People froze at the sight of the pillar rising high above the buildings in the sky. Uncertain of what was happening before their eyes. "What in God's name..." said one soldier, stunned, breaking the silence.

In the next moment, the initial shock of the explosion and the sound that followed were gone. People did not understand what had happened, but the sound of the explosion alone was enough to cause panic. Immediately people started to run wild as the soldiers tried to get the situation under control.

But all the soldiers' efforts were in vain, the crowd was already panicking. Some put their hands over their heads to protect themselves from another explosion. Others ran back into the town from which they had come or sought shelter in nearby buildings. Still others crowded the entrances to the bomb shelters.

The panic was so intense that hardly anyone noticed as the noise slowly seemed to disappear. Like the sound, the column seemed to shrink until it disappeared behind the houses.

"What happened there?" Zane asked, taking his hands from his ears as people ran past the pickup in panic.

"That's at the hospital!" Zero said, startled, and stepped on the gas. The sudden acceleration caused the pickup's tires to squeal and the bed to rise for a moment before the acceleration was transferred to the road and the pickup began to move.

Zero passed the fleeing civilians, who were coming in panic from the direction of the hospital.

"What was that?" Nathan asked, leaning forward to get a better view and now sitting between the two front seats.

"I hope everyone is safe ..." Asagi whispered and looked out of the window.

"That was no normal explosion, that's for sure!" Zane replied to Nathan, who had also leaned forward and was now resting on the dashboard.

They drove into the park that surrounded the hospital complex on three sides when Asagi yelled: "Zero, look out!" She leaned forward past Zane's seat and pointed to the road.

Suddenly, a person crouched down on the road in the middle of the pickup's path. The streets were empty now, all the civilians had left the hospital and fled. And yet this one person ran right up to Zero's pickup.

"Damn it! What is he doing there?" Zero cursed.

Zero stepped on the brakes and clutch. "Hang on!" He yelled, jerking the steering wheel to the right and then to the left. The wheels of the pickup squeaked as Zero hit the brakes. The truck began to sway from Zero's sharp turn. The speed was too fast for Zero to avoid the person.

The pickup drifted past the person, who appeared to be reaching for the pickup, and came to a stop in the middle of the road a few meters away with a violent jolt.

"Are you all right?" Zero asked and turned to Asagi and Nathan.

"Thanks, everything is fine," Asagi replied.

"What is he doing?" Nathan asked.

"Let's ask him, maybe he knows something!" Zane yanked the door open. The others got out as well.

"Hey! Are you hurt?" Zero shouted as the man staggered and turned towards them.

"I'll go check on him!" Zane shouted as he propped himself up on the bonnet with one hand and jumped over to the other side.

"Zane wait!" Zero tried to stop him, but Zane had almost reached the man.

"Hey, are you okay?" Zane put a hand on the man's shoulder. "Everything's going to be fine..."

The man stared at the ground, his suit covered in burn holes and most of his left sleeve ripped off. Zane guessed that the man must have been close to the explosion or had run outside through the flames. As Zane took a closer look at the man, who was leaning forward as if he were going to topple over at any moment, he noticed that only a stump of his arm was left under the torn sleeve. Had the explosion torn it off?

It didn't seem to be bleeding, and on closer inspection it looked like broken porcelain or glass, as if the arm had been broken. Zane's gaze continued upwards, and as it reached the chest area, he noticed that the man's shirt had also been torn off, exposing his torso. Purple veins and black spots emanating from the veins spread across his chest and seemed to run up towards his head.

Just as Zane's eyes were about to follow the veins upwards, something suddenly fell from above onto the back of his hand. It was a hair, no, a whole clump of hair.

"Are you all right?" Zane repeated hesitantly as he looked at the man's bowed head. The man hadn't made a sound. But now, as if awakened by Zane's question, he raised his head to look at Zane and grabbed Zane's shoulder with his right arm. A distorted grimace stared at Zane.

The man had lost all his hair and his face was sunken, revealing the shape of his skull. The ears and nose were gone, as if they had fused with the skin underneath, which stretched tightly over the skull. The lips also appeared to be partially fused and the skin stretched like threads over the mouth. His right eye socket was deeply sunken and there was nothing where the eye should be. The left eye, however, was overgrown, a large, pulsating, crystalline scar now stretching over it and across his skull. The black spots and veins in the chest seemed to be slowly spreading across the man's body, and fractures like the one in his arm were appearing on various parts of his body.

Panicking, Zane pushed the man or creature away from him. As he fell backwards, there was a sound of pain: "HEEEPPP MMM!"

The creature stumbled backwards and Zane saw the rest of the body, which had changed in the few moments Zane had held it. The porcelain arm seemed to have become shorter and black tendrils seemed to be sprouting from the rest of the arm. The left arm, riddled with fractures and veins, was unnaturally long and the hand had mutated into a four-fingered claw.

"Didn't you hear me? I said wait!" Zero grabbed Zane's right shoulder.

But the trembling Zane made no response to Zero's reproachful words.

"W ... What ... What is this?" Zane stammered, not taking his eyes off the creature.

Zero's gaze followed Zane's questioning words and fell on the man Zane had pushed away for no reason. At the same moment Nathan shouted, "Zane, Zero! Look out!"

"They're..." Zero began to stutter.

"Oh my god," Asagi put her hands over her mouth in shock.

The creature had regained its balance and was preparing to approach Zane and Zero. But more people were coming out of the side streets and one of the side doors of the adjacent building behind him. They too were covered in black spots and veins pulsed across their bodies.

One's left arm had grown very long, and another joint seemed to have formed. The upper garments were missing, revealing a sunken, almost parched chest. The shape of the chest and vertebrae were clearly visible.

A third was missing its head, and black crystalline shapes had formed at the base of its neck. The right hand was four times as large and the bone structure seemed to have changed dramatically.

Another man was leaning back so far that one thought his head would fall off at any moment. The white coat he wore identified him as a doctor. But so were the black spots and veins that covered his body.

The black spots on the first creature had now spread widely and more than two thirds of the skull had taken on the black color of the spots. It also seemed as if disturbances were being created around the creature. Like the flickering of an old television, the room seemed to be distorted almost imperceptibly.

"You are ... Infected ..." Zero identified the creatures slowly approaching them.

As if in response, the first creature let out a high-pitched scream.

⬢

Afterword

Hey Draxinic here, I'm going to keep this short as I'm writing this text just before the release.

Finally I can present you the first chapter of Infection. I have kept you waiting long enough, after two manga attempts and one failed light novel attempt, here is the final product! I won't make another attempt this time and will stick to this version 9(>o<)9

This first chapter is quite long, as it is very close to the manga remake. The following chapters will be a bit shorter, which should help with publishing.

The text is probably not the best yet, but I will work hard to make the story better with each chapter. I would be happy if you would join me on this journey.

And that's it, I hope you enjoy this first chapter with all the details I've added.

What remains is to thank all of you who have supported me over the years. Editors, friends, patrons and streaming viewers, THANK YOU!

And a thank you to all the readers as well!

Until the next chapter DraXiniC

This version is a purely grammatical rewrite. No changes in the Story