At a secret military base deep in the Amazon rainforest, Colombian and Brazilian military personnel were arguing.
In one room, there were three Brazilian and three Colombian officers. They all had solemn expressions and looked at each other with vigilance.
"Major Hugo's report says there are other disturbances in some riverside cities, this time with alligators leaving their usual territories and attacking civilians." A Brazilian colonel said while having a solemn expression.
Colombians were suffering similar problems, and not only them, but almost all countries where there is Amazon rainforest.
"In the past 24 hours, there has been a huge increase in the lack of control of animals, from carnivores to herbivores, many soldiers and civilians have been injured, it is only a matter of time before the media begins to publicize this." A Colombian officer spoke.
"There is nothing we can do, after the big blackout we lost control of many points, and there were many platoons that never returned from missions in the jungle."
"The losses are significant, and the expectation is that it will only get worse from now on, we have to take action before this gets out of hand!"
While they were arguing, someone suddenly opened the door.
He was a man in a white coat, he was old and was dirty all over his body, as if he had fallen into a puddle of mud.
The man walked slowly to the table while breathing heavily.
"What does that mean?" A Brazilian officer asked in a solemn voice.
The man in the white coat took a deep breath and said:
"More bad news."
A silence fell, and the officers hardened their expressions.
"What was it this time?" One of the officers asked after sighing.
The man, with a shaking hand, took a thumb drive out of his pocket and plugged it into a projector.
Soon, a projection was made on the wall of the room.
"We were researching the source of the behavioral change in animals, and we think we have found ... The video I am going to show you will make you understand the seriousness of the situation."
The officers remained silent and paid attention to the video in the projection.
It seemed to have been recorded in a hurry, there were several people in a hurry in what appeared to be a laboratory.
"I'm recording, you can start explaining, Dr. Amanda." The man who was recording the video said.
The woman named Amanda was in a white coat and looked like she was in middle age, she had an excited and worried expression at the same time.
Amanda nodded and started to speak.
"In the past 24 hours, we have been looking around the clock for the reason for disturbances in the behavior of wild animals ... and we believe we have found out."
She then pointed to a nearby screen, where a video was scrolling.
"If you understand the minimum of biology, you can certainly identify what it is by being simulated in the video, we borrowed the computational power of an American supercomputer, and we managed to simulate this ... mutation."
The officers then paid attention to the video, it appeared to be DNA sequences, and were constantly changing.
"We took a DNA sample of a species of butcher bird taken a few months ago and compared it with a recent sample, obtained in the last few hours, and ..."
She then pointed to the screen.
"As you can see in the pictures, where there was a defined sequence before, now there is an almost completely different sequence, and extremely volatile, I don't even know if I can call this DNA ..."
Upon hearing this, the officers then came up with a frightening theory.
"If you have the least brain, you must have thought about it ... And you are correct. We decided to test it with another sample of DNA, the human."
Amanda then changed the video and said:
"The result, frighteningly, is the same."
The officers opened their mouths in shock, and Amanda looked irritated.
"If we managed to find this out, others must have found it out, even before we did ... Still nothing was said. I also don't expect you to publicize this easily, so I already contacted the media, and sent the video . "
A Brazilian officer hit the table hard.
"How dare she?" The officer, who had white hair and wrinkles all over his skin, said.
The other officers remained silent, they managed to understand Amanda's action, although they did not approve.
The man in the white coat then turned off the projection and said:
"This problem is not just ours, that's why other countries keep it a secret, damn selfish ..."
The officers remained silent, but their expression hardened when they heard the man.
"Sigh ... I think that even if we report to our superiors, it's not like they don't know it ..." A Colombian officer spoke as he got up, and left.
The other two Colombians also left, leaving only the man in the white coat and the Brazilian officers.
"Tell Amanda ... That she did very well ..." One said, leaving the other two in awe.
The man in the lab coat was surprised but nodded and left.
The officer who had just spoken got up and went outside.
It was raining hard, there was a great movement of trucks and soldiers on all sides, mud spattered with every step in the march of soldiers.
The officer looked at the scene for a moment and left the scene.
Meanwhile, in São Paulo, Ralph was doing some rehabilitation exercises.
The nurse gave him some support to keep walking, and then he pedaled a little.
Ralph's family visited every day, and so did Ana.
His physique was not very good, after having been in a coma for so long, it deteriorated.
After a week, he regained his ability to get around without difficulty and was almost getting discharged from the doctor in charge.
But then, he received an unexpected visit.
"So you're the boy who crashed my daughter's car, huh." An old man, with black hair and black eyes, who wore a suit looked deeply at Ralph, who was sitting at the table in white clothes.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. João Silva." Ralph said trying to keep a straight face.
João was about to say something but was interrupted by Ralph, who bowed to him.
"First of all, I would like to thank you for allowing me to be hospitalized here, if it weren't for you, I would probably be dead."
João watched Ralph with a nonchalant look.
Ralph just wanted to say that, so he sat down and faced João.
"First, you must know that I have a big grudge against you." João started to speak.
Ralph nodded, since he had hit Letícia's car, who was João's daughter.
"However, I heard about the gunshot wound you suffered, and I realized that it may not have been your fault. Even so, that does not explain the fact that I helped you."
João then put an envelope on the table.
"Open it."
Ralph frowned and opened the envelope.
After reading the contents, Ralph's expression hardened.
It was a copy of a contract, more specifically a contract signed by his father, Tom Karman.
With shaking hands, Ralph asked in a cold voice:
"What does that mean?"
João crossed his arms and just looked seriously at Ralph.
Ralph took a deep breath and read the contract again.
His father signed a contract with HighX, where he would work indefinitely for the company in exchange for twenty four thousand dollars a year and the treatment of his son, Ralph.
The terms of the contract were not bad, but what really bothered Ralph was the date the contract was signed. It was exactly an hour after he crashed a car.
How could Ralph not understand what happened?
"Taking advantage of such a situation, I don't know what to say." Ralph said coldly.
"You should be thanking your father, and me."
"To you?"
"Yes, if it weren't for me, you would be dead in a crowded hospital. I was the one who proposed the contract, don't you value your own life?" João asked sarcastically.
Ralph just clenched his teeth and stood up.
"It is better not to speak with Letícia." Joao said as he watched Ralph leave.
While walking out of the hospital, Ralph was stopped by a nurse, who said he had not been released yet, but he ignored her and went outside the building.
Ralph then took out his cell phone and called his mother.
"Ralph" Ingrid's voice came over the phone.
"... Why didn't you tell me that before?" Ralph asked in a serious tone.
"..." Ingrid was silent on the other side.
"Answer!"
"Don't shout! What right do you have to question our actions? Your father did this for you!" Ingrid shouted visibly in annoyance.
Upon hearing this, Ralph was unmoved for a moment.
"...Excuse me." Ralph said in a shaky voice.
"Sigh ... where are you?" Ingrid asked in a tired tone.
"I'm in front of the building where I was, can you come and get me?" Ralph asked.
"I'm busy at the moment, but your dad must be leaving his ... new job by now, why don't you wait for him there? I'll call him and let him know."
Ralph hesitated for a moment and said:
"Okay."
"Okay, stay inside the building, things are still dangerous on the streets, so be careful." Ingrid said and hung up.
Ralph then took a deep breath, he didn't want to enter the building again, so he started thinking about what to do.
Looking at the avenue ahead, Ralph started walking.
The streets appeared to have been cleared and the debris was no longer seen, although some buildings were still scarred.
The weather was cloudy, and it was neither hot nor cold, it was very windy despite.
He then spotted an ice cream parlor and decided to come in to pass the time.
Upon entering, many people looked at him strangely, since Ralph still had his shoulder bandaged and white hospital clothes.
After getting in line, Ralph bought an ice cream and sat at a table.
While eating the ice cream, he looked at the news on his cell phone, but specifically about "status".
Unfortunately, very little was known about it, although there are many theories.
Although people have discovered many things, none of them were really useful.
For example, if you spoke the name of your talent after opening the status, another tab would open.
Ralph decided to try and a new tab appeared.
---
Infinite (useless)
Status: Unexplored, no information available.
---
Aura
Status: Unexplored, you can explore the mystery of Aura.
---
After reading the contents, Ralph frowned.
What do you mean "you can explore the mystery of the Aura"?
He then searched for the meaning of Aura on Google.
Surprisingly, it looked like other people had that talent, since many of the results were videos of people talking about that talent.
Some speculated that Aura was actually something related to electromagnetic waves, others related it to ancient religions and beliefs of metaphysical character.
After watching some videos, he then decided to research his other talent.
It seemed that other people also had this talent, but they were visibly few compared to the other talent.
There were even more outrageous theories, but no one could think of why the talent was (useless) ahead.
After finishing eating the ice cream, Ralph decided to buy another flavor, and continued surfing the net.
Sometimes Ralph would laugh or get serious, his changing expressions scared the others around him a little, but they didn't know that Ralph was in a coma and didn't know what had happened in the world during.
After spending several hours on the internet, Ralph came to the conclusion that they were lucky.
Many countries simply collapsed, while others had little damage.
But many people died all over the world, it made Ralph's mood sink.
Ralph does not consider himself a philanthropist, but he knows the value of a human life, the fear of death was still vivid in his mind.
Without Ralph realizing it, it was already dark, and he got a call from his father.
"Where are you? The doctor hasn't released you yet!" His father's angry voice came over the phone.
"I'm at an ice cream shop nearby, I'm fine."
"Why did you leave?"
"..." Ralph didn't answer.
"Sigh ... Wait a minute, I'm coming to get you."
After a few minutes, Tom's car pulled up in front of the ice cream parlor.
Ralph was a little surprised to see that the car was the same one he used in the "drag" with Leticia.
"What are you looking at? Come on, your mom is waiting." Tom spoke a little irritated.
Ralph sighed slightly and got in the car.
On the way home, the two were silent until Ralph took courage and said:
"Sorry ... And thanks."
"..." Tom was silent.
"I heard what you did for me, I'm angry with myself, and at the same time relieved to have parents as good as you are." Ralph spoke in a sincere tone.