Apocalypse Rebirth, From Trash to God

The secret under the voss tower

 The city was still alive and loud and bright, and no one except Jax and Mira knew that it was already counting down to its last days, because the calendar on Jax's bunker wall said May 20, only twenty five days left before June 14, and every night Jax stared at that calendar with his jaw tight and his eyes burning with a fire that had not gone out since he died in the mud.

 Mira had now moved into the second room of the bunker, she brought only a small bag and a rifle she kept oiled and clean, and in the morning she woke up early and shouted at Jax, "Get up, reborn man, if you want to survive beasts you need to run faster than beasts," and Jax groaned and said, "I already died once, do I have to die again from running," but he still got up and ran around the hill with her while she timed him with an old stopwatch.

 After running, they sparred, Mira was fast and her punches were sharp, she hit Jax's shoulder and said, "Your spatial cut is strong but your body is weak, what if you run out of power, what will you do then, you need to fight with your hands too," and Jax blocked her next punch and said, "Teach me then, soldier girl, teach me how to be strong without powers," and Mira smiled and swept his legs so he fell on his back in the dirt and said, "Lesson one, never lose balance."

 While they trained, Old Man Finn came up the hill for the first time, he was old and breathing hard and carrying a small bag of fresh bread, he looked at the bunker with wide eyes and said, "So this is your crazy fortress, Jax my boy, you really built it, you really were not lying," and Jax helped him sit on a chair and said, "Finn, I told you I would save you a place, this is your place too if the bad days come."

 Finn looked at Mira and said, "And who is this pretty silver-haired girl, is she your wife," and Mira laughed loudly and said, "I am not his wife, I am his guard dog, I bite people who try to steal his rice," and Finn laughed too and said, "Good, he needs a guard dog, he is too soft."

 They ate bread together inside the bunker, and Finn looked at the shelves full of food and whispered, "Jax, this is enough to feed my whole family for years, my daughter and my grandson, can I bring them if something happens," and Jax said immediately, "Yes, bring them anytime, anyone who was kind to me is welcome here," and Finn's eyes got wet and he said, "Thank you, my boy, thank you."

 After Finn left, Mira turned serious and said, "Jax, we have food and we have guns and we have a strong door, but we don't have information, you said the Voss family lab made the black rain, if that is true we should go see that lab before the rain falls, we should know what we are dealing with."

 Jax was quiet for a long time, he remembered the Voss company tower, a tall glass building in the center of the city with the words VOSS BIOTECH shining on top, in his first life he had only ever gone there once to bring lunch to Selene, and he remembered a locked elevator that went down instead of up and a guard who said no one was allowed to go below.

 He looked at Mira and said, "You are right, if we can find proof, we can understand the rain, maybe we can even understand the beasts, but the building will be guarded."

 Mira checked her rifle and said, "Guarded is my middle name, when do we go?"

 They went that night, the city lights made the Voss tower glow blue, Jax and Mira wore dark clothes and masks, they parked Finn's old van two streets away and walked quietly to the back entrance, Jax used his spatial ability to cut the lock on the side door without making any noise, the metal lock fell in two clean pieces.

 Mira whispered, "That cut trick is still creepy, I love it," and Jax whispered back, "Don't love it too much, it takes energy."

 Inside the building was cold and empty, the offices were dark, but one elevator at the end of the hall had a red light blinking, it was the elevator that went down, Mira pointed at it and said, "That one, that is not a normal elevator, normal elevators don't have fingerprint locks."

 Jax touched the fingerprint panel and focused, his space power rippled and the panel shorted and opened with a click, and Mira said, "Okay, that is officially cheating."

 They went down, the elevator went deep, deeper than any basement should go, maybe five floors down, and when the doors opened, cold white light hit their eyes, and they saw a huge underground laboratory with glass tanks full of black liquid that bubbled like oil, and people in white coats walking around even at midnight.

 Jax's breath caught and he whispered, "This is it, this is where they made it, the black rain."

 Mira grabbed his arm and pulled him behind a metal crate and said, "Quiet, there are guards with guns, look."

 Two guards with rifles walked past, and behind them walked a woman Jax knew very well, Ravena Voss, wearing a white coat over her expensive dress, and beside her walked a man with a scar on his face, Commander Drax, but younger and without his raider clothes, he wore a security uniform.

 Ravena said in her sharp voice, "How close is the leak, Dr. Chen, you promised me it was sealed."

 A small doctor with glasses said nervously, "Madam Voss, the tank pressure is rising, the black substance is unstable, we tried to seal it but it is eating through the metal, if it reaches the air system it will evaporate and mix with the clouds."

 Drax laughed and said, "So what, let it rain, the world needs a cleanse, the weak will die and the strong will take what they want, isn't that your family's philosophy, Ravena?"

 Ravena snapped, "Don't be stupid, Drax, if it rains now we lose everything, our money, our buildings, our stocks, we need two more months to move our assets offshore, seal it now!"

 Jax clenched his fists so hard his nails cut his palms, Mira saw his face and whispered, "Jax, calm down, your power is shaking, I can feel the air around you shaking."

 Jax whispered back with hate in his voice, "She knew, she knew all along, she knew the world would end and she only cared about money."

 The doctor said, "We will try to cool the tanks, but I cannot promise, the substance is not natural, it changes everything it touches, even a small leak could infect the rain cycle."

 Ravena said coldly, "Then make sure any leak looks like an accident, and if anyone asks, we never made this, understand?"

 Drax said, "And if it leaks, I already have a plan, I will take my men and take food and guns, I will be king of the new world."

 Jax could not listen anymore, he stood up and wanted to cut Ravena right there, but Mira pulled him hard and said in his ear, "Not now, Jax, if you kill her now you become a murderer before the world ends, and we will be caught, we need to go, we have proof now, we know the truth."

 They slipped back into the elevator, Jax's hands shaking, the elevator went up, and when they reached the street they ran to the van and drove away fast.

 In the van Mira drove while Jax stared out the window, his face pale, and Mira said, "Hey, look at me, you were right, you were right about everything, that lab is making the end of the world, those people are evil."

 Jax said in a low voice, "She knew, Mira, she knew it would rain black and kill millions and she only thought about money, and in my first life I died for her family, I died for two bags of rice for people who made the apocalypse."

 Mira stopped the van on the empty hill road, she turned to him and said, "Listen to me, Jax Cole, you did not die for nothing this time, you came back, you have a bunker, you have food, you have me, and we will survive while people like her will lose everything, that is your revenge, not killing her in a lab, but living while she begs."

 Jax looked at Mira's silver hair shining in the moonlight and said, "Thank you for stopping me, I almost became like them."

 Mira smiled softly and said, "You are not like them, that is why I stay on your hill."

 They returned to the bunker as dawn was coming, the sky was still blue, the birds still sang, but Jax now knew for sure that the blue would soon turn black, and when he lay on his bed he could not sleep because his mind kept hearing Ravena's voice saying, make sure any leak looks like an accident.

 The next day Selene called again, this time her voice was not angry, it was sweet and fake, she said, "Jax, my mom said you have a little house on the north hill, that is cute, are you farming there, I was thinking, maybe we can meet for coffee and talk like adults, I miss you."

 Jax held the phone and looked at Mira who was cleaning her rifle, he put the phone on speaker and said, "Selene, do you miss me or do you miss the man who paid your bills, because last time I checked you were dating Daniel with the car."

 Selene laughed awkwardly and said, "Daniel is boring, he is not like you, you were always so loyal, Jax, loyal men are rare."

 Mira mouthed the word liar, and Jax said, "Loyal, you called me useless and watched me die in my first life, do you know what loyalty means, Selene?"

 Selene's sweet voice cracked and she said sharply, "What first life, what are you talking about, you are talking crazy again, I am trying to be nice here!"

 Jax said, "I am done being nice too, Selene, don't call me again, next time you call, the world will already be black."

 He hung up, and Mira said, "She really thinks you will take her back, she has no idea."

 Jax said, "Let her think, let all of them think, in twenty four days the sky will fall and then they will understand who was crazy and who was right."

 Mira loaded her rifle and said, "Twenty four days, then we lock the steel door and watch the world change from our hill, just you and me and Finn and his family, and those two bags of rice will become the most expensive rice in history."

 Jax nodded and looked at the calendar, May 20 crossed out, May 21 waiting, each day bringing the black rain closer, but this time he was not afraid, because this time he had a fortress, he had power, and he had someone standing beside him who did not see him as a servant but as a man.I'm