Apocalypse

By Justin Bruystens

A post-apocalyptic world with strange complicated creatures, a place where color is not just something that is seen, Earth’s shadow, and many other worlds await you in Apocalypse. Apocalypse is a collection of unique short stories with genres varying from psychological thriller to dream fantasy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Justin Bruystens
• Release date: May 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301518494

Justin Bruystens

A newly starting independent author that has been writing for who knows how long.

Book preview

Chapter 1: Liam

Water is the most appalling substance that exists on this planet. Sure, it’s nice if you aren’t forced to live with it twenty-four-seven for months on end. I worked for the U.S. Navy for two years, and if it hadn’t been for the whole world-ending thing, I would have continued to do so. I survived while billions died because I was lucky enough to be quite a ways under water when it all happened.

I was a young man back then, and I still remember just about everything that happened from the time we started to realize something was wrong up to now. We had recently received game-changing intelligence, so we attempted to contact home base.

No one seems to be answering, Reem told us.

Well, let’s just try again later, Omar suggested after what seemed to be a full minute of silence.

Omar called the shots back then, and everyone respected him. Whatever he commanded was done, no questions asked. Before I went back to my position, I paused to ask Reem what her opinion of the situation was. I wasn’t actually concerned or scared that something was wrong; I just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to start a conversation with her.

As I opened my mouth to speak, a loud beep came out of all the submarine’s speakers. This signaled to us that someone wanted to contact us. Reem let the message come through, even though it wasn’t her job.

All submarines go as far down as possible and stay submerged for at least a wee—

Static covered up the rest of the speaker’s sentence, but we managed to catch the end of the message.

No time for further clarification, explained the anonymous voice that none of us recognized.

As a precaution, we followed the advice given to us. During the week of submersion in the ocean, we could not contact anyone. Explosions were heard on a regular basis during this time, which was strange under the circumstances, because we were miles upon miles away from land. The anonymous call and absurdly loud explosions raised far too many questions. When no further instructions were given, Omar took it upon himself to get us together. We discussed what our next course of action should be. We decided to dock at the nearest piece of land, a small, nameless island.

The fresh air and sight of land excited me so much that I took the first opportunity I had to get into the water. Reem and Minjun followed me in almost immediately. My eyes then caught a blur of white in the sky, and seconds later, blue fire devoured the submarine and everything inside. All of our gear had been in the submarine; later on, we considered ourselves lucky to have left our clothing on the beach. We swam to the shore as fast as we could with the screams of our comrades in our ears and the foul smell of burning metal and flesh in our noses.

Reem, Minjun, and I were all that was left of the crew, and once we reached land, we just collapsed. After the deaths of our comrades, we had no energy left to deal with anything else.

In the morning of the next day, Minjun was the first to wake. He didn’t waste a second of time, and he had scouted the entirety of the small soot- and ash-covered island by the time Reem and I woke up.

There’s nothing here except ashes and rubble, he reported to us drearily when he returned.

No water? I asked him. I mean, we have the sea for food.

There is no water, Liam, Minjun confirmed.

I think there is water in fishes’ eyes, Reem told us. Not sure how long we can survive off fish, though.

We discussed the matter for a relatively long time before we finally decided that fish were our only hope. By some miracle, we caught three fish using pieces of our sunken submarine as knives. When I bit into my first fish eye, the liquid seemed to rush out and attack my tongue. It may have been the only water we could find, but that didn’t make it taste any better.

Although we had caught fish, the amount of water in their eyes would most likely not delay our deaths by much. Sleeping with this in mind was no easy task.

Chapter 2: Itai

After destroying so much, I felt I owed it to the world to replace everything I had destroyed. Starting with seeds, I remade forests, deserts, and everything else that had existed before the humans came. Under normal circumstances, the seeds would never have worked as quickly as they did, but they were special seeds created by my kind long ago.

What is interesting about the seeds is how they form different organisms. For example, when a seed began to form a forest, it would grow up until it reached greater heights than any skyscraper built by the humans. Vines then sprouted everywhere; they hugged the entire area that was to become a forest and then puffed out into the things that they were meant to become: trees, bushes, mushrooms, and flowers.

A record-breaking thunderstorm soon started. It rained everywhere on the planet. My burning and killing had made nearly every single drop of fresh water evaporate. The rain was needed, but the frightening rumbling of thunder made what few living things were left cower in fear.

In the process of making the trees grow, I had a flashback that took me back to a very different time—a time when trees had reached the sky and millions of different species had roamed freely. Most importantly, the sky had been colorful and full of my kind. Back then, I had a family and friends.

It saddens me to think of the others, because they left me long ago. Where they actually went I do not know. They most likely went to look for life in the rest of the universe. I suspect the decision to leave was heavily influenced by the appearance of the human race. This would make sense to me, because ever since humans have existed, a voice has screamed in our heads that they are dangerous.

Satisfied with my work, I landed on a pile of flaming rubble. My body instantly underwent a very complicated, yet quick, transformation. My white wings fell off, and my body started to glow blue and grow very hot. Next, my arms, hands, and legs took on a layer of fire. Finally, the skin covering my skull turned black and my eyes turned red. With the transformation complete, I felt like a new monster.

Like a worse monster.

Chapter 3: Liam

None of us had hope or energy remaining when the miracle happened. It rained. Not drizzled, but poured down hard without any sign of letting up. Tears of joy rolled down our cheeks as we drank what we needed. The only disheartening thing about the rain was the realization that we didn’t even have containers to fill. With hope returned to our hearts, we explored the island again, this time as one group.

To our surprise, we found a patch of green on the black island, an oasis if you will.

Is it real? I asked as I felt a tree’s branch.

Something seemed to call to me. Adventure, perhaps. Without the others' consent, I proceeded into the green. Minjun and Reem soon rushed in after me. The oasis contained many colors and smells, which provided a refreshing break from the rest of the island. The varied shades of green, brown, white, and grey seemed very beautiful to our eyes, and the many plants gave off an irresistible fragrance.

The others lost themselves in the green and failed to find me, and I didn't know where they had gone until I heard a scream. I retraced my tracks in an attempt to find them, wanting nothing more than to find them both okay. As I got closer to where the scream seemed to come from, I saw more and more blood. I then noticed them both, Minjun with blood gushing out of his stump of a leg.

What happened to your leg? I asked.

Skinny bears with big ears came and attacked us, Reem said.

I saved us both by using Minjun as bait, Reem claimed proudly as she held up a large branch. As he distracted them, I snuck up behind them with this. The branch scared them off.

Minjun's injury was daunting, but Reem managed to come up with a decent plan in the heat of the moment, which is never easy to do when faced with such heavy consequences for failure.

Chapter 4: Itai

Fit to destroy another world, I sprinted toward a large tree standing in a patch of green I had created but a few hours prior. My new mind and body did not care for creation. I smashed the tree to the ground. A dragon flew out of the tree, but it was very plain, all green and lacking in simple things such as beautiful scales. Barely acknowledging its existence, I continued to destroy the forest.

Dragons lived inside each of the trees.