Night Rain
Nuclear Winter 2117 December

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we have converged here today to discuss the new success of the drug designed to eradicate Suicidal Pain disease or scientifically known as Impotenti Contritionem. As you all know, the history of the Suicidal Pain disease is relatively short. However, this is not to be taken lightly.” The speaker turned to a screen and tapped a button on the screen frame. The screen lit up with pictures of what looked like twists of twist ties. “Here we have the genetic makeup of Suicidal Pain Disease. I am sure that you all know how it infects a victim as you are all experts in this field. However, the virus is mutating and no vaccination is possible as the makeup keeps changing to where is renders vaccines useless. To combat this, we have created a drug that instead of vaccinating against the virus, it instead strengthens the immune system of the victim to where his body can fight off the virus itself. So far, this drug has passed all the clinical trials that we have thrown at it. I believe that soon, this virus will be history. But for now, we must speed up testing as thousands are dying each day in this country alone from Suicidal Pain disease.”
Nuclear Winter 2112 October 5 Years Ago


“So, how is the subject doing?” “We don’t know. He has been exposed to the Suicidal Pain disease but he is showing few symptoms. I think that the drug has slowed down the effects.” “Hmm. At least some progress.”
5 Days Later
“Well, patient is showing advanced symptoms” The other doctor walked up to the one way mirror. “That’s an understatement.” Past the one way mirror was a haggard man with torn clothes. “AGRGHHGHG” screamed the man. For the 10 minutes, the doctors watched the man scream. A secret panel opened from the ceiling in the man’s confinement and out dropped a knife. “AGGHRH!!IT HURTS! MAKE IT STOP” with that last word, the man took the knife and buried it in his throat. “Serious stuff this disease is.” “More reason to find a cure.”
Nuclear Winter 2117 December
“We are proud to announce that the drug to treat the Suicidal Pain disease, N-5 Type 1, is officially released to the public! This shows a major moment where mankind has triumphed over the worst disease ever known!” In the city, pedestrians were hustling near pharmacies. “WE WANT TO BUY N-5! WE WANT TO BUY N-5” The crowd screamed at the pharmacists. One of the pharmacists got a bull-horn and shouted, “I AM SORRY BUT WE ARE SOLD OUT!” The crowd yelled and started to throw items including trash and whatever they had in their hands. In the background of the pharmacy, someone yelled, “NEW SHIPMENT OF N-5 JUST ARRIVED!” The crowd cheered at this and surged even more against the pharmacy.
Nuclear Winter 2118 December
“Here we celebrate the anniversary of the release of the drug that stopped the deadliest disease known to mankind. So far, we have had good reports about the effectiveness of the drug with only a few…insignificant….complaints. However, we must increase production and lower the price to make this drug as we always seem to be close to short supply.”
Nuclear Winter 2119 December
“Sir, I don’t think we can ignore these reports anymore. The public is starting to hear rumors and there has been some video proof. Our database workers have hacked into our databases and removed all copies of the videos. But we cannot rid of all those videos if this goes viral. We must withdraw supple!”
A man in a dark suit shifted behind the desk.
“Do you know what opportunity is?”
“Yes but I-“
“And do you know that this opportunity can earn us power and money?”
“…”
“I believe that this argument is dropped.”
“For now sir, for now…”
Glass Rainfall 2126 January
“Desolate.”
“I know.”
“Wonder what happened.”
“No. Not desolate. Cars aren’t moving. But people are.”
“Damn rain, can’t see a thing.”
“Well that’s what you get when someone tries to solve this problem by glassing it.”
“Just the thing we Elites have to deal with.”
Glass Rainfall 2130 March
“I really didn’t want to finish high school anyway… But this isn’t too comfortable either.” Raine grumbled. Raine was sprawled on the floor with wooden beams pinning him to the floor. “First operation I actually failed…” As Raine tried to writhe out from under the beam, the words Elite in shining letters shown on his back. Unable to slide out under the beam, Raine managed to turn to where the beam was on his abdomen. With two hands on the beam, he lifted the beam up off with little effort. “That’s much better.” Raine said satisfied while also putting on a full face helmet with a black visor. He then patted his hand around his waist and pulled out black greaves. Putting them on, he swiped on it and put his mouth close to it. “This is Echo 2 reporting in from SHADOW team landing requesting pickup.” No response. “Frustrated, Raine tore it off and tossed it over his back. As he looked up again, he started to take note of his surroundings. Around him were drop ships that created craters under them. Elsewhere were more craters without drop ships. Except these had smooth glasslike surfaces which were still smoking. “Plasma bombardment followed by gravity lift. Rest of my team made it out at least.” Turning around, he saw a different sort of drop ship that was not completely hollow. Instead, it had 4 sides with racks on them holding Raine didn’t know what. However, he smiled and started running toward it. As he got close, his smile faded away a bit. On the racks were weapons. Mostly small arms but as Raine rummaged around, he pulled out a rifle shaped gun that had a transparent clip showing an ice-like block. “Glacial Warfare Rifle, used in Nuclear Summer when people were unaccustomed to the cold. Nasty weapons.” Raine looked around again and pulled out an oddly shaped blade about 3 feet long. The hilt instead of being vertical was horizontal with blue material coming out of the ends of the hilts curving at the end with the middle part partially missing. “My favorite weapon… Liquid nitrogen blade with magnetic fields holding the shape together. AKA the Arctic Blade.” Raine however, kept looking through the drop ship, “YES! SCORE!” Rain stood up and pulled out a pack of barbecue beef jerky. “I love these! Favorite snack of all time!” And with that last word, Raine set out. Walking across the street, Raine looked at all the abandoned cars and glass on the floor. Raine noticed that not one window in the buildings was intact and that all seemed like something large and heavy broke through them. As Raine walked forward, he noticed one window still in one piece that was on the 4th floor of a building. “Diamond in the rough…” muttered Raine. Lost in thought, Raine didn’t notice a shadow flick past the window. A few seconds later, the window broke with a loud shatter and Raine looked up to see something large land on top of him. Disorientated, he shook his head and looked up at a man who was snarling with fluids dripping out of his mouth. Raine immediately came to the conclusion that this was no human because of its red eyes that burned with murderous intent. Its skin was leathery and a bit shriveled with gashes in various places. “What the hell is this thing?” thought Raine. Wasting no further time, he flipped over to where the monster had the back to the ground and pulled out his Arctic Blade. With a swift movement, Rain plunged the blade into its chest. The monstrosity slowed while its skin turned blue but kept moving in a stiff manner. Hiding his surprise, Raine quickly took out the Glacial Warfare Rifle and let loosed 5 rounds starting from stomach to head. After the 5-round burst, it slowly writhed around and finally laid still. What was that thing? Raine thought. “Whatever it was, I think this was what SHADOW team had to deal with.” Trudging on, Raine became alert and took in his surroundings carefully. Then in the distance, he spotted a person sitting down against a lamppost. Raine immediately quickened his footsteps while also ducking behind cover. As the person was just ahead of a car on fire, Raine jumped over it and saw a grisly sight. It was a person but dead. Head stooped forward, there was a knife buried in his chest with various gashes on his body. His torso was missing chunks of flesh and the blood had long dried up. Flies were buzzing around and the smell was almost unbearable. Raine turned in disgust and walked even further down the road. When it was afternoon, Raine sat down for a rest when his helmet interface started to receive static. “Echo 2, We…New… Objective is… survivors…sending… gear… ordinance…careful… infection…N-5…bloodthirsty….” Raine tapped his helmet surprised. “This is Echo 2 from SHADOW team. I am stranded in this city with few supplies and gear. Requesting pickup.” “…denied….objective….suicidal….expendable…..military….disagree….ordance incoming…” Raine looked up and saw an object cast a shadow in the sky. Realizing what is was, Raine jumped out of the way and watched as it landed. Landing hard, the drop ship made a crater on the ground and sent a white burst of force field like material from it. With the crater smoking, the sides of the drop ship burst off with one nearly hitting Raine. “New toys.” Muttered Raine. “I take this, this, and this. Active Camo Module, Evasive Maneuvers Module, and Personal Energy Shielding System Module. Don’t forget the weapons.” Rain said to himself, “Nice. An Automatic Lightning Allocator, Glass Grenades, and a Uranium Rod Cannon. Very nice.” Attaching the modules onto the corresponding places on his armor, he strapped all 2 weapons on his back in a criss-cross shape with his Artic Blade deactivated on his side and shouldered the Glacial Warfare Rifle. “Testing Modules.” Raine said in a clear voice. Blue waves rolled down his armor becoming brighter and them just disappearing. “Energy shields online. Testing Active Camo.” Parts of Raine’s armor became transparent until he looked almost invisible with the exception of some figure lines. Then he reappeared. “Active Camo online. Testing Evasive Maneuvers.” Looking down the street, he launched himself with impossible speed head first 20 yards away, rolled and came back up. “Evasive Maneuvers fully functional.” Commented Raine, “Well, first things first. What better place to find people in a school? That’s where most students should be at least.” With that, Raine started walking toward the nearest school he could find on his helmet GPS interface. Raine stood at the gates of a high school with vast brick walls and a glass dome at the very front of the campus. Walking up was no easy feat as the school was situated at the top of the hill with overlooked many parts of the city but he still made it. Raine briskly walked toward the entrance and promptly set off a burglar alarm. “Oh crap….” Rain muttered, “The very first thing I learned in Elite Stealth training was to check for alarms… I guess I never thought I would actually be breaking INTO a school.” Raine then heard shrieking and hollering. He turned around and saw more of those evil red eyed creatures all sprinting toward him. Raine didn’t have to see any more dead bodies like the one on the lamp post to know what would happen to him if he didn’t run and lock the door. Raine turned and kicked the door closed while also through a Glass Grenade. As the horde grew closer, the grenade exploded in a perfect sphere made of plasma and imploded in itself. Instead of a door, there were two warped pieces of metal with a layer of shiny smooth hard material that was dark in color and barely transparent. Raine kicked it one to test its durability and when it held, he turned back around and walked down the corridors. The high school was much larger than the one Raine was going to finish in and the corridors held many rooms connected to it. While walking, he saw two more of the beasts running toward him. Raine holstered his Glacial Warfare Rifle and sprayed at them with deadly accuracy. At first, it seemed ineffective with the results being that they slowed down and their skin turned blue but after a few seconds of sustained firing, a blue explosion erupted and enveloped the two assailants. After the cloud settled, Rain saw one of the bodies was completely shredded with the other being almost severed in half with the spine being the last connection between the upper and lower halves. No blood poured out as the veins were frozen up and not functional anymore. “Not a way to go…” commented Raine. Raine then hoisted his gear up again and started speed walking toward the rooms. Throughout the walk, each classroom was filled with victims of the monstrosities. Some corpses were bloated and some were not even recognizable as human. Soon, Raine found his way into the science corridor of the High School. A gleaming computer with only a few blood stains caught his eye. He quickly tried to log on and was denied access. Rain turned and look around and found a dead student with something in his pocket. It was a student id pass with his student number and other basic information. “I wonder…” Raine tapped in the student number and logged on. A box popped up saying, “Welcome Bobby Philips. How has your day been?” “Pretty crappy…” muttered Rain to himself. As Raine browsed around the folders, he found one marked, “Suicidal Pain Disease” Rain clicked on it. Out popped a text document labeled as “research”
Impotenti Contritionem (Latin: Uncontrollable Pain) is the spinal nerve disease that attacks the part of the brain that controls fear, adrenaline doses, and pain. This induces incredibly long panic attacks which also produce the pain impulse constantly until victim can no longer stand it therefore committing suicide. New drug has been developed to aid those suffering this disease. Known as the N-5 drug, this bolsters the immune system to fight off this virus. Pain and fear are guaranteed but there are hopes that the drug fights off the virus before irreversible consequences can occur. It is advised to strap down the patient before administering N-5 as the drug may be too late and the patient commits suicide before N-5 has finished its job. N-5 is shown to have some symptoms of paranoia, dissociative identity disorder, schizophrenia, and one of the newer discovered diseases, FOFRD (Fight-or-Flight Rage Disorder) but in hopes that the pros will outweigh the cons, it will be released anyway.
New entry: N-5 is released. City is in uproar as the demand skyrockets for this new drug. Already, cases have been reported where the patient is starting to recover. More and more supplies of it are being made but the demand is never satisfied. This could be the new hot product after Tobacco/nicotine free cigarettes. N-5 also seems to in a few individuals produce a beneficial side effect of heightened senses and a bolstered immune system. Wounds seem to heal twice as fast.
New entry: N-5 is reported to be causing some unwanted side effects. People are starting to develop paranoia and seem to hide away from society. Some lash out violently if disturbed. Night activity seems to be increased…
New entry: N-5 is starting to be questioned if it is safe or not. Victims have had complete mental breakdowns and are incredibly hostile if disturbed. All bodily functions have increased by almost 200 percent. Brain activity, hormone production, everything.
New entry: People are starting to panic. One person showing symptoms of the drug N-5 broke out and savagely attacked 3 people. Those 3 are now in solitary confinement cells. Apparently, after being attacked, 2 out of the 3 started exhibiting the same symptoms. The other died from his wounds.
New entry: New information on N-5. N-5 never cured Suicidal Pain Disease. It only suppressed it to where it could no longer be felt. However, nerve damage started to ensue causing mental breakdowns. This Suicidal Pain Disease seems to have bonded with the molecular structure of N-5. This causes Suicidal Pain Disease to exhibit the same effects of N-5. Authorities have dubbed this new disease as ND-5S. This is warned to be highly contagious and can be transmitted by bodily fluids.
New entry: The streets are in riot. It is a three sided fight with protestors, riot guard, and these…these… I can’t put my tongue on exactly what they are.
New entry: People are barricading in their houses. Me and half the school are residing in this building. This can’t be happening.
New entry: Been here for days… One of the students turned out to be infected. She infected 6 others. We put them all down with fire axes…
New entry: We have heard rumors of the government inserting special “Elite” units into this area. Could they really stem the infection?
New entry: Firefight broke out with the… I am just going to call them Elites. Elites were firing into a crowd of those infected people. The brutal efficiency they exhibited… It was not enough. I saw them slowly retreated. One of them, the leader by the looks of him, spoke into his wrist. A few minutes later, a shadow loomed over the area. I looked up and saw a ship about the length of the school and the width of my house. It flew over the area and just hovered there. Then, a beam of light shot down and made a huge crater. The Elites ran toward it. When all were inside the light, the light expanded and with a blinding flash, it disappeared. In the Elites place was an even bigger crater around the size of trampoline. Then the ship flew out of the area. I guess we are trapped in here after all.
New entry: Had to put more down today. Water is starting to become an issue.
New entry: News of another Elite team being sent out. I hoped they learned something.
New entry: Elite team sent out. At first it was going good but then horde after horde. The leader spoke to his wrist but this time, nothing came to pick them up. Instead I saw the leader look up and shoot into the air shaking his fist. Then, it was back to firing into the crowd. These Elites… they don’t tire. They kept shooting all day when finally, they threw down their guns and pulled out various melee weapons. One of them had this odd blade shaped like something from a game that was popular long ago. He was the most efficient of them all. While not the biggest or the strongest, he was the smartest. You could tell on how he coordinated melee strikes, calculating trajectories. Eventually, they were surrounded. One by one, they were overwhelmed. At first, when one was overwhelmed, I saw flashes like an electromagnetic pulse. Then I realized that that signified that they were about to die. Except for one of them. The one with the oddly shaped blade pushed his way past the horde and into a building. He kicked a huge table and some chairs into place against the door barricading himself. He then threw what looked like grenades that turned its surroundings into shiny glassy material. The explosion rocketed the building and I saw a beam collapse. I have given up all hope.
New entry: Out of water. The infected roam the building. We only have a small section left.
New entry: They are right outside the door… I miss you mom. Dad. I’m sorry I always thought of you as idiots. I still love you guys, even if you are trying to kill me right now. This time dad, mom…I’ll open the door and greet you guys. Join you.
New entry: Oh damn. Everyone is dead. Everyone in the building. Here I am putting on lipstick in the restroom and then I come out and everyone is dead. I am typing in hopes that someone might find a record. Don’t know what to do. Weird dead science guy in the room with me. Ughh, the stench.
Raine noted that this was a different person. “Survivors.” Rain said with an interested tone. Raine turned and walked out the door when a slight vibrate on his wrist made him look down. On it, a holographic screen popped out and showed lines and a red blinking dot. Every few seconds, it would blink out and then blink again in rapid succession. Wireless signal coming from the building Raine realized. With a fast jog, he headed toward the location. A few times, he ran into dead ends and other “infected” as the entries referred to them as. When encountering the infected, Raine didn’t bother pulling out his gun. He instead stabbed his Arctic Blade into their chest, lifting them up and throwing them over his back. Eventually, he turned a corner and found a congregation of bodies all shuffling toward a door. Raine glanced at his wrist and the holographic screen showed that the signal was coming behind the door. Realizing that the blade was not an efficient way to kill off the infected, he pulled out the Glacial Warfare Rifle and started firing. Raine remembered his fight with the first encountered infected and started adjusting shots to where he fired at a slower but still fast pace. All shots were heads shots and cause every infected head to turn blue. Something about it also gave the heads an impression of expanding. After a few minutes, the horde was obliterated. Raine slowly made his way to the door holding his Arctic Blade. Raine kicked the door open and a body fell over on him. Raine quickly stabbed his blade into the body before realizing that it was dead, its head broken by something large and blunt. Raine quickly shoved the body aside and out of the corner of his eye, saw something swing down on him. With his Blade still lodged in the body, he raised his arm to brace for impact. An axe blade hit him on the arm. Raine’s arm didn’t even waver. A weird light glowed around his arm and then returned to normal. The axe came up but this time, Raine caught the axe head with one hand. He ripped it out of his assailant’s hand and caught a good look at him/her. It was a girl and she had a scared wild look on her face. She lunged at Raine and started beating at his chest. Raine picked her up by the neck and calmly said, “Stop. Calm down.” Slowly, the girl’s beating slowed until she was still as a ragdoll. Raine set her down and she crumpled. “Get up. We have to go. It is not safe.” “My parents… My parents are out there.” She whimpered. “We will get them. What is your name?” Raine replied. She did not reply. “I said, what is your name?” “……..Wintre………” Muttered Wintre. “Follow me. We will get your parents.” Raine said with a softer tone. Slowly Wintre got up. Wintre stood in front of Raine and stared. Raine inside felt uncomfortable as he was not the tallest Elite standing at around 6 feet while Wintre was only a centimeter at most shorter than him. Raine also did not like being stared at as things that stared at him were usually trying to kill him. Those infected were no exception. He was also very conscious of the fact that Wintre was not at all bad-looking. On the contrary, she looked like she was from one of those models in school clothing magazines. After all, as an Elite, when do I look closely at people? Wintre took off her ski cap and brown hair tumbled out in a ponytail. “Who are you? What are you?” Wintre inquired. “I can’t answer the first question. But the answer to the second is; your best chance for survival.” Raine answered. “I was surviving just fine without you.” Muttered Wintre. “You were locked up in a room with 50 bloodthirsty beasts just waiting to tear you apart. That’s really good at surviving.” Raine said with a note of amusement. “I could have taken them on…” Wintre grumbled with an air of someone whose pride was hurt. Raine and Wintre walked down the hallways with Wintre shooting looks of curiosity and annoyance at him. “Does it get hot with all the armor you wear?” Wintre asked innocently with a barely suppressed smirk. “I bet that makes you really stink.” “Its nuclear winter, people don’t know what being hot is like. I would think that you knew that but are to provoke me.” Raine answered. “Just trying to make conversation…” Wintre grumbled. “You go to this school?” Raine asked. “I was going to finish high school here. Then stupid ND-5S had to cause everyone to go crazy. I was going to get a diploma and use that to beat the crap out of this annoying girl but noooooo. I get stuck in this hellhole and get to have crazies chasing after me every day. I haven’t had a shower in like days.” Wintre drawled. “Typical teenage brat.” Raine muttered to himself. “Oh that wasn’t even my best imitation. But I can do better.” Wintre smirked. “Aren’t you scared or even concerned about what is happening? A few minutes ago, you were shaking and now you are acting like...like… like a brat!” Raine snapped. Wintre’s face lost some of its arrogance. “I was…I was just trying to not show weakness… I-I kinda like to be….independent. I’m just mad how my parents are still locked up in my house and how they didn’t come to protect me. I’m sorry.” Wintre said quietly. Wintre looked up. “Wow. Never in my life have I ever seen people like you apologize.” Raine said in an amused tone. “People like me?” Wintre said indignantly. “Teenagers.” Raine replied walking forward without saying much after that. Wintre walked behind him in a slightly obstinate manner.
End of Part 1