Chapter 1- Bloody Beginnings
17th of March, 2XXX
The time: 2:17 PM
The weather was rather cloudy that day, with droplets of rain falling every other hour. It was cold and windy, especially in the mountains where the city buildings wouldn't shield people from the whistling wind.
In the thick forest, on a small road that cut directly through it, a car was moving at a high speed. Its sports engine roaring loudly as it moved like a flash, leaving behind it dust and leaves as it moved toward its destination.
Inside it, a man sat casually behind the steering wheel, one hand on the wheel to rotate it while the other rested on the armrest. His face was cold and distant as he watched the idle scenery around.
Soothing classical music was playing faintly in the background, mixed with the smell of coffee.
The man himself seemed to be in his early 20s and rather average looking with midnight black hair cut at neck length, sharp black eyes, and a very strong presence. It didn't take a genius to tell that the man wasn't normal whatsoever. The look in his eyes felt like it carried a thousand thoughts and yet also felt so empty that it would send chills down the spine.
'The weather has been going to shit lately.' He mused as he looked to the side of the window at the grey sky above. Even though it was supposed to be summer, the weather in the past few months has been so windy and cold that one would think it's winter.
Many blamed global warming for this change; truly, nobody knew why this summer was the coldest summer in hundreds or even thousands of years.
"Hm." Squinting his eyes, the man finally turned to stare ahead again. He had been travelling down this road for the past several hours now, and he hadn't been followed… At least not yet.
Then, his eyes stared into the rearview mirror at a bag he had put in the backseat. It had all the tools that he used earlier that day.
As he was like that, he suddenly heard ringing and buzzing in his ear. So, he moved his hand and touched his ear.
"What is it?" He asked coldly.
"Are you done?" A feminine voice spoke to him in a calm manner.
"Yeah. I'm on the way back now." He said.
"Good work, Rein." The woman said. "Oh, and one more thing."
As she was speaking, the car finally emerged from the forest into a small opening where a town was situated. It was a small town, nestled in the deep wilderness of the north, so it was quite secluded from the world.
However, many people who travel this road stop by for food and fuel often. The town people were friendly and nice.
"What is it?"
"Boss wants to see you when you come back."
"..." Rein frowned subtly. "Sigh, what does he want?"
"Beats me. He sounded a bit on edge."
"When isn't he?"
"Hey now, I know you don't like to talk to him, but it seems pretty serious."
"..."
"Dinner is on me. How about that?"
"I will see what he wants," Rein replied as he stopped at the first fuel station in the town, right on the outskirts. "Did you get done with that case?"
"Ugh, don't even ask. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I've been swamped with all the files, and I'm losing my mind."
"You will find him. You're the best analyst the agency has." Rein replied as he walked out of the car and around to fill the tank. His eyes stared left and right casually. 'Hm. This place is quite empty today.'
"Sometimes I wish I weren't good at my job. Our intelligence sector is filled with the dumbest people imaginable."
"Mhm." Rein hummed as he kept looking around while filling his tank. He started feeling that something was off. Even though this was a small town, it usually had some people moving around and a few cars here and there.
Now, it felt like a haunted place. Not a single soul in sight. This switched several alarms in Rein's head.
"I need to start working on the digital footprint he left behind and then the…"
"Can you hold on for a second, Violet?" Rein said as he locked the car and looked around him. "Something feels off around here."
"What? Is everything ok, Rein?" She asked.
"I will call you in a minute. Hold on."
Saying that, he cut off contact as he pulled his shirt up a bit and started walking toward the convenience store on the other side of the gas station. The wind rustled his hair as he reached the door. It said that it was open on the door, but Rein couldn't see anyone inside.
So he pushed the door and walked inside. The bell rang, but no one responded. Looking around, everything seemed to be in order… At least on the surface.
*Sniff*
'This smell.'
He knew what it was almost instantly. It was far too familiar for him not to recognize it. Blood.
His hand moved to the gun tucked in his pants as he started walking through the convenience store, following the smell as he looked through every aisle.
Then, he started hearing noises around the corner. A wet sound, mixed with deep grunts. His face darkened as he reached the corner and peeked through.
There, he saw two people. One was lying on his back in a pool of blood, his guts and flesh thrown everywhere around him, while the other was slumped over him, his face buried in the open, disgusting wound, eating at his flesh like a rabid animal.
"..." Rein's eyes widened subtly before he took a breath. 'What is happening here?'
The sight was straight out of nightmares, unlike anything he had ever seen.
"RRRRR!!!" The man, seemingly feeling Rein's presence behind him, turned around and stared at him. That was when Rein saw it… A deadly pale face with blue veins running all across it, covered completely in blood and guts.
His eyes looked devoid of life as if the man was dead, yet his entire facial expression was that of a rabid dog. Growling at Rein, he then stood up and ran toward him like a madman.
Rein didn't need to think as he aimed his gun at the man.
*BANG* *BANG*
Two bullets, one at each leg, made the man fall as he slammed into the shelves, knocking everything down.
"Did he lose his mind?" Rein muttered as he looked at the man, expecting to see him wince in pain. However, much to his surprise, the man didn't even seem bothered as he started dragging his body toward Rein, his growls intensifying.
'Not even fazed by two bullets to the legs?' He squinted his eyes as he stepped back, avoiding his hands. Rein was in a very odd dilemma: should he kill this obviously insane person, or should he just leave?
As a hitman, his job was to kill people, but never did he kill people unrelated to his job.
"Hey, Violet?" He put his hand on his ear.
"Yes? What happened?"
"I don't know how to explain this, but I just found a man eating the flesh of a dead corpse in the convenience store near the gas station."
"... Excuse me?"
"He seems to have completely lost his mind, or…" He muttered as he suddenly got an idea. So, he approached the man and stomped on his body, pinning him down. Then, he grabbed his arm forcefully and tried to check for his pulse.
The man was shockingly strong, taking Rein by surprise as he resisted. However, even then, Rein was far stronger than him.
After a second of checking the pulse, his eyes widened. "No pulse…"
"Rein? What is happening over there?"
"..."
"Rein? Answer me."
The man didn't reply to his partner's words as he kept staring at the dead corpse before him. It took him a second to understand what he just saw, then he pulled his gun and aimed it at the man's head.
*BANG*
The bullet hit the man in the skull, making it explode into pieces. That was when all the resistance stopped, and the man finally lay down, a dead corpse in its own blood.
"..."
"What was that?! Rein. Are you fighting someone?!"
"Violet." He said. "Can you check the news for me real quick?"
"Why?"
"Can you just do that?"
Rein said as he turned around to walk out of the convenience store in a hurry. His face was grim, sensing the looming threat.
As he stepped out of the store and looked up, he saw something that made his heart run cold.
Up ahead on the street and all over the town, people who looked exactly like the man he had just killed were roaming around.
"What the fuck is even happening…?" He muttered under his breath.
"R-Rein…" Violet spoke into his ears again. The man slowly put his hand on his ear as he kept watching the morbid scene.
"Yeah?"
"We have a problem… A very big problem."