Apocalypse Rebirth, From Trash to God

The last days of the normal world

 The calendar on the bunker wall now said June 5, only nine days left before June 14, and the city outside still looked completely normal, but inside Jax's chest there was a tight feeling like a clock ticking louder and louder every hour, because he remembered exactly how the last normal week felt in his first life, how people laughed and complained about small things without knowing they had only nine days left to live like humans.

 Mira noticed his mood and said in the morning while they were eating canned beans, "You have been staring at that calendar like it will bite you, Jax, what is wrong, are you scared of the rain?"

 Jax stirred his beans and said, "I am not scared of the rain, I am scared of how normal everything still looks, in nine days that street down there will be empty and black water will cover everything, and right now people are still buying ice cream."

 Mira sat beside him and said, "Then let them eat ice cream, let them have nine more happy days, we cannot save everyone, we can only save the ones who deserve it, like Finn and his family."

 That same afternoon Finn came up the hill again, but this time he was not alone, he brought his daughter Lina who was thirty and tired from working two jobs, and his grandson Leo who was only eight years old with big curious eyes, and when Leo saw the bunker he shouted, "Wow, is this a spaceship, grandpa!"

 Finn smiled and said, "No Leo, this is Uncle Jax's house, he built it to keep us safe," and Lina looked at Jax with suspicion and said, "Mr. Jax, my father says you are stockpiling food because you think the world will end, I think you are scaring him, he is old and he believes everything."

 Jax knelt down so he was eye level with Leo and said gently, "Leo, do you like stars?"

 Leo nodded and said, "Yes, I like stars very much."

 Jax said, "If dark clouds come and cover the stars for a long time, would you want a safe house with lights and food where you can still see stars on the roof?"

 Leo said, "Yes, that would be cool."

 Jax looked up at Lina and said, "Lina, I know I sound crazy, I know Finn told you about black rain and it sounds like a movie, but I am not asking you to believe me today, I am only asking you to remember this hill, if on June 14 the rain turns black and smells like iron, bring Leo and run here, the steel door will be open for you for one hour after the first drop, after that I have to lock it to keep the beasts out."

 Lina crossed her arms and said, "Beasts, now there are beasts too, Mr. Jax, you really need to stop watching horror movies," but Finn touched her arm and said, "Lina, please, just remember the hill, just in case, for Leo."

 Lina sighed and said, "Fine, for Leo I will remember, but if nothing happens I will think you are a very strange man, Mr. Jax."

 Mira laughed and said, "He is a strange man, but he is our strange man, and his canned meat is very good."

 Leo tugged on Jax's jacket and said, "Uncle Jax, will you have chocolate in your safe house?"

 Jax smiled for real, a soft smile he had not shown in a long time, and said, "I have a whole box of chocolate just for you, Leo, I stored it last week because I remembered you exist even though I never met you before."

 Leo cheered and said, "Yay, chocolate house!"

 After Finn's family left, Mira and Jax sat on the roof watching the sunset, and Mira said quietly, "You were good with that kid, Jax, I did not know you could be soft like that."

 Jax said, "In my first life I never had a kid, Selene always said I was not ready to be a father, that I had no money, but when I saw Leo I thought maybe I could be good at it if the world did not end."

 Mira looked at him and said, "Maybe after the rain, when things get stable, you can be like an uncle to him, he needs good men around him, not just old grandpa."

 Jax nodded and said, "Maybe, if we survive."

 That night, while the city slept, the Voss family was having dinner in their big glass dining room, but it was not a happy dinner, Kade was shouting at Ravena because his credit card had been blocked, Selene was shouting at Kade because he borrowed money from her boyfriend Daniel, and Ravena was shouting at everyone to be quiet.

 Kade slammed his hand on the table and said, "Mom, I need money, I owe people money, fifty thousand dollars, if I don't pay them they will break my legs!"

 Ravena said coldly, "Fifty thousand, you gambled again, you stupid boy, I told you to stop gambling!"

 Selene said, "See, this is why Jax was better, at least Jax never gambled, Jax just worked like a dog but he never asked for money."

 Kade shouted at Selene, "Don't you dare talk about that useless rat Jax, that rat left us and now we have no free worker to fix the house and carry bags!"

 Ravena rubbed her temples and said, "Enough, both of you, we still have the company, Voss Biotech is worth millions, we will be fine, and once the offshore transfer is done in two weeks we will be safe, just two more weeks."

 Selene frowned and said, "Mom, what offshore transfer, what are you talking about?"

 Ravena realized she said too much and quickly said, "Nothing, just business, adult business, you don't need to worry, just make sure Daniel stays close, his family has money."

 Selene pouted and said, "Daniel is boring, he keeps talking about stocks, Jax was boring too but at least Jax listened to me."

 Ravena snapped, "Don't mention Jax again in this house, that name is banned!"

 At the same time, in a dark bar on the other side of the city, Commander Drax, still in his security uniform but already building his own gang, sat with three big men drinking beer and saying, "Nine days, my sources say the tanks will leak in nine days, maybe less, when it leaks the city will go blind, and then we take the guns from the police station and take the food from the supermarket, we will be kings."

 One man said, "What about the Voss family, they made the black stuff, should we take them too?"

 Drax laughed and said, "Ravena thinks she is smart, but she is just a rich woman who will cry when her money turns to paper, when the rain falls I will go to her mansion and ask her how many bags of rice her daughter is worth."

 Back on the hill, Jax could not sleep again, he kept hearing Ravena's voice in the lab saying make it look like an accident, and he kept seeing the black tanks bubbling, so he woke Mira up and said, "Mira, I need to go back to the tower one more time, I need to see if the leak has started, I need to know exactly when."

 Mira sat up with her rifle and said, "You want to go back down there, Jax, that lab is guarded by Drax, he will kill you if he sees you."

 Jax said, "I have to know, I have to be sure for Finn and Leo, for you, I need to know if we have nine days or two days."

 Mira looked at his desperate face and said, "Okay, but we go together, and we don't do anything stupid, we just look and leave, promise?"

 Jax said, "I promise."

 They went at midnight again, the tower was quiet, but when they went down in the elevator, the air felt different, it smelled like metal and rot even through the elevator doors, and when the doors opened, alarms were blinking red and scientists were running around shouting.

 A doctor shouted, "Pressure in tank three is critical, it is leaking, seal the vents, seal the vents!"

 Another scientist shouted, "The black substance is in the air system, it is going up, it is going to the surface!"

 Ravena was there in her white coat screaming, "You fools, I told you to fix it, I told you we needed two more weeks, now it will leak early!"

 Drax stood nearby smiling strangely and said, "Two more weeks, Ravena, you don't have two more weeks, you have two more days, maybe less, the world is about to change and you are still worried about your offshore money."

 Jax and Mira hid behind crates, Jax whispered, "It is leaking, Mira, it is already leaking into the air, the rain will come early, maybe in five days, not nine."

 Mira's eyes went wide and she whispered, "Then we need to go now, we need to warn Finn tomorrow and lock the bunker early, we cannot wait."

 Ravena shouted at Drax, "Do something, you are head of security, stop the leak!"

 Drax said calmly, "I will stop nothing, this is destiny, let it rain black, let the weak die, let the strong rise," and he turned and walked away while Ravena screamed after him.

 Jax wanted to stay and see more, but Mira pulled his arm hard and said, "Jax, we have seen enough, we need to go before they lock the elevator."

 They ran back up, their hearts beating fast, and drove back to the hill in silence, and when they reached the bunker, Jax sat on the floor with his head in his hands and said, "It is coming early, Mira, it is coming in five days, maybe even three, we are not ready."

 Mira knelt beside him and put her hand on his shoulder and said, "We are ready, Jax, we have food, we have water, we have guns, we have a strong door, and we have each other, we are more ready than anyone in that city, and tomorrow we bring Finn and his family here early, we don't wait for June 14, we lock the door when the first cloud turns black."

 Jax looked up at Mira, his eyes red, and said, "Thank you for being here, Mira, in my first life I died alone in the mud with no one, this time I will not die alone."

 Mira smiled and said, "You will not die at all this time, reborn man, you will live and you will make that Voss family kneel and beg for two bags of rice, just like you promised."

 Outside the bunker the night was still normal and the city lights still glowed, but deep underground under the Voss tower, black liquid dripped into the air vents and rose slowly toward the sky, drop by drop, ready to mix with the clouds and fall as rain, and only two people on a lonely hill knew that the last normal days of the world were already over.