Chapter 1 — It Wasn’t Rain
Chapter 1 — It Wasn’t Rain
It started as rain.
That’s the worst part. Not explosions. Not sirens. Not some dramatic warning telling you to run. Just… rain.
I didn’t clock it at first. London always smells like wet concrete and regret anyway, so when the air got heavier—thicker, like breathing through a damp hoodie—I figured it was just one of those dead days.
I was on my phone, scrolling. Not even reading. Just… scrolling. A gym post. Some girl flexing in the mirror. For a second I wondered if she’d look better with shorter hair. Then my brain jumped tracks, like it always does thinking about wasting money on dumb stuff before my account empties again.
Pointless thoughts. Filling space.
Then my thumb stopped.
A video.
Some guy filming outside his flat. Shaky camera. Rain hitting the pavement.
“Bro, what the hell is that?”
Green.
Not bright green. Not fake-looking. That swampy, alive kind of green like something that’s been sitting too long and decided to grow teeth.
The rain hit the ground and instead of splashing, it stuck.
Like it was choosing where to land.
The comments were already flooding in fake, AI, algae, why is it moving???
I refreshed. More videos. Different streets. Different angles.
Same thing.
Green rain.
“Mikey.”
No response. Headphones in, foot tapping. Probably watching fight breakdowns like nothing in the world could interrupt that.
“Mikey.”
Still nothing.
I grabbed his hoodie and yanked it. “Oi.”
He pulled one side of his headphones off, annoyed. “What?”
I showed him the screen.
He squinted. “…That’s weird.”
“That’s not just weird.”
The video zoomed in. Closer. Closer.
A drop hit the guy’s hand.
At first—nothing.
Then his skin shifted.
Not melting. Not burning.
Growing.
Tiny green threads pushed out from his pores like roots forcing through concrete.
أنت تقرأ
Jungle Bush
رعبa bio-apocalyptic UK horror world where a spreading algae-like infection mutates humans, ecosystems, and infrastructure into a living "green jungle system," forcing survivors to adapt, degrade, or evolve into something unrecognisable.
