Chapter 1: The Beginning

"Jordan, stay away from him!"

"There's got to be a better way!"

"I'm sorry." A man with a black hood over his head said to the crying teen. He sent a shock wave of energy in their direction and the light diminished from the boy's body.

Year 2025, 12 years ago:

A little boy ran over to the window after feeling the aftershocks of a blast near them. He looked up to see a red blast in the sky. That day, he never knew his world would change completely.

The ground shook with a force no one had ever felt in any period of history. Jordan gripped the railing almost looking scared. Confusion was all he could feel as the sky started to turn red all around him. "Jordan! Hide now!" Jordan's mother, Sarah, yelled as she pushed her only son under the bed.

"Mommy, what's going on?" The five year old’s head peaked out from under the trim trying to see his mom, but she tied it down tightly pushing him further under the bed.

"Just stay quiet. Mommy loves you, sweetie." She said. She placed a hand on his cheek and gave him a small kiss before looking back to see her husband, Peter, came in and threw their other child, Alice, Jordan’s older sister of 9 years under the bed too.

"Keep your brother safe Alice! Listen for Ace!" Peter yelled. Alice held Jordan as she looked up from the crack that they could see. Alice kept a firm hold on Jordan’s mid-section and covered his eyes so he wouldn’t see anything. The red blast came through the house blinding Alice for a few seconds. As her sight came back, she almost screamed. Giant creatures of an amorphous stood before them. Sarah and Peter held up guns at the ready and shot all of their rounds. Nothing seemed to work. The screams of both their parents would haunt them for the rest of their lives. Jordan was about to scream until Alice covered her brother's mouth quickly. She held up the silent motion and wrapped Jordan around her body hoping to keep him calm. Rummaging and many sounds of eating later, the room became a little quieter. Ripping flesh and organs was the last thing they heard before Alice saw the monsters jump out the windows. When Alice knew there was nothing there, she got out from under the bed to see her parent’s skeletons as the only remnant of them.

"Al, what happened?" Jordan asked, gripping the edge of the bed pulling his head out.

"Stay away JorJor, just don't look." Alice quickly tried to block Jordan’s view and push him back under the bed hoping it was enough. Jordan looked at his sister questioningly and came out. "Jordan!" Alice said, but wasn't quick enough to block Jordan from seeing the remnants of their parents. He was about to cry, but Alice covered his mouth. Fear took over both of them as she pointed outside the window and they both heard the rustling of the bushes outside and the shadow of a figure. Alice pushed them under the bed and waited. “Please keep quiet. You can scream when we’re safe.” She wrapped her arms around Jordan’s shaking figure hoping her shoulder and chest would muffle his cries of pain.

They stayed there for almost a day. The fear kept them still as they didn’t know what to do.

"Anyone here? Is anyone alive?" A deep voice boomed over the silence.

"Ah!" Jordan tried answering, but Alice covered his mouth. Her face was one of a hardened child. She tried to show no emotion as she peered to see two boots in front of the bed.

"Please, I'm not a monster. I work for your parents. My name is Ace Walker! Please." Alice wasn’t buying it. He needed to say something. “Alice, Jordan, my name is Ace Walker. Please respond to me if you’re still alive. Um. . .Alice, your favorite song is Blue Hour by TXT and Jordan, you have a soft spot for your teddy bear because it was hand stitched by your grandmother.” Jordan looked up at Alice wide eyed as he clutched the said bear tighter. Alice pushed Jordan off of her and kept him under as she got out cautiously.

"My name is Alice Holtzman. My dad told me to listen for you." A man with black hair, and blue eyes looked back at the girl with curly dirty blonde hair and brown eyes.

"Alice, are you the last survivor?"

"I'm not answering until I can trust you." Alice crossed her arms over her chest standing right in front of Jordan so he couldn’t try to get out.

“We have been asked to take you in if something like this was to occur. We had the same arrangement if I died. Please trust me when I say, we need to keep you alive.” Alice weighed her options and sighed kneeling down in front of Jordan and holding a hand out for him. Jordan took the hand as Alice pulled him out. Jordan quickly moved to all fours and looked up to see Ace smiling down at him. Jordan quickly got up and clutched his bear close to him hiding behind Alice.

"This is my little brother Jordan Holtzman."

"Alice, who is he?" Jordan pulled at Alice’s shirt staying behind him. Some other people came in behind Ace and protected the two’s sight from the bodies.

"A man that will help us. We need to understand everything about what has caused this." Alice kept her poker face on trying to act strong under the circumstances.

"We’ll teach you, but you also need to be trained." Ace mumbled. He held out a hand for both with a warm smile. Jordan peaked out from behind Alice and hesitantly took Ace’s hand. Alice joined and kept a firm grip on her brother just in case. Ace took the two children and ran to the car. “Drive.” He told the driver. The jeep was old, but it barely made sound as they drove off.

It took almost an hour until the siblings found themselves in a new environment. It was an underground type of bunker. There was a small outhouse of sorts poking out from underneath the dirt, but it could only hold a person on their stomach. It was almost as if it was made for a snipper. "This is where we can train for the time being. Tarrant! Get your lazy butt out here! We have guests!" Ace called. A boy that was about eight came over from behind a closed door. He had blue eyes and brown hair with a few highlights in it.

"What dad?" The boy put his hands in his pockets eyeing the two newcomers.

"These are the children of Holtzman. Remember what I told you? Can you go show them to their living arrangements?" He nodded and turned on his heal and left.

"Okay, so ladies stay in this room, and you're bunking with me Jordan." Tarrant mumbled pointing to the adjacent doors. Jordan looked hesitant and Tarrant saw that. "Don't worry, I don't bite. Besides, it's cooler in my room. I still have my game system." Tarrant bragged. Alice shook her head as she walked with them. "We'll start training both of you when we feel you're mentally ready. It was hard wasn’t it?" Alice didn’t answer, but Jordan nodded softly clutching his bear closer.

"When will training start?" Alice asked.

"In due time. You'll know when it's time."

"That's vague."

“Well, we can’t know for sure. This place was created just in case, at least that’s what my old man says.”

“This old man can hear you!” Tarrant stuck his tongue out at nothing in particular and let them get situated.

“Meet me in the living area. We’ll be feeding you. Miss. Flora makes really good meat pies.” Jordan looked back at his sister as she opened the door to the girl’s room.

“Don’t worry, JorJor. I’ll see you in a few minutes. Tarrant, don’t try anything on him.” Alice still barely trusted this boy, but their father helped them.

“I would never do something to this cutie.” Tarrant smiled and wrapped an arm around his shoulders before leading him into the kid’s room. There was only one other bed there. It was his. “Set up here. Take a shower or find some change of clothes if you need to.” Tarrant jumped onto his bed and looked at the boy standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

“Um. . .Terrance?”

“It’s Tarrant, and what?” Tarrant crossed his arms over his chest and puffed his chest out at the boy. The boy held his bear tighter, and Tarrant could see this as clear as day. He sighed and jumped down taking Jordan’s free arm and bringing him in for a hug. “Go ahead and cry. I know you’ve been hiding it because of your sister.” Jordan didn’t know what to say, but the tear ducts started without his knowledge as he gripped on Tarrant with force neither he or Tarrant knew he possessed.

“It’s going to be okay soon.” Tarrant’s voice wavered. He had no idea if he was trying to convince Jordan or himself. Either way, the two boys stayed in that room as both of them soaked the other’s shirt.

After an hour, Ace came up and knocked on Tarrant’s door. “Tarrant, come down for dinner.” Tarrant was the first to wake up hearing his dad’s voice on the other side. He quickly moved away from Jordan looking at the area a little confused on how he was so open with this kid on the first day. Tarrant peaked his head out from the door as Ace smiled down at his son.

“You two, this is my son, Tarrant. He’s three years older than you, Jordan.” Ace tried to break the ice, but he knew that this was going to be a hard first few years. “Come on. Miss. Flora is waiting for you two to start.” Tarrant nodded and shut the door so only an eye could fit to see inside. Ace looked a little and saw how close Tarrant had already become with Jordan. ‘Ugh, Sarah, if you were alive, I would owe you $50. You were right as always.’

Jordan came down with Tarrant pulling him to this big area that had a few heaters around the area and a buffet style of food. Everything was just on plates and everyone was picking at it.

“These will be your comrades in arms. Please treat them like family, Alice, Jordan.”

“Eric Braun, our intelligence operator.” A ginger guy no older than 23 held his hand up with a small smile. “Sean Jager, our combat trainer. He is young, but he can beat most of us here without a weapon.” A guy who looked 17 waved at the two. He had short curly black hair and his chocolate skin made him look smooth, but his eyes were a little hardened. It seemed like he had seen a lot more in the past few days than he had in a long time. “Miss. Flora, of course, the best cook in the world.” An older woman around her late forties waved at the two with a warm smile. She seemed like the one that would be the resident mother. Her long brown-grey hair framed her face nicely to make her look almost 10 years younger than Ace claimed. “Stephanie Zhan, our strategist.” A woman of about 28 with wavy, long black hair and pale skin smiled at the two. Unlike everyone else, there weren’t that many weapons on her immediate person. “And me, Ace, the leader. I’m sorry that these things happened to you, but in due time, you will understand why we did what we did.” Ace left it at that leaving many of them in the dark. Each knew they were here for something; they just didn’t know it all stemmed back over 20 years ago.