"WHAT’S HAPPENING? WHY IS IT TURNING RED?"
Everyone across the world witnessed as the Earth’s atmosphere changed from its original blue hue into a blood-red color. The clear blue skies changed into blood red, and the sky changed from its bright yellow color to a deep red. People stood in awe as the red skies covered the lush green Earth.
"EVERYBODY GET INSIDE, NOW!!" The armies across the world announced as they ordered people in nearby bases to return inside. Those within the bases returned inside and were sealed off, but the unfortunate souls who lived in their own establishments were left to fend for themselves against whatever was going to happen next.
Jim ran outside toward the arena-shaped building with a gas mask on, while the other military personnel joined him. The rest of the people were ordered to stay inside until further investigations were made. Inside, he quickly entered a conference room where other higher-ranking military personnel sat at a round table.
"Jim, take a seat." A large, mid-fifties man with a thick scruffy beard and a nasty scar on his right eye spoke with his highly decorated attire.
General Jackson Heistor, Jack for short, was the head of the Ark Ville base and one of the main military commanders in the world. "We’ve got a major problem happening. Apparently, it’s not only happening here, but it’s also across the world. Everyone is reporting accounts of the skies turning red. We have no idea what it is, but..." As he was in the middle of his address, a lower-ranked soldier came in with a tablet in his hand, saying,
"General, we’ve found out what happened. Look."
On his tablet played a video recorded from the satellites in space showing three large spaceships. From the largest spaceship, a foreign red-colored humanoid creature crash-landed in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The soldier paused the video, zoomed in, and enhanced the image.
"What is that thing?" General Jake asked.
"We do not know yet, Sir. Unfortunately, it landed close to our base, but that’s not all." Another video played out, showing two more black pods that followed the red humanoid creature into the Earth’s atmosphere. The soldier then played a different video that showed the spaceships separating from each other and spreading the red gas into the Earth’s atmosphere.
All those who witnessed the video sat back in shock, wondering why the aliens did something as sinister as this. General Jack turned the tablet off and ordered the soldier to return to his other duties.
He then turned to the others in the room and said, "It seems that the cause of this strange phenomenon is our extraterrestrial visitors hovering over our Earth."
"But what could it be?"
"We don’t know what effects that gas has on us. What if the gas kills us instantly?"
"Most highly unlikely," Jim replied. "We all know what those things did. If they wanted to kill us, they would have already done so. This must be something else. We must study what this gas can do to us."
"But Jim, you’re asking for the impossible." One of the other lower-ranked generals asked. "How do you propose we execute this, then?"
Jim didn’t respond, as his attention was divided on what was happening outside. The whole base looked like it was in the middle of a red sandstorm as the gas fully settled on the Earth’s crust. Jim quickly pranced through the whole room as he looked around for something only known to him. General Jack was confused by his sudden action, so he asked him what exactly it was he was looking for.
"Air vents. Does this place have air vents?" Jim asked, fear on his face. His face was turning pale as he awaited the general’s answer. "The entire facility is ventilated. We made sure to set up electric air vents."
"Oh no, no, no. The people. The students. They’re all in danger." Jim quickly ran out of the room as he wore his gas mask. He ran out of the arena building and ran toward the other building that acted as the testing center. However, his skin violently reacted to the gas the longer he spent in it. It reacted so badly that boils began to develop on his flesh as blood and pus spewed out. Content orıginally comes from 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹✶𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲✶𝗻𝗲𝘁
Jim painfully ran through the gas until he successfully managed to get inside. However, the ceilings of the facility had slight traces of gas seeping through the vents. Jim kept his mask on as he ran to the room where all the subjects were given their serums.
As he was making his way there, he pressed the red panic button mounted on the wall to warn everyone, but it was too late. The people inside had already inhaled the gas, and their bodies were already reacting violently. Some lay on the floor convulsing rapidly, while others screamed as they felt their lungs burn. Jim wished to stop and help them, but they were not the ones he was here for.
"No freaking way." Jim arrived at the white room where Ace was earlier, but he wasn’t on the bed. Beside the bed were the two large men and the lady who held him down earlier, and looking at them made Jim nearly puke. The three lay on the ground, motionless and terribly mangled. The lady’s head was cracked open, and all her brain matter was scattered next to her dry, bloodless body.
The two large men were covered in blood, and both were missing their eyes and tongues. The once-white room had blood stains on the floor and bed, and the machine that was used to inject the serum into Ace was crushed. Even though the scene in front of him was horrendous, Jim managed to notice something strange, something that managed to catch his attention.
The pipes that directed the serum into Ace’s veins had little traces of blood that looked like they were stretching outward, leaving a thread-like network of small, red material. They were also mixed with the golden serum, giving them a glowing, orange hue.
Jim slowly walked to the pipes, and as soon as he got his hands closer to them, the glowing substance jumped on his fingers and slowly crawled up his arm. Jim tried slapping it off, but its small size and thick texture allowed it to dodge and cling to his body.
The ’thing’ crawled inside his ear and immediately made his head woozy. Jim tried to get it out by poking the ear it went into, but he slowly felt his energy slipping away from him. His muscles gave way to the sudden weakness that invaded his body, and before he knew it, he fell to the ground due to weakness.
Before his eyes closed completely, he saw two large red feet running out of the door, followed by deep growls and crackles.