Part 1 – Invasion
It was said that years ago when America was invaded that a special army squad stayed behind to defend a hospital.
It was one hundred men against a force of one thousand.
They held their ground for two days.
One hundred were cut down to twenty.
They evacuated the hospital under the cover of darkness, and sent ten to guard the civilians.
The ten men that stayed behind returned to the hospital.
They hid in the sands until the enemy returned.
To make themselves monsters to the enemy, they went to the zoo next door, and claimed the parts of various dead felines, lions, tigers, panthers, and molded the parts onto their bodies.
When they enemy returned they had no idea what was waiting for them.
The soldiers rose from the sands, and struck, great speed and stealth being their greatest ally.
When the bullets in their guns ran out they switched to their knives, when their knives dulled they switched to the claws they molded to their bodies.
They left one survivor who was found wandering aimlessly.
He was paralyzed by fear, what he told them was something of a force so paralyzing, so unnatural, it could only be described as animalistic.
As Phantom Cats.
"You honestly don't believe that story do you dad," Nineteen-year-old Lion-O asked his father former Army Colonel Claudius.
Lion-O was a six-foot-one Caucasian male that wore his spikey red hair upwards, and had deep, aqua blue eyes.
"Every word of it son," Claudius said as he helped Lion-O stand up as his older twenty-year-old son Tygra who was kneeling on the ledge overlooking the San Fernando Valley, "Tygra!"
Claudius was a six-foot-four Caucasian male with a red spikey hair and beard combo, and the same eyes as his son
"Yea dad," Tygra asked as he stood up, and looked back at his father.
Tygra was a six-foot-three Caucasian/Arabian male who possessed a genetic trait that caused him to be born with unnaturally white hair and brown eyes.
"Get away from the edge," Claudius said, "You know there's tremors all over this place," when he said that, a tremor happened, and Tygra jolted away from the ledge, "Nice move son. Those tremors used to scare the hell out of your mother."
"Thanks dad," Tygra said as him, Claudius, and Lion-O started walking home, "I'm thinking about lunch. Anyone else?"
Claudius laughed, "I thought you might be thinking about that girl." Claudius said.
"You mean Cheetara," Tygra asked, "Dad, I thought I asked you please not to bring up my love life."
"You're my son," Claudius said as he put his arm around his son's shoulders, "It's my job."
Little did they know this would be the last time they would have the chance to say something like that.
As they walked out of the bush, there was another large rumble which sent them to the ground, "That wasn't a tremor," he said as he ran over to overlook the city before a large bolt came out of the sky, and struck the city.
The explosion sent them flying backwards against the bush, "It's the Orbital Strike weapons," Claudius said as he stood up along with his sons, then turned to Tygra, "Go back to the house, grab the guns, and meet me at the truck."
"Yes sir." Tygra said.
Tygra and Lion-O ran toward their house, which was a small two-story house that overlooked a large garden, when they arrived Tygra heard someone call his name, he looked sideways, and saw Cheetara running toward him, "Chee," Tygra said as he ran up to her, "Thank god you're ok!"
Cheetara ran into Tygra's arms, and looked back, "They're coming!"
Cheetara was a very beautiful, five-foot-five Caucasian/Latino female with long blonde hair and amber-colored eyes.
Tygra saw the shadows of men with guns approaching, "Get in the house," he said as he ushered her inside, "Get inside!"
The three rushed inside, "Bro," Lion-O said, "Find dad's weapons, take Cheetara with you."
"Keep a lookout," Tygra said, "Stay low, and avoid the windows."
"How do you know about that?" Cheetara whispered.
"Our father taught us," Tygra whispered as they heard engines outside.
Cheetara and Tygra found themselves in the bedroom, Tygra knew his father kept the key to his gun case in a special box where he kept his old revolver which was a custom Beretta revolver called a Sabertooth, it was a six-shot revolver with a four and a half inch barrel and a special laser sight that has a ranger-finding laser.
Tygra found the box fast as Cheetara tried to open the case, he pulled the key out, and frantically opened the case, "You know how to use this," Tygra whispered as he handed Cheetara a HK USP .45.
"Yea I," she said before she saw Tygra stop, and look at the window, "What is…"
Before she could say another word, Tygra grabbed Cheetara, and dove next to the bed before grabbing the Sabertooth from his dad's case.
Before Cheetara could ask what was wrong, she heard footsteps from outside, she held her breath, and held onto Tygra as tight as she could.
Tygra wrapped his arms around the quivering young woman as tight as he could, and tried to calm her down by running a calming hand through her soft hair.
It helped a little, but no so much when they heard a small buzzing, and then saw a blue beam sweep across the window outside, "Deep breath," he mouthed.
The two of them held their breaths as the beam swept across the room, they were shielded by the bed which allowed them to sneak around.
The two of them heard the men outside move on, and they exhaled, Tygra could see Cheetara was on the verge of tears so he hugged her as tight as he could, "It's ok," he whispered, "It's ok. It's over."
"I was so scared," Cheetara said, "This is a nightmare."
"Don't worry," Tygra said, "I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you Cheetara. Let's go, we have to keep moving."
Cheetara nodded, then ran back over to the gun case with Tygra who pulled out his father's duffel bag, and stuffed the guns into the bag as Cheetara stuffed them into the bag.
Cheetara got to the last few weapons as Lion-O ran in, "They're moving on," he said as he ran over to the bed as Cheetara handed Tygra the last few weapons, "Dad should be meeting us with the truck at the bottom of the hill."
"Good," Tygra said as he took his father's Colt Defender Mark 1 'Devastator' eight-barreled shotgun his father named from Cheetara's hands, "Then we'll have time to get out of here," he then inserted flipped open the barrel to check the bore, perfectly pristine, and after loading the shotgun, he flipped the gun closed.
"What about dad?" Lion-O asked.
"We'll find him," Tygra said as he slid on his father's tactical shotgun-shell holding belt, and loaded the loops on the belt, took out his dad's back up satellite phone, and dialed his dad's primary satellite phone number, "Dad are you there?"
"I'm here son," Claudius said over the other line.
"Where are you?" Tygra asked.
"I'm down on Marks Street with the truck," Claudius said, "You got the guns?"
"Got them right here," Tygra said, "See you in half an hour dad."
"Take care of your brother son," Claudius said, "The streets are filled with these freaks."
"Freaks," Tygra asked, "Dad what are you…" the line then cut, "Dad? DAD!? Fuck! Line's out!"
"Where too?" Lion-O asked.
"We have to get to Marks Street," Tygra said as he slid the satellite phone into his pocket.
"That's right through their lines," Cheetara said, "We'll never get passed them."
"Let's see if we can cut around them," Tygra said as Cheetara took the Colt M4 Commando off the bed, and loaded it before sliding several magazines into her own belt.
Lion-O picked up his father's M70 bolt-action rifle that was fitted with a special hunting-scope, "Alright," he said as he loaded the final bullet into the rifle, and closed the bolt, "If you don't have something that can penetrate body armor then aim for the head, make sure you fire single-shot.
"Nice suggestion," Tygra said as he moved toward the back door only to see several hostiles holding fully automatic Fabrique Nationale FNCs who raised their weapons to fire in time to have Tygra jolt back in, "Fuck! We got hostiles!"
"How do we get past them?" Cheetara asked.
"I got this," Tygra said as he saw the soldiers ran out of ammo, he then jolted out from behind cover, aimed the shotgun at the fuel-tank their father kept around to save money on heating, and pulled the trigger twice.
The resulting explosion sent the two hostiles flying forward, "Nice shot," Lion-O said as he and Cheetara came running out of the house, and squeezed through the gap into their neighbor's yard.
As Tygra jumped in behind Cheetara, he ran into the house behind his sister and his friend, and then out the front door where they saw several civilians running left and right, and Cheetara noticed her friend Leah running with them, "LEAH," she yelled.
Leah turned to face Cheetara, and ran up to her friend, "Cheetara," she said as she hugged her friend, "Thank god," she then saw the Commando in her hands, "I didn't expect to see you with a gun."
"We got more," Tygra said as he gave the bag he was carrying the guns in a little shake, "Care to stick with us?"
"We could use the help," Cheetara said, "We need to get to Marks Street and no one knows the allies like you do. We could use your help avoiding the patrols."
"Good," Leah said, "Follow me."
Leah led them into one of the alleys, they crouched low so they could avoid the patrols, "Anyone else scared?" Cheetara asked.
"We're all scared," Tygra said, "Just keep silent, and we'll get through this."
Right as they round one corner, they came face to face with a pair of hostiles who didn't have time to react fast enough before Cheetara fired at them.
She spent the magazine, but killed both of them, she was a bit shocked but she didn't have time to react before a tank came barreling down the alley toward them, "MOVE!" Lion-O yelled.
The four ran for their lives as the tank came up behind them, Cheetara reloaded the rifle as they were running, and finally managed to get the magazine into the rifle and pulled back on the cocking drive as they got to the end of the alley which led into the back of a local bar.
Lion-O tried to open the door, but found it locked, "I can't open it!" he exclaimed.
"Move," Tygra said as he pushed his brother out of the way, held the Devastator over the door, and fired, the shot blew lock apart, and all it took was Tygra's boot to the door to send it flying open.
As the four charged in, and out onto the street, the tank came flying through both sides of the bar, and as it turned to fire at them, the building collapsed on top of the tank which jammed the turret.
"We're several blocks away from Marks Street." Leah said.
"Good," Tygra said as they ran into a small convenient store, and took cover behind the counter as the tank freed itself, and started off down the street before stopping in front of the convenient store.
"What are they doing?" Lion-O asked.
"Just standing there," Tygra whispered as he peaked out from behind the counter, "We got to get out of here!"
The four ran out the back door, and down a narrow alley where they had to run single file till they reached the end which opened onto a street where they heard the sound of tires screeching, Tygra turned toward the sound, and saw his father barreling toward them in his truck.
He barely had time to push his friends out of the way before his father slid his truck sideways to stop, hit him with the side of the bed, and send him flying.
"TYGRA," Cheetara yelled as she picked up the Commando, and ran over to her friend.
Leah and Lion-O ran up next to Cheetara, Leah ran her hand over his ribs, "He's got two cracked ribs," she said, "He'll live."
"I'm fine," Tygra said as he sat up right, and as he was pushing himself up, you could see he was in great pain.
"Let me help you," Lion-O said as he helped his brother stand up.
"GET IN!" Claudius yelled.
Lion-O and Cheetara helped Tygra get into the truck, and jumped in behind him along with Leah who had picked up the bag of guns.
As Claudius hit the gas, and the truck race forward, Tygra sat up against the bed of the truck, and looked back at the city, "You ok," Cheetara asked as she sat next to him.
"Seeing the place I've lived in invaded," Tygra asked, "It's like something out of a bad dream."
"It's life now son," Claudius said through the back window as he drove out of the city, "Better get used to it."
Tygra sat back against the bed of the truck, how much he closed his eyes and wished, his father was right…
Things were going to be very different from then on.
Guess what happens…