Rise of a Hero

by KEBABREMOVER1804

-The first book in a series of 4- Lucas Shepard escapes the gangs on Earth to create a new life for himself in the Alliance Marines. This first book explores Shepard's life with the gangs on Earth and his pre-Normandy military service from his perspective. (Mass Effect belongs to Bioware)

1. Prologue

Prologue

December 4th, 2157

Philadelphia, Earth, Human Systems Alliance

The rain pounded on the windows of the Shepard household. The small rowhouse was silent, and most of the Shepard family was asleep. Richard was asleep on the couch with the TV on, while his wife cleaned the kitchen. The boys, James and Lucas, were asleep in their rooms upstairs. The news of colonial disputes and negotiations was playing on the TV screen.

Richard Shepard was a drunk and a gambler. Word had it that he had once been an average businessman, and a good person. He lost it all years ago, and now he was unemployed, and owed a lot of debt to the gangs. Many of those debts had not been payed, and there would be no way to pay them any time soon. He was unclean, unshaven, and he was already losing his blond hair. He was 46 years old.

Monica Shepard, Richard's wife, was the only one in the family with a job. She worked a minimum wage job in the city as a janitor at a local restaurant, and it was her money that Richard seemed to have an addiction to gambling away. She wanted to move offworld to one of the colonies, like Eden Prime, but she never had the money to do it. She used to love Richard, and she wanted to still love him, but he had changed years ago. She yearned for a divorce, but she never had the heart to get it. She had the appearance of being 50 years old, but in reality, she was only 39.

The Shepards really couldn't afford much. They had cheap furniture, cheap silverware, cheap technology, and cheap lives. It would be a miracle if they had enough food for all of them for a week. However, that miracle always slipped away from them when Richard went out drinking and gambling his life away. Although their neighborhood was one of the poorer ones as well, they were worse off than the other families. Richard used to work downtown, but his problems forced him to leave the job. Now, the city was a few miles away, the skyline being a reminder of the chances they squandered.

3 year old Lucas and 8 year old James were sleeping upstairs when 2 cars stopped outside their house. James woke up, climbed out of bed, and checked the window. The men getting out had many guns, and were walking towards the house. James snuck into Lucas' room, grabbed him from his crib, and tip-toed downstairs. The men were getting closer, and were calling for Richard to come outside. James snuck into the backyard with Lucas.

James rocked Lucas back and forth, trying to keep him quiet under the tree in the garden. The rain was dripping off the leaves and onto both of them, but James didn't care. Yelling began coming from the house. James could hear his mother yelling at the men to leave Richard alone, but he couldn't hear what the others were saying. The yelling increased in volume, and James tried to keep Lucas from crying. A few minutes later. Shots rang out from inside the house, the gunshots illuminating the once dark house. James opened the fence gate, and began running as fast as he could, covering Lucas with his own body from the rain and the cold of the night. He saw the neighborhood slowly light up, and the sound of sirens in the distance. James kept running, with Lucas crying in his arms.