Revelation

Chapter 1 - Genesis of the End

(Added symptoms of panic attack, mentions of self-harm and mentions of suicide to trigger warnings after I noticed Abattu's existence, no offense lol)

- 4 days prior to the events of Prologue - Procedure One -

Abattu glanced down at his desk as he heard the vibration of his phone, looking away from his Discord conversation to check the message he received. His eyes widened as his gaze fell on the small screen.

A shelter-in-place order had been issued by the government, announcing an enemy nuke. He frowned, not believing it at first. It has to be a fake message or something.

"Maybe North Korea actually did it," he laughed to himself before Maxi barged into the room.

"Get down!" they yelled, ducking under the bed as they did.

Abattu started, then reacted and quickly flattened himself against the flooring under his desk.

There was an ear-splitting rumble as the ground shook. A large wardrobe fell on top of the bed. It smashed the mattress, clearly snapping a few springs.

"Maxi!" Abattu yelped, terror filling his gaze at the sight of the crushed bed.

"M'fine!" A voice came from under the crushed mess of wood and cloth.

Maximum peeked out from where they were still lying. As the rumbling died down, they let out a small laugh. "Mind giving me a hand?"

Abattu quickly scrambled out of his hiding spot and went to examine the wardrobe. "I can't lift that," he muttered. "And you know it."

Maxi sighed. "There's a gap here, dumbass. Just hold the bed up while I crawl out."

Cringing at her own stupidity, Abattu quickly walked over and lifted the corner his friend was pointing at, dropping it just in time for Maxi to crawl out. The hardwood floor made it easy for them to slither through the small opening.

"Phew!" Abattu whispered as Maximum puffed beside him. "If that was a nuke, though, why aren't we dead yet?"

"No idea!"

"You seem awfully cheerful about this."

Maxi simply rolled their eyes and stood up, glancing around. Nothing seemed to be damaged except for the wardrobe and the bed. Even the living room on the other side of the door seemed to be in a generally good state too. Strolling over to their own room, they grabbed their phone and scanned through a multitude of new articles, but to no avail.

As Abattu peeked into the room, the front door suddenly flew open, revealing Mei, who was gasping for breath. It looked like he had just run a marathon.

"Oh my goodness are you okay?"

Mei glanced up to see Abattu, who was patting them on the back. His eyes shone bright with concern.

"I'm fine now," Mei replied. "Got stuck in the parking lot when that thing detonated, though."

"How'd that happen?" Abattu questioned. "Are you hurt? You good? Can I help? How'd you get over here?"

"Calm down," Mei said. "I'm alright. I was parking the car when the nuke hit. Had to stay there for a bit."

Before Abattu could reply, Maxi interrupted their conversation. "We should leave."

"Why?" Mei looked up, slightly startled. "What happened?"

"They say the zone near the blast is dangerous, and that we have to evacuate as soon as possible."

Maxi held up a map of the city on their phone, showing a red circle representing the danger zone.

"Shadow lives there," Abattu frowned, pointing at a street near the center of the circle. "We might wanna call him over."