Epoch of Apokoliptic Genetica

*spark

*BANG

Kane's eyes snapped open at the sound of the sparks and explosions.

He immediately got up to see the UV lights going brighter and brighter and he immediately covered himself with the bedsheet in a curled up position to protect his vitals.

*Spark

*BOOOM

*SHATTER

The UV lights exploded with shards of glass flying everywhere and the room went dark instantly.

Kane immediately felt his flesh beginning to sizzle as soon as the light went and he felt incredibly uncomfortable.

There were also stray glass shards that had pierced him, causing some shallow bleeding to start.

*SIRENS

The rooms lit up with flashing red lights.

"KANE! You-..."

Selena came to his room with stray cuts over her hands and shoulders.

*Toss

"Catch"

Kane caught the Biomarker she immediately threw.

"It's Online but we need to leave now! We have a Red Typhoon happening in the vicinity! The Backup Generators are not going to hold here!"

Kane nodded and followed her as he stashed the Biomarker Bracer into his pocket.

They climbed down several floors, and Kane felt the Air getting heavier and his vision seemed to be slightly odd.

"It's the Red mist, it fucks with your mind- , don't breathe in fast, we need to get the gas masks down"

Kane gave a brief nod and quickly followed behind her.

As they reached the last level, a few old gas masks were hanging by the side of another Vault Door.

"Quickly"

*Ssssk

They immediately wore the gas masks and were able to briefly breathe normally.

"*Gasp shitty luck- *Gasp I just got -*Gasp damn thing* Gasp reset-*Gasp", Selena was barely able to get words out.

Kane saw her and realised her condition was not that great either, they were healing in the bunker with a calm mind without the virus acting up.

But now, her lungs which had been weakened by the gas and were now being actively attacked by the virus due to the absence of UV...

Kane knelt down beside her,

"Point direction to me, you're not in any shape to move so I'm carrying you, No Objections "

Selena reluctantly got on his back and she strapped in with her belt.

Kane felt immediately stood up and turned the wheel to open the Vault door and carefully exited into the tunnels.

"Be"

"very"

"quiet"

Selena whispered into his ears and Kane gave a quick nod.

The tunnels were barely lit with red light and at some sections were completely dark.

"Go"

Kane quickly moved without any sounds and he could hear some very strange sounds where Selena would tap on his shoulders to immediately avoid.

Sounds of... Digestion?

And something sticky?

He immediately went the other direction as they quietly navigated the horrible underground labyrinthine sewer tunnels.

As he kept at it, Kane felt he heard something odd and he stopped briefly to listen.

*Tic

Someone or Something was following them from behind.

He whispered softly to Selena , whose arms hugged Kane even more tightly.

"Need to"

" leave"

"Tunnels"

"Go up"

She breathed out as much as she could in a tiny whisper and hurriedly turned Kane's head to a nearby service door entry.

It was narrow as fuck, they weren't going to fit together, so Kane unstrapped her and sent her to go through the passage first.

He turned his head slightly to see something that made his blood run cold.

It was a giant tendrils or slimy tentacle like thing that slowly coming out of the other end of the tunnel they had just come from.

He quickly followed Selena as silently as possible while hearing the thing coming behind them.

Selena herself could hear it and began to climb the ladder leading to the surface.

Clearly, she knew this thing was worse than the Red Typhoon happening on the surface.

Kane knew he had to buy time for her and immediately barred the service entry door with a steel rebar.

*Creak

He saw the steel rebar and the door creak painfully from the pressure of the Tentacle.

*BANG

He retreated to the ladder and gazed up briefly to check on Selena's progress.

As she reached the lid, she used a lever to open the lid and red mist flooded the tunnel, Kane felt his breathe getting slightly heavier and he saw the Tentacle retreat from the Red mist as if it had been corroded by acid.

He quickly climbed the ladder and found a raging red storm on the surface.

Selena was lying on the road, waiting for him.

He quickly knelt beside her and strapped back in despite the wounds on his body feeling really funny.

He blinked his eyes and felt his vision slightly distort for a brief moment along with some voices coming in his head.

He shrugged it off and focused on Selena's hand guidance, she was pointing towards a beacon in the distance with a massive light that was shining like a guiding star in this almost impossible to see the mist.

The typhoon was getting worse as the winds grew even more violent, they couldn't stay long outside.

"*Gasp We need to*Gasp"

"Reach*Gaso"

"Before*Gasp"

"Rain*Gasp"

Kane understood and rushed through the storm.

-' ..on'-

He heard whispers while his vision began to distort more, he was seeing things- A horned monster screeching in flames, a woman tied in thorn chains as her blood seeped endlessly,

Hundreds of millions of souls crying in agony.

He almost fell on his knees but he felt Selena's squeeze on his shoulders.

He grit his teeth and moved forward towards the light that remained undistorted.

He saw corpses of inhuman creatures lying on the ground, ripped and decayed by the Red mist...

*BOOOOM

The Stormed exploded in intensity as lightning tinge with the crimson mist began to strike.

* Zip

Kane immediately kneeled as he heard something tear up and zip above.

It had become somewhat easier to move, almost as if gravity had become lesser.

"RUN!", Selena screamed with all her strength and Kane ran as more and more things began to get uprooted.

*Kitch

*Snik

He felt his gas mask tightening and the visions becoming more and more incomprehensible apart from the light that was shining in the distance.

His blood was beginning to rush out crazily as he felt the Air lessen and lessen, the atmospheric pressure was probably decreasing.

He rushed and rushed towards the light, almost stumbling but he quickly and simply kept on.

The light was almost within reach...

*SLAM

Out of nowhere, he was hit by some kind of blast from below and Selena couldn't be felt on his back as he was sent tumbling to another side.

He felt something pierced his abdomen and ripped it out of instinct only to feel a strange sense of weakness invading his body.

*Crack

Glass had broken, in a panic he touched his mask only to realise it had not broke.

Then realisation hit his mind,

"Selena!", He screamed through the mask and then ran towards the direction where he heard the glass break despite the Raging storm.

He soon came across her, she was curled up- her gas mask broken and she was choking on the red air.

She was alive but not for long, her lungs were already weak- Kane knew if she didn't get replace the broken mask with a new one, she was done for.

And there were no gas masks in the vicinity.

Besides his own.

He knelt before her and made a split second decision, he took of his own gas mask and made her wear it.

*Sssk

"Heeeeeuh *Gasp", Selena was breathing hard through the mask, for a brief moment, Kane saw her eyes staring at him in shock.

He then almost fell to the floor as the voices in his head became louder and more crazy as he could feel the Red mist seep into his nose and mouth.

The light was there, it was not that far, they could reach it...

But what happens after that- he didn't know.

All that mattered was getting to the light.

He carried Selena in his arms and ran to the light as he could not longer hold his breath.

His vision was darkening fast, his hands and feet felt as if they were being burned, his back was becoming heavy, his breathing rapid and the goddamn noises wouldn't stop.

But he had to run, he couldn't let her die, he wasn't selfless- he just didn't want to let someone who saved his life die...

And as a Paragon, pain and suffering were his best friends, the only coherent thought in his mind was to carry Selena to the light.

The Storm thundered and a rain drops began to fall- they weren't really rain drops though and Kane heard it despite the maddening voices.

He used his full strength and ran in a mad rush to the light ignoring pain, voices and tiredness.

The light grew brighter and brighter, more clearer as the voices began to fade...

Just as he was about to enter the threshold, he felt something lock on to him.

He looked up and saw lightning flickering and snaking through the clouds, at that moment, it felt like a crazy thought, he knew- it was coming for him.

Out of instinct, he threw Selena across the threshold to safety and then saw the lightning strike approach above, as it flashed and struck.

*BOOOOOM

-------------------------------------------------------------

Selena was surprised and a bit mortified at the prospect of being thrown across, but as soon as she crashed into the threshold, she felt much better, no more voices or dreams of blood, atleast for now.

The light shined brightly over the tower and created a Psionic Barrier - a Psionic Bubble if you will which negated the corrosive Psi effects of the red storm.

They were UV lamps nearby, so atleast the virus wouldn't act up.

*BOOOOOM

She heard a lightning strike from behind her.

*Thud

Not far from her a somewhat charred body had been flung through the threshold.

She trembled as she recognized the burnt clothes and the destroyed Biomarker she had just reset.

She crawled to the body andshe and as stunned.

*Static

A radio lit up nearby.

Several people in wrapped cloth armor and gasmasks with some kind of guns closed in on them.

"It's fucking kids- they are not viral! Stand Down!", the leading man shouted at his squad as he approached them.

"Command this Sgt. Holowen- We have two survivors- a girl and a boy-, girl is conscious and the boy... Nevermind - the boy is dead, we are taking them into custody", He spoke into the radio after seeing the condition of the body.

"Anne tranq the girl and take her, Bozo and Marx - tag the boy and bag him- let's move out people", he ordered.

They immediately executed their orders.