At first, there was silence, silence and darkness. A complete lack of thought, knowledge or memories. Like a powerful war machine without a driver.

Then, I emerge. Like the survivor of a shipwreck, emerging from the metaphorical waters to take a breath of sensations, as limited as it may be. I would compare it to a new born, but this body is used, it had a previous owner, owner who committed crimes so horrible his mind tortured itself to death, bringing every other inhabitants of this body, but leaving the physical part intact, thebrain, the chemical impulses and of every single victims personality, coming together to create a new being.

Me.

And that's all I know. A fact so deeply implanted it could be called instinct. Beyond these words, I know nothing, neither my name, origin nor purpose.

Then, there is a voice.

"Get up, kid! You gotta run!" A gruff, muffled voice barks.

I open my eyes to see a large piece of armor with a glowing orange visor and dark red paint job.

I realize I'm on my knees, in the middle of the road and get up.

"What's happening?" I ask looking down in disgust; my clothes are… ugly, a blue polo shirt and green sport short. I'm no fashion expert… Heck, who knows, maybe I am, but still...

A metal hand shoves me into a mass of fleeing peoples. "Zergs! Run!" the red armored man barks.

We are on an asphalted road, surrounded by wasteland. And wrecks. Plenty of fleeing peoples too…

I begin running in the same direction as them, bumping in quite a few. I'm stronger and heavier than most, as evidenced by the number of people I inadvertently knock to the floor.

It's dark and there's panicked peoples everywhere, a mild sandstorm impairs visibility. that makes me panic as well, but not the same sort of fear; mine is from the unknown, everyone else's is from something they very well know.

Behind us, gunfire erupts, causing flashes of light to illuminate the night.

I help a man back to his feet and ask him what is going on.

"Where have you been living, in a cave?" He exclaims as I run by his side, "The Zergs are attacking and the last dropships are leaving!"

I pass by more heavily armored soldiers, aiming their weapons at something behind me, and a second latter, hear the sound of gunfire, closer than ever.

There is light, a few dozen meters ahead; chemical flames and floodlights. Another pair of soldiers is standing on either sides of some sort of ramp leading up to the lights. "Keep moving!" One yells, "Get to the dropships!"

And they open fire, which probably means the 'Zergs' are right behind us.

The man next to me, the one I was talking to earlier, gets impaled by some scythe shaped claw, then jerked backward.

I watch as his head and upper torso are ripped clean off by a creature halfway between cobra and religious mantis.

How I know what a cobra and mantis are but not that thing, I really can't tell, nor do I care; right now, I got to run faster.

I do and just in time too, because I feel a slight breeze on the back of my neck just after I do. I'd go faster, but these slow pokes won't fucking pick up the pace.

"Move it, they're right behind us!" I yell. A few do look back and these begin running really fast, quickly imitated by the rest.

We climb the ramp pretty much as the soldiers get butchered.

There are six dropships, not touching down, just hovering there, ramp lowered.

In one dropship, the furthest away, a soldier dressed in a tight white suit is firing into the hordes. She –it's a she alright- is using some sort of sniper rifle and firing one shot per second.

Her dropship is hovering a meter away from the actual landing pad and only the ramp is touching it.

Most of the crowd head for the nearest dropships, but they are soon crowded, so I head for the one with the sniper, knowing fully well that if they decide I'm not coming along, I won't have time to catch another ride.

The woman sees me, more accurately, what's chasing me, and despite the tactical goggles she's wearing, I can see just how fucked I am.

I just run faster, but she knows I'm screwed and orders the pilot to take off.

The ship climb and get further away from the landing pad. Two meters, three…

Once there is five meters between the ramp and I, I bend my knees and use all of my strength to push myself off the pad.

Next thing I know, I'm surrounded by red light and metal with a high-caliber rifle in my face.

"How… Shit, kid, that was a hell of a jump you pulled…" The woman breathes, lowering her gun to offer me her hand, which I take.

She shoves me back on my feet and we turn to watch as about half the civilians are left behind, having tried to all fit inside three of the ships.

The rest are empty.

Peoples try to fight the Zergs and some even manage to kill the smaller ones, but the cobra-like things quickly join the fight. Women, men, child, old rich, poor. They all die, all because they followed the flow instead of trusting logic.

Peoples get killed or maimed trying to help their loved ones. A man stand in the way of a slash aimed at his daughter and ends up clutching his stomach with both hands.

Some leap down the pad, thinking they will find salvation, but only ending up in a sea of Zergs.

The hatch closes on the scene and I realize I fell on my knees. I drag myself to a seat made for armored soldiers and massage my face.

I could have done something. I ran like a coward when I could have helped many of these peoples… This is my first day of existence –whatever or whoever I am- and I inaugurate it by running like a fucking pussy.

The woman puts her hand on my shoulder. Not a comforting gesture, she wants my attention, so I glance up.

"I'm going to need your name." She explains, holding a datapad.

"Blacklight." That answer came by itself, no thinking was involved in it, although I feel this is more what I am than whom.

"Black Light… Your parents had a sense of humor."

"I don't remember them." I explain and she leans in.

"I know."

"You do?" Maybe she knows something about who I am… or was… or whatever…

"Yeah, they way your mind… 'tastes' reminds me of resocialised marines and your brain is so scrambled, I wouldn't be amazed if you received multiple Memory Wipes."

"You can read my brain?"

She laughs. "You got a lot to catch on, kid."