It was 5am, and the sun was finally pulling over the horizon, bathing the world in its warm, bright glow. It illuminated the populous city Warden, hugging a river enclosed by mountains with highways piercing through the mountain range. 

Damon Thana sat high in the clouds overlooking the city far away on a cliff face. He was rock climbing again and had stopped to camp on the cliff. The thrill of being above the world like this made him fall in love with rock climbing. He sat there breathing in the sight when suddenly his phone rang. 

He picked up his phone and answered it cheerfully.

"Hello, mom. What's up?"

But his mother's tone on the other side of the phone was anything but cheerful.

"Damon! Where are you right now?! Are you safe!? They're talking about zombies or something crazy like that. Your dad said people are trying to evacuate to the military base by Altoron. We have your brother with us, but we have no clue where your sister is. Please tell me you are safe and not in that rain!"

Damon was stunned by the machine-gun fire of questions and barrage of information that was just thrown at him.

"What? What rain are you talking about? I'm in the mountains right now. I'm rock climbing. But I think Stella was with her friends last time I heard. And why would we be evacuating to Alotoron, and did you say something about zombies??"

"Yes! Zombies! People are saying people soaked by the red rain turn into zombies. So please get inside and stay out of the rain! Call me as soon as you find shelter and call me if you hear anything about your sister. Your dad is packing the car right now, and we are taking your brother to the military base. So please stay safe, okay! Come find us at the base!" 

Before Damon could reply suddenly, a blood-curdling scream erupted from the phone, and then all he could hear was the sound of the phone being dropped and a deadline. 

"MOM!! MOM!! FUCK!!!"

Damon shouted into the phone. 

( FUCK I gotta get down the mountain. I gotta get to the military base. FUCK what the hell is going on.)

Damon kept calling his mother's phone, waiting for her to pick up, praying that this was all a prank. But he had never known her to pull a stunt like this as he kept calling her phone in a panic. Dark clouds coalesced together in the clear skies above him, forming a storm. The clouds gathered together until finally their payload was released, and a torrent of red rained down from the skies. The rain instantly slammed down into Damon, soaking him to the core. 

(Fuck I am guessing this is the rain that mom was talking about. I gotta get down and out of this storm.)

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Damon quickly started to pack up his camp on the cliffside as he rushed to get down the mountain and see his family. But in his haste in the rain, Damon slipped from the hill and started to slide downhill in the mud. Damon's hands grasped out, looking for any purchase in the slick hillside. Damon continued his descent down the mountain until he arrived at a cliff and shot off the edge of it. Damon soared through the air for several seconds until his body met the ground in a sickening crunch. 

The rain continued to pour down from the sky, bathing Damon's body. Bones stuck out from Damon's flesh as they were splintered into pieces from the drop. The raindrops flowed into his wounds, fusing with blood running through his veins together.

(Fuck.... damn it. I don't want to die like this. I need to get back to my family.)

The rain flooded into his body, mutating his genes. It seemed to mutate his cells as his heart slowed down. His heart had slowed to such a point it had nearly flatlined, yet his cells did not stop mutating. Instead, his cells mutated even faster as they started to cannibalize nearby cells directly to hasten the transformation, unlike before, when it was slowly nurturing the cells into a change. But the change in his cells had actually repaired Damon's heart enough for it to start beating again. So again, feeling that heartbeat, the cells slowed down and began to nurture his cells again like before, as if they've been lulled into peace by his heartbeat and were no longer so ferocious. That was until the energy that sustained his heart ran out, and his heartbeat slowed. The second his heartbeat wavered again, the cells started to fiercely mutate again. But this mutation provided energy to fuel his heartbeat, then it ran out, and the cells mutated. Once again, this cycle continued over and over. His body fell into this cycle ending in an odd state of balance as he hung on the edge of life and death. The energy was never enough to fully heal him, yet it never diminished sufficiently for him to die either. Damon laid there in the dirt for what seemed like hours. The rain seemed to never stop, as if it was trying to drown him in its downpour. It took an entire day and night until finally, it did. The black clouds broke, and a clear blue sky was revealed. 

Damon had survived the storm. His body had slowly pulled itself back together during the storm, using the rainwater as fuel to heal him. His eyes slowly fluttered open as the sunlight hit him. Damon barely managed to open his eyes and look at his grizzled hands before he shot up in fear.

(WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH MY HANDS!!!???!!?!?)

Damon's hands had turned into tiny claws from his previously trimmed nails. Damon quickly started to check the rest of his body for any changes. His previously bronzed skin had now paled and greyed slightly. Damon hastily pulled out his phone and took a photo of his eyes and teeth, checking them too before confirming with fear that his teeth had changed. His teeth had sharpened with multiple canine teeth protruding out, having grown in length overnight. While his eyes remained the same light green, they have always been. At least that reassured him slightly. 

(Wait a minute... didn't mom say something about those hit by the rain turning into zombies?? Am I a zombie now?)

The fear of turning into a mindless zombie made Damon's heartbeat shoot through the roof. He had seen too many zombie movies and played too many zombie games for him to ever think being zombie was a good end. 

( I don't want to be a zombie freak!!!!!)

Damon tried to rein in his breathing as his heart pounded in his chest.

(My heart is going crazy right now!! Wait a minute? My heart is going crazy right now? How did he have a heartbeat if he was a zombie?)

This thought calmed Damon slightly as he put his hand to his throat, feeling for his heartbeat. The familiar beat sent some relief through his body.

( I have a heartbeat. I am alive as long as I have a heartbeat. Zombies don't have heartbeats. Ergo I'm not a zombie. But I have claws and fangs like a zombie. But I have a heartbeat, though... wait, does that make me a half-zombie??)

This thought sent Damon spiralling again.

(Being half-zombie isn't much better than being a total zombie....)