Doomsday Survivalist: A Guide to Survive!
Rule 9: Unseen
The vehicle that dropped him off didn't even bother stopping fully. Tires were still rolling when the guards shoved Rayco out near the sidewalk. No goodbye, no warning. Just a stiff nod before the doors slammed and the car sped away.
Rayco stood there for a moment, unsteady on his feet, rubbing at the red burns on his wrists. His cheek throbbed, his throat felt scraped raw, and his head… his head felt like someone had wrung it out and left it empty.
He pushed open the gate.
"RAYCO!"
Jake barreled into him so fast Rayco stumbled into his chest. Elisia was already crying. Marcus and Cyrus sprinted over. Ghelle started scanning him from head to toe like she was trying to glue him back together with sheer worry.
Behind them, Mike's men were armed and shaking with adrenaline.
Mike shoved through, eyes sharp and breath tight.
"Where is he?! Who took you? Are you hurt?"
His hand went straight to his radio.
"Team Alpha, get ready to deploy—"
"Mike." Rayco grabbed his wrist. "Stop."
The whole yard froze.
"What do you mean stop?!" Jake snapped. "We were about to raid every place in the city!"
Elisia wiped her eyes. "Rayco… why are you home already? What happened?"
Rayco sank onto the couch like his bones finally gave up.
"They let me go," he said. "After they got what they wanted."
Jake's voice cracked with frustration. "What?! Why would they just release you?!"
Rayco leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring at the floor.
"They wanted answers about Antarctica. About that thing inside the ice. About the future."
Mike tensed. "And? Did you tell them?"
Rayco hesitated before nodding slightly.
"Some things. Mostly things he already knew. I only confirmed one fact."
Ghelle asked softly, "What fact?"
Rayco swallowed.
"That the creature is alive."
The room went still. Even the air felt colder.
Mike sat across from him. "That man—the one who took you. Was he dangerous in your original timeline?"
Rayco didn't answer at first. He stared at his bruised knuckles. His hand wasn't shaking from pain.
It was shaking because of memory.
Jake crouched in front of him. "Rayco… what did you see?"
Rayco breathed out slowly, voice rough.
"He reminds me of someone."
Mike frowned. "A warlord? A soldier? A syndicate head?"
Rayco shook his head.
"No. Not a person."
They watched him silently.
"In the first timeline," Rayco said quietly, "I didn't die because of a human."
Elisia's breath caught.
Rayco's voice lowered, every word dragging old pain to the surface.
"I died fighting the strongest zombie evolution. The Tyrant."
The atmosphere tightened.
"It wasn't just a monster," Rayco continued. "It was… deliberate. It stalked people. Cornered them. Observed them before attacking. It treated humans like puzzles."
Jake whispered, "The guy who kidnapped you…?"
Rayco nodded.
"He has the same eyes."
Everyone stiffened.
Rayco took a shaky breath and looked down at his leg, the one he kept subconsciously rubbing.
"And I need you to understand something," he said. "I didn't fight the Tyrant because I was brave."
He lifted his head, eyes hollow.
"I fought it because Lisa and Carlos shot me in the leg and left me behind."
Everyone froze.
"They panicked. They wanted time to escape. So they slowed me down and fed me to that thing."
His voice trembled—not from fear, but from remembering their faces as they ran.
"I couldn't even stand. That thing grabbed me… tore into me like it already decided how I was going to die."
He swallowed hard.
"In the end, it ripped me in half. And right before everything went dark… it smiled."
Rayco stared at nothing, voice breaking just a little.
"It wasn't instinct. It wasn't random. It knew exactly what it was doing. It was conscious."
He closed his eyes for a second, steadying himself.
"That man today… he has that same kind of mind. Cold. Calculating. Patient."
Mike leaned back, shaken.
"You're saying… we might be dealing with the human version of the Tyrant."
Rayco didn't respond.
He didn't have to.
Cyrus muttered, "If a guy like that gets the creature first…"
Rayco finished the thought quietly.
"Then this won't be just an ice-age apocalypse."
His voice cracked into a fearful whisper.
"We'll get an evolved zombie outbreak led by someone who thinks exactly like the monster that killed me."
Jake's fists tightened. "Then we strike first."
Rayco shook his head.
"We can't. He let me go on purpose. That means he's already ahead of us."
Elisia squeezed his hand like she was scared he'd vanish if she let go.
"So… what do we do now?"
Rayco looked at all of them.
"We prepare. Because whatever he's about to unleash… it's coming sooner than it did last time."
For the first time since he came back—
Rayco felt that same cold dread
the Tyrant made him feel
seconds before it tore him apart.
Mike finally stood, rubbing his face like he was dragging a whole day off his skin.
"Alright… enough for tonight," he said. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried weight. "All of you, rest. We'll regroup tomorrow. This situation's getting bigger than we expected."
He pointed toward the yard.
"I'm leaving six men outside. Two at the gate, two patrolling, two on standby. No one gets near this house without me knowing."
Everyone nodded. The exhaustion was written all over their faces.
Mike gave Rayco one last look—part worry, part anger at himself for not preventing this—then stepped out the door with his team trailing behind.
The house finally fell quiet.
Ghelle tied her hair up and headed straight for the kitchen. "I'll cook."
Marcus followed with a sigh. "Yeah. Kid's gonna need real food after that mess."
The sound of chopping and pans clinking floated from the kitchen, giving the house a bit of life again.
Elisia sat beside Rayco with a small medical kit, her eyes swollen from crying earlier. She dabbed alcohol on a cotton pad and leaned in.
"This might sting a bit," she whispered.
"It's fine," Rayco said softly.
She pressed the cotton to the cut on his cheek—
"AGH—Elisia—"
Jake leaned against the wall with crossed arms and a smug smirk.
"You two are looking more and more like a couple, you know."
Both of them froze.
Elisia's hand pushed a little too hard.
Rayco winced. "Ow—okay, okay, that one wasn't accidental—"
Elisia's face went bright red. "W-We're not—! Jake, stop saying things like that!"
Jake just laughed. "Seriously. Did you two confess yet? Because the whole group already knows what's going on."
"We—there's nothing going on!" Elisia huffed, but her hands were suddenly shaky, and Rayco cleared his throat, staring at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
Jake burst out laughing. "Yeah, yeah. Sure. Nothing going on. Totally believable."
Elisia, flustered, pressed the alcohol cotton straight onto Rayco's bruise again—hard.
"HSSS—Elisia!" Rayco jerked away. "I get it, okay?!"
Her face went even redder. "I didn't do it on purpose—!"
Jake put his hands up in surrender, still grinning.
"Alright, alright, I'll leave you two alone before I get stabbed with a cotton swab."
He walked out, still chuckling.
Elisia finally exhaled, tension easing a little as she gently went back to treating Rayco's wounds—soft this time.
"You scared us," she whispered.
Rayco didn't look up, but he nodded.
"Yeah… I know."
From the kitchen, Marcus shouted,
"Food will be ready in ten!"
Ghelle added, "And Rayco, you're eating everything. No arguments!"
Rayco just sat there quietly, letting the warmth of the house wrap around the cold fear still lodged in his chest.
For a moment…
he felt safe again.
Just for a moment.
THE NEXT MORNING
Sunlight barely cut through the overcast sky. The air felt heavy, like even the weather knew something was wrong.
Rayco and the group were already out at the property, working on the bunker layout. The steel frames were up. The underground halls were starting to take shape. Jake and Marcus were arguing about whether the storage room needed more shelving, while Ghelle barked instructions at construction workers like a foreman possessed.
Cyrus carried tiles to the entryway, muttering, "This place is starting to look like a doomsday resort."
Rayco was checking the thickness of the blast door when his phone buzzed.
Mike.
He stepped away from the noise and answered.
"What's up?"
Mike didn't waste time.
"It's the guy who took you," he said. "We finally confirmed his identity."
Rayco straightened. "Who?"
"Secretary Arvin Solerno," Mike said. "He handles foreign affairs. He's been in that post for almost three administrations now."
The name alone made Marcus glance over.
Rayco frowned. "I've never seen him in the news."
"You won't," Mike replied. "He doesn't like cameras. He moves behind the scenes. Mostly international negotiations, classified aid programs, and border issues."
Jake walked closer, listening in quietly.
Mike continued.
"He's also connected to the opposition—very close, actually. The ones trying to unseat the President. That's why we can't touch him. If we make a move, they'll spin it into a political attack. My entire unit would be shut down."
Rayco tightened his grip on the phone.
"So from the very beginning… he's already an enemy," he said. "Someone who'll get in the way no matter what we do."
"Yeah," Mike said. "And he's not just some paper-pushing official. According to our intel, Solerno's crew has military-grade toys—night vision, encrypted comms, drones, the works. And he's building a private scientific team behind the government's back."
Ghelle stopped writing on the blueprint and looked over.
Even she could tell the conversation shifted into dangerous territory.
Rayco walked farther from the group, lowering his voice.
"If he's that powerful, how come he's invisible? Why don't people know him?"
Mike took a breath.
"That's the point," he said. "He's the guy presidents call when they need something done quietly. No cameras, no interviews, no signatures. Even reporters avoid him. And foreign governments deal with him directly."
Rayco stared at the bunker foundation—solid concrete walls meant to withstand the apocalypse.
But now it felt small compared to the threat he was hearing.
"So he's untouchable," Rayco muttered. "And we'll end up on his radar again."
"You already are," Mike said bluntly. "After last night? He won't ignore you."
Rayco clenched his jaw.
"Then we prepare," he said.
Mike exhaled on the other end. "Meeting at five. Bring the whole team. We need to plan around this guy before he makes his move."
The call ended.
Rayco tucked the phone away and walked back to the group.
Jake raised an eyebrow. "So? What did he say?"
Rayco looked at all of them—Marcus covered in concrete dust, Cyrus sweaty from hauling steel, Ghelle rolling up blueprints, Elisia wiping her hands on her shirt.
He spoke quietly.
"The man who kidnapped me… wasn't just some guy."
He paused.
"He's a government official."
Another pause.
"And he might be the most dangerous enemy we'll face before the apocalypse even starts."
The group froze.
Marcus whispered, "So… human greed arc starts now?"
Rayco let out a humorless breath.
"Yeah," he said. "And this time, it's not zombies we have to worry about."
5 PM — MIKE'S SAFEHOUSE
They gathered in a dim room lit only by a few desk lamps. Mike's team stood outside as guards, and everyone else sat around a long metal table. The mood was tense—too quiet for a normal meeting. Rayco felt it in his chest.
Mike cleared his throat first.
"Alright. Listen carefully."
Everyone looked up.
"From this point on… assume we're being monitored."
Jake leaned back slightly. "Monitored as in… phones tapped?"
"Phones, cameras, our movements, everything." Mike nodded. "Secretary Solerno has eyes in every agency. He probably knew Rayco was home before I even called him last night."
A ripple of unease passed through the group.
Ghelle muttered, "That's crazy…"
Mike raised a hand. "But—don't panic. Right now, Solerno can't touch any of us. The President already knows about the kidnapping incident."
Rayco blinked. "Wait. Already?"
"Yeah," Mike said. "I reported it straight to him. He's furious, but his hands are tied. The problem is… if he makes a move against Solerno, it'll look like a political purge. The opposition will use it to destabilize the government."
He rubbed his temples. "So for now, Solerno will only watch us. No action. Not yet."
Marcus exhaled. "So we're stuck in a stalemate."
"Exactly," Mike said. "Right now, the real powder keg is what's happening in Antarctica."
Jake frowned. "The teams heading for the creature?"
"Three groups," Mike said. "Our special unit, the US Shadow Lab, and China's Seraph Division. They all want the creature. If any of them break protocol… we might have an international incident on top of an apocalypse."
Elisia swallowed. "So what do we do?"
Rayco leaned forward.
"We don't get involved."
Everyone looked at him.
Jake frowned. "Why not? That thing caused the ice age in your timeline, right?"
Rayco nodded. "Yeah. And the more people fight over it, the faster it wakes up. Let them clash. Let them waste their time. It won't matter."
He tapped the table.
"Our top priority is Dr. Suarez."
Mike raised an eyebrow. "Why him?"
Rayco looked around slowly, making sure they understood the weight of this.
"He's the only one who ever came close to making a cure. In the first timeline, he was the most important scientist during the outbreak. Without him… everything goes downhill."
Cyrus tightened his fists. "So if we find Suarez before Solerno does—"
Rayco cut in. "We don't find him before Solerno."
Mike's silence suddenly felt heavy.
Rayco's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me…"
Mike took a breath, then dropped the bomb.
"Dr. Suarez is already with Solerno."
The room went dead quiet.
Even the air felt heavier.
Jake was the first to react.
"What?! Are you serious?!"
Mike nodded. "He was personally hired by Solerno two months ago. Quietly. No announcements. No paperwork that the public can see. Only top officials know."
Ghelle's voice cracked. "So he's already inside that monster's hands…"
Elisia covered her mouth.
Rayco sat still.
Very still.
His voice came out low, controlled.
"Let me get this straight."
He met Mike's eyes.
"The only man who can help us cure the virus… is working for the same guy who wants to weaponize the creature?"
Mike didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Rayco leaned back, eyes distant for a second—as if he was staring at another timeline.
Jake looked at him. "Rayco… what now?"
Rayco closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened them, the fear was still there.
But so was something harder.
Determination.
"We change plans," he said quietly. "Solerno thinks we're predictable. Good. Let him think that."
Marcus leaned in. "So what's the new plan?"
Rayco breathed out slowly.
"We find Doctor Suarez."
He looked around the room.
"Before Solerno forces him to create something that shouldn't exist."
Mike nodded, tension easing just a bit.
"Alright," he said. "Then starting tonight… we hunt."
To be continue