Chapter 1
Max
Max was an unusual eighteen year old man. He stood all of five feet and ten inches tall. He always dressed in dark clothes with sunglasses and had peculiar tastes. The hair on his head usually a mess of dark brown. He was an amazing shot and a rather good fighter. He had to be after his country was plunged into war and a majority of the government had begun to destabilize. After it lost its hold on some of the country it became a free zone, there was little In the way of law and order any more. The year was 2015. Max was almost never found without his partner in crime. Morgan was an amazingly beautiful young woman of eighteen as well. She was bright and funny and energetic the exact opposite of Max's cool aloofness, but when it was just the two of them he opened up. Morgan was five heet eight inches tall with an athletic yet attractive figure, long dark hair and eyes that max would get lost in for hours. Max and Morgan were runners something like couriers and they mainly were hired by the pseudo government erected in the ruins of Chicago. Technology had become piecemeal The GPS system remained in place but telecommunications were spotty at best. Utilities were hit or miss but hey for an apocalyptic civilization it wasn't as bad as it could be. However things could get ugly fast with rival government, scroungers, scavengers and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.S. things could quickly become dog eat dog. This was daily life but in most cases a semblance of prewar civilization was kept. Max sat on his car in front of the capitol building in Chicago which had become the new government capitol. After Morgan walked out of the building she gazed upon the package in her hand curious of its contents but never breaking the rules. Courier rules were simple if you didn't want to have trouble down the road don't open the damned package. Run it where it goes, get paid, celebrate, rinse, and repeat. Max leaned against his car an old firebird he had received after its owners died in a raid on new Chicago. Morgan ran up past Max slid across the hood of the car and dropped herself into her seat. Max got in and after entering the coordinates into his GPS and mapped out his route started the car listening to the music of a well-tuned classic. Both were excited as they loved road trips both to see new places and just be together. "Ok then Morg we got to stop for some supplies and then again for fuel midway." Morgan paused but a moment before loudly exclaiming "I want some beer and chips and twizzlers…" Max laughed at his overly excited girlfriend then he flashed her his best smile. "Morgan we'll get some sweets and snacks but I'm not going to get beer until you lift my booze restrictions." Morgan thought a moment before conceding, with that Max dropped the car in gear and proceeded to the convenience mart. No sooner had they opened the door than Morgan went and raided the aisles. Max smiled at the sight and thought to himself 'as long as she's happy that's all I care about'. He then went about paying the shopkeeper and also ordered more ammunition for his weapons. Both he and Morgan carried firearms as there were now criminals, bandits, wild animals, and competing fractional governments. It was the Wild West. After a bit of haggling the two settled on a price for the goods and the shop keeper threw in a bottle of Jack for being repeat customers.
Max was almost ready, his guns reloaded, car filled, and Morgan happily munching on her Twizzlers they had only one stop left. The place used to be a junk yard but now there was a man fixing older vehicles. He was older than max but not by a lot and he was currently working on his old Camaro hoping that it wasn't the block that cracked for the millionth time. Max slowly pulled up to him and before he could say a word the man spoke never looking up from the car, "as much as I'd love to max I'm busy trying to get my own run done and I'd prefer my Camaro for it". Max grunted and then Morgan looked as though to speak but he cut her off. "Good to see you too Morgan I'll tell sis you say hi when she gets back. You know where I keep my special booze help yourself. Oh yeah, max I'll go through her in just a second, and your rifle is on the bench just got done this morning." Max went to the bench gathered his rifle and the jar of alcohol and then proceeded to thank the man who was now going through the firebird with a fine tooth comb. Max drank a bit and then looked at the man "Hey mike what do I owe ya?" The man, mike, looked at max and simply replied "not a damn thing".
At this point Morgan was sitting on the couch in the converted shop which now served as mikes home. The young woman who he had been friends with since he was little and always called sis was sitting with her drinking and telling stories to each other of other runs they had made. Max looked at the new savage arms bolt action rifle and was being shown by mike what he had done to meet the required specifications he was given. "the rifle only likes match grade rounds with brass casings not steel". mike thought for a moment. "If you go into the ammo closet there is some .308 match rounds should work oh, don't forget to adjust the suppressor as necessary for the sound dampening to work I'd prefer not to have another blow apart on you like the last one". Max looked around the room as if to say that nothing of the sort had ever happened.
The two well into their trip and well into the night were now calming down. The heavy metal invariably playing on the radio was turned down so that the now oblivious Morgan could sleep. Traffic was light on this road so there was a certain tenseness that came with seeing other vehicles. The fast approaching trucks made Max nervous. "Morgan wake up" she muttered something incomprehensible before finally stretching out and getting her bearings. "time to stop yet?" she inquired ,Max instead handed her an assault rifle from the back seat and told her to fire at the following trucks should they get to close. Max was in full out fight or flight. The car could out run them but it would be risky. Getting into a moving fire fight was even worse. The road was damp and the moon was covered by clouds. Perfect for attacking something valuable in transit. "They're coming up fast" no sooner had Morgan finished than they had been rammed. Max righted the vehicle and sped up slightly as they attempted to ram again. "Morgan take them out". Morgan was trying to fire in such a manner as to disable the vehicle or driver but never got a good shot at his head. This continued on for several miles until they entered an abandoned industrial yard. "Morgan if I do this right we could lose them. Sit down and strap in." Morgan did as she was told only for the truck to nudge the car so that it was spinning and max watched as the car was going passenger side first into an old semi left to rot. His final thought before everything stopped was 'Morgan'. The car was all of three feet from the front of the truck he could see the smoke hanging in the air from the tires and everything was dead still. "Morgan" he wove his hand in front of her face bearing an unchanging shocked expression.
"She can't hear you or see you after all time is for all intents and purposes frozen". Max stared at the man whom had walked out of the smoke he was tall and gaunt he wore a black duster and fedora and had on dark sunglasses. "Who are you" he hissed as he drew his gun. The dark man just looked at max as if studying a painting and then before he was aware of it max was standing next to the man looking at himself in the car. "I will show you what happens next". With a nod time resumed the car hit the front of the semi at speed and Morgan was bleeding out from her injuries. Max had checked on Morgan and got her to look at him no sooner than the men in the truck chasing them opened fire with a machine gun mounted to the roof. The car and its occupants were riddled with fifty caliber holes. The dark man froze time once more. "This fate can be changed but I want something in return." Max looked at this man trying to understand him. The dark man observed max pensively "I'm surprised you aren't scared you seem rather calm". To this max retorted "there is no point getting worked up until its time and secondly who do you think that you are the G-man or something?" The dark man smiled and then began walking. carefully max followed. "Interesting reference but no, if you accept the task I give you I will give you a second chance. You will be able to try again and survive this ordeal. The choice is yours, bear in mind that if I leave that you and the lady die." Max considered this a moment. "As long as you give me what I need for the job I agree" the dark man looked bemused "splendid choice Max ….you have limitless potential". With that max rolled his eyes and suddenly the light from the headlights of the truck seemed to get much brighter until he was flooded in white. "I am not without a sense of humor". Suddenly the dark man who had become all business again spoke "Please wait here there is one more thing I must attend to."
Authors Notes
Ok so this is like a q and a with the author kind of a way to get into my head really.
So first off why is the first chapter about this max guy and is it going to be centered around him?
In all reality it's going to be centered on the main characters of Eva with Max tossed in in a sort of alteration to the whole thing. This is not going to be a typical fix the problems and everything going to be a really happy type story. The basic ideas and even the darkness is going to be kept it will be a lot more dark and yet light in comparison to the original material and the real purpose of everyone is going to be a way to keep the audience on edge.
Next question who is the dark man and what is his significance?
The dark man is actually going to be a mystery until I decide to reveal more of the plot.
So speaking of plot what about plot holes?
Ah yes the plot holes those will be messed with and even more will be made the overall plot of my story will have many twist and turns and even some real good bits that won't hit until later after you've gone to bed and woken up. The idea is to create a semi believable plot based in the Eva universe and Max's native universe from the short stories. But some of the plot holes will be filled some will be left to the reader's imagination and some will be made. And I'm almost out of plot hole filler.
Who is max?
Max is a character who is the subject of my short stories and I gave him a similar yet different environment to his short stories. None of the max stories are published because I am using this as a way to feel out how others respond or not to his character.
Why the music choices and why give specific times and synchronizing descriptions like a script?
The reason for this is because I see this like a movie and the music allows for more depth to a story either through character development because a character is listening to it. Also Scene enhancement because the music helps either describe or set a mood for a scene that could in some cases be interpreted many ways and to help create atmosphere. For example if someone walks into a bar orders a scotch and sits down there is alot left open to interpretation. However if the person walks into a bar with a slow jazz number and a smoky female voice singing about heartache and the person orders a scotch and sits down then we have a sort of atmosphere and even a gauge of the characters mind set. Now because that character chose that bar that drink and that environment it allows us to get inside their head and see how their mind is working based on context. Also the specific times on the song like from 1:54-2:30 allow the reader to get an idea of how that piece of music fits the context and creates the atmosphere of the setting or event and how it syncs up to the event giving it a sort of depth.
For example 1-30 shinji asks question at 22 and music fades out and then fades back in to track b starting a 2:45 ending at 3:00. the change in the track and the times create unity or dissonance or even ambience to a scene hopefully allowing the reader to see it in their head as I do my own. However the exact notes are at the bottom so as not to disrupt flow.
So how often will you update?
The idea is to get a chapter out every two weeks sometimes less but that depends on how much the chapter needs to progress plot or character development or if it is simply setup for progress or character development. Simply if it isn't coming out fast enough pm or e-mail me until it does. Once a day will suffice no need to spam the inbox but a healthy reminder is good also if there is a question or some clarification needed then send a pm and I will put it in the next chapter notes for others and the sender of the pm will have it answered in a return pm. Suggestions and comments are welcome but please keep the hate mail to a minimum. If I screwed the pooch say so and explain why. I will do my best not to repeat legitimate problems, however hate mail to stir up a ruckus will be ignored. I will ask those who do that nicely to stop before I simply ignore you period.
There are refrences care to explain?
The references are small shout outs to some works that over the years have inspired me or even the story. Others are correlations or used by the characters for the same. Some are even influencing factors for example the dark man's tendency to appear and disappear is inspired by the G-man from the half-life he the G-man ? No he is not but his one behavior is inspired by this also his very vague nature is also inspired by the G-man however he is not a rip or copy because it is merely a small piece of him that I like for a quirk that this character has. As many will see the dark man will be a long guessing sort of thing, a mystery until his moment comes to be unveiled.
I hope you enjoyed the first prologue chapter in its still rough form and look forward to prologue two which should be out in a couple of days.
NGE: the thing that should not be
Vol.1 for he who fights monsters….
Songs used or inspired
The meeting with the dark man: nine inch nails –the mark has been made
The chase scene: motley crue- kick start my heart