Back From the Apocalyptic Future

005 - Warnings From The Future

That intimidation is really so powerful. Arifin can only look down. He then just stops writing, and starts thinking whether to continue his study or just quit it for good. It feels like he is taught to be stupid and to have a mindset like a slave.

  

It’s still three weeks in his college life. And he is already feeling unable to hold it anymore. And so, he just packs his stuff and takes his leave without saying anything.

  

That lady named Marie just shakes her head. “Someone like him will never have any future unless he fixes his manners.”

  

She then tries to ignore Arifin and starts giving her students excescise in calculating the oxidation number. When these students start doing this practice, only then they realize there’s something wrong.

  

“Mam! I think, this shouldn’t how we calculate the oxydation number of central metal ion in complex compound. It seems like not all of these complex molecule you give having neutral charge. We shouldn’t always start it by treating these molecules having zero oxidation number.”

  

Mrs. Marie’s face looks so blank for a second. She then checks on all the things that she has written on the board.

  

She is not stupid, and knows she has mad a mistake. This thing is just basic in chemistry, and she feels so humiliated because she really has that kind of proud in her self in the first place.

  

***

  

Arifin is no longer paying any concern to his current odd appearance and his weird haircut. He is already so pissed off. But he is still trying to give serious thought whether quitting or continuing his study.

  

He takes a seat at one corner in a canteen which is still so quiet. And then, more students come to this canteen one by one. Of course, the first thing that catches their attention is the weird look on Arifin’s head.

  

But then, something more strange occurs and attracts those students' attention. They start discussing something while looking at their mobile phones. Until suddenly…

  

“This must be punishment from God for what they have done.”

  

“They’ve turned so many places into ashes with their nuclear bombs. Now God punishes them by sending the meteorites from heaven.”

  

“Hey, look at this one video. Look at those soldiers, they are almost naked, dying like dogs like that!”

  

“Look at how chaotic it is! Hahaaa, serve them right!”

  

“Yeah! Serve them right! That’s what they get for acting so full of themselves!”

  

Those students cheer for something. Arifin can’t help but to be curious with what’s going on. He then takes a peak from behind four girls who are also discussing the same thing on their phones.

  

That’s when Arifin sees the video of the incident where several meteorites hit several places in Russia a few days ago.

  

He finds how chaotic it is. There are even some short video reels showing the moment before one meteorite hit a city.

  

Out of nowhere, Arifin begins to have some kind of déjà vu. He gets some blurry vision in his mind, and his neck on the left side is stiff. There’s even blood coming out of the scar on his back neck.

  

Deg!

  

He tries to loosen up his stiffened neck on the left side while enduring that shock. He drops to his knees as he tries to hold the pain in his head. He even starts having nosebleeds.

  

It attracts the attention of those girls. They look a bit uncomfortable to find Arifin so close kneeling behind them.

  

“What the?!”

  

They can’t voice their discontent since they start noticing something wrong with him. Arifin’s hair starts growing again albeit slowly. The color even turns silver now.

  

“Hey, are you okay?”

  

But Arifin doesn’t answer. He just groans in pain. Images of the horrific incident at the shrine while he was trapped in that giant carrion flower resurfaces in his mind.

  

“What’s wrong with him? Anyone knows who this guy is?”

  

“Isn’t he the new student from the Chemistry department?”

  

“Yeah, I know him. I’ve heard some silly rumors about this kid.”

  

“Not again! He must be trying to do something stupid now!”

  

The fragments of that bad memory keep coming to him one by one. Until all his hair turns completely silver like the hair of an old man. This makes the four girls start to fear him.

  

A single strong pulse occurs on Arifin’s heartbeat. And those four girls around him suddenly passed out. It attracts the attention of all the people in that canteen.

  

But then, when they get closer trying to have a look, Arifin has also passed out, laying on the ground with a bleeding nose. In the end, they take Arifin and those four girls to the hospital in the medical campus environment, still located in the same university.

  

While getting the treatment, Arifin is having delirious so many times. It’s like he is having the same dream he had last night, a dream where he is hunted by so many bizarre demonic creatures.

  

<< You can’t run from us? >>

  

<< Your blood! That corrupted blood! You’ve been offered as the sacrifice for the Carrion Flower Demon. Your blood must taste so great now >>

  

<< There’s no meaning in running away from us. Give us your blood! Your corrupted blood! >>

  

Before midday, Arifin becomes the first one who regains his consciousness. And the first thing that shakes his attention is the pain from the scar in his neck.

  

When the pain is subdued, he starts examining his surroundings. He finds the other girls are still on the bed with two nurses watching over them while discussing something on their smartphones.

  

Arifin’s face grows paler. He begins to recall a bit of his memories, about the meteorites raining down on earth.

  

“Aaarrgh!” he groans in pain as he holds his head.

  

He is so confused now. Because those fragments of memory are overlapping with his current reality. Those memories should be about the experiences in the past some years ago. But he is now living that timeline at the moment.

  

“No! No way! Am I travelling back in time?”

  

He rushes out of that place. It shakes the two nurses' attention from their smartphones.

  

“Hey! You can’t just leave yet!”

  

“Hey, kid! We need to scan your brain! You can’t just leave!”

  

But Arifin doesn’t care at all. He rushes out as he takes out his phone. At least, he knows where he is now, in a hospital on campus in a hilly area. It is Karamunting hill on the outskirts of Padang city, where he can observe the entire city landscape from afar.

  

Right when he gets outside, he begins to record a video without showing his own face. He just points the camera to the landscape of the city from a distance, and then starts talking.

  

“Listen to me! The thing that happened in Russia, will also happen to this city. It will happen two weeks from now. On Saturday before the sunset, February 13th 2083, a meteorite will hit the ocean near Mentawai Islands. There will be a tsunami. And then, some small meteorites will also hit our city during the night.”

  

“That’s not all. These phenomena will keep coming for months. These small meteorites will also hit the other cities.”

  

He ends the recording, and then shares it using his social media while rushing back to the science faculty environment. He might not be showing his face in that video, but those who know him recognize his voice.

  

Some students notice the thing that Arifin has shared. In a short time, it becomes a joke and laughing matters amongst them.

  

When Arifin arrives there, all the eyes are averted to him. All of them turn so quiet, and Arifin thinks that they are looking that serious for the warning he has given. But no, they then just suddenly burst out their laughter.

  

“Come on! Give me a break already!”

  

“Are you that desperate for attention? At least try to come up with a good idea, not this silly joke?”