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Reverend Apocalysis: Reality Surpassed Fiction

Capítulo 1: Prólogo (1)

At night, in a deserted jungle in Russia, to be more specific, in Siberia.

Three men with large coats leaned against a massive wooden tree, panting violently, while others had traces covered in blood. Even though it was nighttime, thanks to the moonlight, a sinister amount of blood could be seen slowly flowing from countless and horrific wounds on their bodies.

The white jackets of these individuals had been stained with blood. The dark red color hung over their bodies, but this seemed not to bother them because all they did was check the ammunition of their firearms without any expression on their faces.

"How many bullets do you have left?"

Among the three people, a middle-aged man with a foreign appearance took the magazine from the rifle in his hand while asking his companion. After checking it, he discarded the empty magazine, took the single bullet in the chamber, looked at it in the moonlight, and reinserted it into his rifle.

"No more than one magazine, but if we shoot again, they'll find us again before we can come up with a plan!" The person who responded was a young Russian with black hair. After replying in a subdued tone, he threw the rifle he had in his hand with a certain disappointment, then took a hunting knife from his waist.

The old man turned his head and asked the man with a deep wound on his cheek, "Dmitri, how are you?"

The blue-eyed man threw the rifle in his hand against some rocks not far away as if trying to vent his frustration. The force was not great, but it was enough for the weapon to bounce once among the stones. He then spat blood with saliva and muttered, "We should have stuck with the private security that was on the way. We would have endured if we had stayed at our base. Why did we have to come to this hell to die?"

The foreign old man named Pavel smiled and said in an indifferent tone, "The reports said it was just a damn beast, something out of control outside the research facility. But we all agree that those things were more than just a simple bear, am I wrong in saying this? Anyway, it's over now. We can't cry or lament the damn past. I won't die in such a pitiful way."

"Should we report this to the Russian army?" Dmitri asked a question that left the other two in silence; none could give a certain answer to this.

"They would kill us one way or another, besides, we are carriers of the virus that the private medical company is studying. Also, if we leak this, our families would die, and I'd rather die killing that damn bear that's hunting us." Pavel refused; he didn't want to involve anyone, especially his family.

"I have a family too... But the best I have right now is a mine and several pistol magazines. If we all have a magazine, we could ultimately have a painless death. Even if that means we'll be eaten by that huge bear one way or another." Dmitri handed a pistol to each of them, but no matter how he thought about it, he would die today one way or another.

Pavel held the pistol and muttered with a certain remorse, "Even if I shoot myself now, those damn bears will devour us completely. According to the records, they are designed to hunt humans, and what's inside their bodies turns them into uncontrollable beasts that don't feel fear or perceive pain."

Dmitri cursed indiscriminately, but the others were immersed in their own thoughts, so they said nothing. After cursing all he wanted, he pulled a pair of grenades from his large coat and held them with his left hand. He would do what everyone else was thinking; at least his death would give his family a large enough sum so that they wouldn't have to keep working.

Roar!

Suddenly, a roar similar to that of a bear came directly from in front of them, rustling the bushes and making the ground shake. When the three heard it, their hearts tightened with fear. Enduring the pain on their bodies, the trio of men huddled together in a state of alert.

"Do any of you know how the hell that thing found us? Why am I thinking right now that the virus they're researching here is giving them superpowers? Pavel, tell me, what the hell demon virus does something like that?"

"Stop whining. Why do you want to know that if we're going to die in the end? Let's just try to send the information we know to the military group that will come from a private company; they'll take care of it, and hopefully, our bodies will remain intact." Pavel disengaged the safety of his pistol and aimed it forward.

"You're always right, old man. I hope your aim doesn't fail." Dmitri also prepared himself with trembling hands, not knowing if it was because of the cold or fear.

"I know, there's no need to remind me!" Pavel smiled as he looked ahead. Although there was a smile on his old face, he, like the others, was afraid.

"I never expected that a single bear would end up contaminating the others nearby. Their movement is coordinated as if they're communicating with each other. If we're going to die, we must kill one of those bastards." The man with the wound on his face raised his pistol, ready to open fire.

"When I was a kid, I always wanted to be in the special forces, but I was rejected long before starting due to certain limitations that others with more special interests didn't care about. I've worked on things others would be ashamed of; my younger self would have been disappointed to know I didn't end up being a real soldier, didn't win a single medal, and didn't die defending my country." Dmitri saw all the blood dripping from his chest and sighed as if a part of him had already died.

Rrr!

The massive body of the bear roared ferociously, crashing through the bushes. It was evident that they all knew they would die one way or another, so they would do what they could to eliminate this first threat before it reached the research fields.

Pavel regretted coming recklessly into the forest, knowing that there was a loose test subject, but now, thinking more rationally, he knew that this was most likely done by that medical company he worked for.

"We have been used very well..."

Before Pavel finished speaking, the enormous body of a bear emerged right in front of them, and the three, who were waiting for the enemy, opened fire immediately.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The bullets penetrated deep into the bear's skin, destroying tissue and flesh of the monster's body. But no bullet penetrated deep enough into the head to eliminate it; that initial failure was enough for the bear to lunge at the first man with a deep wound on his cheek.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!" The death scream echoed from Pavel and Dmitri's companion, who had saved bullets for the bear's next attack on them.

"Back up, use those trees for support." Pavel was the first to move towards the group of interconnected trees.

Crack!

The sound of the beast snorting and eating human flesh resonated in the silent surroundings. The screams of the man who had been almost devoured had stopped a while ago.

When the bear finished eating, it turned towards its other two prey, looking at them with those crimson eyes shining in the darkness. Parts of the bear's fur hung, proving that the wounds it had were enough to kill, but it didn't die.

"I've got you, you damn monster!" Pavel roared and shot the bear in the face; his shots this time successfully hit the eye socket of the bear.

Roooarrrr!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shot after shot, the bullets kept hitting the bear's body, making it recoil. But at some point, this enormous enemy, who was about to charge forward again, sensed a black ball right beneath its body.

"Die already!"

Boom!

Dmitri, who was waiting in the darkness, had thrown a grenade, and he personally saw how that bear had been completely eliminated, killed, and its body destroyed into several large pieces.

The massive explosion had burst Dmitri's eardrums, but he didn't care when he saw that huge bear in pieces. He raised his hands and celebrated his great throw, looking at Pavel, who was a few meters away.

But just as he expected a good celebration, he saw horror on Pavel's face and heard him shouting and making strange signals.

"What's happening?" Dmitri turned his head towards the dead bear. Indeed, it was dead, so what was Pavel referring to?

But at that very moment, when he looked just behind him, he noticed a pack of figures running directly towards him like rabid dogs. Their massive bodies shook the ground, and Dmitri, who could do nothing more than remove the pin from the remaining grenade in his hand, was crushed by that group of bears.

"Die! Bastards..." Pavel roared with strength as he advanced towards the bears that were devouring his companion.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shot after shot, Pavel roared in anger, feeling helplessness coursing through his old body. At this moment, he didn't care about his life; he only cared about continuing to kill the enemy.

The bear that had already noticed Pavel's presence was about to move when, at that moment, an explosion sounded from the center of the pack of bears.

Boom!

The explosion sent Pavel flying, and he crashed into a tree; his body at this point had completely collapsed. Touching his abdomen, he felt a branch had pierced his internal organs, and he could only curse his bad luck at this point.

Rooooaaarrrrr!

While the bears headed towards Pavel, he simply closed his eyes as a crystalline tear ran down his cheek.

In this instant, within the battlefield, more than one guard squad died, managing to eliminate more than five enormous bears and severely injuring over twelve. These bears, unlike any other, were aggressive, lethal, and moved in a pack as if they were some kind of hungry wolf group. But most interestingly, as time passed, the number of bears increased, and they moved slowly towards the edge of the forest.