Bubble's Bursting

"Alright, but you have to promise to explain what's going on after," Irene says, startled over her husband's demeanour. A plethora of sweat had pooled, making his brown hair ragged and dishevelled. 

"Yes, I will please just get everyone!" John rushes up the stairs with hardly any coordination, sending his feet tripping over each other up the stairs.

"Okay John, this is scaring me!" Irene yells, trying to get an answer from her husband. Suspecting a midlife crisis. 

"I know! I know!" John replies as vaguely as possible, trying to shut down any forming panic in his wife. 

Darting from room to room John continues to sweat under the pressure and stress. Gathering everything that could be useful into a large military duffle bag. Shoving in MREs, backup batteries, portable chargers, flashlights, knives, radios, laptops, tons of first aid, rope, cooking utensils and his pistols. 

"Fin, hey boy, where are you?" His yellow eyes begin to scour for his German shepherd pup. 

"FIN, COME HERE BOY!" A sinking pit forms in the pit of his stomach imagining the worst-case scenarios. Images of leaving his friend behind to drown confused, lost and afraid. The possibilities haunt and torture him more than the encroaching downpour only getting worse by the second. 

"WHERE FIN! I'M NOT LEAVING HIM BEHIND!" Rain frantically begins to search for the familiar colours of his puppy. His yellow eyes hunt for brown and black fur looking everywhere around the estate in a full-on panic. 

"He's the only thing keeping me from drowning in all of this. I CAN'T LOSE HIM!" Desperation croaks out of his voice as he continues to dart everywhere with little coherency. 

Rain's legs already begin moving, crashing through the forming puddles, his mind sent into pure desperation praying for his puppy to be okay. After minutes of scouring the whole house and backyard, he finally finds his boy. Yelping and whining could be heard crystal clear over the downpour, leading him to the adjacent park near his estate. 

His furry companion lies wounded and hurt, the savages under the guise of teenagers torture the poor animal for their twisted amusement. Blood spreads out in the forming puddles. His fur was saturated in blood and rain.

Rain's yellow eyes grow wide seeing his puppy thrashed on over and over again. Everything goes silent for a moment and only the rushing flow of his blood can be heard. 

One emotion burns hotter than all the rest. Anger white hot anger. His body follows his adamant commands, with a cold loyalty. All forms of expression shut down as his fury sears his eyes wide open. 

No words needed to be said, just the constant stream of thought was enough for him. He didn't need to say anything, just act. 

"Oh, would you look at that! Flunky Rain has finally shown up! We were just getting our point across to your little mutt of yours!" Jackie chuckles, twisting his foot into the ribs of Fin. Making the puppy let out a blood-curdling yelp. 

"Have you finally decided to ship your ass out of our college?" He says with a disgusted sneer. Sending a final kick into Fin sending him flying across the garden. 

"Be thankful you had daddy's money to help you in! Be ready to lick his ass when you quit!" The mocking tone enters his ear following a firm grip on his shoulder. 

All of Rain's muscles tense up at once in the endless downpour of lava-like anger. No longer did he care about limits with the oncoming flood; it didn't matter anymore, why would it? All was gone, the only thing that could be seen was pure red. 

His fingers follow suit building up an incredible tension and grip as he strikes out grabbing at Jackie's throat. All of his fingers clench simultaneously on his jugular. 

Not a breath was shed, just the cold looming stare of a shark piercing into its prey. His grip tightened further and further. Squeezing out as much oxygen as he could. 

'I'm done holding back, you don't deserve any of my mercy!' A string of thoughts bubbles to the surface reaffirming his feelings. 

"Get your hands off me you freak!" Jackie roars, sending his knuckles into Rain's cheek over and over again. Turning his smooth milky skin purple. 

Rain's yellow eyes don't falter, the pain is just a background thought to his mind. His prey is all that's present in his awareness. 

"Hey Rain let go, that's enough you've made your point!" One of the lackeys stutters seeing the brutality before him struggling to get back to his feet unable to sway Rain further. 

Rain's fingers kept clenching despite the overwhelming amount of strikes being delivered to his skull by Jackie. Blood trickles down the side of his head, his yellow eyes continue to burn bright with feral fury gripping even tighter seeking to claim the precious oxygen his bully was holding on to.

"G…et...off…of me". Jackie struggles to utter out nearing suffocation, Rain's claw-like fingers continue to dig into his jugular. 

His fingers continue to follow his will clenching tighter and tighter seeking to shed blood into the waters. Until his gaze flickers to his wounded friend, an instinctual calling from his puppy's brown eyes encourages him to seize. 

Begrudgingly he fights against all his urges to rip apart the flesh before him. His fingers loyally follow suit letting go of their prey. 

"YOU'RE A FUCKING FREAK YOU KNOW THAT!" Jackie's eyes look at Rain in pure alien disgust. Rubbing cautiously at the fresh wounds forming on his neck. 

"Let's go guys, who knows what he'll do next!" The other lackey crows out dehumanising Rain even further. 

Not a smirk or piece of satisfaction is felt, Rain's cold glowing eyes continue to look on relentlessly watching around him for any more threats. Before softening to tend to the wounds of his loyal companion. 

"Hey bud, it's good to see you. You're probably not feeling the best but don't worry I'm here. You know I wouldn't leave you behind" Rain says, hugging his loyal puppy. 

"Alright, I've got everything I need Irene!" John yells out clambering out of the house in a frenzy. 

"Johnathan you need to tell me what's going on," Irene says in a stern tone cutting through his guise now with adamance. 

"I will! First, have you gotten the kids together!" John's eyes flick all over the SUV seeing only Lucas in the back. 

"I'm still looking for Rain! I can't find him anywhere!"Irene screams out, overwhelmed by all of the chaos.

"DAMMIT THAT IDIOT WHY CAN'T HE EVER TAKE ANYTHING I SAY SERIOUSLY!" Johnathan's previous anger comes back up with even more justified fury seeing his son ditch the SUV. 

"Honey, I think you're being a bit too harsh on him, what's going on?"Irene continues to prod for an answer.

"AH". John slams his head into the steering wheel letting out a long beep. 

"There's a flood is imminent, we have to leave right this second, apparently it's severe, I'm taking us to an old friend. He's a friend from the Navy. He's already agreed to get us to a safe spot but we have to go". John says, trying to calmly explain through panicked breaths. 

"Oh my god, JOHNATHAN WHY DIDN'T YOU DAMN TELL ME. MY BOY MY BOY WHERE IS HE!" Irene's face warps under the immense distraught leaking through every part of her composure. 

"THIS IS WHY I DIDN'T DAMN TELL YOU IRENE YOU WOULD PANIC". Johnathan screams out distraught, panicked and afraid. The only thing cutting through their panic is the static of the radio coming to life. 

"John, you need to go now! I'm serious!" Andrea yells into the mic of the comms piece. 

"The waves are already reaching Lapis, traffic will jam very soon once the broadcast gets out you need to leave the city now"! Andrea desperately pleads with his friend. 

"I know I KNOW Andrea," John says with a sigh, looking for glimmers of hope in the brutal decision he may have to make. 

"Honey we have to go, I'll go look for Rain if I can't find him............ we'll have to leave him." He says finishing his sentence off with the locking of the SUV. 

"NO, WE CAN'T LEAVE OUR BOY!" Irene screams out pressing her hands against the car windows praying they would crack under her barrage.

"DAMMIT I DON'T WANT TO IRENE, BUT I CAN'T BEAR THE THOUGHT OF LOSING ALL OF YOU TO A WATERY GRAVE!" John screams out slamming on the frame of the SUV. 

"JOHN PLEASE!" Irene begs with all of their heart. 

"I will look as hard as I can. You have my word." John runs, not looking back trying to move as fast as he possibly can to find his son. 

He scours the whole estate from top to bottom continuously calling out his son's name over and over again until his voice goes hoarse. Desperation bubbles up inside of him fueling an existential anxiety at the depths of his being. 

The terrifying reality of losing his son looms its jaws over him with voracity. Instinctually he begins to shake at the cellular level. 

After a devastating couple of minutes, he begins to search with even more panic and instability. Tears start to steam down his face as he searches the backyard anywhere his son could be. 

"Rain please, where are you!" John begs and pleads as tears start to stream down his face. 

"Please!" The same yellow eyes as his sons, quiver under the new reality he's been put under.