Chapter 292 - Disaster Day
Chapter 292: Disaster Day
2021 January 17th. Rain.
Today is a rainy day.
Even though it has already been half a year, I still can’t get used to the rain. It reeks of unfamiliarity and tastes sour. Weaker people will die from the rain, but thankfully, I’m not afraid because I’ve already become something stronger than an average human, something that I cannot even imagine. People like us are known as beacons of hope.
Today, the last trace of the old civilization became lost as a radio station that has been broadcasting since the change has finally lost its signal.
However, as though the world is trying to prove that life goes on and an ending is also a beginning, the construction of the wall at our shelter has started.
Never doubt the power of humans. As long as humankind lives, miracles will follow.
With that in mind, I feel like crying. How long has it been since I last cried?
Back in August last year, I cried like no tomorrow. I think I might have cried my whole life worth of tears back then. It was unbearable! Death separated me from my parents overnight while my newly sprouted love was murdered by the disaster. We met and hugged, and after that, she died in my arms.
As for my other family members, my relatives, my friends…I can only remember them in my memories. We’re considered lucky for someone to run into a familiar person.
Luck has made me realize that a person can really have nothing in life other than meals, shelter, and something meaningful to live for.
I realize that the best kind of wealth is the memories of people that you’ve met in life, the traces that they’ve left in you. If the disaster never happened, you might not have even realized it. The time you spend alone plus the time you spend with the people that have appeared in your life make up the true meaning of life.
I grew up fast and became mature quickly. It has only been months but it feels like several lifetimes already. Maturity has given me the courage to face my wounds. I’ve been able to write down memories that I never thought I would be able to for the rest of my life.
My life changed drastically at the sweetest moment.
Before that, my family might not have been wealthy but lived a sufficient life. I didn’t achieve any outstanding academic achievements but I was still able to proceed with my studies and fight for a steady foundation for my future common self, plus my love life had just started.
I would never forget that day and everything that happened from her smile and her eyes to every word that we spoke. All the words held admiration and hope, and no one expected a drastic change in the next seven to eight minutes.
We held hands as we came back from the crowded and merry street, strolling down the quiet street near her neighborhood.
“We’re almost there.” She bashfully released my hand. It was better to keep the newly-sprouted love a secret from our familiar acquaintances.
But how could I let go of her hand when we had just started to be together? Right after our hands separated, we hugged each other. It was my first hug with my love. The feeling, our heartbeats…it all feels so real even when I’m writing this.
However, when she was in my arms and looked up, the Purple Moon hung there. The Purple Moon was not what we were familiar with. Shouldn’t the moon be a warm yellow? Even though it might look mysteriously red at times, a purple moon was impossible.
Therefore, when she told me about the moon and asked me why the moon had changed in color, I didn’t believe her. I looked up at the Purple Moon and realized that what she said was real.
Maybe I’m a sensitive person, so the moment I saw the Purple Moon, an ominous feeling rose in my heart. When the purple moonlight bathed me, I felt strange and sticky. It felt like the strange mist that had been appearing for several nights.
Oh right, I forgot to mention that that particular night, the mist was surprisingly nowhere to be found.
I thought it was luck. I could have used it to commemorate our love as I was planning to say, ‘Look, it’s our first day together and even the sky has cleared up for us. The strange mist hasn’t appeared today.’
The mist that shrouded the whole world was gone that night, but the Purple Moon took its place. No one expected the mysterious and somewhat beautiful moon would bring nothing but calamity to humankind. Its appearance caused a great commotion across the cities.
Five minutes after the Purple Moon appeared, many people flooded the street to catch a glimpse of the purple beauty.
She stood by my side, looking at the Purple Moon quietly. I remembered that she was a little excited and she even related the Purple Moon to many unsolved mysteries of the world. She linked it to the universe and to the beginning of life. All she thought of were the good things like how our lives would only be better from here on. Little did she know that most life on Earth would meet its end that night.
Less than seven minutes after the Purple Moon appeared, a meteor shower happened.
I couldn’t really tell the time, but the meteor shower came unexpectedly and strangely like it came directly from the moon.
How should I describe the scene? I search my brain for a suitable word. The best way to describe it is that the moon became a giant cannon and fired the meteors at Earth!
Strange, right?
Even stranger things happened right after that. While the people were excited about the purple meteor shower, an earth-shattering disaster had already happened without them noticing it.
It has been almost half a year since then and till now, no one can explain what kind of power it was. It was silent and came without a sign, destroying more than a few thousand years of mankind’s hard work in the blink of an eye.
First, the satellites that man sent to space lost their signals. The communication network that mankind had spent several decades building was disconnected instantly.
Then, all sorts of silent destruction happened. Mankind’s doomsday weapons including all kinds of missiles and rockets, all kinds of jets and planes, helicarriers and aircraft carriers…I don’t know a lot about all those high-tech stuff since I wasn’t even a university student then. All I can say is that all the instruments of war and advanced technologies that could destroy the world went offline, every single one of them.
Do you think that was scary? That wasn’t even the worst of it. After that, disaster spread like wildfire. When mankind mobilized all sorts of troops in response to the situation, they realized that the lethal firearms were all rendered useless as though a huge magnet had jammed them from inside.
After that, I made acquaintances with a surviving soldier who was a commander. He told me, “I once thought mankind was powerful. The next step of mankind should’ve been in space, but I finally realize that mankind is fragile. With our communication network down, many of our weapons are blinded and we are unable to respond at all. The destruction happened without a sign, and it was caused by a power that we do not understand.”
The world went silent without a sign. The communication networks just died all of a sudden.
However, when all that was happening, I was still happy with her. We looked at the Purple Moon and enjoyed the purple meteor shower. My heart was anxious but also unusually excited at the same time. I felt like I was witnessing an important moment in our time. I did witness an important moment, but I also realized how ignorant I was.
What harm could a meteor shower bring? No matter where the meteors landed, I’ve never heard of a meteor shower that could cause major damage to cities. However, that time, the meteor shower landed on Earth in a random pattern.
The people’s cheers echoed in our ears. Then, a giant purple meteor landed in the city and destroyed several skyscrapers along its course. I saw it with my own eyes and I heard people start to scream in fear.
“Call 911!”
“Where’s the ambulance? Call the ambulance from the city hospital!”
“Stand up. The meteors are coming!”
Out of instinct, I held her tightly, or maybe she was holding me. I don’t know. We started to run blindly, but we ran towards places that we thought were safe. No one knew where the next meteor would strike.
What did I feel back then? Come to think of it, it was a little blurry, but there was something clear in my head then. I thought, ‘Are we witnessing the first meteor destruction? What will the news say tomorrow? How many cities will be destroyed?’
But was it just a meteor shower that destroyed cities? It was far more than that. What happened next was beyond us!
Rats! Countless rats appeared! They were not rats that we normally saw. They were as big as dogs. They were strong and quick as they sprung out from the ground ceaselessly.
I saw it for my own eyes. As the purple moonlight shone on the rats, the big rats grew even larger immediately, as if they had prepared this for a long time, and it seemed only natural that they were expanding after bathing in the moonlight.
Then, the stray dogs and cats, the bugs…
At that moment, everything became an enemy to mankind. They became vicious and scary. They seemed to move in an organized pattern, following an unsaid plan as they started to attack us.
It was still not the end. Many more strange monsters swarmed into the city, and similar to the mad dogs, cats, insects, and rats, they attacked mankind as well.
More disasters happened after that, or should I call them disasters? Because of the disasters, mankind got a little window to breathe. The disasters were from Mother Nature. Earthquakes, typhoons, thunderstorms, and all sorts of natural disasters happened at the same time!
All I noticed was the Purple Moon hanging in the sky strangely.
What happened? Was it the end? Was it the apocalypse?
Then, I finally responded to the situation. I realized it was a disaster that mankind’s power could not stop. It was the apocalypse, but it might not be the end for mankind just yet because…the change happened!
At that very moment, I felt a drastic change in my body!