The Apocalypse Made Me A Monster

Chapter One : Betrayed 

Octavia’s POV

I had never been happier than I was that afternoon.

After spending almost two hours with the company lawyer, I had finally signed the documents that would allow Adrian to take control of my late mother’s company. With our wedding only a month away, I wanted to focus on building a happy home with the man I loved while he oversaw the business.

I had watched my mother struggle to balance her marriage and her company. I didn’t want to make the same mistake.

Adrian had promised that I could leave everything to him and I trusted him.

He was the man I had loved for ten years, the man I had defended even when my father questioned our relationship, and the man I had chosen to spend the rest of my life with.

I had no reason to doubt him.

When I arrived at Adrian’s house, the gate was open. I parked my car and walked inside, holding my handbag close to my side.

I didn’t bother knocking at the front door. I had been here countless times, and I knew my way around the house.

I headed toward his bedroom, intending to surprise him but  before I could knock, I heard a woman’s voice from inside.

“Wouldn’t you call her to find out if she has signed the papers?”

I stopped. I knew that voice, there  was no way I could mistake it for anyone else’s.

Vanessa, my stepsister.

I stared at the closed door, wondering why she was here and what she was discussing with Adrian.

Was she talking about me?

I hadn’t told her about the documents. In fact, I had deliberately kept the matter between Adrian and me until everything was finalized.

So why was she asking about them?

“Does she have a choice?” Adrian replied with a laugh. “That woman loves me too much to ever suspect that I would betray her.”

My smile vanished.

I stood there, staring at the door as though it had suddenly become something terrifying.

That woman? Was he talking about me?

“You’re very confident,” Vanessa said. “What if she changes her mind?”

“She won’t. Octavia would do anything for me. I could ask her to hand over the entire company, and she would probably thank me for taking the burden off her shoulders.”

They laughed.

I felt something tighten painfully in my chest.

No! This couldn’t be happening.

Adrian couldn’t be talking about me that way. Not the man who had promised to marry me next month. Not the man who had held me through my darkest moments and sworn that he would never give me a reason to regret loving him.

I pressed my back against the wall, hoping that I had misunderstood their conversation.

“Still, I can’t believe she actually agreed to sign the papers,” Vanessa said. “Our father tried to convince her to let him handle the company, but she refused. Yet you only had to ask, and she handed everything over to you.”

“That’s because she trusts me.”

My hand stopped just before it touched the door.

I stared at it, trying to understand what I had just heard. Perhaps I had misunderstood him. Perhaps they were talking about someone else.

But then Vanessa laughed.

I moved closer to the door, my fingers slowly curling around its edge.

“Your wedding with her is next month, isn’t it?” Vanessa continued. “What are you going to do about that? Are you really going to marry her?”

“Of course not,” Adrian answered immediately. “Let her keep preparing. Let her buy her wedding dress, choose the flowers, and invite everyone she knows. I want her to stand in front of all those people and discover that the man she has loved for ten years never intended to make her his wife.”

Their laughter filled the room.

I felt as though someone had driven a knife straight into my chest.

“No!” I whispered, shaking my head.

It couldn’t be true.

Adrian would never do this to me. Not after ten years together. Not after everything we had shared, the promises we had made, and the future we had planned.

I had loved him when he had nothing. I had stood beside him when people doubted him, defended him when my friends questioned our relationship, and trusted him even when I had reasons to be cautious.

That very afternoon, I had signed away control of my mother’s company because I believed I was preparing for our future.

And he was laughing at me.

My fingers tightened around the door until my knuckles turned white. My chest hurt so badly that I had to press my other hand against it, as if that could stop the pain.

Why was he doing this to me?

What had I done to deserve it?

“That’s why I told my mother not to get rid of her the way she did with her mother,” Vanessa said. “Octavia has always acted as if she’s better than me. Everyone praises her, everyone chooses her, and somehow she always gets what she wants. But this time, I want to watch her lose everything.”

My entire body went cold.

Her mother?

Getting rid of mine?

I stared at the door, unable to move.

For years, I had believed my mother died in a car accident. I remembered the day my father told me she was gone, the unbearable pain that followed, and how nothing in our home had felt the same afterward.

Then, not long after her death, my father brought Vanessa and her mother into our lives.

I had been too heartbroken to question much. I thought my father was trying to rebuild his life, and I had tried to accept his decision, even when it wasn’t easy.

But now… Was my mother’s death really an accident?

“No,” I whispered again, tears filling my eyes. “No, that can’t be true.”

My knees weakened, and I leaned against the wall to keep myself upright. I wanted to rush inside and demand answers, but fear held me back. If what Vanessa had said was true, then I wasn’t just listening to my fiancé confess his betrayal.

I was listening to people who might have taken my mother away from me and  one of them was my own stepsister.

“How long are you going to keep her around?” Vanessa asked.

“Until I’ve secured everything,” Adrian replied. “Once the transfer is complete, she will have nothing left to offer me.”

“But what if she discovers the truth?”

“She won’t. She trusts me completely.”

I covered my mouth with my hand as a sob threatened to escape.

He knew me so well. He knew I would never have suspected him, never imagined that the man I planned to spend the rest of my life with was secretly working against me.

He had used my love as a weapon.

“Anyway,” Vanessa continued, “once everything is ours, there will be no reason for her to remain in our lives. I want to see her lose her company, her fiancé, and everything she thinks makes her special.”

I held my breath.

There was more. I could feel it. They had planned everything, and I needed to know what they intended to do to me. I couldn’t afford to let my pain make me careless, not when the people I trusted most might be the ones I needed to fear.

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and forced myself to remain still.

Then Adrian spoke again.

“Once I have full control of the company, we won’t have to pretend anymore. You and I can finally live the way we want.”

My stomach twisted.

How long had they been together? Had he been sleeping with her while holding me in his arms and promising that I was the only woman he wanted? Had she sat beside me, listened to me talk about my wedding, and secretly laughed at me?

I wanted to hate him. I wanted to storm into that room and throw the signed documents at his face. I wanted to demand that he return every promise, every kiss, and every moment I had wasted believing in him.

But I couldn’t move.

I was terrified that if I opened that door, they would see me, and I would lose the only advantage I had left: they didn’t know I had discovered their plan.

I carefully stepped away from the door, determined to leave before they noticed my presence. My legs trembled as I made my way down the hallway, and I had barely reached the gate when a deafening crash shook the entire neighbourhood.

I screamed as the ground trembled beneath my feet.

The windows of Adrian’s house shattered, sending glass raining across the floor. A car alarm blared from the street, followed by the sound of people screaming.

“What is happening?” someone shouted.

I turned towards the sky.

The blue afternoon sky was changing before my eyes. Dark clouds gathered at an unnatural speed, swallowing the sunlight until the neighbourhood was plunged into darkness. Then a deep red glow spread across the clouds, growing brighter until the sky looked as though it had been soaked in blood.

I stood frozen, staring at it.

A strange vibration passed through the air, so powerful that I felt it deep in my bones. My ears rang, and I clutched my head as an unbearable pressure settled over my body.

Then came the screams.

People poured out of their houses, running in every direction. Some fell to their knees, while others desperately tried to call their loved ones. A man rushed past me, shouting that something had attacked his wife.

Before I could understand what he meant, a creature leapt onto the roof of a parked car.

It looked almost like a wolf, except it was far too large, with twisted limbs, black veins bulging beneath its skin, and eyes glowing an unnatural red. It opened its mouth and let out a roar that sent people scattering.

Someone screamed as the creature sprang towards the crowd.

I stumbled backwards, nearly falling as I tried to escape.

This couldn’t be real.

It had to be a nightmare.

Only minutes ago, I had been standing outside the bedroom of the man I loved, discovering that he had betrayed me. Now the sky was blood-red, strange creatures were attacking people, and the world I knew was falling apart before my eyes.

I didn’t know where to go. I didn’t know whom to trust.

The front door of Adrian’s house flew open.

“Octavia!”

I turned.

Adrian stood at the entrance, with Vanessa behind him. His face had gone pale as he stared at the sky.

For a moment, our eyes met.

He looked at me as though he wanted to say something, but I couldn’t bear to hear his voice. The same mouth that had promised to love me forever had just admitted that I meant nothing to him.

I turned away from him.

Then another roar shook the street, Vanessa screamed.

Adrian spun around, and the expression on his face changed to pure terror.

I followed his gaze.

A monstrous figure stood at the end of the driveway, its enormous body blocking the path to the gate. Its glowing eyes moved from Adrian to Vanessa, then settled on me.

I couldn’t breathe.

The creature lowered its head and began walking towards us.

Suddenly, a strange voice rang inside my head.

[RED MOON APOCALYPSE HAS BEGUN.]

[HUMANITY’S SURVIVAL TRIAL IS NOW ACTIVE.]

[ADAPT, EVOLVE, OR PERISH.]

I staggered, pressing my hands against my ears, but the voice continued to echo inside my head.

But as the monster advanced, I realized something far more terrifying.

In this new world, heartbreak wouldn’t be what killed me. Trusting the wrong person might.