Chapter 1

New Day, Same Thing

April 4th, 2020.

I walked in the ruins of what was left of the old Central Plaza. I spotted the crater from the explosion still there in the center, where the fountain used to be. The dance floor no longer spit out any electricity from the wires. All power to this area was gone. Blood stains and bullet holes covered the walls and the ground. I'll never forget that fight.

You may be wondering who I am. Well, I'm known by many names. Some called me "Reaper". Others call me "The Angel of Death". Few call me "One-Eye", but they don't live long enough to call me anything else…God I fuckin' hate that name…

My name is James. I'm the former Head of Security of the last, most powerful family, "Siciliyz Finest Men and Women". We were the top-dogs back in the day. No one screwed with us. And if they did, they wouldn't last much longer.

I was the family's number-one fighter. No one could outmatch me in a fight. Be it wielding swords or guns, or an all-out fist-fight, I was the best. Sure, I had my challenges, but I still gave everything I had in a fight. Unless you count the time I toyed with Hawk, but that's another story.

I pulled the scarf down off my face and removed the hood from my cloak. I peered through my aviators to scan what was left of the plaza. There wasn't anything to scavenge, the place was picked clean. I had trained my right eye to see better, considering I only had one good eye. The little bastard got a lucky shot in…

I walked slowly through the ruins, reliving all the times here. Sometimes I would see the images of men and women chatting, dancing, eating… all of 'em having a good time. Other times I would see me and my fellow fam members fighting alongside each other. Those were the days.

After the hard loss of the war, I became a bounty hunter. It wasn't fun, but an easy way to make credits. Kill a guy here and there and I could sleep with a few thousand credits in my wallet. After five years, the shit gets boring, y'know?

The family knew it would be harder for the government to track us if we split up and disbanded. It was a hard decision to make, but it had to be done. No one, to the best of my knowledge, has heard from anyone since that day. I severed all my ties to them, just to be safe.

It's been about 5 years since that day. I miss them all. I miss our leader, Don; That hot-headed Italian, Justyn; The muscle, Mikey; Hulio, our techie and brains; The twin assassins, EJ and Ashley; and one of the toughest female brawlers out there, Amy. But the one I miss most, the girl who proved she could take on whatever you put her through, Kitty Johnson. A resilient woman, she was. I spend a brief moment reminisce… damn, I'd give anything to bring the old fam back.

"Look what we got here boys! Fresh meat and some nice tech!" a raider shouted from behind me.

I turned to see a small group of raiders walking towards me. All had clubs, bats with nails, and lead pipes. I sighed to myself and took my sunglasses off, tucking them in my trench coat.

"When will little fucks like you learn?" I asked them, slowly turning to face them.

"Oh my God! It's Reaper!" one shouted, trembling.

"Isn't that the guy who was SFM's security leader?" another asked.

I gave a sinister chuckle and drew my two trusted katanas from their sheaths on my back. Giving them a small twirl I looked to the group before me. "You should run away now, before I chop you up into pieces."

"Fuck him, let's get him!" the leader of the group shouted. They all rushed me, weapons high above their heads. I ran at the group, this was gonna be easy.

The air filled with the sounds of steel clashing and blades cutting through flesh. Screams of agony sounded through the dust of the ruins.

I stood, covered in their own blood. All of them… dead. The attacks and raid parties were getting more annoying by the day. Every day the same thing; I look for supplies, get attacked, kill em all and walk away with blood stained swords.

For some reason, I thought tomorrow would be a new day. I had a strange feeling like something big was gonna happen. Maybe it's just me going crazy from all the heat and dust, or maybe something over the horizon was gonna change. Either way, I knew something would change.

I grabbed my shades and put them back on. I scavenged through the raiders belongings and collected a few credits, some ammo, and a little bit of food. It was enough to keep me alive until tomorrow. I turned and headed back to my shack on the outskirts of the new town, called "The Hub". It was fancy alright, but a guy like me didn't belong there. Not to mention I could get in deep shit if the government found out who I am.

After a long walk back to my shack, I laid my newly gathered supplies down in my lock box. Took my cloak and coat off and hung them on a hook. Removing my shirt, I sat down on my bed and took my boots off. I rubbed my face, stressed out from the day. It was becoming too repetitive and boring.

Seeing my reflection in the mirror and seeing all the tattoos on my body reminded me of all the things I had been through. The one on my back was what I was known by. There was a set of angel wings that covered most of my back. Connecting the wings was a skull with crossed scythes behind it. "The Angel of Death" was written above it on my shoulder blades. The sleeves on my arms were of tribal design with a picture here and there. The grim reaper was on my left shoulder and a Chinese dragon was on my right.

I removed the cloth band around my left eye and looked into the mirror at the battle scar I'll never forget. I looked at how my eye was whited-out with a small cut running through it, perfectly even with the cuts on my skin above and below it. Little bastard got me good… Thoughts ran through my mind of all the battles I was in. It made me feel like looking at old faithful, for old times' sake.

I opened the secret area of the shack and walked into the underground room. There stood my old set of armor, back from the days of SFM. Each scar on it told a different story. But it was time to start a new day, it's getting late.

I walked back up to the bedroom and laid down, closed my eyes and drifted off. I have a feeling something big is gonna happen tomorrow…