Amidst the grey, dreary cloud cover and the constant downpour of heavy rain out of place in the usually dry and arid southern California suburbs of San Diego. The clouds unsettling weeping has been nonstop for days as if the world is being showered with sadness and sorrow. Though the face paced busy city continues as normal, they sleep and live unaware of the previous storms that took the souls from their children, nor are they aware of coming monstrous disasters that await their world. Disasters that only take and take each time it returns it steals a small piece of their soul along with their sanity. The children force themselves to continue no matter how hard it is the keep pushing searching for a light while blinded by the dark.
As the eye of the storm opens letting out the illuminating light of hope a single teenager not older than the age of 16 blankly walks along the path to his life sucking high school. His eyes half closed and filled with despair and darkness from the horrors that he has fallen victim to. It's he possesses zero motivation for anything and everything in a world recently saved but devoid of anything left to fight for.
A small splash of a puddle to his right ripples through the crisp early morning sky, while a warm comforting hand rest on his weighed down shoulders.
"Hey come on D.J. what did we talk about; you can't just keep moping around like this. It's been almost a year since we beat the Gors there is nothing to worry about we can finally live your lives again, all of us." Chris exclaims.
Chris Witry he has a gift very few people possess, the ability to make any situation no matter how disastrous seem not so bad. His voice carries a melodic hum, one so peaceful and tranquil those who listen to it become mesmerized completely captivated. Paired with a smile and charm that reassures you and comforts your restlessness and doubts in the darkest hours. A true natural born leader, if there is no light in the pitch blackness of the night, he will find it no matter the cost in order to see joy grace the faces of his beloved friends.
He and DJ share a special bond, Chris serves as more than a friend. To DJ his a respected mentor and consult. The two share a telepathic bond, linking their two brains with that bond each one is able to communicate between one another, access to one's complete memories and emotions, every magnificent triumph, every desperate failure, and every gut wrenching heartache. The two have grown very fond of the other over the past several years, even consider the other as a brother, each willing to lay down their life for each other.
With a the touch of Chris' hand the bleak lazy eyed expression is quickly replaced by a bright shining smile.
"I thought i told you to stop using your powers to make me feel things." DJ angrily shrugs of Chris' grip and lets out a sigh.
"Hey its starting to work better on you now. You gotta look on the bright side sometimes besides its the first day of highschool what could possibly go...wrong." As the two boys turn the corner their eyes immediately fall on an active crime scene outside of a old busted ATM machine, covered in blood spatter. Violent streaks of crimson red seep out on the wet pavement slowing being washed by the rain.
A crowd has amassed over the corpse of a young woman clenching her bright yellow handbag, all the bystanders horrified by the gruesome homicide, but to intrigued to look away while police officers investigate the scene.
Ever curious are our young heroes narrowed eyed approaching the site of this mornings savage slaying. Only just a few feet from the petrified corpse their movement comes to an abrupt halt. Their eyes widen with fear and hearts filled with disgust, rage, hate, vengeance and about every other emotion possible for one human to experience as memories flood back into their mind.
"Her head was exploded...from the inside." DJ faintly lets out to his friend still frozen in fear, scared to death.
"There's only one weapon that do such a thing. We have to go and get the others." Chris hastily darts away with a expression of pure determination on his face.
"Right. Let's hurry." With that Chris darts back around the corner. He then returns to drag DJ back towards the alley. "Come on let's go."
"Hey stop pulling this is a new shit you jackass. Unlike you I'm not so eager call everyone back up out the blue. I don't think any of us are ready to jump back into this cluster fuck we got ourselvves into!" With a push from the legs both teens shoot straight up towards the sky and fly of into the distance. Meanwhile the loud roar of an engine blitzes through the crime scene while a sky blue sports car streaks through the havoc.
"What an asshole." DJ whispers to himself.
Meanwhile in the dark depths of the outer rim of our solar system an enormous starcraft looms in the emptiness of space. Dressed in a dark metallic color with bright purple. In the middle of ship sits a rotating orb made of pulsing purple energy. Large sparks erupt from the sphere sporadically into dancing arcs of light bright and beautiful, warped by the hands of something so evil, dark, repulsive and grotesque.
Inside the main ship a door opens and a tall figure cloaked in white and purple armor enters the deck."Admiral, we have just entered space sector 2814." The figures says
"Finally." A pale purple figure says. It grins thus showing his fangs protruding from his lower mouth. Then crosses its hand and places them under his chin. It turns to face to a gigantic pane of glass for viewing the never-ending
"Assholes, each and everyone of them!" DJ exclaims.
Our two young heroes restlessly pace back and forth amidst the cluttered unorganized mess of a workplace these two call a laboratory, the room is pact with seemingly random blueprints, scientific instruments, old pizza boxes and overstuffed waste baskets all sprawled across the tightly packed room with 2 adjacent wooden desk shoved in the back corner.
"Get this Tanner is off fighting in a stupid war!"
"Another one? Didn't his people just lose one?"
"I thought they ended it by treaty?" DJ briefly ceases is madness to flash a puzzled look coupled by a shrug directed towards Chris.
"Magnus is off galavanting around Europe, again. Jade and Ed are off to Tibet."
"What's even worst Maya and Jadin won't even return our calls! Its like they don't even care anymore!" DJ continues his frazzled and flustered craze. His anxiety only fueling the raging fire this morning's slaying ignited.
Chris on the other hand, sits in his desk chair completely calm and collected as its very unusual to see him in a maniacal panic such as DJ so often frenetic and wide eyed shaking with anxiety.
"Come on we're gonna be late."
"Forget school what are we gonna do about the damn invasion with only the two of us!"
"We will do what we always to keep on fighting, even if we're the last two men standing. If we don't then who will." His voice strong and proud he takes a look back at his best friend with a comforting grin. "Besides we have to keep up appearances, don't want to give anyway our identities we've worked so hard to protect." With that said the DJ begrudgingly leaves his lab.
The ear rattling of the morning bell sounds throughout the large red brick building. Students hastily file into classrooms restless coming off the high of the static summer unwilling to now settle in to the stagnant school life awaiting them for the next nine months. DJ and Chris sit in adjacent desk, sleepy eyed through a long winded lecture from their home room teacher, while DJ anxiously rattles his brain conjuring methods of opposing the oncoming Gor invasion.
Chris narrowed eyes glare over to his left, "Hey stop stressing out your making me stress out. All those ideas constantly going through your head, you know I can't keep up with you." without moving their mouths the two boys continue their conversation from earlier.
"But even is just the two of us we would need a miracle to stop an entire ship by ourselves. We could amplify our power source, but that would most likely shorten our life even more or just flat out kill us." Once again the DJ begins his fast paced ramblings, much to Chris' dismay.
"Hey you two, you guys homo or what? You've been making faces at each other for the past five minutes just fuck already." A boy sitting behind DJ interrupts while boasting a cocky grin. "I mean I don't got nothing against gay people but it's kinda distracting." He continues.
"Hey shut up you losers some of us are actually trying to learn something." A latina girl condescendingly lets out.
"Fuck off Nicia." Typical of Ethan to shrug off anything that remotely bothers him or threatens his overzealous bravado. He sits with a half cocked grin seemingly without a care in the world, "An insignificant complete and total jackass" as Nicia often describes him.
"Eat a dick Ethan, oh wait I forgot that's already your day job you insignificant clown." Nicia Haro, her personality overflowing with rudeness and anger. So quick to enter a shouting match. Her ability to be hot tempered and precisely focused, make for a dangerous combination ready to erupt at any moment. But behind her rough girl persona she's a fragile little girl with eyes filled with pain and tragedy just like the heartbreak that haunts DJ's every moment of his life.
"What a bitch." Ethan lets out with a sign. "Brittany how can you always be around doom and gloom over here, you should spend more time hanging around me." The boy smirks as he leans back and places his hands behind his head.
"Oh your gonna hang alright."
A small voice starts up behind Ethan. "Oh she's not that bad, she can be really sweet when you get to know her."
"Yeah Nicia sweet" he briefly begins to laugh, " Only when Hell freezes over."
"Ah, jeez."
"What are you even doing here DJ shouldn't you already have like three PHDs by now, cause you're so smart and all." Nicia inquires with a sarcastic tone.
"I'm just here to have the typical high school experience. Live a normal teenage life." He lies. He has a rare freedom a minute amount of people possess, an ability to go off and engage in whatever peaks his he doesn't need school with his photographic memory and government contracts developing weapons and mechanism for the military, he has more than the means to live his life however he choose some . The only reason he returned to traditional schooling because Chris said it would give "a sense of normalcy". Something he's been longing for over the past two years.
"That's a shit thing to do. High school is the armpit of America."
"Guess that makes your mouth the asshole, because all I hear is shit coming from it."Ethan chimes in and laughs at his own joke and begins munching on an apple obnoxiously.
"Eh, school's not that bad."
"Yeah what Chris said, school's not all bad."
"But one thing we can all agree on is fuck this guy and his apple." DJ adds in as the others surrounding him nod in agreement.
Suddenly the heavy wooden door opens and enters a fair skinned brunette with dazzling blue green eyes. DJ looks on wide eyed, completely mesmerized by her beauty as she walks across to the teachers desk.
"Hey TJ your boner is showing, keep it in your pants. It's just plain old Makenna." Ethan snidely remarks.
"It's DJ you asshole." He replies. "It's not just plain old Makenna, nothing is plain about her." he thinks to himself still following her movement on the opposite side of the classroom.
Makenna Baker, a wholesome girl pure and innocent. Cunning and bright as can be top of her class, as beautiful as she is intelligent. Quiet but strong willed and headstrong filled with confidence and true bravery, a quality DJ has only seen before in Chris. In his mind she's absolutely perfect without the burdens some of her classmates begrudgingly holster on their shoulders. A true being of pure heart.
She then begins to walk towards the groups side of the room, "Oh hey DJ I didn't know you were in this class. How are you?"
"Well just slightly bruised and broken Kenz." He nervously scratches the back of his head as Makenna takes the empty desk to his left. The others simply look at each other with eye rolls.
"Well since you guys like to talk so much why don't you all explain the project to the class because I highly doubt they could hear me while you were distracting them." Their home room instructor interrupts the groups quarreling.
"Wait what project, its the first day of school slow your roll lady." Ethan rudely remarks.
"Well you and your friends won't mind being in a group together then."
"Hold on we're not friends." Nicia desperately explains.
"Mild acquaintances at best." DJ signs.
"My decision is final." The two brothers look at each other with expressions of concern, while the others look away from the awkward tension between Ethan and Nicia.
A farmer looks up in the sky while tending to his crops in Northern California nd witnesses a twinkle. The a loud CRACK erupts from the sky as a ship plummets to the ground. Landing just a few feet away from the farmer, the pod doors open and smoke begins to seep out in to the crater it created.
A scout steps out of the pod . His pale purple tall frame ks draped in flowing clout of dark purple. He wears a mask that covers his mouth and slivers where a human nose would be. While a pair of goggles covers his eyes. A small fin extends from the dome of his head.
"Now don't you take one step" The far,re shouts. His bravado soon fades as the scout starts to walk his way. His goggles scan the farmer. The goggles make a smal noise and the scout lets out out a brief chuckle.
"I think I'll take my time with you." A blade soon pops out from the underside of his forearm armor. The scout dashes at the farmer and stabs him in the gut. The blade is slowly brought out of his lower intestine. Then driven right into his eyes, one after the other! Blood squirts out of his eyes as it oozes to the stomach wound. A dog begins to bark in the distance.
The scout slashes the farmer's neck as his head falls to the floor. A dog soon leaps at the scout, who catches it in mid-air and snaps its neck as it lets out a slight whimper.
The scout next scans the surrounding area with his goggles. With a concerned look on his face; his voice now timid he speaks into his wrist communicator." Admiral there are no adequate readings in this area." " Return to base scout." The Admiral responds.
"No wait, there's a larger signal to the west." The scout quickly responds. "Very well, you know what to do I will send a platoon to the designated coordinates." The Admiral adds. " Vrepit Sa sir." The scout salutes with sighs relief.
The bell rings to dismiss the students for the afternoon. Our group of teens regroup in front of the school to discuss their first project.
"So anyone know what the hell the projects even over?" Ethan asks.
"No clue."
"Nope."
"I wasn't even there half the time. Do you have any clue DJ?"
He looks up to see everyone facing him as if he's been unknowingly promoted to group leader.
"I only got bits and pieces of what she was saying ask Chris I'm sure he was paying attention." He monotones
"Yeah it's over different learning styles and how they affect individuals."
"Wow that's a first, DJ not knowing an answer. I guess all the money from those government contracts has made you lazy." Nicia remarks.
"Don't even talk about money aren't you loaded. The Haro's are the richest family in San Diego.
Nicia displays disgust at the mention of her family's name. " I'm not loaded David is."
"He's your Dad right?" Chris questions, she simply nods embarrassed and disgusted to even be associated with anyone of her father's clan.
"Well since your loaded that means you got a big place don't ya. I vote we use Nicia's place to do our project!" Ethan gestures.
"Oh I don't think that's the best ide-"
"I second that vote!" Makenna lets out.
"No guys really why don't we have to.. ugh whatever okay let's go."
"Lead the way princess, you know Brittany you could totally ride with me." Ethan offers, Brittany blesses and smiles.
"I'm flattered but no thanks jerk." The small blonde jabs her pointy elbow into his stomach warning of the hound dog as it attempts to rest his arm around her waistline. "I'll just ride with Nicia."
"What a shame your loss. Hey Makenna need a ride?"
"No I'm going with DJ and Chris." She yells back and quickly jogs up to the two brothers."Please don't leave me with that pig." She whispers desperately.
"Oh yeah it's fine." The teens then pile into their cars and head off to Nicia's family estate unaware of the dangers that approach them.
The End! Next Chapter: Don't Let Me Drown.
Author's Notes: I've recently re edited this chapter to enhance the reading experience and the character and emotional depth that deserve the big payoffs I have planned. All in all the story still follows the same narrative and same overarching theme. Characters will remain the same but their motivations and back story's may have been altered in a more interesting way. Hope you guys enjoyed the writing and are more interested in an overall much better and compelling storytelling and worthwhile characters.
Also titles with be lyrics from songs, song titles and books. This one was based of of Head on Collision by New Found Glory.