"I heard the bulletshots around me, I felt the earth shaking, I saw my group's faces, painted thick with fear and panic. I looked out of a small hole in the wall of the sky high building, we were hiding in, nothing to see, nothing, but a thick mist of smoke from the explosions from outside. I looked around and saw it, the very same intrument of a wepaon my old squat and I have been given the mission to protect on its way to the other end of the city, and because of my decision, my group got killed brutally, the weapon was stolen and I got lowered my rank from captain to field soldier."Six years ago I was the youngest captain of the US. I was fast, strong and skilled. All soldiers feared me and I loved it. I was walking down the hallways of our new hide-out, an office building. I saw scared soldiers around me, I could smell the fear, sense the panic and I could almost taste the death in the air. I walked down the stairs, the stairway smelled like smoke and rotten blood. I walked down the stairs, slowly, but suddenly the whole building was shaking and started to collapse, I ran down the rest of the stairs, I just got out of the building before it fell to the ground with all the soldiers inside of it. I stood there on the street and looked at the building, but a few seconds later, I heard a gun shoot, I felt a growing pain in my spine, I turned around and fell to the cold street. The last thing I saw was a man kneeling next to me and he pulled out a knife, he looked like a gang member. I do not remember anything else." I said to the MP's in front of me, the military police are known to be cruel and brutal in order to get information, but it was like they did not even want to get near of me. I was sitting on a bed in the hospital, or in what was meant to be a hospital, but in real life, this place was a school. I stood up, and because of my bare feet, I felt the cold stone floor underneath me, a doctor entered the room, he made me sit down quickly and told me to stay in bed, I looked at him and asked what have happened, and how I possibly could be able to move since the bullet of the gang members shot went right into my spine, his answer surprised me, he said "you was just lucky", and then he left the room. I turned my head to both sides, first right, then left, no mirror to be found, which I thought was a little strange, I remembered hospitals having a mirror in each room, but on the other hand this is a school after all.I lied down and closed my eyes, but out of nowhere, I heard gunshots, I sat up straight and reached for my boots and uniform. I ran outside and saw soldiers and tanks surounding the school, and there he was, my general, I ran towards the tank he was standing on, "sir! This is a hospital! Don't attack it!" I yelled, but his hand lowered and the tanks shot the school down to ruins, "NO!" I screamed and fell on my knees, knowing that all the people in that school was dead, women, men and children, doctors, nurses, people we needed for surviving and all the medicin and medical equipment was lost in the fire.

Not long after the tanks shooted, I collapsed on the ground, someone had hit me in the back of my head, I woke up in a dead alley, confused and tied up from behind, I looked around and saw the gang member, who shot my earlier, I looked surprised at him, "you might think why I took you, right? What my name is and why I took you and not a higher ranked soldier and maybe what I want, well, the answers are easy, I took you because you are the one I shot earlier, my name is Hunter, I wouldn't take a higher ranked soldier, because the army would look for him and what I want is that body of yours" he smirked and moved closer to me, I looked at him calmly, no emotion was to be shown on my face. He grabbed me by my light brown hair and roughly dragged my head back, he started to unbutton my jacket and shirt, he took off my boots and pulled down my pants and boxers, I looked at him, "don't worry, kiddo, you are in save hands, or something" he chuckled and sat down between my legs and with a movement as fast as light, he was inside of me, pulling, pushing, thrusting, he did everything to hurt me, "virgin?" he asked as the sweat appeared on his forehead, I nodded. He stopped after some minutes, pulled out a knife, "how come ya don't scream?" he looked and me while licking on the knife, I never got the chance to answer him, he got pissed and cut out my tongue, swallowed it and then placed the knife pointing at my chest, "heart" he said and carved out my heart, he killed me. I guess I deserved it from killing all those people in Aphganistan and Irac. I deserved it for being a horrible son, a horrible brother and a horrible father. My mouth formed the words "forgive me for I have sinned" , I left behind a six year old daughter, who no one could take care of, she would soon die of hunger, my beautiful daughter, my little Allison. I died that night, in the cold rain, in a dead alley, without any emotion shown, like a real soldier, because no soldier deserves a beautiful or peaceful death.

A light as bright as the sun stroke my face, I heard a voice of a little girl, my little girl, I followed her voice into the bright light, but it soon turned off. I woke up on an operation board, I looked around in the room, but my view was unclear, I tried to stand up, I opened my mouth to scream my daughters name, but my voice never came up my throat, nor out of my mouth. I started to panic, but soon a hand came out of the unclear dark and wrapped its fingers around my shoulder, I turned around to meet a pair of glasses, "I see you are awake, perfect!" a young voice said, I tried to ask the man in front of me who he was and where I was, but my voice did not come out again, "your tongue is gone, like all gone, no trace of your tongue at all. We found you in an alley and took you with us. Your heart was missing, so we replaced it with a mech. heart" he said and took a deep breath to continue, "but if you can write, please write down your name, age, military rank, birth place, birth day and bloodtype" he said and handed me a pencil and paper, I looked at him and nodded slightly, "you are surprisingly calm by this situation" he said, I wrote on the paper;

Name: William G. Trace

Age: 15

Military Rank: Former Captain (Field Soldier)

Birth Place: X

Birth Day: X

Bloodtype: ?

The doctor looked at the paper, "you don't care for writing down these three things, or you don't remember?" He pointed to the last three subjects, I looked at him and my eyes told him to stay out of my business. My view started to get clear and I looked around, I was in a lab. I coughed a little and the young man rushed to me and forced me to sit on a nearby chair, "your body has to get used to the new heart I gave you, try to relax a little more" he said and handed my a glass of water, I drank it, but the feeling of having no tongue, nothing to taste with and just the thought of having no tongue made me sick. I looked at the doctor, "I know it's hard, William, but at least try to get used to it" he said and gently stroke my cheek.

The doctor soon left the room to get me something to eat, I knew that without my tongue I would not be able to eat probably. The doctor enteren the lab once again with a large glass in his hand, I looked at the fluid in the glass, "blended potatoes, beef and vegestables" he said and handed me the glass, "I know it doesn't look that good, but at least drink it" he said and looked at me as I drank the fluid. I finished the glass and handed it to him, "you don't have anything against drinking this?" he asked and looked surprised at me, I started to get pissed because of all the questions I could not answer.

The doctor handed me a smartphone, "I installed an app on this phone, just select the voice you like, type and the voice will speak out for you" he said and smiled like only a father could smile to his son. I nodded and choosed a voice, not too dark, not too light, and I typed 'thank you, Sir', "my name is Cedric Loranzo, but please, call me Cedric" he said, I nodded and typed 'when do I get out of here?', he looked at me and sighed, "listen, William, the military has a new project going on, in secret, and they want to make sure that this project doesn't fail" he said and sat on the chair in front of me, "you are the project" he said and looked at me, I started to type 'this project, is it the one I heard of last year? The same project that killed twenty high ranked military soldiers?', Cedric nodded, "but don't worry, you had all the reasons for not dying. You were missing your heart, missing your tongue and no family" he said and smiled, I typed again, 'no family? I have a daughter', the doctor read it and he got stiff, "y-you've got a daughter?" he asked, I nodded, "where is she? In New York? Where in New York? Detroit?" He asked with a tembling voice, I nodded and looked confused at him, "oh my.. I'm truely sorry, William, but Detroit had an earthquak six years ago, no one survive" he said, I looked shocked at him, I could not believe it, my little, beautiful baby girl is dead, I typed, 'HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN HERE?!', he looked at me then at his watch, "six years, William". I stood up and looked around, I saw a pile of clothing, reached for it, grabbed a dark grey oversized hoodie, a pair of black jeans and black boots, and I changed. "Where're you going?" Cedric asked and stood up, I typed 'I'll go find that bastard, who killed my little girl!', "you know who made the earthquack? It's a catasrophe of nature" Cedric mumbled, and then I rushed towards the door, "wait!" Cedric yelled, 'you can't stop me', I typed, "no, I want to give you a gas mask, gloves and guns" he said and handed me a bag and some fingerless gloves, "there might be dangerous gas and enemies out there", I nodded and opened the bag, put in the gloves, and with straps around my legs I stock the two guns and took a small bag from a lab table, took the bullets in the small bag and stock it to my jeans. I took on the gas mask, it looked like a skull with open mouth. Cedric looked at me,"listen, you are very calm about all this. It kind of creeps me out. You think SOMEONE made the earthquack? You just put on clothes, you take the equipment I give you without a quiestion about what all this is? Why?" he looked at me, I typed, 'I am a soldier. I am William G. Trace. I was known as The Death Upon Us. I cannot be panicing now. And for the information about the earthquack, I heard about a man, who was working on a machine to recreate earthquack, I heard about it when I was younger', Cedric looked surprised at me, but then his eyes got cooler and serious, "now go and revenge your daughter, G.H.0.S.T" he said as I left the room.

"Last night the police found the drug dealer Jeremy Smaok dead, shot in the head. The police once again ask if anyone might have seen something strange" the news speaker in the television said, I stood and looked at the screen in the lab, "I'm still impressed that you can handle this so calmly" Cedric looked at the screen as he took a sip of his coofee, and then looked at me, I typed, 'it's easy when you've nothing to lose, Cedric', he smiled and nodded, "indeed, my friend". I grabbed a glass and drank the strange green fluid, "and I can't believe you still drink that" Cedric said, I looked at him and gently punched his shoulder, "I'm just saying that most people wouldn't be able to keep this up. Y'know, killing other people, come back here, get information, go kill again, come back, drink that stuff, workout, sleep and same shit again the next day" Cedric said and I typed, 'we both know that I'm not like most people, dear Cedric', he nodded and smiled, "true". I sat down on a chair and yawned, Cedric normally looked into my mouth every time I yawns or just when I open my mouth, it kind of annoys me, he maybe thinks that my mouth is fascinating since I lack in the tongue department, but he did save my life and he did give me a new one.

A year went through, and though Cedric and I have been tracking down the people responsible for my daughter's death, I felt somehow there was something I have forgotten. Cedric suddenly yelled, "happy birthday!" he smiled, I looked at him and typed on my phone, 'what's the date 2day?', "it's the 2th December 2014" he answered, I typed again, 'gr8, 1 year older, then I'm 22 now', Cedric nodded and smiled. I lied down on the bed Cedric had bought for me, I closed my eyes to get at least a bit of rest.

I was dreaming of her again, how she called out my name, cried and begged me to come home and save her. "William! Wake up! Hey!" Cedric was grabbing my shoulders and shaking me gently, "I think you were having a nightmare" he said and released his grib, I sat up and looked at him, sweating and nodded a little, "your daughter again?" he gave me a glass filled with an acid-looking fluid, I drank it and nodded slightly. I stood up and changed my outfit to black jeans, a black oversized pullover, black fingerless gloves, black boots with metal tip and as always the straps with my guns and the small bag for my bullets. I looked at Cedric, "good, you're ready, I heard in the news that a man called Lance McConnell is in town. He's a scientist, the same scientist, who builded the bomb that made the earthquack in Detroit back then" he said and I felt my body started to shake of anger, "before you go, William, I have a little new thing for you" he said and handed me a daggert, I took it and placed it in my belt and nodded for thanks. I left the lab and walked down the street. It was not really uncommon that all people would be wearing some sort of weapon, it could be a daggert, gun, riffle, or even just a lousy kitchen knife, anything to protect themselves from other people. Normally you would see most people walk alone, but the gangs have been growing since the earthquack, and those gangs were the most dangerous people you can get near of. Before I left the lab I remembered to put on my gas mask, you never know when someone might drop a smokebomb, and all the chemicals in the air sickened me.

I kept walking down the street, saw a gang in a circle in an alley, normally I would mind my own business, but this time I wanted to see what was going on. I stepped forward into the circle, and there on the ground an almost naked, a woman lying, screaming because the gangs leader were all inside of her, I looked at her and then at the other men around me, and before they even noticed a thing, they were all lying dead on the ground, I did not kill the leader, he stood up and pulled out a gun, I threw my daggertt, which was covered in the others blood, at his gun, he fell to the ground, I reached out my hand for the woman, she was shaking and did not grab my hand, so I lifted her up and walked away, she screamed even more now as I walkd away with her, but even so, I took her to the lab, placed her on my bed and started to find an oversized shirt, some jeans and then I pointed at the bathroom, she took the clothes and ran into the bathroom.

Soon Cedric came home and heard someone taking a shower, but then he saw me sitting on the bed, "did you forget to turn off the shower again?" he asked as he opened the door and saw the woman, he rushed out and looked surprised at me, "who is she?!" he yelled and I typed, a woman I found, he looked shocked at me and sighed, "you can't just find a woman and take her with you, G.H.0.S.T" he said, he always calls me G.H.0.S.T when there are other people around us, I shrugged and looked at him, the woman came out of the shower, "I am sorry, but that man saved me from a gang" she said and as Cedric turned around his mouth dropped open, he just looked at the woman, who walked towards me, grabbed my hands and thanked me gratefully, I nodded to her and pulled my hands to me in order to make her let go of me, and she did. I typed on my phone, do you have a place to live?, she looked a little confused at my phone and than answered that her home was destroyed by the earthquack, I nodded, but before I had the chance to write anything on the screen Cedric smiled and quickly grabbed her hand gently, "you can live with us" he said and smiled, she looked at him and thanked him, they kept looking each other in the eyes, I knew that this woman would start to mean a lot for Cedric, and that thought made my smile underneath the mask.

The next day I woke up by my own, not by the 'help' of Cedric. I sat up and to my surprised the woman I saved was standing next to my bed with a cup of coffee, "here you go" she said, I nodded and took the cup, and just looked down at the coffee. Cedric entered the lab, "goodmorning!" he smiled and walked towards us, grabbed my cup of coffee and sipped it, "mmm! Now that's a good coffee!" he said and smiled, the woman looked at him, "that's his coffee" she said and pointed at me, "I can pour you a cup" she looked at him, "no thanks, Diana, I'm fine with this cup" he said and walked towards his lab tables, I looked at the woman named Diana, who looked like she were about to yell, "I made that coffee for my hero" she said, "oh, but he can't drink coffee.. Or tea.. Or chai latte.. Or soup.. Or anything hot at all" Cedric smiled at her while he pointed at me with his pen. Diana looked at me, "you don't drink hot stuff?" she looked confused, 'no, I can't' I typed as Cedric walked closer to us, stopped next to me, grabbed my chin and opened my mouth, "he had his tongue cut out and since I can't operate his throat without problems, he can't drink hot drinks, or eat normally. He gets all his food blended into a fluid, but he's fine with that" Cedric smiled and gently patted my head as I nodded, "his favorite food is portatoes and beef, but it has to be red meat" he continued, and the more he talked the more Diana's eyes got bigger, wider and they looked like they were in love with what they were looking at.

Cedric were working in his lab, Diana gave him all the things he needed all the time, and me, well, I was sitting in my bed, waiting. Cedric looked at me, "uhm.. G.H.0.S.T? Shouldn't you be out in the field?" he walked towards me, I typed, 'you haven't given me any information about Lance McConnell?', he laughed out loud, "I'm sorry, G.H.0.S.T, the information is here on my desk. And there will be a new gun, it's called Death Upon Us, 56kb" he said, "I have invented it myself" he smiled proud. I gently punched his shoulder, grabbed the information papers, and then the gun. I pretented that I almost dropped it, "G.H.0.S.T! Stop teasing me! It's a very important and expensive gun!" Cedric chuckled lightly as I left the lab.

I walked down the street while reading the information papers. I yawned slightly, stuffed the papers in my pocket of my pants and continued my journey down the streets of New York. I thought about the papers again, the information;

Lance McConnell. A rich gentleman. Single.

And a lot of other stuff I did not need to know about this guy, or maybe I was just too lazy to read three pages of information.

The buildings around me were sky high, nor at least some of them, other were just ruined.