Blood Rising: Voice
Of Justice
Chapter 1:
The Beginning
The air reeked of rot. It wasn't just the decay of trash or mildew in the Seoul subway system, it was the heavy, suffocating scent of something wrong, something dead, bleeding into the world.
Five minutes before the apocalypse began in Seoul, Seol Hye-won sat motionless on a half-empty train, the fluorescent lights above flickering like a dying heartbeat. The city bustled beyond the glass, As Hye-won scrolls through her phone, her fingers tremble when a news article catches her eye.
"Breaking News: Catastrophic Events Unfold.
Across the Globe"
She mutters, "Let me sit down," almost to calm herself as she sinks into an empty seat.
"What's the point of school anymore?"
she mutters, her voice. A bitter weight settles in her chest as she recalls the way everyone treats her. She exhales sharply, shaking her head as if to push the thoughts away. "Focus, Hye-won!"
Seoul Times | April 19, 2022 – 6:02 AM KSTA
global state of emergency has been declared following the sudden appearance of a massive interdimensional portal in the Pacific Ocean near the coast of California, USA. From this portal, giant, unidentified life forms now referred to internationally as "Hollows" have emerged, attacking coastal cities and destroying everything in their path.
The United States was the first to face these monsters. Within hours, cities such as San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles fell into chaos. Witness reports claim that killing a Hollow and touching its heart causes it to fuse with the person's body, granting them terrifying and unnatural powers. The details remain unverified by scientific authorities.
Worse still, a contagious infection dubbed "Acute Sanguismorphogenic Virus-86
(ASMV-86)"
This insidious ailment transforms its victims into monstrous beings named Blood Crawlers, adding to the chaos spreading like wildfire across the globe.
President Yoon Suk Yeol has declared a nationwide emergency and ordered all non-essential citizens to remain indoors. Military checkpoints have been established in Seoul, Incheon, and Daegu. The KCDC has issued warnings that the infection may spread silently and advised all hospitals to operate
under quarantine procedures.
International communication is faltering. The U.S. government has gone silent after a failed defense operation near Nevada. Martial law has been declared in over 60 countries.
The world is in chaos. Civilians are advised not to engage with the creatures and to evacuate if ordered. Humanity may be facing
an extinction-level event.
Stay tuned for live updates.
oblivious to it's approaching doom. People laughed. Car horns blared. Somewhere, a child was singing. It all felt like a dream waiting to turn into a nightmare.
Her hands trembled as she scrolled through her phone. The screen jittered slightly in her grip, sweat slicking her palms. Then her breath caught.
Her phone slipped from her fingers. A bone-rattling tremor shook the train. Her lips quivered.
"It's not real. It's not... monsters, portals, t-this isn't-"
"Are you alright?"
She jolted. A man's voice breaks through her daze. His presence is the only thing anchoring her to the moment. She looks up, finding the source: a military uniform and sturdy, black-haired man with sharp, piercing eyes. He offers her a weak smile, though the tension in his body betrays his own fear.
Startled by his voice, Seol Hye-won looks up, her eyes wide with alarm
"I-I'm okay, thank you," she manages to reply, though her voice trembles slightly.
"No way it's really true right? Huiwin says to herself
Alone on the train, she thinks of it's purpose amidst the chaos gripping the world. Before she can dwell further, a commotion erupts among the passengers as a deafening noise reverberates from the ocean.
Then, a scream. Piercing. Humans.
The windows rattled violently. A sound deep and wrong rumbled from outside. Like something too big for this world was dragging itself into it.
"They're here…"
she whispers to herself, paralyzed with fear as she watches in horror.
The train screeches to a halt as if answering her question. The sudden stop jolts everyone forward, and the terrified passengers erupt into chaos. The man beside her rises, then revealing his insignia of a military officer on his uniform.
A horrible sound tore through the air, like metal twisting and bones snapping. The train lurched again. Outside, people had begun to run. From what, she couldn't see yet.
Then she did. It stepped out of the ocean like a god of death. A hollow. Towering, black-fleshed, ribs exposed like jagged teeth across its torso. Its face was a mess of writhing tendrils and a single glowing red eye that scanned the city like a lighthouse of ruin. "Run!" someone shouts from the back, and all hell breaks loose.
"Listen up! I'm Lieutenant Yong Seung!"
His voice commands the crowd, cutting through the panicked shrieks. "Stay calm! We can get to safety, but you need to follow my lead."
Hye-won is frozen in place, her mind racing. She watches as people shove past her, trampling over one another in their desperation to escape. Her breath comes in shallow.
"No way it's really true right? Hye-won says to herself.
Alone on the train, Hye-won thinks of purpose amidst the chaos gripping the world. Before she can dwell further, a commotion erupts among the passengers as a deafening noise reverberates from the ocean. "We're all going to die!" someone shouted.
"What the hell was that?"
Hye-won gasps. Her heart pounds. Her palms are clammy. Outside, the skyline of Seoul is no longer serene. Shadows loom, massive and twisted, dragging themselves from the ocean, their grotesque forms barely human. Gasps, but she can't move. Not even when she sees people outside get crumble as a hollow grabs them and tears them apart in one swift motion.
"No!" Seung's voice cut through the chaos like a blade. "We move now or we don't move again!"
The panic was infectious. One woman was trampled. A child sobbed. A man clawed at the emergency door, blood streaking the metal as he tried to escape.
Hye-won couldn't move. She was rooted to her seat, unable to breathe, her vision tunneling. Then she saw it through the window, one of the hollows grabbed a man and tore him in half. No scream. Just blood.
"Get up!" Seung grabbed her arm, yanking her to her feet.
"B-b-but h-he-" Her words broke apart, unable to speak from the fear.
"Don't look. Move." He said, trying to calm her down.
As the train screeches as the doors begin to open, and Seung motions to the passengers.
"Everyone out now! Move! Move!"
They burst through the subway doors and charged up the station stairs leading to the exit as they ran out onto the street.
Hye-won stumbles to the doors along with the others, the city's screams echoing behind her as Seoul crumbles into chaos. Screams poured in with the smoke and ash. She ran.
The others surged around her, mindless with fear. She stumbled, nearly crushed, only to fall into someone, a girl, sobbing by a pillar.
"I... I don't want to die." the girl whispered.
Hye-won saw her and even though she was terrified, she instinctively ran to her.
"Neither do I," Hye-won gasped, trying to calm her down.
"What's your name?" Seung asked, trying to take her mind off of everything.
"J-Jiyeon. Soomin Jiyeon."
"Stay with me," Seung said with such urgency. "We'll find a way. I promise"
The sky outside had turned black. Not from clouds but from the shadows of the hollows swarming into the city. Their screeches were unbearable, low frequencies that vibrated the skull.
The earth shook as one drew closer, cracking pavement and flattening cars beneath its mass. Its arm crashed down like a wrecking ball, flattening a building in a single motion.
Lieutenant Seung turned to them, his mouth tight.
"They're still far away. We move now. Or we die screaming."
Jiyeon fell. Screamed. "I CAN'T! I can't run anymore!"
"Come on!" Hye-won dragged her up, tears streaking down her own face. "I don't care if we're scared! We have to move!"
But a whisper crawled in the back of her mind.
It's already over…
Story made by Me and Billy Rainey