The End Of The World?

"They're here!"

"Kiiiaaarrrghhhh!"

"Arrrrhghhhhh!"

"Runnn arrghhhh!"

Loud shrieks and cries reverberated across the vicinity on the 178th floor of a skyscraper.

"Will this spell the end of the human race?" My life flashed before my eyes as I subconsciously muttered.

Armageddon seemed to be taking place at the moment as everyone in the vicinity ran helter-skelter.

The entire city was in a hellish state of panic as people ran to take shelter from the surface that seemed to have been infested by dangerous and bloodthirsty creatures.

'I haven't lived a very fulfilling life...'

I stood there amid the chaos with an expression of disbelief plastered across my face while pondering how all this came to be in the first place.

Krrrycchhyyy~

"Kuchooiirrbhjnj,"

The sounds of flesh ripping and incoherent mumblings were getting louder by the second while my eyes were glued to the direction everyone was fleeing from.

"Dustin!"

Pah!

The yell of a familiar voice accompanied by a slap pulled me out of my reverie.

"Are you crazy? let's go!" BJ shouted out and pulled me by the arm in the opposite direction.

We began running together alongside the others towards the closest elevator.

"How could you just stand there? Are you tired of life?" BJ scolded as we fled.

"...sorry... I was just... I don't know..." I let out a sigh, unable to comprehend the reason for my initial actions.

"We're behind! Let's make sure we get into that elevator," BJ voiced as we increased our pace, speeding past a couple of people.

"Hmm," I nodded as my expression turned focused.

"Kiarrrrhhh!"

We were beginning to hear screams behind us, which announced we were one step closer to death.

However, we quickly arrived in front of an elevator, but to our disappointment, it was full.

-"It's not closing!"

-"There are too many people,"

-"Get out before everyone dies here!"

Yells were heard from within the elevator as its functionality was affected due to the number of people within.

BJ and I ran towards the next one, and it was the same scenario.

"We got here too late," BJ yelled as he noticed that the third and fourth elevators were full as well.

'It is all my fault,' I blamed myself for our current predicament.

Turning to face the direction we fled from, BJ could spot some corpse-like human figures in the distance covered by a small purple mist.

"We have to use the stairs," BJ concluded as he turned to look forward.

"We're heading to the last floor... Using the stairs will take forever," I responded with a logical tone.

"We don't have a choice... The only chance we have of defending ourselves is by equipping a QUAX," BJ stated.

"Darn it! All of the QUAXs are stored on the last ten floors," I exclaimed in disappointment.

"Let's go! We have no time to waste," BJ stated and began running again.

'We can't count on the military to come to save us yet since this must be a nationwide disturbance, they definitely have their hands full so we have to save ourselves,'

We sprinted alongside each other and quickly got past the bunch of people bickering about the elevators.

"Leave!"

"No, you leave!"

"I arrived before you!"

Pah! Pah!

Before long, fists were being exchanged. A few moments later, some people were pushed out of the elevators.

I and BJ arrived at the stairways. My sight followed the long fleet of stairs that led upwards, and even after tilting my neck to the limit, I still couldn't spot the end of the stairs.

"Let's go. We have more than seventy floors to scale," BJ began climbing after edging me on.

I wasted no time in following after him, and we began climbing as quickly as we could.

Far behind us...

Kreeeeechhhhhh! Creehycchhh!

Multiple human figures with dry-looking skin, tattered and blood-soaked clothes, and bloodthirsty eyes could be spotted ripping the flesh of a corpse.

A strange purple mist was being emitted from their figures, and some parts of their skins were laced with purple as well.

The dried-skinned figures took bites from the flesh a couple of times before turning to glare in the direction the other humans fled in.

"Run! To the stairways! To the stairways!"

One of them yelled out as he sped forward.

"Cuuurrdhhhhhhhh!"

One of the dried-skinned figures screeched and ran after the bunch.

An obese woman with short black hair tripped upfront and found herself getting stomped by an uncountable number of people.

Her cries were completely ignored as everyone was focused on saving their skin.

"Kiarrrrhhh!"

In no time, she was ripped apart by these creatures as she became incapacitated after getting stomped continuously.

"Arrrghhh!"

Another lady behind yelled out as she felt a tug on her hair.

One of the creatures grabbed onto her hair and pulled her to the ground.

Just as it was about to feast on her, a man holding onto what looked like a metal bar swung it toward the face of the creature.

Bang!

A part of its skull was instantly bashed in as it fell to the side and slid across the floor for a couple of feet.

"Paul!" Her eyes glittered with tears as she spotted a popular dark and handsome-looking figure with a muscular build.

"Let's go!" He shouted and pulled her up.

They began running towards the stairway with the others. The other creatures behind had begun to catch up after having their fill of the obese woman.

The creature that had part of its skull bashed in rose to its feet after a few moments and also continued giving chase.

I and BJ already made it past the next floor at this moment and were heading further up.

"What if they've already infiltrated the higher floors?" I muttered with an inquisitive gaze.

"They're only on the lower ones, but we have to hurry," BJ responded.

My face showed more hints of worry upon hearing his response.

BJ turned to stare at me, sensing I wasn't only bothered about this situation.

"Don't think about it right now," He voiced out.

"Huh?" I exclaimed with a look of confusion.

"You're worried about Bella, your mum, and your little sis, right?" BJ questioned.

"Uhm... Am I that easy to read...?" I questioned in response while letting out a sigh.

"Don't worry about them for now. I'm sure they're fine... look, I'm worried about my family and our friends as well, but we have to make it to the top first and ensure our safety before making any plans of reuniting with them. If we die here, we won't get to do any of that," BJ blurted out with a comforting tone.

"You're right..." I nodded once more as we kept running up the fleet of circular structured stairways.

I could hear the tapping sound of the stairs from beneath, which revealed other people had begun climbing the stairs as well.

The sounds made my mind travel back to this morning...

##################

-Many Hours Earlier

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

The sounds of hastened footsteps reverberated across the vicinity as a man in a red jacket, and silver t-shirt complimented by a black tie and pants ran through the middle of a massive walkway.

His unfastened upper buttons were proof of rushed preparation.

"Shit, I'm gonna be late again!" I muttered as I made my way towards the entrance of a skyscraper up ahead.

The skyscraper was over two hundred storeys tall. A glowing sign that read, "QUAX TECHNOLOGIES" could be spotted high above.

This happened to be my place of work...

My name is Dustin Creek. I am a 19-year-old graduate who studied science and technology at one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

I had always been a whizkid, acing school-related activities, and being one of the best students amongst my peers. I had dreams of becoming one of the greatest tech inventors in the world.

Since this was the year 2277, technology had come a long way, and the world had undergone some of the greatest changes in history during the last two hundred years.

One of our ancestors by the name Urmin Decker worked with three other colleagues to create the first-ever QUAX.

The QUAX was a technological machinery created for teaching purposes at first, but it was later tweaked to increase military prowess and also help them win battles.

Different types were created for different purposes. Some could be used as guards, some as a cook, a teacher, and a weapon...

The Quax organization later branched into different categories where each branch would focus on creating specific types of Quax for different purposes.

The teaching like QUAX was designed to look like a helmet. Upon wearing this QUAX, it would link with a person's brainwaves, and information would be downloaded directly into their brain. This type of QUAX was used mostly in educational institutions. This was the original reason for creating QUAX.

A weapon like QUAX was designed to look like full body armour that could be completely equipped. After being successfully equipped, it would look like a human living within a mechanical-looking robot.

It boosted the physical and destructive prowess of the military of countries under the alliance.

A military QUAX operator had the strength of a hundred men and the firepower of ten tanks.

The other types of QUAXs were also built in specific ways based on their purpose. Amongst all the scientific and technological breakthroughs worldwide in the last one hundred and fifty years, the QUAX happened to be the greatest.

Q - Queen

U - Urmin

A - Aidan

X - Xena

The four involved in its creation went on to become legends in the scientific field.

Well-structured buildings, roads, and vehicles were now a usual sight. Space exploration was now a thing, and the future was looking way brighter than it used to in the past.

'My name must be written in the science history books as well... I'll have to carry on with my invention in secret. I can't let Mr Ba...'

"Dustin, you're late again!" Amid my ambitious thoughts, a distasteful voice called out to me.

"Mr Badmus..." I responded before nervously gulping down saliva after spotting the source of the voice.

A bald man with a scar on his left cheek was glaring at me with a menacing expression.

"This is going out of your paycheck," Mr Badmus stated.

"I was in an accident..." I yelled out with a look of injustice.

"You've been in an accident four times this week... You must have offended the god of misfortune," Mr Badmus clicked his tongue in ridicule after responding.

"I..."

"I don't wanna hear it, Dustin. Come late next time, and we're truly gonna have a problem," Mr Badmus threatened before walking away.

"Yes, sir..." A heavy sigh escaped my lips as I watched him walk towards the elevator.

'How can I tell him my true reason for repeatedly arriving late to work... I'll have to keep that to myself.' I thought before heading towards the elevator.

---

A few minutes later, I arrived at the 85th floor, which was one of the manufacturing floors.

"You came late again," BJ was the first to yell out after spotting me.

"Yeah..." I responded with a slightly dispirited tone.

"Hahahaha, Mr Badmus scolded you, right?" BJ chuckled intensely after seeing my expression.

"Tch," I responded with a sour expression before moving towards my work post.

"The day you come early is the day gold will rain from the heavens, haha," BJ kept laughing at me.

I just rolled my eyes at him and raised my middle finger. Work had begun for the day, and we had to manufacture the parts used to create battle QUAXs since this entire building was a QUAX technological branch.

-"Did you guys hear about the gases that spread across South Asia from the meteors that drifted past Earth?"

-"I heard there were multiple meteors carrying toxic gas that past the planet, and some of these gases infiltrated different parts of the earth's atmosphere,"

-"They said new energy was found,"

-"I heard it emitted corrupt gas that turned living things into monsters,"

-"Haha Danisha, you heard wrong,"

-"How do we know what's right when they are withholding information?"

While focusing on my work, I could hear the gossiping voices of my colleagues.

'Fools... some of you are gonna be lackeys forever,' I swore within myself, disappointed at the fact that they weren't focused on their jobs.

Bump!

BJ lightly bumped his left shoulder into mine to get my attention before speaking.

"Do you think any of them are right?" He questioned.

"How would I know? It is pointless to argue over which rumour is correct until their governments release information on what is happening in the affected locations," I responded while shrugging my shoulders.

"Hmm, you're right. it would be pretty interesting if people were turning to monsters hahaha maybe I will finally be able to use the skills I've learned from watching apocalyptic animes," BJ displayed an imaginative expression as he voiced out.

"You watch too much anime, fucking weeb," I stated with a tone of ridicule.

"You watch anime too," BJ replied with a tone of ridicule as well.

I should have told BJ to be careful of what he wished for because we had no idea what was coming at the time...

We definitely had no idea that being in such a situation was way worse than anything we could ever have imagined. We were about to realize... reality was a lot more cruel than fantasy.

"Arrrrrghhhhhhh!!!!"

The sound of a sudden scream drew everyone's attention in a particular direction.