Chapter 1:Storm

 The rain trickled down the windows of the barracks, they were filled with soldiers assigned to protect the contaminated land of Switzerland, to deter anybody without clearance and to help any scientist to better study and contain the toxins still prevalent. In one of these sealed buildings, there slept a man by the name of Joseph, a former aviation officer that was reassigned after a particular accident. Normally when such accidents occur, a soldier would be reassigned back home or simply in a safer place, but Pilot Joseph insisted on protecting the plagued land. And considering his previous achievements, and because it would benefit the government, he was allowed, much to the displeasure of his bunk mates.

 The barracks were isolated from the environment and the air that entered was filtered due to the nature of the land. The air being so toxic, even at the borders, that one would feel like they are breathing from the exhaust pipe of a malfunctioning car, but at the very least in this part, the rain was only slightly volatile due to the chemicals still lingering in the war-torn land of Switzerland, or how it was known to the soldiers, "The pus-filled wound of Europe".

 Joseph was sleeping the night away, his only discomfort being the humid air that frequently filled the barracks after particularly powerful rain showers, like the current one currently showering the barracks and making the soldiers dread the new day where they would have to spend a considerable amount of time cleaning their boots, weapons, and many other things.

 His breathing was strenuous and his pulse was ragged, with sweat covering his brow and sliding onto the pillow like the rain traveled along the hills that still remained in this accursed land. He was dreaming of a particular mission that happened during the end of the recent War. His hands were closed and clenching at the covers tightly as he dreamt of maneuvering around a nasty storm in his aircraft. His mission at the time was completed but sadly also started going horribly wrong, and it did not help that this mission was supposed to be off the books.

 The rain drops pelted the metal plates and glass panes of his air craft like small bullets, he was reminded of his times in the trenches and the quacking lightning and thunder sounded way too similar to the explosives. Down on the ground only a few hours had passed after his mission was completed, with his objective now to safely escape and go to one of the naval bases settled out into the ocean. He didn't care to look down at the sprawling cities and so he just concentrated on flying and slowly calming himself, he was one hell of a pilot but even he was startled by the sudden thunderstorm, and the winds were also exceedingly strong.

 Just as he was about to see the waters of the ocean, he suddenly saw particular thing through the streaks of lightning that illuminated the skies every now and then. It was a hurricane. Now panicking, he started veering off and try to escape his probable death at the hands of the hurricane. He tried using the gusts of wind and try to veer carefully away so as to not lose control, but nature had other plans.

 All of a sudden, the wind picked up again, whether it was because of the hurricane now being closer or the Divine trying to smite him down he did not know, but he still struggled with all his might, trying to wrestle control while the aircraft veered dangerously close into the waters. As he got closer and closer to the merciless waters, he was able to see a small fishing boat, small being relative of course, being thrown here and there by the storm, with the only way he was able to discern its location being the bright light that tried to burn even while the darkness of the waters and skies tried swallow it like a hungry predator. The Pilot slowly gained control, but as he did so he was also able to discern a strange kind of fish on board, or at least he thought it was a fish. The thing looked like a strange gelatinous mess, with what looked like hair on it? But as soon as he was able to see it, it slipped out and flew into the waters, swallowed up and now sinking into the depths where it probably came from.

 Joseph was now starting to feel a bit more hopeful, his air filtration inside the aircraft was still working correctly and all that the engine suffered was just some minor things, nothing that would impede his flight back. While flying through the skies and trying to avoid any large cloud, fearing for a possible lightning strike, he then slowly glanced down at the streets below, maybe just wanting to be sure he wasn't the only human left while in this gruesome storm. The thought was a bit childish and unrealistic but the current atmosphere was rather tense and he needed the reassurance, but he did not gain it…

 Down below on the streets that were briefly illuminated by the strikes of lightning, he saw a harrowing sight. Down there, on the streets, instead of just flowing water and maybe even a vehicle, he instead saw something else flowing around the streets, picked up by the waters. The details were not clear but it looked as if the creature that slithered out of the boat earlier had come to the surface yet again, seeking revenge by devouring the city in its mass of flowing….

 It looked like an oversized balloon was filled with too much water and then dropped on the ground, slowly flowing out and looking like it would burst at the seams. It was a river of skin with odd deformations that resembled waves moving together with it. While paying too much attention at the… event happening down below, Joseph saw the river crash into a post, and instead of toppling it or simply flowing, like any proper liquid should….it burst.

 Joseph only saw what happened next for a split second before he had to wrestle back control and continue flying. When the river burst, out of it came a river of mucous that had no discernable color in the darkness between flashes, but it reminded him of the crushed-up guts and flesh of one of the soldiers he saw. The waves of the river then flowed out as well, and then it all became blank for Joseph, as if his own brain was trying to forget what it had saw just moments before. It was a mix of white, red and a few other colors, it did not flow but instead crashed, scraped and shattered, like porcelain shards against a wall…

 The rest of the flight was a blur for Joseph, one moment he was still in the air, running away from the hurricane and the illusion that he saw, the shard of madness that flew into his brain and conjured up by his already damaged soul, and the other moment he was standing on the base, being congratulated with words he did not comprehend. Those flowery words were so alien in his mind that he just could not correlate them with what happened, what he thought he imagined… what he hoped he imagined.

 The rest of the days again were passing like a blur, he wanted to try and ask about what he saw, what he may have done, but he could not, would not do it for fear of being seen as someone mad. He wrote letters to his family, he requested to be put in Switzerland on the French side of the border simply because he was not yet ready to return home, to return to any kind of semblance of normal life for fear of not being able to act like a normal human anymore.

 The pilot then woke up with a yelp as he remembered the harrowing creature that he saw that night, his brow was drowned in sweat, his covers disheveled and his ears heard the curses of his bunk mates. He hated the rain and the humid air it brought, and then when he glanced at the window of the barracks, fortified glass that was made to create an air tight chamber, he saw the rays of day breaking free from the grasp of the storm. It was a new day, and he had work to do.