Chloe looked at the number of likes on her most recent post with a barely concealed smile. She had finally been able to break the hundred-like ceiling on the last ten posts. Every article she read said that it would only get easier from now on. She reached for the explore page to do some 'algorithm training', as she called liking and commenting on relevant pictures. It sounded so much cooler than what her mother used to call it: 'getting sucked into social media'.

"Chloe!"

"Yes, sorry," Chloe said, bolting straight and slipping her phone into her pocket. "I was just checking my messages, my parents wanted me to buy something."

"I don't care what your parents think," Mr Khoo, her manager, said, throwing a file on her desk. "You're not a child anymore, you know? There are five employees to interview today, I want you to interview this one."

"All by myself?"

"No, with the president of the bank. Of course by yourself lah, bodoh. Good thing you're chio or I wouldn't have you in this department."

"I'm sorry," Chloe said meekly. She could feel Mr Khoo's eyes as they roamed up and down her body. She had changed into a suit when she arrived and she was feeling already so exposed. The thing about having dress codes to appear professional was so stupid anyway, no one showed skin anymore. Not if they were outside the house. "I'll go now."

She stood up but Mr Khoo placed his hands on her shoulder and made her sit down. "Look at the file," he snapped. "The interview time is in there. What are you going to do now? Do you know what to ask him? No? Can you use your brain? I want to see you later in my office."

Chloe nodded as she blinked furiously, trying not to cry. She should have been used to this, since she was almost done with her six-month internship, but Mr Khoo had unsettled her from the moment they met and ever since he became her direct manager a month ago, he had only made her more and more uncomfortable.

*[Lily] okay mah?

Chloe saw the message through her notification preview but she dismissed it. The other interns were all into whisper pages and she knew that if she said anything, it would end up in a mean-spirited, anonymous comment on any of the popular whisper pages. And if anyone connected the comment to her, she could kiss her influencer career goodbye.

"Oh Luna," Chloe whispered to her phone wallpaper. "What can you do?"

Luna smiled from Chloe's screen. She had paid five dollars to download this exclusive photo as a perfectly formatted wallpaper last year. Totally worth the money, because every time Chloe looked at that picture of Luna – success and pretty – she felt some of that confidence flower into her.

"Eh, Chloe, you never reply me." Lily said, looking straight into her phone. "Wah you really like LunaSenshi hor. But she quite fun to watch, I also follow her."

Chloe jumped up and pushed her phone under the table. "I'm going to start prepping for the interview."

"Aiyah, I'm not the boss, tell me for what. But you okay ornot? Mr Khoo scold you until you like going to cry."

Chloe resisted the urge to pull out her phone, instead choosing to stare at the file on the table. "It's okay, we don't have to talk about it, I'm fine."

Lily stared at her for a few seconds before pulling a tissue out of her pocket and blowing her now. "One minute so hyper one minute nothing to say," she remarked to no one in particular as she turned and made her way back to her table.

Suitable chastened by peer pressure, Chloe managed to pull herself together and read the file before heading to the interview room. She had done an Interview ten times since her internship started, but it always with someone older present. This would be the first time she was interviewing someone solo.

[Advert] Singapore, let's stay strong together. Bank at Bank of SG and never lose your information. Give your loved ones peace of mind. Because here, We Care.

"Hi? Are you alright? I mean, how are you feeling?" Chloe sat down at the table and looked past the clear glass that divided the room into two.

"So far so good, just a small craving for blood." The Infected on the other side was a gaunt man, the lines on his head accentuating the strands of white hair that was mixed in with the black. Chloe tried to give him an encouraging smile.

[Advert] Teary-eyed woman: "At first, I thought I would never see my husband's money because he infected his bank account manager. But with the Bank of SG's top-rated information retrieval processes, we managed to verify his account information and take out the money without having to wait for an official government audit." Woman stops to wipe her tears away. "I've switched all my accounts to Bank of SG, so that my family will remain financially secure, no matter what."

"That's good, how's your family?"

"Scared but I isolated early so I think the government won't take them away."

"Marvellous. Well, you know how things seem to be improving so I'm sure they'll be fine. Now, shall we get down to business?" Chloe looked down at the paper, grateful to have a reason to keep her eyes there. She hated having to look at the Infected, you never know when they would just lose a limb. Not that she saw that happened, but this Influencer she followed swore her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend had that happen to her while she was trying on the latest season's clothes. "First question, account usernames and passwords?"

The interview went rather smoothly, all things considered. This Infected had worked with the Bank ever since his graduation from a local university. He had harboured no grand ambitions, had married his JC girlfriend and had two kids before he was scratched by what he thought was a friend's dog and developed symptoms a few days after. Chloe made a mental note of his address, it was probably the future site of a cluster and it was safest to avoid it. Or perhaps she could sell the address to one of the thrill-seeking influencers she followed; she could always use more shout-outs.

PPI (Possible Post Idea), she wrote in the margins of her paper, List of places to avoid? Check Privacy Act.

"Excuse me, Miss?"

Chloe looked up and immediately backed away. That Infected was leaning forward and he was definitely breaching safe distancing rules.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to stay two meters away from me."

"There's a window between us."

"Sir, I am the one conducting this interview." Chloe was proud of herself for not having a wavering voice. PPI: achievement of the day is overcoming need to please everyone, even the Infected.

"I just need you to help me."

"I had an alarm and I'm not afraid to use it," Chloe said, her hand already reaching into her pocket for the personal alarm.

"Don't press," the Infected said urgently. "I just want to ask you for a favour. Can you contact my wife? Tell her I already changed my CPF nominee to her, like she requested? No more my mudder. And tell her I was up to date for my insurance premiums and she'll get the pay-out when the government kills me. Tell her she must make multiple copies of the death certificate hor. She's very blur one, you need to make sure she writes it down. I'll give you my login details for my Singpass, it's —"

"I'm afraid I can't contact anyone on your behalf." Work?

"It's okay, I waive the PDPA thing. I know the bank got put in these things, just paperwork only. Please it won't take long." The Infected slammed his hands against the glass wall again and Chloe ran out of the room.

[Advert] Professionally dressed man in suit: "At the Bank of SG, we care."

Back at her desk at Intern Island, Chloe took a few minutes to calm down by look at the feeds of her favourite influencers. Some were the OG gang who managed to pivot from lifestyle to apocalypse lifestyle, but her favourites were the ones who managed to take advantage of the Movement Control Orders implemented three years ago to create content for people who were also stuck at home. By the time the MCO was finally amended to allowed travel for work, they had so many sponsorship requests that they could quit their jobs and live off their influencer money and the occasional Zombie Emergency Budget cash handouts.

After she had calmed down and after posted a few relevant comments (#engagement), Chloe started part two: Information Collation. She had made copious notes during the interview and now she had to type them all into relevant fields. It would have been so much easier if she could just bring her laptop to the interview rooms, but apparently heavy personal devices had been the cause of a few infection clusters at the beginning of the outbreak and were hence banned from any interviews with the Infected.

She managed to finish and submit her report just before it was time to leave. With a sigh of relief, Chloe took out her phone to note down the most shareable parts of her day. There wasn't much, but perhaps she could work with the Infected's knowledge of PDPA. Stories about the Infected didn't really get that many shares, though, no one liked to remember that the Infected used to be one of them. She really had the most boring life.

BuSG Alert: You have booked a seat on bus 164, arriving in 5 minutes.

Five minutes. Chloe tucked her phone in her pocket, put on her gloves, and headed towards the bus stop.

"You!"

Chloe screamed as an auntie rushed up to her.

"Not infected, not infected," the auntie said immediately, "checked by the gahmen already. But my husband used to work here."

"Sorry, I don't get it?"

"Did he leave anything for me? Any message? We've been together since we were in yew-ni and I dunno what I'm going to do without him." Her accent was heavy and grating, exactly like Chloe's parents.

"Sorry," Chloe said, enunciating every word, "I have no idea who your husband is."

"But you work in the Information Retrieval section," the lady said desperately, "I saw your feed! My husband was Infected."

"You did?" Chloe said, instinctively preening a little. "Have you tried using my code for in-house hair removal? It's really very safe and the benefits to your skin are amazing. I highly recommend it and not just because I'm obligated to tell you I might get a commission if you buy with my link."

"My husband, he got say anything?" the auntie repeated. She took a step closer towards Chloe. "Anything about his CPF? I told him not to put his mudder's name but he always say no time to change."

"Oh! Are you Mrs —? I saw him but he didn't say anything. But it's okay if you have no money because my code for the salon is so worth it and it's triple accredited for cleanliness."

"I don't have the money," the auntie wailed. "I can't even buy Taobao. What did my husband say? He has to have said something."

"Listen, auntie," Chloe said nervously, looking towards the bus stop. She could see the bus pulling up and instinctively, her hand moved towards the zombie gun. "I'm really glad you follow me but my bus is coming. You're not keeping to the social distancing rules so I'm going to step away. We really wouldn't want to get in trouble." Chloe had been edging away with every word and as soon as she finished speaking, she sprinted towards the bus.

She made it. Her heart felt like it was going to burst but she made it. With a gasp, Chloe dug into her bag for that all-important device to calm her nerves and help her breathe again.

*ThatGirlChloe is now live*

[Chloe's in the bus, just below a 'no filming' sign'. Her eyes are wide and her cheeks look flushed, thanks to the blusher she applied as she made her way to her seat.] "Hi guys, you will not believe what just happened to me. I almost had to use my gun."

Chermandy: grill, I would watch this but you haven't watched my live! Just jk, you know I luv you xx