Prologue

Cory could hear his mother's screams in the next room. He was in his own room hiding in the closet. He couldn't bear the thought of his mother being beaten and tortured by the Metropolice (the Mets as children such as Cory had come to call them). The darkness of the closet was almost blinding, he had the closet door closed so tightly that no light could sneak through any cracks, he really didn't want the Mets to find him.

"We haven't done anything, just leave us alone!" Cory could hear his father yell. Cory broke out into tears when thrashing noises followed the yell. The Mets were abusing his parents and he couldn't do anything to help it.

"Can't we leave yet?" Cory's younger sister Rebecca asked. "No, not until they're gone," replied a nervous Cory. Rebecca was only five years old; she didn't fully understand what was going on. Cory had hid her in the closet with him for fear of the Mets abusing her as well.

More screams could be heard, and then a sound that Cory would remember for the rest of his life. Cory heard a sound that put an end to the screams of his parents. It was two gunshots, two defining gunshots that put an abrupt end to the existence of his parents. Tears ran down Cory's face as he tried to keep himself and his sister quiet. If the Mets found them, they would also be killed.

After several minutes of silence, Cory had assumed they were gone and it was safe to leave the closet. He slid the door open just a crack and peeked out. Outside the closet he could see that all the stuff in his room had been overturned in the shakedown. Everything was a mess, but there were no Mets in sight. The light that crept into the closet had allowed Rebecca to see Cory's face and how it was covered in tears. "What's wrong?" she asked him. "Nothing, we have to get out of here right now, follow me."

Cory opened the door all the way and made way to his parent's room. In their room, amongst the wreckage, he saw the bodies of his parents. Both contained one bullet hole between their eyes. Cory looked away, back to his sister who had followed Cory. She saw her parents' bodies and ran towards them in tears. She fell to her knees next to her mother's body and began to cry. She was crying so loud that Cory feared that any nearby Mets would hear. He couldn't let them find himself or his sister.

Cory grabbed his sister and pulled her away from their dead mother and put her over his shoulder as he ran for the exit. He opened the apartment door and ran into the hall. Distorted radio chatter made it clear that Mets were nearby. In fact, they were right behind him and they noticed him running down the hall. They turned in his direction and yelled something that Cory did not understand. All Cory knew was if he stopped both himself and his sister was dead, so he kept running down the hall. When the Mets saw that Cory didn't intend to stop, they drew their handguns and began a pursuit.

Cory made it to the stairs and descended them as fast as he could while still carrying his sister. The Mets weren't too far behind, they began to open fire on Cory and his sister as he ran down the stairs. Cory could hear each shot zing by his head, and they only got off a few shots before he made it to the ground floor. Cory ran out the front door of the apartment and into the streets. He noticed a nearby back alley and ran towards it. He hid behind a dumpster with his sister still over his shoulder. He peaked around the dumpster and saw the Mets make it out the apartment. They split up into two groups, one went up the street and the other went down, none of them however noticed the back alley luckily.

Cory had finally made it to general safety; he took his sister off his shoulder, and made a horrid discovery. She had taken four shots into her back. She had been dead for a while now while Cory had been carrying her on his back. Cory knew she was dead, but tried to revive her nevertheless. He gave her mouth-to-mouth, but he didn't really know much beyond what he saw in the movies. After several seconds, he came to accept the fact that his entire family was dead.

He sat next to his baby sister's body and cried. He lost track of time sitting there crying over his sister's body, but it didn't matter to him. He had nothing to live for anymore. After about an hour, he came to his feet and walked down the alley. He didn't know where it leads to, but he didn't care. He was going to find a way to grow up on his own, he was going to find a way to get back at the Mets for what they did to his family.

Under his breath, Cory whispered to himself, "A man with nothing to live for, is a man with everything to fight for…"