DECODE

CHAPTER 9; Experiment [Part 1]

ASHER 

I have taken our exams in all of our subjects and now walking towards our clubroom to refresh. I like the ambiance of our clubroom more than anything. There, I can relax and focus in things I needed to solve. And also, that's the only place where I can run my mind to everything connected to the Spider.

I reached our clubroom and entered it. I did not expect to see someone already sitting there.

"Oh, hello Asher." his voice echoed inside the clubroom. He turned towards me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. I saw a smirk formed upon his lips.

"Well, I just missed my cousin." he said. I just glared at him. It's not normal to see him around. More often when he's here, he only tell some news. And I have the feeling that he will tell another thing again. Maybe it's connected to the request I asked from him.

"Don't mess around. Tell us what your business here." I told him and went towards my seat.

"Well, fine. I will tell you the thing now." he said. He sat down in front of me.

"Well, about the thing you asked me to do, I have tried to trace every number in your phone. But man, I failed. Hindi ko alam pero wala akong makitang traces or place kung nasaan ang mga contacts na iyon. They're existing yes, but they can't be found." he said. I fell in deep thought.

"So you're saying that you can't locate where those contacts are situated? That's strange." I said.

"Yes. If you will think about it, the only places that are untraceable were areas that don't have that strong signal. Or maybe, the phone he used is off." I nodded.

"It's more likely that the phone the Spider is using is off at the moment. If we will follow that theory, the Spider can roam around the campus without being traced." I said.

"I wonder who that Spider is. It seems you're having a hard time with him. It's so unusual for you to have a tough case before you. Usually, you solve cases within minutes." he said. I smirked.

"You're overestimating me. But yes, this man is different. He's a nasty one."

"How many deaths?"

"More than five. And we suspect that they're all connected to him. By the way, since when are you here?" I asked.

"Well, I finished my exam and then went here. I've got no time to review for the exam because of your request. I sacrificed a lot just to help you." he said.

"Oh come on. Cut it. I know how smart you are. You can ace those exams without you doing any review. You're the top student here." I said. He smirked.

"You overestimate me, Asher. I'm no better than you. Anyways, I need to go. I want to sleep. That thing keep me up all night. You owe me one. Hug uncle and auntie for me." he said and stood up from his seat. I nodded. Before he left the clubroom, he turned to me with a smirk.

"Remember, no one." he said. I nodded with a smirk.

"No one." and then he left.

A sigh escaped me. Now, I have no real lead as to who the Spider is. Man, he's tough. He's being a pain in the neck for me.

I rested my head on the backrest of my seat. Man, this case is far from its ending. I believe, this man still have many plans and tricks up in his sleeves. And I think there's nothing I can do more than wait to see what will happen next.

I took out the phone inside my cabinet's desk. Maybe, I can use it to communicate with him and not just him contacting me. I opened the phone and call a contact in there. I don't know, but thrills filled me. I waited and heard some rings from the other line. And after a few more rings, someone picked it up.

"Oh, hello Asher." someone from the other line spoke. It's a voice of a lady. My brows knitted upon hearing it.

"Hello Spider." I said. My mind wonders why the voice is a lady's voice, very different from the voice I heard in our previous conversations.

"Oh, come on. What do you want? I'm kinda busy." the lady on the other line said. Is he using a voice changing device?

"Asher, I'm not using any devices. I'm not the Spider also. He left his phone. Now, I will end the call, for I'm finishing my experimentation. See you soon." the lady said. And before I could say anything, I heard the line cut and the call ended. I was left in wonder about what I just heard. Are the Spider and his people living under one roof? And about that voice, it seemed I already heard that before.

"Hello, Asher." I flinched upon hearing a voice calling my name. When I look, I saw Zay and Silver upon the door.

"Man, what happened to you? It seemed you saw a ghost." Silver asked. I reclined upon the backrest of my chair.

"Nothing. Something just happened." I told them. My mind can't get rid of the voice I heard.

"What happened? Did the Spider called again? Texted something again?" Zay asked as she reached for the phone upon my hand. I let her have it.

"No. The Spider did not called or texted me. In fact, it's the opposite. I called him." I told them. I saw the surprised expressions upon their faces.

"What? Really? What happened?" Silver asked. They immediately sat in front of me.

"Nothing. I just heard a voice when I called one of the contact in that phone. And, it's not the same voice we heard when Spider talked us through that phone. Very different one. A lady's voice." I told them. I saw how that information affected them for their faces expressed wonders and confusion.

"A lady's voice?" Silver asked. I nodded.

"Yes, and what's more is that, it seemed I heard that voice somewhere already. But I'm not sure, for that one is very cold. A very feminine voice. But I can say, that kind of voice can be easily modulated with less effort." I said.

"What do you mean?" Zay asked.

"Simply, that kind of voice can easily be used in other way. Like, the original voice is a cold feminine one but can easily modulated to be a sweet, soft voice of a lady." I said. The two of them fell in deep thought.

"But you said, all the contacts here were the Spider's. Does that mean, the Spider is a lady?" asked Silver. I shook my head.

"No. The lady also said that she's not the Spider. The Spider just left his phone and she just answered it for him. She said it herself."

"That's lame. I can't imagine a great criminal being left his phone behind especially the phone he usually use for his murders." Silver said.

"What more did the lady said?" Zay asked. I shook my head.

"Nothing. She ended the call after that. She said she's doing an experiment. That's also another thing I ponder. What is that experiment? I have a bad feeling about it." I said. Zay and Silver fell silent.

"We must be ready. I can sense another game of the Spider is coming." I said.

"What do you want us to do?" Silver asked. I gazed at him.

"Nothing. This game is still a one-sided game. The Spider is still in control. Unless we saw some holes upon his crimes that can lead to him, we can do nothing but wait and respond to his action. We will be the opposite reaction in his every actions."

×××

We had finished checking the exams we had taken yesterday. And I'm upset about the results.

"What's your score in Mapeh?" I heard Zay asked to Silver. Silver answered.

"I have five mistakes. I failed to answer the questions on the last part. I did not saw it. How about you?"

"I have three mistakes. I forgot the names of some creators. Argh, it's so annoying." she said. They both look at me.

"How about you?" Zay asked. I look at her coldly.

"They lost my examination paper. I need to retake the exam." I told them. Their eyes went wide upon hearing what I've just said.

"Really?! You got no paper earlier?" Zay asked.

"None." I answered being annoyed by the topic of our talk. That made me upset. They lost my exam and now I need to retake it later at the dismissal. It's all their fault that I have to retake the exam.

"Man, that's awful." Silver said.

"That's boring. I hate taking exams." I told them. They both laughed at me. I gave the two of them dagger stares.

"When will you retake the exam?" Zay asked, eating the snacks she bought from the cafeteria. It's only our afternoon break. I still need to wait for one more hour so that I can have my retake with my Mapeh teacher.

"Dismissal." I answered her and reclined to the backrest of my seat. Just the idea of my retaking the exam makes me want to smash things. I really hate exams. Not that I can't answer them, but it doesn't make sense to me. They teach us to pass the exam for the number shown there reflects your learning. But yet in fact, the number shown there can be easily generated once you memorize everything in your lesson.

It is not learning, it's memorizing. And it's a fake learning.

"By the way, Asher, did the Spider call you again?" Silver asked. He just finished his snacks. I shook my head.

"No. No one ever called or texted me with that phone. Maybe, they're busy or they realized killing people is boring so they're plotting to do something different this time." I said.

"Anyways, you mentioned yesterday that the lady you've spoken yesterday through that phone mentioned something like an experiment. Do you have any idea about it now?" Zay asked. I shook my head again.

"Nothing. But still, it bothers me. What they're doing right now? What they're plotting?" I said, more to myself than to them. My mind started to wonder what they are doing right now. I can't help but tense realizing that I am helpless to stop them from whatever plot they have.

I was snapped back from my thoughts when we all heard a knock from the outside. Zay stood up to open the door of our clubroom to whoever that's knocking on the other side of it. Zay opened the door until we had a clear view of the man standing on the other side of it. It was a man recognized by everyone. From his white hair to his glasses. From his famous smirk and posture. Everyone in this campus recognize this man.

"Good afternoon Decode club." his voice echoed inside the room. Silver and I stood up to meet him.

"Good afternoon President." Silver greeted back. Leon entered our clubroom glancing in every corner of it.

"Leon, what kind of wind brought you here?" I asked. His eyes met mine and a smirk formed upon his lips. I just stared at him.

"Well, you never changed Asher. You're still that guy from the past." Leon said.

"Well, no one will change the way he used to be. It would be a pain in the neck if they would, just to please others."

"Hmm, you have a point. Anyways, can we have a sit? I don't like talking while standing. It seems inappropriate and improper. Especially, inside an office or a clubroom." he said and sat on one of the chairs in front of my desk. I sat on my usual seat, too, facing him.

Leon Marshal is one of the most recognized and popular student in this school for he is the council president. He's also one of the brightest student in this school. He made big changes in the school when he was first elected to the position as the council president. But yes, I know him. Behind those looks of prim and proper that he always display in front of everyone, he's a nasty manipulator. He will do everything just to get whatever he wants.

"So, what brought you here?" I asked him, leaning forward as I look sternly at him. He reclined to the backrest of his chair and crossed his legs as he answered my question.

"I would like to hear your opinion about something."

"And what is it?" he took something out of his pocket. It's a small red envelope. He put it on the desk in front of me.

"We received it earlier. And it seems, whoever wrote this has plotted something in our school." I looked at the small envelope in front of me. I picked it up and opened it to read what's inside. A piece of paper was there, written on it were these words:

Hello, President! Epidemic is coming!

-Spider.

My jaw tightened upon reading the short note written upon the piece of paper. I looked at Silver and Zay knowingly.

"What is it?" Zay asked. I handed her the note. Silver went beside her and read with her. And I saw how their expressions changed. We all have the same feelings as of now.

"I believe you knew the writer of that note. I've heard so many stories about you and that person, if he's really a person. I know that you know who that Spider is. We don't want to meddle with your business. And besides, solving cases is your club's assignment. But since, whoever wrote that sent that to us directly, it seems it's proper for us to take action, to take over it from here, especially I heard many were being involved and became their victim."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"As you can see, it's our job to protect the welfare of everyone in this school. Especially, against the people like the Spider. And seeing your club failing to find and capture him, made us no choice but to poke our noses in. From now on, the Spider case is on our hand, not in your club's." he said. My hands balled into fists as I heard the words he said. I saw the same expression upon Silver and Zay.

"No you can't. Yes, maybe you're the council president, but you can't just take a club's job away from it!" Zay spoke. Her voice rose a little. Leon looked at her and gave her a smile.

"Of course I can. I can do everything. Your president know that. Anyways, I'm not taking your rights to solve some other cases in our campus. But yes, you must acknowledge that from now on, the case of the Spider is not in your hands, but in ours. You don't have the rights to poke your noses in this business anymore." he said.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, trying hard to control myself. My blood is really boiling right now.

"Well, as you can see, everything seems out of control now. You failed in getting the Spider. Now it's our time to do the cleanup for your club." he said. I became more furious because of what he said. I need to calm myself before I can do something horrible to him.

"Don't worry, we'll do everything to solve it immediately. Just don't stand on our way. Or else, I will have no choice but dissolve your club." he said and stood up. I just watched him intently.

"That's all I want to say. I have warned you, so I expect your obedience. Thank you. I will–" Leon was cut in his sentence as the door of our clubroom bursted open. Our attention was diverted to a man standing by our door. He's sweating and panting.

"President! Something is happening in the campus!" the man said. I saw his ID and it seems he's a part of the council, too, like Leon.

"Okay. Lead the way." Leon said. Silver, Zay and I looked at each other knowingly.

"I think, maybe we can have the club dissolved, if that means we'll have the Spider upon our hands." I said to the both of them. I saw the smirk formed upon their lips.

"I agree." they answered.

"Y-You–"

"We need to see what's happening now. Or else, we will be too late." I said and stood up from my seat. Leon groaned but still went with us out of our clubroom.

I guess, the experiment the lady said yesterday is what is happening today. The chase is on.

×××

We went outside our clubroom upon hearing the news of something happening in our campus. The man led us to the clinic of our campus where we saw a very shocking scene.

"What on Earth happened to them?" I heard Leon muttered beside me. We all just stare at the students in the clinic.

We're shocked beyond imagination upon seeing the situation inside the clinic of our campus. Students filled it. Every bed was occupied by a student, but still many more students keep coming. Wala na silang mapwestuhan sa clinic. All of them we're groaning, saliva oozing out from their mouths. Their eyes were rolling to the back of their heads. Boys and girls are affected by this. It seems they're infected by zombie viruses on how they act. The clinic nurse is so busy attending each of the students.

"Call the faculty." Leon told his co-council member. The man immediately followed his order.

"What's wrong with them?" Silver asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know, they seemed–" I was cut in my sentence and stood frozen and shocked when I felt the guy beside me fell down. We're all alarmed by his sudden fall. Silver fell shaking upon the ground.

"Silver! Help!" Zay screamed. I immediately took out my phone and dialed the nearest hospital from our school.

"Bring an ambulance here in Demeter High. Hurry! Something's happening!" I said to the phone and hung up. I immediately aided Zay in aiding Silver.

"Nurse! Help!" Zay yelled. I watch how Silver shook at the ground. I watch how his eyes roll to the back of his head. Saliva oozes out from his mouth. We can hear groanings also, all came from Silver.

"Goodness! What's happening to him?!" Zay screamed frantically. The nurse aided us.

"I-I don't know. Th-This is the first time this happened here." Nurse Janet said. It's evident on her that she's frightened on what is happening to the students in her clinic.

"Such a havoc." Leon uttered. I agree to him. What is happening? Is this made by the Spider? Is this the experiment the lady is talking about?

"What happened?!" we all turned to see the faculty at the clinic's door. Mister Orson is in the very front. He looked confused and terrified.

"We don't know yet Sir Orson. But we'll find out soon." I said.

The chase is on...