Prologue

My head throbs in time with my heart as it thumps against my rib cage stirring me from oblivion. The pain starts of sharp before fading into a dull roar with each beat and likely has something to do with the mass quantities of alcohol I'd consumed. Unfortunately as I slowly come to I realize the rest of me is in a similar state as my muscles contract it feels as though I'd been thrown around like a rag doll. I attempt to recall the events from the past twenty four hours before I'd blacked out but all I can remember is being seven drinks in and starting a game of beer pong, which was probably my first mistake. I can only hope I didn't climb into Nick's jeep for a ride back to the barracks and am now lying in a ditch in the middle of now where. He was more shit faced than I before starting that game.

Attempting to move a hand to my temple to dull the roar; pain shoots up through my arm originating in my wrist. I bite out a cruse quickly halting all movement. That ditch is looking more plausible at this point. In a panic I force my eyes open and instantly regret it. Searing white light assaults my retinas causing me to close them again and throw my arm over them for extra protection. Grumbling irritably I think I'll punch Nick the next time I see him. With some effort I force myself to roll onto my stomach as I do something eerily familiar grinds against the skin of my forehead, gritty and cold. Again I wretch my eyes open only to meet the cold grays and browns of a broken patchy road. It shocks me into an upright position, another bad move on my part as I teeter back and forth. My head is spinning worse that the tea cups ride at Disney. Despite the pain shooting through my wrist I fight to hold my head still enough to make the spinning stop.

It's only a matter of seconds before I feel the undeniable and ultimately uncontrollable urge that comes with the territory of a hangover. Throwing myself forward on to my out stretched hands with some pain I lean forward emptying the liquefied continence of my stomach on to the dusty road staining in a yellowish brown. I use the brief pauses between heaves to catch my breath which reflexively causes my nose to crinkle against the combined smell of alcohol and stomach acid, disgusting to say the least. After a few more minutes of dry heaving I'm able to sit back on my feet without fear of anything else coming up. It's also the first time I get a good look at my surroundings.

All around are dingy crumbling walls that hardly seem to hold up the structures their attached to. Beyond their roof tops and through the hazy smug that blots out the deep blue sky I can just make out the silhouette of what appears to be another wall but on a much grander scale. What the hell… I study it further finding the source of my earlier blindness. Industrial grade high powered lamps line its top edge every couple of hundred yards; leaving the interior area of the huge walls in a state of perpetual false day time.

"Fantastic." I mumble under my breath while closing my eyes and pinching the bridge of my nose. Heaving a sigh I drop my gaze back to the ground finally noticing my bag lying open its continence scattered everywhere. It's just not my day, I snort despite the throbbing in my skull. Reaching for my bag I begin collecting my belongings, Surface pro 3, cell phone, journal, pocket knife, multi tool, DS, pencil case, keys, and some miscellaneous items. I shove them back into the bowels of my bag pretty much running on auto pilot until my hand wraps around my water bottle.

Oh thank y merciful heaven almighty, I praise while popping open the top and bring it up to my lips. It's not the coolest drink I've ever had but still I guzzle as much as I can before the nausea come back. Pulling it back I inhale sharply and take a moment to let the sick feeling pass then start to assess the damage I've collected. My right wrist is pretty banged up, a deep purple bruise is beginning to color its swollen features. Each time I inhale to deeply my ribs scream in protest, it's not a crippling pain so I can assume nothings broken, maybe a little bruised. The palms of my hands and knees are oozing some of the red stuff from some pretty bad road rash that has left holes in my recently purchased jeans. Thankfully over all I seem to be in fairly decent shape, meaning I likely wasn't in some type of horrific car crash. I'll chalk that up to a win.

With another heavy sigh I carefully and unsteadily heft myself up on to my feet, gotta figure out where I am and what the hell is going on. Slinging my bag over one shoulder I spin around to face the only direction I can proceed in. With a wobbly stride I stumble down the alley which looks to round a corner before dumping on to a busy street from what I can tell from the noise. Okay where the hell did those ass clowns leave me this time?" I wonder begrudgingly as I stagger forward. My friends and fellow jar heads have the nasty habit of getting me drunk then dumping me in some undisclosed location so I can find my way back to base before being considered AWOL, all for their own shits and giggles. I swear I'm going to strangle Nick when I find him. Rounding the corner of the dilapidated building to my left I lazily look up at the street before me and stop dead in my tracks.

"What the?" I mutter slightly more alert than I had been a minute ago. "This can't be real." I swallow hard and rub at my eyes unable to believe the sight before me. I'm still drunk, that has to be it, I conclude as I reopen my eyes. A shadow passes over head drawing my attention to some strange vehicle hovering a good twenty feet in the air. As it sputters away down another street I drop my gaze again to the people wandering the road in front of me. They are poorly dressed in shabby attire, mostly nutral tones with the rare pop of color here or there. All of them look down trodden, heads hanging low and eyes down cast. Hardly anyone speaks louder than a hushed whisper but despite the over whelming atmosphere of oppression, what sticks out the most are their ears. Their ears that stick out at least a good six inches from their heads and resemble something like an… I can''t even finish that thought and have to do a double take. Definitely still drunk., I continue to stare dumbfounded. Slowly my presence begins to draw attention as the elven like people stop to gawk at me just as equally surprised and confused.

As we continue to stare at one another a wave of vertigo washes over me causing my already unstable frame to sway and stumble forward. I can feel the nausea building again, my sudden forward momentum seems to startle the people around me because they all move away hastily. Losing my balance I hit the dirt knees first and for a moment I just sit there before bursting into a fit of laughter finding this whole situation hysterical. As I sit here continuing to laugh, I can hear foot falls coming closer and a collective gasp sound from the group that has gathered peaking my curiosity.

Halting in my momentary bout of hysteria I look up at the shadow looming over me through my lashes and find a rather large man clad in full armor painted a bright red staring down at me. We stare for a brief second but with the agony ragging in my head and the lights blind me I can't find the energy to seem impressed.

"Can I help you?" I question sounding rather sarcastic even to myself. The man above me seems rather taken aback by I guess my boldness, like maybe he's never been spoken to like that. He adjusts his stance glancing sideways at his equally offended partner. The second suit nods then turns away slight while bringing a hand up to the side of his helmet. Is he calling for back up? Already, I haven't even done anything… yet? I ponder as the first redirects his attention back to me.

"You're in direct violation of city law, present you identification immediately." He demands harshly from under his strange mask. Staring up at him, face reflecting in the tinted glass shielding his eyes, it's a mixture of unashamed irritation and extreme hung over exhaustion. Is this guy for real, what the fuck am I in violation of? Well other than being publically drunk well more hung over and last I check that wasn't a crime. Unfortunately do to my slow deliberation of his accusation it takes me a moment to react which appears to be more than his patience can handle. "You identification NOW!" he barks causing my head to pound all that much more.

"Dude look I don't want any trouble." I retort defensively bringing my hands up in an attempt to chill him out. Movement to my left catches my attention and I notice more armor clad red suits appear from the crowd that has gathered. Both look just as intimidating as the one standing in front of me but for some reason my fight of flight switch doesn't bother to kick on. Instead I just look back to the one leering down at me. Again I open my mouth like the damn idiot I am. "Seriously I'm just a little hung over, maybe eve a little drunk still." I admit and stagger as I try to get to my feet which causes Mr. red suit to visibly tense. "Honestly I just want to go home and sleep this off so if you could just…" I make an attempt to move past him but he blocks me instantly shifting the weight of the weapon he holding… Wait weapon, I look down at the strange rifle he's holding. Oh shit!

"Cross" his partner calls startling both of us. We both look at the other suit, "She's the one, Commander Erol wants her alive." Staring, that information sinks in. Despite still feeling the effects of the alcohol I'm still quicker on the up take and my brow furrows as I frown at the man.

"Say what? Why the hell would anyone want me?" I demand a little more harsh than I wanted but thankfully no one has time to react . just at the final syllable leaves my lips the distinct sound of metal bouncing off the ground draws our attention to our feet. Rocking back and forth between the two of us is a small silver canister, it looks something like a smoke bomb… Fuck me… I think exasperated.

"Get down!" I hear before another body collides into mine throwing me off my feet and away just as smoke begins to eject from the canister. Mad chaos ensues as the crowd begins to panic, screams fill the air, and the red suits are shouting incoherent gibberish to one another. I try to look around but my head is being held down as thick white smoke quickly fills the area making it almost impossible to see anything and even harder to breath. The weight above me shifts off of me causing me to suck in the breath I'd loss when tackled but instead of much needed O2 my lungs fill with the white smoke forcing me the choke up and cough roughly.

"Try not to breath in to deeply." The husky voice from before informs me and I'd like to snap back at him snarkily but am too preoccupied with clearing my lungs. A hand wraps around my bicep giving me a tug upwards, "Can you stand?" he questions continuing to coax me to my feet. I attempt to look up at him but the smoke is now starting to burn my eye and his face is hidden beneath a well wrapped scarf and hood. Instead I nod allowing him to lift me to my feet. "Stay low." He instructs covering me with his make shift cloak, he begins steering me through the chaos.

All around I can hear panicked cries for help, a red suit rushes past us and I can hear the clinking of his armor proving just how think the smoke is. At some point one of those strange vehicles collides with a wall or something due to the terrible screech of metal that peels through the air. My head is beginning to pound worse than before and even as we clear the smoke I still can't seem to find my a single fluid motion the cloak no lover covers me and the man swaps leading me for pulling me along by my wrist. I don't know how I keep moving feeling the way I do but I do just that stumbling along behind this strange man.

It feels like we spend forever running at this point I'm completely disoriented and my head feels like it's going to explode on top of the returned nausea and not being able to breath properly. We begin to slow to a more manageable pace before stopping completely. Looking up from the ground I watch my savor as he tugs off the hood along with the scarf revealing himself. I'm almost shocked to find he's not any older than I, maybe a year difference. He turns to me a look of pure elation a cross his features, probably pretty proud of his accomplishment that is until he lays eyes on me that is.

I'm sure I look like a mess leaned against the building we're next to, tears streaming down my face caused by the smoke and constant throbbing in my head. The pain is more intense than anything I've ever felt and I hold either side of my head hoping to sooth the breathing is coming in short raspy gasps and I know it's not enough to keep me oxygenated properly. I've even begun to terrible uncontrollably.

"Hey you okay?" he questions sounding highly concerned but I can only manage a shake of my head before teetering forward unable to hold myself up any longer. Thankfully he catches me so I don't hit the ground, "hold on ." I hear him call but it sounds so far away as my eyes flutter. The world around me shifts dramatically and moments later I feel like I'm floating weightlessly. I begin fading in and out catching bits and pieces of information. Somewhere a gun goes off once, twice, to many times to count, a harsh cruse from above me, the distinct red of the red suits armor. The ride is rough as I'm haul to only god knows where and slowly the sounds fade into the distance then there a hiss of air from a pressurized door.

Gravity returns to me as I'm set on something lumpy with no give to it… I'm still fighting to breath… why can't I catch my breath? A gravely irate voice fills my pounding head… "The cities on high alert because of the shit you just pull." Sounds pissed… a calloused hand settles on my forehead and I want to swat it away. Instead I roll away from him beginning to gasp struggling for air. "Shit. Go get some eco out of the back."

"Torn" a panicked voice calls to high to be a male. A strong grasp forces me back on to my back, blue eyes and gray tattoos are the last thing I see before losing the struggle with consciousness.