Astral Hoarder: Embrace of Malevolence

"What the fuck is going on!?" came a sound from Zimo's left. It was Maya who was so distraught that she went into the arms of Jacques to hide her eyes from what was happening outside. Zimo knew now though. This was who she was. She was flirty and loved having men do her favours. This act of hers was just another way to keep this man continuously looking the way he was going to be.

Jacques, acting as a good guy, couldn't help but rub her back, telling her it was okay and that it must be a few people going crazy in this weird weather. Zimo looked at the two. Perfect for each other. One was a woman who could have been fucking another man if not for him, and another was a trashy manipulative man who had no hard-working bone in his body. Idiots. 

A few people? Zimo said nothing, but he could see the shadow of the smile on Jacques' face…

A few people were going crazy in this weather for sure. Some of them were in this room. Anyway, Maya… If Rob knew what you were doing there, would he be okay with it?

"I'm calling the cops!" said Vinny, who always seemed to have a phone in his hand. Everyone also got into action, with some, like Phil, opening up Social Media after getting alerts one after another.

Zimo continued to look out there, his heart sinking after every second as he continued seeing the emergence of more and more of those "People" whose flesh seemed to be melting off their bodies… But he was sure now... surer than ever before.

Those were not people, were they? Zimo could tell now as they stopped eating the coffee lady, letting her get up and join her as one of them.

They were monsters.

"…mo! Zimo!!"

Zimo was brought back to reality by Jacques, who was still cradling Maya in his hands caringly. "Yes?" Zimo said in his characteristic fashion, causing a sneer to flash on Jacques' face for a moment, before turning into a frown again.

"Go fetch some water for Maya. And close the fucking blinds!"

"That's not my job," Zimo said naturally. Something about this rain brought something out of him. The anger he had been holding back this entire time. All of it was coming back to him in ways he could never understand. 

"What did you just say?" said the man, turning to the people and then looking at them in a way that was looking around in such an interesting way that it was pretty funny.

"That's not my job," he repeated as if not knowing that Jacques wanted him to change his story.

"You fucking bastard! Your job is whatever I say it is! You've done this before. I don't know why you're acting so uptight all of a sudden! Get me that fucking water while I'm being civil with you," Jacques said, this time not holding back at all as he let go of Maya who stood there with a smile on her face.

"Or what?" said Zimo casually, gazing at his Team Leader with a taunting expression. 

"Or what?! Fucking bastard?!! Or you're fired!!" It wasn't just Jacques, it was everyone else too who was looking at Zimo as if he had done some major crime. Was this Zimo? There was no way it was.

"You can't fire me. You're just a team leader. If you want to fire me, you'll have to talk to her boyfriend, Manager Rob," Zimo said with a cold smile on his face. The room went quiet as everyone at the scene turned to look at Jacques who had an unsightly expression and Maya, who looked like she had just swallowed a rock.

Did this guy just say that?

"What the fuck did you say to me, you little shit?!" Jacque said his face turning into a tomato.

"Zimo, how dare you slander me?!" said Maya her face turning blacker than the rain that was coming down outside.

The two began shouting but found themselves stunned in the next moment when Zimo merely walked out of the room heading to the restrooms. He had no idea that he had left the room with Jacques throwing a fit, and Maya complaining about being slandered, shedding crocodile tears as she did. He would have laughed if he was there. But since he wasn't then he would never know.

Zimo was somewhere else at that moment though. 

He was in the bathroom, which coincidentally had a window to the outside and as he touched the cold hard surface of the window, he found himself mesmerised by the black good that was landing on there like that as if God had thrown out some jelly that had stayed out too long in his fridge.

"What is this stuff?" Zimo muttered to himself, as he peered into the street below. There were still some people who were sane and were hurrying by with umbrellas, their faces contorted in confusion and fear as they sought shelter from the strange precipitation and the strange "people".

Looking a bit more, ZImo spotted something insane. A few meters ahead, Zimo spotted a dog, or at least something that was supposed to be a dog, now drenched in this black slime as it rushed forward, intercepting and biting the man who was running away.

Wait... that was not a man. That was one of those "people."

That dog… It was glowing in yellow and its eyes were glowing in yellow too. It didn't seem disgusting or weird and deathly but actually in a way... It looked pretty... alive? Pretty alive. It seemed the yellow glow might be helping it stay safe. 

Zimo watched in disbelief as the Dog tore into the man's leg, and then afterwards, pounced on his head, biting into it and ripping something that glowed blue out of it, swallowing it, and then suddenly glowed brighter than before.

What? What the hell was happening?! What was the blue thing? Zimo wrote this down very quickly and when he saw it he looked back at the scene trying to understand what was happening. 

And then looking at the man's body, only to see something that was mutilated beyond any understanding, Zimo sighed. How intense... He was doubly glad he had not gone out there to get the black stuff. He would follow his instinct from now on.

Looking at the other monsters that were shuffling around, with flesh and blood still dropping off their bodies, Jason realised that he needed to get more information. This was just… How terrifying… He had so many questions and so many pieces of data that he could map.

What was this black rain? And how was it turning ordinary people into monsters that behaved like zombie monsters from the movies? ZImo wrote all these questions and sightings and when he did, he couldn't help but see a path forward. Social Media.

He was not a Social Media kind of person, but he kept a spam account running for situations like these where he had to get something from the algorithms.

This was the perfect situation for that. As he scrolled his feed, he saw something he would have never believed… Everyone in the world was reporting the sighting of this same black rain. 

People in Sao Paolo were taking videos of their neighbours going crazy, eating their wives to death, before later, the wife came back alive and started walking around as if nothing was going on. People in Beijing were complaining about a flood of Zombies walking about the streets, eating people and killing as they wished.

People in New York were warning others not to touch the black rain because it might be the one act that changed their lives forever. Government pages all around the world were warning people, telling them to stay home as they figured everything out.

What the hell was going on? 

This uneasy anticipation he felt in his chest, this sinking feeling, it all pointed to a shift, not just in his own life, but in the entire world.

Panic was spreading as people reported this black rain that was turning people into something… other. And this panic was turning into chaos that was unfurling like a dark oily black wave across the planet. 

As Zimo watched the scenes of devastation unfold, a cold realisation set in in his heart. The world as he knew it was ending. Strange phenomena were happening everywhere around him. And he was being thrust into this world, with nothing but his wits and his will to live.

Zimo wondered what lay ahead for him…Uncertainty? Fear? The Dawn of a New Era?

Even as he watched as people filmed these zombies in interest and fascination, his mind was caught between the desire to deny the reality that was unfolding before his own very eyes and the instinctual urge to adapt, to find a way through the darkness that was surrounding him, threatening to swallow him whole.

But Zimo didn't have to think too much about that question. If there was one thing Zimo did better than most people, it was adaptation.

*BANG!-BANG!-BANG!-BANG!*

Zimo was taken out of his reverie by the sounds of banging on the toilet stall door he was inside of and he took a deep breath to calm himself down before unlocking the door only to see Phil standing there, looking at him, the arrogance in his brow now replaced by panic.

"You're being called up!"

A few moments later, Zimo walked into the Department to find tens of his fellow Engineers and Computer Scientists standing and talking amongst themselves about how crazy the world was becoming.

Looking out into the distance at the dark ominous clouds that covered the skies, still raining down black goop, Zimo tried his best not to panic and merely stood there quietly as Manager Rob began speaking.

"Quiet down everyone! I need your attention!" Rob barked, his voice barely audible over the clamour. But those that saw, alerted the others and soon enough, the noise slowly died down as the employees turned their attention to their manager, their faces pale and drawn with fear.

"I'm sure you've seen what's been going on outside and on social media. Some people think it's some bioweapon, others think it's some experiment gone wrong. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter right now as I need all of you to listen," said the handsome middle-aged man, his brows furrowed in concern.

"The government seems to have issued a state of emergency and all nonstandard personnel are to remain indoors until further notice!"

"What?!"

"No way, what about my mom?"

"I can't. I have a son that goes to school!"

As murmurs of disbelief rippled through the crowd, Rob's words sank in fully. State of Emergency? Wasn't that something that only happened in the movies? It all seemed so surreal. How was this possible?

"If you have to leave, you can. After all, we cannot stop you. But please, take care of yourselves," said Rob, his tone soft and comforting as he continued, "To everyone else, please stay with us. We need you. Just remember, people, we're in this together! Once a WebSotmr Tech-er, always a WebStorm Tech-er!"

With that, the meeting fizzled out with everyone filtering out of the room and heading for the elevator or the stairs, their minds reeling with the implications of what they had just heard.

Zimo lingered behind, his thoughts racing. He was an orphan and he did not have familial obligations. So that might have made his mind a bit clearer. But at the same time... The option to take was pretty simple. He was not idiotic enough to go out there. At least not right now while it was raining down.

He had a car he could take, but where would he go? And he knew for certain there were others with families. If everyone got on the road at the same time, what would happen? He would wait it out here. He would see how the government reacts to the situation, and make his plans after considering all the variables. 

Till then, he would have to continue gathering information, securing his survival, and seeing if he could make something of whatevr he had with him.

Little did Zimo know, he would soon get thrown out there whether he liked to go there or not.