Chapter 4: Preparation
Gray's stomach turned upside down.
Because of the request she made, he had ventured outside, losing his sister and his friends.
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
A lump quickly grew in his throat, turning the words impossible to speak.
'Please tell me that it was just a dream.' he pleaded. 'Please tell me that it's just a bad coincidence.'
'Will I ever wake up from this nightmare?'
'But since I've already went through this before, does this mean I have the knowledge of what to do?'
His hands trembled as he felt the weight of responsibility drop over him.
'I-I need to fix everything. I have to.'
Right there and then, with his heart inside his throat, he started to formulate a plan.
'If I don't go outside, my sister will be alright.'
'At most, that strange creature is going to attack both of us.'
His knife wasn't large, so, if I were able to get a weapon with more range than his, we should be alright.'
'I'll try to find a weapon for my sister too.'
'We can break and sharpen some brooms, using them as makeshift spears.'
'Yes, that could work.'
'In the dream my house was safe from the fire, so I don't think I'll have to worry about th—'
"Gray! Are you listening to me?" Kathy asked, annoyed.
'H-huh?'
"I-I'm sorry. I was thinking of other things…" he replied, distressed.
Kathy looked at him for some seconds and frowned.
"You seem awfully pale, is everything alright?"
"Does this have to do something with the screaming fit you've had before waking up?"
"You know very well that even when i joke about something, if it's important, then deep down I'm going to worry about you."
Gray slowly shook his head.
"No... I couldn't sleep at all because of that nightmare."
"I'm just tired. I'm just really tired."
This was an half-true story since the dream made him sleep awfully.
But once he saw the possibility of his dream being a prediction of the future, he lost every feeling of tiredness–replacing it with an insurmountable fear of what could happen in the immediate future.
Gray really had to plan everything.
For the first time in his life, he had to follow the advice of a character of a famous novel, with his favorite quote by him being as it follows:
A magician never preforms unprepared!
Kathy's eyes narrowed.
"You can't fool me. You're sick, aren't you?"
"Do you want to skip school to sleep? Usually I wouldn't let you, but this time you really look like shit."
"Your grades aren't good enough right now, but I prefer that you don't make them even worse by showing up to school like this."
She smiled.
"Go in your room and rest, I'll look for the thermometer."
Gray's looked at his sister and smiled weakly.
'Even now, I'm still a kid in her eyes…'
"Thank you, Kathy—but I'll go and buy what we need first. I can't let you do everything for me, I'm too old for that."
'Maybe I can find a weapon outside. I must be quick, however.'
Her lips curled upwards as she nodded her head.
"I'm the best sister you could ever have."
"Yes...you are." he replied.
Gray's heart stirred with sorrow.
He knew too well about what would happen if he were to mess up in any way.
Her smile grew even more, satisfied with his response.
She then left their kitchen, eager to help her brother.
Gray's face fell as he started to plan for a way to survive.
'Let's revise again.'
'My phone is working right now, this means I can search on the internet for information about the trumpets and the sun rising in the west.'
'Since I'm already going outside, I can tell Casanova and the others to get away from the house they're working on.'
'And if I can bribe Casanova into coming to our house, we'll have way more chances of winning against the four-eyed monster.'
'I'm sure of it–Casanova can kill him without breaking a sweat; he's way stronger than me and my sister.'
"I owe him. I need to repay him for saving me."
"—here's your thermometer…"
'I also need to prepare the weapons for the two of us.'
'Casanova probably doesn't need one since he was able to injure the giant mantis with his bare hands and the mysterious thundering shout.'
'And as I saw earlier, our house should be safe from the fire.'
'But to be sure, I should cover most of the windows, so the fire won't get inside the house.'
'But there's one issue.'
'Would the Co2 still enter in my house by the vents or something else? I get if it was only one house burning close to us, but I saw the whole city being engulfed in flames.'
He gritted his teeth.
'For the beginning, I think we can survive with a 90% chance. To be sure though, I should lock every door, so that nobody would be able to enter.'
'But...how did that monolith enter in my house? It was too tall to be brought inside it, did it teleport in some way?'
'It doesn't seem too unrealistic after everything I've seen.'
"Gray!"
At that moment, before the eyes of Gray Montoya, a thermometer roared throughout the air at unimaginable speeds, leaving after-images behind it.
Boom!
"AW!"
"Did you really have to do that?" Gray replied, massaging his aching forehead.
Kathy hissed. "You're the one who didn't listen to me!"
He looked at her, sighed in defeat and bent down to grab the thermometer.
He then went inside his room and locked the door.
He threw the thermometer on his bed before grabbing his phone and unplugging it from the charger.
'The biggest issue is after the third trumpet.' he thought.
'If we don't find shelter, we will die.'
'The mushroom-like explosion was so powerful that it made buildings crumble like paper.'
'If it were a nuclear bomb, we are as good as dead. Even if we survived the blast, the fallout would kill us.'
'Luckily, I don't think that it is.'
'Why would those creatures use something as crude as that? They already were able to affect the whole city with the effects of the first trumpet and The Choir.'
He slowly shook his head.
'No, they definitely affected the whole world. In the Book of Revelation–the Biblical book that predicted all of this–no country was spared.'
'Nonetheless, the explosion resembled a mushroom, so it's better to take that into consideration.'
'Hm, do all explosions look like that or is it something special for nuclear bombs?'
Gray sat at the edge of his bed, still massaging his forehead.
'Time for the important questions now.'
'What is that Choir, and why did it have trumpets like the Bible?'
He unlocked his phone and started searching the internet for more info about the Holy Book.
Taking some time, he found the important verses for his survival.
"When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven for about half an hour."
"And then I saw the 7 Angels who stand before God, to them were given 7 trumpets."
'I have to skip some things; I have to prepare for what's to come.'
"And the First blew the trumpet, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was thrown to the Earth, burning up a third of the trees on the planet, and all green grass."
'It's a third...so that's why my house was safe… I'm glad we won't have to worry about it...'
"And the Second Angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze was cast into the sea. A third part of the sea turned into blood,
'So that's what happened when I passed out.'
"and the third part of the creatures which were in sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed."
'It's dangerous, but only if you are in the sea or inside a body of water… We aren't planning on doing that any sooner—we should be alright.'
"The Third Angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—the name of the star is Wormwood."
'The notes say that Wormwood could be an Angel too…'
"A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter."
'In my dream it was a great explosion, though. Could this happen in real life too?'
'For now, this is the greatest issue.'
Naturally, if water became bitter, it would be extremely bad for Gray's situation. One thing is surviving the blast, the other is surviving even after it.
'It's only a third, though, so there's still hope.'
'Once I'm done meeting Casanova, I'll fill bottles with tap water.'
"The Fourth Angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night."
'That doesn't seem to harm anyone…'
"As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"
"Shit!" Gray cursed out loud.
This seemed a precursor to harrowing things, really bad ones.
"Then the fifth Angel sounded. And I saw a star fall from Heaven to Earth: and the key of the abyss was given to Him. And He opened the bottomless pit; And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the Earth: And it was commanded that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. But they shall not kill men, only torment them. In these days they shall seek Death, but Death shall flee from them."
'So we won't die?' Gray smiled.
'This must be a blessing in disguise!'
"And the Sixth Angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth Angel, "Loose the Four Angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates." And the Four Angels were loosed, which they were prepared to slay the third part of men."
Gray's heart dropped, for this was the most adverse danger for his hope of survival.
Even if he could survive the other trumpets by planning thoroughly, he had to be lucky to survive this one.
'We already have to survive the third trumpet and now this...?'
'The only way to survive this is by pure chance.'
'We are only two people, so, if we are lucky, we might survive.'
'But if Casanova comes with us, chances say that one of us is destined to die.'
'Even then…as long as my sister is fine, everything will be alright.'
'I don't mind if I were to die.'
'I trust Casanova—I know he's going to save her.'
"And the Seventh Angel sounded; and there were great voices in Heaven, saying "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord; and He shall reign forever and ever."
A wry smile slowly etched upon the corner of his lips.
'I feared the last one would be the worse of them all. I'm glad I was wrong.'
'Now, I have to fulfill my plans.'
Gray went inside every room, closing the windows and locking every door leading to outside.
When Kathy saw him, she chuckled a little, calling him overly paranoid.
Yet Gray stayed silent, for he knew something that she could never begin to fathom.
Reaching the door, he informed his sister of his departure, his voice deadpan.
"I'm going out."
Kathy yelled, "Don't take too long, you have to rest!"
As the door closed, Gray thought to himself,
I won't let that happen again.
The cold wind ruffled his jet-black hair once more, making them move wildly in the air.
Gray couldn't waste any second–he started running, the memories of his dream flashing into his head.
He could see the beings soaring throughout the air, he could smell the awful odor of death and could hear The Choir mocking the world with their horrid hymns.
Strangely, he felt surrounded by an heart shattering feeling of loneliness.
It felt awfully nostalgic.
…
Tap! Tap! Tap!
While running, he noticed the presence of people and cars in the street, a sight that was unlike the one inside his dream.
Gray then finally saw his so-called friends.
They were still working, their equipment being louder than usual.
"Casanova!" Gray yelled at the top of his lungs, uncaring if the pedestrians thought he was a madman.
The shame was temporary, his death was going to be eternal!
Casanova signaled to his subordinates to turn off their equipment, and when they did, he replied while still being on the villa's roof.
"What's wrong?"
Gray asked with a polite, yet serious tone,
"Can you come down? We have to talk in private."
Casanova told his subordinates to keep working without him, and after a minute, he went down on the sidewalk.
"Please follow me, it's important," Gray added.
Casanova nodded and went with him.
The two walked for some minutes, following an old road lacking the presence of any pedestrians.
The surrounding buildings had been abandoned years ago.
The mayor of the city had suggested to demolish them to build a new park, yet nothing had happened since his announcement.
Gray started talking without turning around, his tone evoking a deep sense of seriousness.
"This may sound weird and borderline absurd—I'm fully aware."
He took a deep breath.
"The world is about to end."
"Zakaria noticed it and told you, right? He said that the sun rose from the west."
"Not all the signs appeared and yet it happened."
"In some minutes, a trumpet is going to sound from the sky, and a bizarre and disturbing choir is going to follow it."
"After the trumpet, the city's trees are going to burn, bringing terrifying, otherworldly creatures."
"They will kill many people, more than you can imagine."
Gray continued while gritting his teeth.
"Your subordinates won't survive—not even my sister, not even you."
"I was only lucky because you decided to protect me with your strange powers, even though you were about to die from your injuries."
"Yet, you were still able to kill creature while being half-dead."
"As you said: "That beast was truly lucky you hadn't fought it ten years earlier."
Gray turned around and was about to plead for his assistance, so they too now, could survive.
In his mind, he expected Casanova to be either in disbelief, or just sheerly confused about the matters he was talking about.
But what he couldn't have ever imagined was his face morphing into a beast-like, primal expression, seemingly ready to rip him apart.