CHAPTER 1 : An Invasion

"B! Telephone!" A breath of annoyance rushed from my lips can't these fucker's leave me alone I thought begrudgingly as I made my way into the kitchen and snatched up the phone.

"Hello!"

"Yo…"

"What."

"I don't have much time my life is in danger and I needed to tell someone before it's too late."

"What the fuck are you talking about who is this?"

"It's me Greg, I need to tell you how to save the world, you have to do this or we all die."

"Man bye," I slammed the phone back into the receiver, "anybody call for me I aint here." I instructed my wide eyed little brother who watched me with a mixture of fear and anger. Not waiting for a reply, I returned to my room, movie, and bowl of soup with crackers on the side. "dumbass bothering me with that shit 'oh the fate of the world is on your shoulders' man shut the hell up." I muttered, so intent on watching my bootleg movie that I didn't notice the streak of fire shoot past my window, or hear the screech of the car's as they braked and rammed into each other. But I did feel the explosion I felt it resonating deep within me, I felt the glass of the TV screen crash against me, the heavy weight of the drawer it rested on crash into me. I heard the deafening explosion that rattled my bones and flattened houses tore through cars and disintegrated humans, and I saw the fire that unholy fire that reached up to the heavens scorching the clouds and painting the sky red. I felt the waves of heat wash over me, and I saw the metal bumper of the neighbor's truck come flailing through the air and whack me aside the hide…then I knew no more…

The first thing I realized when I woke up was that I was moving, how'd I know that the way my body kept bouncing around and the sound of the engine droning on told me. My head was pounding and lying perfectly still was a good thing, there were other people and voices, shouting voices, couldn't understand a single word but I didn't care I just wanted to sleep. "Hey kid you awake yet?" Damn, sleep wouldn't be coming anytime soon so I opened my eyes just a little, it was too bright outside and the dark was cool.

"Yeah," my voice was so low I didn't think he heard me but then again I don't think it even mattered, he knew I was awake. Someone grabbed me rough at first then gentler, they eased me up and propped me against something, more shouting something that sounded like machine gun fire, an explosion and my eyes snapped open. I thought I died and went to hell…Their was fire everywhere, and what little remained standing of my neighborhood looked out of place, most of the houses were flattened nothing more then a pile of twigs and splinters, trees were gone cars were flipped over some were propped up on their sides serving as make shift barricades. Soldier's were all over the place taking cover and shooting into the smoke shouting orders at each other, the smoke was a thick sooty swirling wall, and I remember thinking if death looked like anything it looked like that.

I heard a piercing shriek like when they drill into metal and the next thing I knew someone screamed get down and I was jerked off the truck and shoved under it, two seconds later and the sound of an explosion blew out my ear drums, the thwump of body parts hitting the floor filled the air, and the world changed from that angry fiery red to that sickening scarlet color of freshly spilt blood. The truck flipped away from above me, someone grabbed my arm and started dragging me to my feet already running before I could even stand, all around me the whizz of gun fire could be heard, I glanced behind me just as the wuhthunk of a grenade went off and the ground plumed out in a miniature mushroom cloud, bits of rock stung my back and dirt buried itself in my eyelids. More screaming, more gunfire, the sound of a house blowing up, another nearby scream and then darkness…

Cackle, cackle, cackle, that's the first thing I heard when I came to. The next thing I noticed was that one side of me was hot and the other side was cold what the… my eyes cracked open and my answer came in the form of a campfire. I looked way from the bright flames just as my stomach growled and spit up the soup from who knows when. Wiping my mouth I sat up and spit, vomit never tasted too good. "Here you go," said the same voice I kept hearing whenever I woke up, someone handed me a napkin and a cup of water, I wiped and drank feeling most of the leftovers worm their way right back down into my stomach. Don't come back, my thought chased em right back down to the deepest part of me.

I was in a camp, there were Spartan beds all around the place as far as I could see, and every hundred yards there would be a fire burning and a few people roasting some meat or just sitting there. Nobody looked happy; people were wrapped up in their bathrobes, dressed up in torn business suits, or just a pair of shorts. The women were as far as I could see asleep, only the men and the soldiers were awake. The man who handed me the napkin and drink handed me a can of lukewarm pasta, "eat up son you got a long day ahead of you." His voice was gruff and full of energy, he had a sergeant's voice but it held a gentle note to it. Taking a seat on the broken down car seat next to him I began eating, slowly at first chewing my food with thoughtfulness savoring every drop, something told me it'd be a while before I had lukewarm anything ever again.

My gaze traveled up toward the sky and I choked my eyes as wide as the plates, I could see stars. "Beautiful aint it, bet you never saw something like this before…" the sergeant said a hint of pride in his voice. High above were millions of stars too many to count, some were twinkling giving off that magical Disney look, and others were just dulled out and burning in the background, the rest of them lit up the night sky like roman candles. Even the moon was brighter then normal, "see what having no power can get you, sucks like hell but you won't see this living in no neighborhood." I nodded my head and turned to look at the man who I owed my life.

He was heavy set, built like a tank with cropped light brown hair and piercing eyes a mixture of brown and green, a long scar ran down the left side of his face, stubble covered most of his face and he looked like he had just been through hell. His cloths, the standard military green cameo were covered in dirt and a dark red something I figured to be blood, resting across his lap was a machine gun, draped across his shoulders shinning like onyx were hundreds of bullets four inches long and as thick as my index finger. Each bullet was gold tipped and each gold tip shinned with a deadly beauty that both awed me and scared me, there wasn't a nametag stuck onto his chest or any rank insignia as far as I knew this man could be a grunt. "What happened?" I asked, my voice didn't sound like my own it was hoarse and scratchy, like the kind of voice someone with a real bad disease and about to die would have. The man shifted the machine gun to a better position tapped a Cuban cigar on the edge of his knee and said, "An invasion."

"What! An invasion? From who?" I was really getting tired of choking on my pasta; most of it was spilled down my front and on the ground.

"Not from who…from what…"

"What the hell are you talking about? You sayin' aliens attacked us?"

"No son," he paused there and turned so that we were facing each other. "I'm saying that some terrorist son of a bitch got some advanced technology and sent robots after us, the whole country got hit at once we're all fucked up and if you and the rest of you lazy son's of a bitch don't help we're gonna be dead by tomorrow night." His words came out in a low rushed growl but I heard enough of it to know that my life would never be the same again, he was talking again but I wasn't listening I wasn't even at the camp with him, I was back in my kitchen on the phone hearing Greg's words.

"I don't have much time…I need to tell you how to save the world," a chill shot through me and I was suddenly wishing for a time machine. If only I had listened…now because of me we're all gonna die. "What's your name boy!" the man yelled he was grabbing my shoulder and shaking me, "I said what's your name boy!"

"B-B-Brandon," the second the word left my lips the crack of a whip filled the air and I cried out in pain.

"Your name is TOBI!" Whapish!

(Ops wrong story, let's just rewind that.)

"B-B-Brandon," I said my voice still sounded like it belonged to some sick person about to die.

"Brandon, I'm sorry to say this but it's better if you hear it now then later especially if we're in combat, your family everyone who was in that house with you is dead, you're the only one we found alive on that entire block…I'm sorry son."

"Here comes that pasta," I muttered slamming my hands on my knees and opening my mouth just as the pasta flew out and splashed across the grass. Without even knowing it I had already convinced myself they were dead, that I was the last one left, the tears didn't come but emptiness did, it was like a void sucking me in from the inside, suddenly a lot of things didn't matter anymore. I didn't care where I ended up or if the world ended by tomorrow night because I hadn't listened to some fool on the phone, I didn't care anymore I secretly hoped that one of the robots would show up and kill me right now, but of course that wouldn't happen…not yet anyway. "Did you find anything, an arm…a leg?"

"The only thing we could salvage from the house besides you was this," he reached into his pocket and pulled out a single pencil.

A pencil, out of every Goddamn thing in that house the only thing to make it out was a fucking pencil! You've got to be kidding me! "Keep it I don't want it," he hesitated at first unsure as to what to do, in the end he pocketed the pencil and shifted the gun again, I could tell he was uneasy but what about I didn't know. I didn't want to sit down anymore, I had to move so I got up and started walking, I was looking up at the stars again not paying attention to where I was going just letting my legs move and my body follow. I walked for what was probably hours, but never to far from the camp, when I didn't see the light of the fires out of the corner of my eye I would turn around and go back, it was during one of my escapes from the camp that I walked right into the side of something hard and fell to the ground.

"You alright there son?" Someone asked helping me up to my feet and dusting me off.

I rubbed some dirt off my face and looked around, the man was scrawny and pale, and he looked like he never saw daylight and when he did it was only for a few minutes. "The name's J, that's it just J, I'm the tank operator, I drive that one over there aint she a beaut." I looked to where he was pointing a little ways off past the tank I had just walked into was a larger one, it was covered in streaks of blood and grim and the sides were scorched as if it had driven straight through a fire. It was faint and barley visible but if I looked hard, enough I could make out what used to be a paint job of a burning skull shooting a rocket from its mouth. "Yups been riding her for six years now, did the paint job m'self, blew them fucker's sky high with that girl, took their arms right off metal son's of a bitch. You ever been in a tank boy? Ever felt her purr when she rolls right over one of d'em bastards runs right over em and keeps on going smooth as a lim'a.

I tell you what boy, if your old enough I'll let you ride in her with me tommorah when we move out, crack a dawn you know, can't stay in one place too long, we gotta hurry on up and reach the main base, then we can rest and find somewhere ter stick all yah civilian's that aint old nuff to fight, you know woman and children and what's it. How old are yah son? Look like you've just about become a man, but my son does to and he be only sixteen."

"Eighteen, turning nineteen in two months. How old do you have to be to fight?"

"You've been old enough to fight since ten months ago son, tell you what we'll head on back to camp and find Major, he's in charge big feller' wear's his bullets like they sashes carries round a big ol machine gun the size of a young boy. Yeh seen him around?"

"Brown hair weird colored eyes? Gruff voice sounds like a pit bull?"

"Yup' that'd be Major so you've seen em?"

"He saved my life...come on I'll take you to him."

Major wasn't there, the fire was out and from the looks of thing it looked as if he had left soon after I did. "Well that's alright we'll just head over to the main tent I'm betting he's there." J said, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me along through a maze of military vehicles and camps. The main tent was situated at the very edge of camp and by the time we reached it my legs hurt from walking so much and so fast, "now you just wait on out here I'll only be a minute." J walked up to the entrance saluted the guards and stepped into the camp; I made myself comfortable on the sparse grass and stared up at the starry night above. He said it would be the end of the world, it's only the end of America , the world will just keep on spinning. And we'll all just die… My thoughts drifted and I drifted along with em until I didn't know if I was thinking or if my brain turned off, didn't matter though I had all the time in the world…at least I thought I did. The tent flap flipped open and J came waltzing out looking all high and mighty a grin plastered on his face, "well Major say's you can go right on ahead and join, and since your old enough I can take you to get the papers signed and suited up, come along now we aint got all night."

Jumping to my feet I was hesitant to take a step, swallowing back my fear I took my first step into what promised to be a new world and a new life…

READ AND REVIEW ...Or I WILL call the robots...don't think I wont