Turmoil Mystic Messenger Apocalypse AU

by ghostingoverthekeys

The hottest summer of the year. By decree of the government we have received a new rule: "No more than two hours out in the sun. Less if you can manage it." Something strange was going on… I can't deny that. But it's not like I could do anything about it. I could hear it…. The screams of all my coworkers. No. It wasn't just them, I could hear the whole world screaming.

June 2nd, Tuesday
11:20 am

I had been working days upon days to get this promotion. I worked my ass off to get a raise. I was saving up so I could take another class in accounting to do better at my job and to open new doors for myself. With a stupidly huge grin I looked at my paycheck, the numbers a couple hundred dollars higher than before, and internally squealed. Sitting at my desk I used my lunch hour to enroll into some online classes. I could hear the hum of the air conditioner as I tapped my foot against the edge of my desk. It had been unbelievably hot for the summer, practically sweating out of every pore of my body. Many of us carried two bottles of sunscreen, had emergency umbrellas and water bottles, and baseball caps, to keep the sun off of us. I think the news said something about the ozone layer but I don't know.

And frankly, although it did worry me in the back of my mind, I had more important things to care about. I scrolled through the professors keeping my eyes on the days and hours the classes would start. My eyes landed on an online class. Now that could be really beneficial, especially since I still have to work. I added a few others and looked at my degree plan. Yeah, this would work swimmingly.

"Heya!" Keida looked into my cubicle. "I got some milkshakes during my lunch break for the office. Pick your poison." She smiled. Her long black hair was tied up into a tight bun. We kept telling her to just cut it but Keida prided herself in her hair. It was really beautiful but in choosing between feeling cooler in this scorching weather and looking like a goddess but being miserable… ah well I choose the boy cut.

"Got anything vanilla?"

"Vanilla chocolate, vanilla bean, vanilla wafers, va-"

"Vanilla wafers." I extend my hands excitedly, like a baby reaching for its bottle.

Keida and I weren't really friends, just office buddies that occasionally went out for drinks together. She handed the drink and smiled. Looking up she gasped. "Ah the CEO is here."

I stood up and looked over the cubicle walls. Jumin Han and his assistant Jaehee Kang. It was rare for the CEO to show up at our branch but when he did it was usually for some strange project. I didn't envy Jaehee's job. I had been an assistant to various bosses when I worked in high school and college and I can honestly say I never wanted to do that again. "I don't think we have to worry." I observed their clothing. It seems the horrid weather wasn't just affecting us poor people. He looked god awful today and so did Jaehee. They must have been standing outside more than the recommended hours that the government had issued.

"No more than two hours, less if you can manage it."

The construction companies had an outrage and planned to boycott City Hall, but after two hours they left and agreed to the new proposition. Driving around town was becoming a nightmare though because any and all of the construction that had been occurring before the heatwave had come to a complete halt. It was hard to get flowers too. Most of them died within in the hour and eventually the shops just closed. The grass in lawns and parks were now all brown and even the trees had started to look weak.

Something strange was going on… I can't deny that. But it's not like I could do anything about it. I sat back down and continued to look at my computer. At least the computers were still working. Hell at least all the appliances in the building were still working.

I sipped my drink and hummed as I put my headphones on. There was a small tremor.

"Whoah!" An old man dropped the jug for the water cooler behind me.

"I'll help you." I said quickly as the water poured onto the carpet. I got up, another small tremor, this time longer.

"Thank you kindly." The old man smiled.

"No problem." I smiled back as I picked it up. "Do you need anymore help?"

"No thanks, just lost my balance with it. Don't you-" We both looked at the floor as there was another tremor, a little more powerful than before. "….worry about it." The man said slowly.

I tensed, I hated being on the tenth floor, hell any floor that wasn't ground floor, when we had mini earthquakes. "Um, okay." I said as I quickly sat back at my desk. I took a sip of the milkshake.

"AH!" A woman screamed pointed out the window. "R-r-r-run away!"

I turned back and gasped. A plane… there was a plane falling from the sky. It looked like it was falling straight towards us. "Ack." I stood up so fast I hit my knees on the desk I could feel the milkshake spill onto my lap before falling to the floor.

"I-I-It's coming right for us!"

"Mr. Han! Get to safety!"

"Oh my god! Oh my go-"

I stared in disbelief as I saw the nose of the plane smash into the building. I fell to the floor and ducked under my desk. The sound of metal grating on metal screamed into the walls. I could see it. The wings were slicing through the building. I could feel it, the building collapsing under it's weight, the heat of the engines boiling the room. I could hear it…. The screams of all my coworkers. No. It wasn't just them, I could hear the whole world screaming.

---

It's so hot…

It's so dark….

My back hurts so badly.

Slowly I open my eyes. Blinking and groaning. Is that… my computer on the floor? I reach out slowly and felt my eyes adjust.

There is no Internet connection

Try:

Checking the network cables, modern, and router

Reconnecting to Wi-Fi

Running Network Diagnostics

ERR_INTERNET_DISCONNECTED

I slowly sit up and feel my body ache. My thighs feel sticky. I touch them with a shaking hand and reach out to stand up. The floors feel sticky too, and so does my skirt. My hands touch a metal cup. It smells so awfully sweet. My head hurts like hell. I slowly stood up and gripped the back of my neck. Looking around I can't see anything except what my fallen computer screen illuminates. Since it was facing me it only shows my cubicle walls.

"There." I whisper to myself as I lift it. Luckily it's not too heavy. I face the screen towards the walls. Everything is destroyed. What happened? "Ah…" There's a dead old man on the floor. "Nnngh." His throats been torn out. I can see the flesh and blood split open like a book. There's… something moving in his chest. I use the computer light to look for my purse. Ah there! I turn on the flashlight.

20%
Critical battery: Please plug your phone into a charger
!WEATHER ALERT! Flash floods in Northeastern area
!WEATHER ALERT! High temperatures in Northeastern area
!WEATHER ALERT! High floods in Western area
!WEATHER ALERT! Blizzard watch in Southern area
!WEATHER ALRET! Extreme cold temperatures in Southwestern area
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Thu, June 4

What is going on? I've been unconscious for two days. My stomach growls at the thought. I need to find out what's happening.

KRRR
KRRR
KRRR

I looked back at the mans body. His chest is rising and falling and that strange sound is coming from him. How is that possible!? His throat is cut open! Slowly I take a step forward. There's a fallen pipe on the ground. I pick it up carefully and shove the phone in my breast pocket while readying the pipe. "A-are you okay sir?" I ask slowly as I take tiny steps towards him. "AH!" The rising and falling soon moves to his stomach. "Wh-what is it?" I tremble as I grip the pipe tighter. I took one last look around, quick and hurried too afraid to take my eyes off of him, feel the panic settling in even more. The whole building looks collapsed and as far as I can see it's completely dark out. There's a huge open gap at both ends of the building, as if something crashed through it. I can't remember what it is though.

I look back at him, if he… if anything happens I have a clear exit path. Whatever crashed through here left a clean trail. But… The doors to the stairs are completely blocked. I may have to find some other way. Damn, why can't I see past the darkness of the holes? Is it that dark out tonight? No… I know something horrible is going on.

KRR
KRR
KRRRRRR

I whip my head back to the strange growling noise coming from the man. Taking a deep breath I take one step forward. Than another and another. Carefully I poke the stick at his stomach. It's bigger than before, whatever it is it moved down to his guts. Ugh… It makes me sick just thinking about it.

KRRRRRR

I poke it again. Something fell out onto his exposed chest. Is that… a…a rats tail?

KRRR

It's… turing around, the bulge in his body is moving back up his chest. A pointed rodents nose pokes out. of his cut neck. Long claws grip onto the exposed flesh and dig some of it out before bringing it to it's teeth. I want to through up. The rodent sticks it's head out further as it continues to chew.

"Oh my god…" I cover my mouth.

The head of the rodent, covered in blood and flecks of intestines, is bigger than five feet both in length and width. It's beady black eyes glint in the reflection of my flashlight. At the sound of my voice it turns and hisses at me. Flecks of blood and flesh flight out of its mouth. Slowly it crawls out. It's fat body, as fat as a pug. No… as big as a pug dog, crawls out.

CRACK CRACK

The mans spine is being crushed under the weight of rat. What remains of his neck expands and as the rats backside crawls out fully. I can see his skin tear at the sheer mass and girth of the animal. I cover my mouth and carefully take off my heels. It'd be dangerous to run around barefoot… If I … If I could get to my locker in the employee lounge on th-the first floor than I c-could get my sneakers.

KRRRRRRR

The animal hisses at me. It stands up on its haunches. My god… it's almost the size of a toddler. I raise the pipe, it leaps into the air and hisses loudly extending it's long talon like claws. It's mouth is wide open and I can see it's sharp, blood covered, teeth.

"AH!" I dodge out of the way. My foot steps on the mans body.

SQELCH

It was like standing on a bowl of pudding… maybe even jello with some fruit in it. His body completely deflated under me. I can feel his blood just seep into my stockings. "AH!" I run to the other side of the room.

KRRR KRRR KRRR KRRR
KRRR KRRR KRRR KRRR

BZZT BZZT

I look around frantically. Oh my god. "Shit shit shit!" There's more of those things. They gather around in a hoard, I don't know where they came from, maybe from the debris of the building… Of course, there would be more bodies here. I raise my pipe. They're moving me towards the edge of huge hole in the building. "Huh!" There! Over there! Behind these mutant rats is the exit door!

KRRR KRRR KRRR KRRR
KRRR KRRR KRRR KRRR

BZZT BZZT

"No no no no!" My flashlight suddenly turns off. Damn! DAMN! The battery must have died! I can't see! I can't see! I can hear them getting ready to lunge. I take a step back to get my bearings.

But…

"AAAH!" I feel myself falling backwards. "OOF!" I land on something hard and metal. "Nnngh!" My body is sliding upside down down the metal object. It's slightly bumpy and I'm gaining a lot of speed. I dig my nails into the metal frame of this object trying to stop myself. "AH!" One of my nails splits open. I reach out blindly, looking for anything at all. My hands touch something. "ARGH!" I grip it will all my might. The momentum jerks my body so harshly I can hear my shoulder pop out of place. "OW! Dammit! DAMMIT!" I scramble to get up but whatever I grabbed onto is flat, like a sort of think metal plate, and it's sideways, there's no way for me to pull myself up and nowhere for me to balance my feet.

"Where am I? Where am I!?" I panic as I touch for my phone. Damn! It must have fallen out of my pocket. DAMN! It wouldn't have turned on anyways… I looked around and try to outline the shape of what I fell onto. It's no use. It's completely dark out. No stars. No moon. Nothing. It's just so hot and I can feel my hands burning as I hold onto this metal plate. I need to let go.

Carefully I place my feet flat against the metal I was sliding on. Moving my skirt under me I make it so I can try and stop myself like a small buffer. If… if whatever I'm on is facing completely straight down I might end up falling to my death.

Rrrrrr
Rrrrr
Rrrrr

What is it now? What is that noise? I can't focus on that now. I bring my feet as close to my butt as possible and try to fix my skirt as best as possible. There… I think I can slide down better. Slowly I let go and yelp. I'm gaining more momentum that I want. "Come on slow down! Slow down!" I try to use my feet to help slow down my velocity. It's helping a bit. 'This thing is dipping down more.' I think to myself. Is it as I feared? Am I just going to end up falling to my death? Suddenly I'm in the air, I slid off something round, like a spherical nose of some sort.

"HNNGH! OOF!" I cover my head as I land on carpet. "Argh…"

"Are…you…okay?" A woman's voice came from the back.

I flinched at slowly stood up. "…." I couldn't see anything. The stillness of the dark was so deafening, her voice just felt like it was fading into it.

"Is anyone there?" She said again.

"I-I'm here. I-Is those rats nearby?"

She chuckled weakly. "No… no thankfully they haven't found an interest in me yet." She coughed. "Over here… to the back. S-see that monitor that's alight?"

It didn't take long to find it amidst the darkness. "Yes I see it."

"Good." She coughed some more. "Ov-over in the desk was a phone… can you get it?"

"Yes." I walked slowly. I could hear something… like little legs moving or little mouths chewing. "What's that noise?"

"The light… get it." She said again.

I walked towards the desk and opened it. There was the phone. "Is it dead?"

"N-no… the power was turned off." She coughed.

I reached in. "AH!" Something crawled onto my hand. "What is this!?" I looked at the monitor and jumped back. Around the screen it was covered in bugs. I quickly smacked my hands. "Why didn't you tell me!?"

"I'm sorry…" She coughed again. "I… didn't know they were in the desk. I-if you can get out of this building… turn on the phone and try to contact… Jumin Han."

I looked towards the sound of her voice. I still couldn't see her but I could see an outline. "Mr. Han… the CEO?"

"Y-yes him… the phone… has an emergency ring to it. Like a-an alarm. He said… that I should use it… should something go wrong."

"W-why was it in the desk then?"

"I… was sitting there." She chuckled. "My name is… Jaehee Kang."

"T-the assistant?" I walked towards the voice.

"Careful! Th-those bugs… they've made my left leg their n-new home."

I knelt down and reached out. My hand touched her face. She was sweating like crazy and perhaps even running a high fever. "Ms. Kang…"

"It's okay." She tried to sound calm. "Just take the phone and go."

If…if she dies then those rats will eat her insides and make her corpse… I closed my eyes. "No! I'm not leaving you Ms. Kang." I looked around and saw a flashing red light. It was feint but I'm sure it was an emergency panel. "Wait here!" I ran to the panel and reached out. Damn, I can't do this without seeing. I turned on the phone and smiled.

50%

Good. I turned on the flashlight and used my fingers to cover just a bit of the light.

"Be careful." She called out weakly.

Rrrr
Rrrr
Rrrr

"Careful!" Jaehee coughed. "That sound is these damned bugs. Th-they can fly so be careful!"

I nodded and began to pull out debris.

Clunk

I looked over and shined the light. "Oh…my…gosh…" I looked at the giant plane that had crashed through my building to this one.

"You slid down that plane… right?"

"I must have…." I mumbled. "Don't talk anymore Ms. Kang. Talking is making you die." I pulled more debris out the way. "Ouch!" Something bit me. "I shined the light to see those bugs. They were grey and had a hard shell. In fact they looked like ticks. "Urgh!" I could feel it burrowing itself into my hands. No time, I had to help Jaehee.

Eventually I was able to make it to the emergency light. My left hand had about six ticks in them and the right maybe had four. It hurt like hell and I was feeling a bit nauseous. Opening it I sighed. There was an emergency health kit and a flashlight along with some water an axe and a fire extinguisher. I grabbed the items and shined the light towards Jaehee.

I gasped and nearly threw up. Her left leg was covered in ticks. No flesh was left uncovered. I knew you were supposed to pull out the head but… But what do I do? "Jaehee?" I asked quietly. "Jaehee are you still here with me?" I shine the light into her face. Even some of the ticks had made her face their home.

She slowly opened her eyes. "Ah… has… Mr. Han… come back to help me… yet…?"

"N-not yet." I mumbled. What do I do? What do I do!? I… I… I don't want to be alone in this darkness anymore. I opened the bag and looked in. Ah! Some rubbing alcohol and matches. I… I can do this! "I'm sorry." I poured the rubbing alcohol on her leg and grabbed the match box. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and swallowed. One flick, then put it on her leg, then I put out the fire. It will be okay… It will be okay.

"Wh…at…are you…doing?"

"The right thing… I hope." I lit the match and tossed it on her leg.

"AH!" She managed to scream.

RRRRRREEEEE!

Some of the ticks managed to climb out and flew away from the fire. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and quickly put out her leg. "Jaehee!? Jaehee Kang!?" I coughed as the smoke cleared.

There was no answer. I quickly grabbed the flashlight and turned it on. "M-Ms. Kang?" I felt the tears form in my eyes. "ANSWER ME!"