16

Reverend Apocalysis: Reality Surpassed Fiction

Chapter 16: Strange Events

Three Cups Motel

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A young man was having fun playing on his phone while working at the motel reception, unaware of the commotion happening on the second floor.

But suddenly, the sounds that had increased in intensity were clearly heard coming from the second floor, which was natural in this place, right? Don't people come to a motel just to have sex?

Most do with that purpose; some are more careless than others, but that's the reality of places like these, so initially, it didn't seem out of the ordinary.

However, when the sounds of abnormal banging were heard from the rooms above, the young man at the reception frowned and muttered, "They must have watched Fifty Shades."

Just as he was about to continue playing on his cell phone, the phone in the booth rang.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

"Three Cups Motel reception!"

"Yeah, I can hear it too."

"On the second floor? Yes, I'll tell them to stop, but, you know, everyone has different ways of having sex." The young man responded to the customer, annoyed by the sudden, strange banging noises.

"God, what are they doing so early in the morning?" The young man complained with dissatisfaction.

On the surveillance cameras, the door on the second floor was being heavily pounded without any signs of stopping.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The young worker approached the door and knocked, warning the customer.

"Sir, you'll have to pay for any damage to the motel property." He knew these words would stop any normal person. However, just as he was about to leave, the banging continued.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Very annoyed, the young man took out some special keys and opened the door.

"Are you asking for trouble?" The young man asked with a loud voice as his gaze froze when it turned toward the figure in front of him.

Without warning, the young man was forcefully dragged into the room. All that could be heard afterward were sounds of resistance and growls like those of a furious dog.

"Arghhh!!!"

...

The sound of sirens was heard a few hours later, and all of them headed toward the motel. In a car, Anton changed lanes because ambulances and police cars were speeding back and forth. Next to him was his girlfriend, Emma, checking the movie schedule, but before going to that place, they were planning to grab something to eat as it was still early.

Like any crazed person disturbed by things that might not happen, Anton now carried, at all times, a backpack with weapons, some food, a small first aid kit, and a 48-hour survival backpack for two people, realizing that things could get out of control.

"The days are gradually heating up, and they are hard to handle due to work schedules. But the fact that we can finally take off our masks and breathe fresh air makes me very happy."

"The world has changed since the coronavirus, but I finally realize the value of my daily life because of that."

"Listeners, smile at everyone who is glad to see you without a mask. I wish you a beautiful evening where you can breathe deeply while looking at the beautiful blue sky."

Anton turned off the radio as he parked near a building, gave $50 to some men who seemed to live near the building, and they nodded. In normal situations, leaving a vehicle in gang-controlled neighborhoods would be a concerning matter, but if you know how to move around these areas, nothing will happen to you.

"Did you hear that? We must smile even if the world is going to hell." Anton, aware that he couldn't stop Emma's life for simple things he couldn't control, took his girlfriend's hand, and they walked along the sidewalk.

On this same day, according to NASA information, communications would fail due to intense solar flares towards Earth, a nonsense that many might not fully believe.

Of course, the media wouldn't let such news pass, so in the days leading up to the affected dates, announcements and warnings were broadcast. They did their best to take pictures of the sun and show alleged evidence on the internet. Many people follow the news, especially in this country, where they must be attentive to any information that could change their lives from one day to the next.

A few minutes later, this seemingly ordinary news did not deserve attention, but communications, as expected, began to fail.

At that very moment, news from all parts of the country began to try to publish how some people lost their minds and died on the streets. Some animals died inexplicably, as if they were suffering from some infectious disease, and some animals began to act as if they had rabies; for example, docile animals attacked their owners with such brutality that they died of asphyxiation later. Some fish on the coasts fought to reach the shore, as if they sensed a crisis and wanted to leave the ocean.

All these news stories were published, and those who had the opportunity to read them were worried, but due to the constant communication failure, they couldn't do much, especially during working hours.

At that very moment, such news hadn't reached Anton because he was having a date after a long time with his girlfriend. Since she had part-time jobs, they didn't usually spend much time together, and now that they couldn't see each other at school, a few things kept them together.

Anton wasn't a very clingy boyfriend; he gave her space and knew perfectly well what they both meant in the relationship. He didn't want to press Emma too much because she felt breathless; pressuring her on meaningless matters for her age would ruin their relationship, which had been going very well for the past two years, not including the occasional arguments they had.

If he were an idiot, their relationship would have ended a long time ago. After all, Emma knew how to stand up for herself and didn't depend on a relationship to deal with her problems. But she, understanding her worth, realized that Anton was truly the best she could have, regardless of anything else. She had never imagined having a boyfriend her age who was so mature, understanding, and loved to be observant.

While they walked through the bustling city, they talked about trivial things. Anton, who looked around, soon saw the sky darkening and said to Emma, "It looks like it's about to rain; don't you want to go back and watch a movie at home? Your mother will scold me if you get sick from letting yourself get wet; I promised to take care of you when I introduced myself to her."

Upon hearing Anton's words, Emma frowned slightly, angry at the weather. She looked at the sky and said, "A little water won't make me sick. There are many things I want to do today. As my boyfriend, you must fulfill your duty to accompany me. We haven't been out like this for a long time, so a little rain won't ruin our plans."

If they went out frequently, Emma would prefer a thousand times to be at home and watch something in a quiet place rather than spend time outside in bad weather. But she wanted to go out today and treat Anton to a delicious meal; although she disliked it, it was like an apology for not spending too much time with him, despite her disapproval. In the end, she had been contaminated with love.

It's a shame that the weather could ruin their plans; everything seemed to align so that she couldn't fulfill her plans today. It was truly annoying, but Emma couldn't do anything but enjoy it despite the weather.

As a result, at that moment, the sky began to unleash a drizzle, which seemed to worsen. Anton hurried to take Emma, who wanted to keep moving toward a place to avoid getting wet. Both were now standing outside a clothing store, watching the rain. In response, Anton was slightly annoyed and muttered, "Today's weather couldn't be monitored; maybe it's due to communication failures."

Emma said indifferently, "They are right two out of three times; you know it's normal that even if they say it won't rain today, it could change in the blink of an eye."

The two, taking shelter from the rain, had nothing to do and could only play with their mobile phones, sharing interesting things they found on the internet. At that moment, their mobile phones received a text message simultaneously: "[Alert: Citizens, please pay attention to the rain falling in the area. It is estimated to be acid rain, which is still under investigation."

As far as I know, acid rain forms when air humidity combines with nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, or sulfur trioxide, emitted by factories, power plants, heating boilers, and vehicles burning coal or petroleum products containing sulfur.

Anton looked at the message and said in a cold tone, "Do these idiots really know what they're doing? I hope it's not a joke or a mistake; none of this will end well for anyone."

The emergency alert method of text messages is too outdated for some people. Anton, although he thought it unlikely that it was raining with those characteristics, believed they still had to protect themselves from the rain for now.

According to the information he had obtained, the virus his father had shared with him would undoubtedly be a brutal one that definitely would not be transmitted by rain and would be announced as acid rain.

However, at this moment, Emma nervously pulled on Anton's sleeve, pointed to the people on the street, and said, "Anton, quickly look over there; what's happening to those people? Why are they standing motionless in the middle of the rain?"

Anton looked in the direction of Emma's pointing finger, but he found a strange scene. Pedestrians on the street had thrown away their umbrellas at some point and stood stunned in the middle of the street. Rain continuously fell from the sky. The skin on the person's body gradually turned pale, and the veins on their body began to visibly mark their skin.

The speed of the changes in these people is truly visible to the human eye. At first, they were all normal people, but in an instant, all the people on the street suddenly had strange changes on their skin, as if the circulation of their blood had stopped.

"They are the same..." Anton was paralyzed when he suddenly heard a scream not far from his position.

"Ah... Help..."

The two looked in the direction of the screams but saw a group of pale-skinned people surrounding a strong man in the center, blood flowing from his limbs, and they suddenly brought him down while continuing to bite.

It was happening; these people were actually eating the strong man alive. When all resistance in the muscular man stopped, Anton felt as if an electric shock was flowing through his body. Could it be that what his father had warned him about was happening? That's impossible; it couldn't happen so quickly.

This couldn't happen so quickly unless...

"They released the virus..."

Anton touched his waist and breathed a sigh of relief as he took his gun along with his knife. He wasn't a fool; although it was risky to carry a weapon, he wouldn't be stopped without an apparent reason, and in this situation, it was better to be prepared as he was now. His cold eyes immediately turned to all those dozens of people who had been touched by the rain in the sky. Many people had been infected by whatever was in the rainwater. Wouldn't that be too big of a problem? Four out of ten people were possibly infected, and then Anton, regardless of anything, took off his jacket and put it over Emma's body.

"Don't let the rain touch you, and run close to me; we'll try to get to the car to leave this place as soon as possible." Anton took the jacket off a mannequin in the store without caring and ran, holding Emma's hand while gripping his knife with his left hand.

Anton had seen all those horrible experiments similar to zombie movies; he was no stranger to the normal survival situation, so if he wanted to survive, he had to handle this situation with extreme care.

Unexpectedly, as they continued to change, this alarmed the carriers of that strange disease, who were motionless on the street. In an instant, dozens of pale-skinned carriers headed towards them quickly. At that moment, both were running quickly, protecting themselves from the rain, and that caused their space to be greatly reduced. However, due to the parked cars on the side of the curb, they could have a bit more opportunity.

At that moment, as they kept running, two carriers suddenly came out of a store next to the curb and blocked their path. These two people seemed to be employees; obviously, they were not exposed to the rain, but mysteriously, they were carriers.

To Anton, this didn't matter at all. Gaining speed, he let go of Emma's hand and quickly kicked one of the carriers in the chest, pushing the other with his body, making it crash into a parked motorcycle right next to the curb.

At this moment, seeing that he could easily keep the carriers at bay, Anton felt relieved for now. The strength and speed of these carriers were similar to his physical state, so theoretically, it should be difficult to escape them.

Full of panic at that moment, Anton thought that the carriers were similar to rabid dogs, but after observing the situation as it progressed, it seemed that something was making it difficult for these carriers to adapt initially. The muscular man, who had just been killed, was contained because he was surrounded by about ten people.

In other words, as long as the carriers don't corner them, as long as they don't bite them, or as long as the rain touches them, there's no possibility of them becoming carriers.

At that moment, Emma, in a panic, said, "Anton, we have no way forward; how can we keep going?"

By continuing to run and wearing down their strength, they avoided many carriers. As a result, they reached the end of the sidewalk and couldn't keep running because, that way, they would be exposed to the rain.

Anton looked at Emma, who was next to him. In addition to her black jacket, she wore jeans to go out today; her shoulders were exposed, but that didn't give them the assurance of not being exposed to the rain. If they ran, there was a 60% chance of being touched by the rain—definitely not an option. Thinking about this, Anton, who was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a jacket he had stolen earlier, covered himself along with Emma. "Now, what are our chances?"

"A 70% chance of not being touched by the water; it's not a saturated and strong rain, we can make it." Emma nodded while covering her fists completely and making sure her skin was well hidden.

Anton then nodded, and both moved forward. They hugged each other tightly, feeling extremely scared because, in theory, they understood that the rain was the main cause of people's conditions.

However, after leaving the street, they both noticed that there were too many carriages walking in the rain. Those were dozens, maybe hundreds.

Anton was petrified; with so many carriers, how could they keep moving forward? It seems that no matter if they run back to the car, they will be trapped before setting foot in that area.

Fortunately, at that moment, a large iron door opened from a nearby building, and an elderly man shouted, "You two, come in quickly if you don't want to die!"

Anton quickly ran with Emma to that place, and they entered hastily, causing the Carriers to follow them. However, before the carriers could reach them, the large door closed instantly, leaving the carriers outside. Minutes later, they ran upon hearing the sound of a car.

After rushing through the iron door, Anton threw the jacket aside and carefully checked Emma's face with slight tremors in his hands. The adrenaline was still present in his body, although not as intense, as he was fortunately somewhat accustomed to tense situations.

When they saw that they weren't wet from the rain, they sighed in relief. Later, they realized they were actually in the warehouse of an urgent delivery service, and behind the door was a hallway.

There are still about ten people besides them; eight of them are employees here, all dressed in work clothes, and the rest rushed in to avoid the rain. As a result, the others who were still outside on the street either became carriers or were killed.

A stressed woman exclaimed, "What should we do now? Are those people infected with a new virus? Damn, is it a terrorist attack?"

The man beside her quickly reassured her, "It's okay. If it's a biological attack, the army will quickly take control of the situation. We will be rescued eventually; maybe we're just the only affected city."

Upon hearing what the two said, Anton and Emma regained their senses and quickly took their mobile phones to check the internet.

"Call your mother; she must know what's happening, and warn her not to go out," Anton said while checking other things.

Saying this, Anton was already browsing through major national news forums, but before reaching that place, there were posts everywhere announcing that a zombie apocalypse had begun.

But these news stories were not limited to national ones, as there were international places facing the same conditions as here. Some people from the windows of their homes started massacring the carriers; fools in cars went out into the street to start a purge, supposedly before it was too late.

The Apocalypse began!

Now I am Rick!

This is like a world war, damn!

They are the running ones; I'm screwed!

While Anton observed the absurd posts on the internet and the novel jokes that began to appear online, his internet started to fail, and at that moment, a commotion occurred in the place.

"Mom, I'm very hot, and it's making me sleepy!"

The older woman was frightened by her son's statement. She quickly leaned over and hugged him tightly.

"Eric, what's happening, son?"

However, at that moment, Eric couldn't respond. He closed his eyes tightly and murmured, "Mom, I'm very hot."

The woman quickly touched her son's forehead, only to find that his forehead was extremely hot. Then she remembered that he had just taken off his coat and put it on his head, but she herself had touched the rain with her hand, so she should also be sick.

"Eric, son, don't scare me."

Just at that moment, a middle-aged man in a suit said, "That kid is soaked by the rain, and he will definitely turn into a damn lunatic psychopathic killer. Kick him out quickly, or we'll all die!"

As soon as the words came out, other people also started succumbing to fear. "Yes, kick him out; we can't be exposed because of a kid!"

"I don't think either of them is okay; we have to kick both of them out."

"That's right; both of them may have been trapped in the rain, so we're not safe!"

"Those two young ones too; let them out now!"

The accusation against Anton and Emma was sudden. It seemed as if the two of them had committed a war crime. However, no one stepped forward, and everyone remained silent. They all saw the long knife in Anton's hand, so they didn't take the initiative to advance.