However, over time Lazar's patience was running out more and more quickly with girls, he no longer wanted to waste his time taking into account the feelings of those around him.
After a while, he didn't content himself with ignoring them, he showed them without ambiguity that he wasn't interested.
'I seem to have been too subtle. Maybe she fell too hard earlier not to have noticed that I have been ignoring her since we got on the bus? Well... It will calm her down.'
He showed her his middle finger with an expression that expressed nothing but disgust for her. She remained frozen and speechless, being particularly sure of her charms she began to make ridiculous conjectures, 'What just happened!? To get you I went so far as to dirty my clothes, asshole! No, I need to calm down, I'm sure there is a logical explanation for his behavior.'
3 minutes later, 'Yeah, he's definitely gay.'
Lazar on his side was listening to music while contemplating the landscapes of the Georgian countryside through the window and after a few hours those of South Carolina. There were some resemblances to where he grew up with his grandfather...
...
Around 8:00 pm, the bus reached Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina. The journey from there was of around 13 hours to Boston if they were lucky not to be slowed by traffic jams the next day.
The bus driver stopped in the parking lot of a 4-star hotel, the night here was included in the trip because the company didn't want their buses to run at night. Lazar went down last to take his bag and went to get the magnetic card of his room at the reception of the hall. He didn't go to the hotel restaurant for dinner like the others, he preferred to go directly to his room and eat the combat rations he had taken from the base.
He was stopped by the bus driver while he was waiting for the elevator to the third floor. "We leave at 7:00 am tomorrow morning, no delay."
"Okay." Said Lazar. Like him, the driver seemed discreet and not very talkative, he was the kind of guy whose presence didn't bother him.
Barely arrived in his room, Lazar took a shower, he no longer wished to bathe in his own sweat.
Lately, he felt particularly nostalgic and thought a lot about his grandfather. The scars he saw in the mirror on his abdomen was a trigger, their origin dates back to one of his first hunting trips.
He found himself face to face with a wolf and had succeeded in killing it with his knife but only after being deeply scratched. Thereafter he had to stay in bed for 3 days to fight the fever caused by the infection. His grandfather didn't leave his bed and looked after him during this time. Since they lived in isolation he couldn't take him to the hospital.
While Lazar was suffering in his bed, his grandfather had a smile on his face most of the time. He never thought that Lazar would be able to take care of a wolf the way he did, at such a young age furthermore.
It was the first time that Lazar saw someone be proud of him, he was so happy that after a while he even began to like these scars there. His feeling was much less positive when he thought about the ones he had on his back.
He dressed and began to swallow a third of a 'first strike ration'. A combat ration of 2900 calories eaten cold and designed to last the first 72 hours of a conflict, 'Surely not as good as the buffet downstairs but much quicker to eat.'
He took out from his bag a book on parkour and something very unusual for him happened. He fell asleep after barely an hour of reading.
---
Lazar woke up with difficulty, suffering from an intense headache, but he was lucid enough to see that he didn't recognize what was around him. He wasn't even in a bed but on the ground, well let's say rather a hard surface for what he knew because all that was around him was mist. Having the curious impression of recognizing this place, he couldn't help mumbling, "It's not the first time that it happens I am convinced of it, but my memories are blurred..."
Coming out of nowhere a raucous and powerful male voice answered him, "Indeed! You know, I didn't think you would realize that someone was messing with your memory."
Although he felt that this wasn't a hallucination. He couldn't help wondering if he hadn't been given drugs in his rations hearing this voice.
"Congratulations! Lazar, you exceed my expectations!"
It wasn't a prank and it was far too real for a dream, being someone rational what was going on had become incomprehensible to Lazar. He tried to regain his calm before asking a question. The voice didn't seem hostile and on second thought it was surprisingly familiar, even friendly, "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
These were the only rational questions he could think of.
"You asked me these questions last time and I still can't answer them unfortunately. You will know very soon if I'm not mistaken about you."
Lazar frowned, "Have we seen each other before? Is that what you meant by playing with my memory?"
"Yep, still as quick to understand."
'Isn't he even ashamed?'
"Stop wasting our time, I guess you brought me here for a reason and I have an intuition that this is all real."
"Ahahahah."
'He's starting to piss me off.'
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, I just like the fact that you are so direct. It was more difficult to convince you of my existence the first time."
'It's very annoying when someone tells you about events you don't remember.'
"I can't say the same thing about you right now. Except that you're having fun erasing my memory, you haven't taught me anything."
"You're right, let's get down to business, we don't have much time left, you will miss your bus."
'How does he know about this!'
"Damn, couldn't you have brought me here earlier?!"
"I called you right after you fell asleep. It's that time goes by much faster here, it's not my fault. So, in short, I can't be totally honest with you. Not because I'm hiding things from you but because of restrictions that prevent me to do so."
'It's just a voice, I can't make hasty conclusions, but he sounds sincere.'
"I understand, just tell me what I need to know and send me back."
"Okay, first just to confirm, you will remember this...
'Cool.'
...Our first encounter served to prevent you from flying to Boston. I planted this idea in your head but you had to keep thinking that it wasn't my suggestion, it was too early. That's why you don't remember me."
"Wait, why would you want to stop me to take the plane? If your goal was just to make my trip less comfortable then you really have to find other hobbies."
"No, it wasn't for that! Just know that if you had taken any fucking plane to Boston it would have been too late to save you, you would have died."
It was only then that Lazar began to think that the voice was useful for something, "Dead... How's that?"
"I have to send you back, just remember that until our next meeting. Your life will be constantly in danger. Make the right choices when everything will be triggered and don't interfere with what should happen before."
If what he said was true then Lazar's plans had to be postponed, 'I have to be on my guard.'
One last time he heard the voice speak to him in a panicked tone, "Shit! It's 6:53 am, move your ass!"
He woke up instantly in his bed, "Damn! It's your fault bastard!"
Fortunately, a soldier is very efficient. He arrived at 6:58 am barely out of breath in front of the bus with all his belongings and clean clothes on him.
The bus driver seemed to be waiting for him personally while the other passengers were already on board, "Just in time boy, climb up before we leave without you."
"Yes, sorry old man."
The driver just smiled. He had noticed for a while the tattoo under the right sleeve of Lazar, a spartan with a trident in his hand. There wasn't just one specific tattoo at the Navy Seals, but the trident was a sign of recognition indicating that he was one of them. As a former Marine, he was proud to meet a young recruit from such prestigious special forces and granted him preferential treatment, unlike the other passengers he hardly cared about.
Lazar then got back on the bus.
...
3:56 pm, the bus was stuck in traffic 13 kilometers from Philadelphia.
Lazar hadn't stopped thinking about what the voice had said to him earlier, he was convinced that what was going to happen was something huge. Since the end of the morning he had been glued to his phone in search of news of any plane crash but until now... 'Absolutely nothing.'
He hypothesized that if he had took a plane for Boston, it would necessarily be from Atlanta airport since it was the closest airport from the base with connecting flights to Boston. He had noticed that the only plane that had to take off from Atlanta airport for Boston airport since yesterday had taken off at 2:29 pm today and that he had to land at 4:23 pm, 'If something had to happen, it was now.'
...
4:00 pm
POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !
'FUCK!!!' The sound of a horn that even a deaf would have heard sounded for thirty seconds straight. A sound powerful enough for Lazar to realize that it couldn't be produced by something human.
All human beings realized at the same time that they weren't victims of a collective hallucination when a second inexplicable thing happened. An imperious voice addressed them directly.
"DEAR PATHETIC HUMANS! MY NAME IS HERMES. THOSE WHO REMEMBER ME KNOW THAT I'M THE MESSENGER OF THE GODS AND I CAME PRECISELY TO DO MY WORK. SINCE THE BLOW OF HORN OF HEIMDALL ISN'T ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION, I WILL EXPLAIN."
'What the fuck...'
"THE WORLD AS YOU KNOW IT HAS REACHED ITS EXPIRATION DATE. THE FORCES OF EVIL WILL BE UNLEASHED RIGHT NOW EVERYWHERE ON THE SURFACE OF THE WORLD. NORMALLY YOU HUMANS SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT ALONGSIDE US, THE GODS, TO PREVENT OUR ENEMIES TO SWEEP ALL LIFE ON THE SURFACE OF THE GLOBE, BUT WE HAVE DETERMINED THAT YOUR SPECIES ROTTEN TO THE CORE DOESN'T DESERVE OUR ASSISTANCE. WE WILL REMAIN IN RETREAT DURING THIS CONFLICT AND ONLY YOU WOMM HAVE TO FIGHT WITHOUT ANY OF YOUR MODERN WEAPONS TO HELP YOU."
Lazar was slowly beginning to understand why the voice had warned him of the danger. But he never suspected that it would be that fucked up!
"FEAR NOT! YOU WILL HAVE TIME TO ADAPT, OF THE SEVEN, THERE IS ONLY THE FIRST SEAL HOLDING OUR ENEMIES THAT HAS BEEN BROKEN FOR THE MOMENT! IT MEANS THAT ONLY THE WEAKEST OF THEM HAVE ACCESS TO EARTH. WE ARE MERCIFUL, SO WE DON'T INTEND TO ABANDON YOU LIKE THAT. YOU WILL ALL GET A WEAPON BOUND TO YOU AND ADAPTED TO YOUR SKILLS. THAT WILL ALLOW YOU TO FIGHT AND WE WILL GIVE YOU A WAY TO EVOLVE ACCORDING TO YOUR CONTRIBUTION IN COMBAT. IT ONLY REMAINS FOR ME TO WISH YOU GOOD LUCK FOR THE UPCOMING APOCALYPSE!"
'That's all? Fucking assholes!'
A weapon in a light black fog appeared in the hands of Lazar. It was white particles that covered those which appeared in the hands of the other passengers of the bus. It only lasted a few seconds and he didn't take this into account, too absorbed by what was going on through the window.
He wasn't the only one. Absolutely everyone presents 30 kilometers around couldn't take their eyes off this huge column of fire coming out of the ground barely 400 meters from where was Lazar. It was like everyone understood at the same time that it was the beginning of an endless madness.
Lazar was one of the first witnesses of the phenomenon called later 'Hell column'. A real nightmare for anyone who lived it from the beginning of the Apocalypse and survived to talk about it. 'Thank you for warning me. Though I don't know if that will be enough to help me.'