chapter 1 : The calm before the storm

12:48 , San Francisco, inside a top-secret government laboratory.

“Agh ! , fuck , again!!! , another failure...”

A short old man, with gray hair and a slightly chubby body, looked into the examination room where there was the lifeless body of a middle-aged man without clothes!

“Another lab rat whose body rejects the factor of evolution, Andreas it's 5 years , 5 years!! have passed and you have been studying this damned rock without any significant results...”

The person who had just spoken was an extremely tall man, wearing a military uniform.

The numerous insignia on his uniform showed that he was of a high rank within the army.

As he spoke, he was pointing at a giant rock that was pale red, like a diamond.

Andreas, the chief scientist of this laboratory, frowned and said

“General Wilson, you don’t understand at all. The evolutionary factor is not something from this planet. Studying it requires time and high-end equipment...”

“That's enough!”

General Wilson interrupted him in an unarguable tone.

He looked at him with narrowed eyes and continued speaking

“I'll be honest with you, not only me but even others are starting to doubt your ability to study this damned rock, although the idea of gaining power seems tempting but...”

The general approached the glass that showed the testing room, in which was now the body of a man lying on the floor, and high up in the ceiling was the red rock he had pointed to earlier, floating strangely in the air. If it were not for those pillars and the shackles that bound it, it would most likely have penetrated the ceiling and Fly away.

The general looked at the man's corpse with narrowed eyes, clearly noticing that the latter's skin was starting to turn pale red

“This damned rock is like a double-edged sword, it turns people into fucking zombies, something I thought only happened in science fiction movies...”

He turned to look at the scientist, Andreas, who was frowning, looking at the rock with serious eyes and seemingly not paying attention to the general's words.

Naturally, the general did not notice this tension and continued speaking

“Are you aware of the seriousness of this matter? , What if one day something went wrong ! , and this matter leaked to the outside? , Just imagine with me, based on the experiences you did previously...”

“If the evolution agent radiation leaks out or an experiment escapes from the laboratory, just imagine with me that within a few hours the city of San Francisco will become a zombie settlement...”

He stopped talking and looked at the man's body, which began to tremble violently. The man began to flop left and right violently before he rose completely. His eyes were full of small red veins, which were prominent even through his skin.

Roar !!

A loud scream escaped from the mouth of the man who had apparently become a zombie.

The zombie spotted the general and began running quickly and clumsily towards him.

Bam!!

His body hit the glass, blood started coming out of his nose, but despite that, he got up again and tried to run towards the general.

Bam!!

“Hmm, the quick kind...” the general murmured before pressing one of the buttons on the control panel.

Beep!!

The floor opened beneath the oldest zombie, then he fell down and it is unknown where he went! .

“This is just an example. If this type of zombie appears in the city, the lives of hundreds of millions will vanish !! , and don’t tell me that this is not the case, even if this facility is well sealed and the chance of one of the experiments escaping is non-existent, but...”

“What about the radiation of the evolution factor? ,You and I know very well that this damned rock interacts with oxygen gas effectively, and produces dangerous radiation... Which you call it the evolution factor...”

“Dammit !! , Can you stop talking for a moment...” Scientist Andreas stated angrily

The general was surprised, “What!!?, ho...”

Andreas put his finger in front of his lips and said

“Shh... shut up and listen carefully. Something strange is happening. I have a bad premonition about it...”

The general frowned but still followed Andreas' order, but his facial features changed after a short while of listening

“Doctor!!, does this damned rock usually make such a sound!!?”

General Wilson asked in a worried tone.

Scientist Andreas shook his head

“It's the first time this has happened, it seems to be emitting some kind of strange frequency noise...”

“I have a bad premonition about this matter...”

The general had not finished speaking before his phone rang

“Hello!.....”

Andreas looked at General Wilson and saw how the latter's features changed during the call

"What's going on!? Did something happen?!" Andreas wondered

“if I am not wrong , I think I know why this damned rock is making that sound, just now I received information that there is a huge meteorite rapidly approaching the Earth’s atmosphere and guess what!!”

“Don't tell me that meteorite...”

“Yes, your guess is right, the meteorite is another damned rock, no it's bigger this time...”

Andreas raised his eyebrows in surprise, put his hand on his chin and said while looking at the red rock

“Interesting, it seems as if the factor of evolution has some kind of consciousness, these frequencies seem to be some kind of communication between the meteorite outside the atmosphere and this meteorite here...”

“Seriously!! Do you realize the seriousness of the matter? , Others may not know, but you and I know very well that if this matter is not contained, things may develop into a disaster !! ”

“Just calm down, I'm sure the government has a way, and don't forget the presence of those five people...”

General Wilson opened his mouth and was about to speak, but something unexpected happened.

Boom!!

An explosion occurred inside the laboratory room.

This led to large amounts of oxygen gas leaking into the room.

Andreas felt as if time slowed down

“ f-fuck ! , Run now...”

He screamed and then started running desperately towards the exit

General Wilson did the same thing, although he was confused.

"Andreas what's going on!!?"

Wilson shouted in confusion

“It seems that there was an explosion inside the oxygen storage room, which led to huge leaking. You do not know the danger of the factor of evolution if it's exposed to a large degree of oxygen gas...”

"It becomes like bom..."

He did not finish his speech yet, as a loud explosion occurred behind them, resulting in a horrific shock wave that destroyed everything, like the rock that launched like a missile, penetrating all the ceilings before launching into the sky.

......

...

13:15, airline airspace, inside a US Airways plane

“Hey buddy, can you lend me those earbuds!?”

Maxwell, who had his eyes closed and resting, looked at the person who had just spoken, who was a young man about the same age as him, early twenties.

The wheat-skinned young man was pointing at the regular earbuds that Maxwell had next to him.

Maxwell nodded and handed the young man his headphones.

“Thank you, buddy. I love regular headphones, I hate wireless headphones. As you know, most people are unaware that these types of headphones are harmful to health...”

“I am Omar, by the way...”

Omar extended his hand to shake Maxwell's hand. The latter did the same and shook his hand

"I'm Maxwell..."

Omar smiled and then began to speak while inserting one earphone

“Nice to meet you, my friend. Is this your first time on a plane!?”

Omar continued his speech and did not seem bothered by Maxwell's lack of response

"Your face looks pale, so I asked this question. You know, it's my first time on a plane...."

“Ugh, this guy is really a big talkative, my head is going to explode after I had the MRI, and now this guy is making this headache worse...”

Maxwell thought as he glanced sideways out the window.

“So, I only have a maximum of 4 and a half left to live...”

He muttered in a low voice that Omar did not hear, who was continuing to speak.

Every time he closes his eyes, he remembers the conversation that took place between him and the doctor responsible for his condition.

In his childhood, Maxwell, unlike other children, was somewhat abnormal, due to the unknown disease that his body suffered from.

Since his childhood, he was diagnosed as suffering from an incurable disease that affected his body negatively.