happened once a year. Just this one time. How hard can it be?” said his companion while pouting.

      ”I said, no, Art. I refuse to do that. If you really want your stupid chocolates, go buy it yourself. This is not Japan and we’re not a stupid teenage couple for friggin’ sake! Heck, you’re not even my boyfriend!” the last line is said with so much venom the other boy couldn’t help but to cringe at that sentence. But he still haven’t give up.

      “Why won’t you become my boyfriend then? We’ve know each other like, forever—“

      The red haired boy interrupting his word and said, “Two year’s,” but he’s ignoring him.

      “—and we’ve been living together for as long and seen each other body for times—“

      “Arthur, we’re roommates, and it’s you who’s walking around in towel and sometimes with your pink Speedo.”

      But the brown eyed boy keep going “—plus, I like you from the first time I see you, Brian! It’s a love at the first sight. L. O. V. E. Try to be considerate at my feeling or something!”

      “I just don’t want to.” Brian replied to Arthur who’s watching him with raised eyebrow, and Brian raising his eyebrow back at Arthur. “What? Got any problem with that?” Arthur roll his eyes.

      “Then give me anything with chocolate with it! Either its cakes, muffins, candies, drinks, Kiss… Anything is fine! And on white day, I will repay your chocolate with something nice…” the boy whiny expression changed to a perverted kind of look as the last sentence leave his mouth.

      “Go die.” Brian spite out those two words and walking forward, leaving Arthur behind.

      “Br-“

      “Say one more word about this valentine stuff and you’re be wearing the sunglass for the rest of the week.” Brian cut him off when he was going to continuing his whining, and then he sighed. He know that Brian will happily giving him panda eyes if he keep pressing on his luck.

      “But it’s worth tryin’…” Arthur thought as he ruffles his brush like hair and walking faster to chase Brian that have been walking further away from him without even care to give a glance back.

***

      “Oh yeah, you’ve heard yet?” Arthur said when Brian put his backpack on the desk at their class and sitting beside him after lunch their lunch and having their second class for the day. They have the same major, but they only have a few minor classes together.

      “Heard what?” Brian ask him back lazily.

      “About people’s turning into zombies in L.A..”

      “Really now? Zombies?” he gives Arthur an incredulous look.

      “Yeah, it’s pretty much a ruckus whenever I look at my Twitter.”

      “That’s ridiculous and no; I haven’t heard about that before. How does that even a thing?” Arthur only shrugged when Brian asking him back.

      “Well, it’s started to circulate on Twitter and FB or everywhere on the internet this morning, really.” Brian raised one of his eyebrow and Arthur reaching his jeans pocket, taking out his phone and meddling with it for a while before showing his phone to Brian.

      “Here, read it yourself.”

      Brian taking the raven-haired boy phone and looked at what showed on the screen. And true to his words, everyone’s going apeshit with the news. Some claimed that it was real and showed some photo's and video’s of a supposedly zombies attacking the civilian, some disprove and said that it was fake and was made up, and some other taking the opportunity to get to know some pretty user, spreading the Lord’s love, advertising, or asking for a math problems.

      He gives Arthur phone back after watching some of the videos and reading the comments on Arthur personal blog, ‘Your Everyday College (hell) Kid Journal’ post about the surging zombies epidemic titled; ‘Today’s Valentine’s. Getting To Know Your Zombies Neighbor Yet?’ he posted this morning.

      “It’s really crazy out there.”

      “Right? There’s even a post and comments that claimed that the zombies turned up on N.Y., Florida and Toronto too.”

      “Really, how does this things turn up anyway? There’s nothing like that the last time I checked the news on T.V..”

      “No idea, but, wait… Here, read this blog post about the ‘supposedly’ true source of the zombie epidemic. They just posted it twenty minutes ago.” Arthur once again giving his phone to Brian.

      After a quick read through the blog post, Brian summarized the content to Arthur.

      “So the virus, or whatever it is seems to came from the supposedly terrorist plane that the U.S. air force shoot down a week or two before. When the plane crashed, some sort of pinkish smoke evaporated to the sky and stayed in the atmosphere before it disappears, but not really. It’s tiny particle stays in the air and the tiny dangerous things is also flying freely within the atmosphere before flies down and getting into the human body system through the air we’re inhaling and it was the work of illuminati, they said. Is it even true? Who even came up with this ridiculous conspiracy theory?”

      “Who knows? But a few days after the plane crashed, there’s a lot of peoples that starting to get sick or acting strange right? You remember the news?” Brian nodded, and he continue, “The guy who hosted the blog said that the virus probably the slow kind one, or the human body tries to resist the virus for taking over?

      “Anyway, I know the guy who wrote this and he’s the kind of person who tend to stick to the fact and his information came from his trusted source—or whatever source he can pay for. He really hate bullshitting, and his blog is wellknown to give only the truth, and it will only bringing down his popularity if he’s lying for this kind of matter.”

      “You’re emphasizing ‘truth’. Don’t think that I don’t see that.” Arthur shrugged again, this time with a small smile on his lips.

      Brian fold his arms, appear to be thinking.

      “Hmm… So this time is zombies huh? Remember last month? People’s claimed to see Slenderman all across the nation? That one also huge back then, but it died down pretty quickly.”

      “That’s true though. Until people’s gives a real proof, no one will believe it fully.”

      “But the sad thing is, if this really happens, the one who’s will be affected the most is sadly going to be us, the literature, IT, and so major college students. When you’re spending years worth of sweat, sleep and blood just for graduating the college and it’s all ended up for nothing, we can only cry from the unfairness.”

      “…Alright. Now you’re making me depressed.”

      “Let’s stop this talk then. Have you finished your essays yet?”

      Arthur looked at Brian dumbly.

      “Huh? What essays?” Arthur asked, and Brian looked back to Arthur with a blank face.

      “It's a nine pages of essays the prof tell us to do two weeks ago. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten. He will-No, definitely kill you if he know you didn’t do it.” Brian said with a pitying expression when Arthur face changed from confused to a dreadful one.

      “FUCK!”

      “Not even a page? Then you’re doomed.”

      “FUCK MY LIFE!”

      “You’ve already did it.”

      “Fuck the world. Why didn’t you tell me?!”

      “I’ve tried to remind you several time last week, remember? I given up after you keep being lazy, saying you’ll do it later and continue to playing with your Doki Doki Waifus.”

      “Argh, fuck! Now I really won’t mind if the zombies really attacking the campus at this moment.”

      “Be careful at what you’re wish for.”

      Brian wondering sometimes how the guy who’s always has a serious appearance in his vlog and never forgotten to post something on his blog and other social media daily able to forgetting this kind of things and be a completely different person in front of him.

      What does it called? Social acting? Online profile? Media assumption making?

      Brian goes back to the reality when he see that Arthur face has drained of color rapidly when the professor walked into the class and the sounds of peoples chattering quieten down. His words next is like a bucked of cold waters being thrown at Arthur along with the bucket.

      “Before I start, I want you all to hand me your essays I gave you people two weeks ago. And don’t ever tell me you’ve forgotten to do it since I will not hesitate to cut your score and your chance to get a diploma and take off from this place.”

      “…Shit,” is the only words Arthur can make out when the professor spilled the words from his mouth.

      “Yeah, shit. For you.”