A/N: Hello all. This is my first fanfic. It's mostly free writing that I proofread so don't be too hard on it. I've wanted to write this story for a while now and finally got around to it. Sort of a break from an original piece I'm working on so make sure you leave a review, I want all the feedbacks, and enjoy. (P.S. for those of you who have read this already, I changed Tucker's name to Jacob)

Fires burned as I ran. I didn't know where the fires came from; I just knew I had to get home. I was on my way home from class when something hit the ship I've spent my whole life on. A few minutes later, I could hear shouting, explosions and a lot of shooting as everything around me began to burn. I stood, stunned, for a few minutes until one thought filled my mind: home. My parents, my little sister. They were home today. I had to get home. My dad had been a soldier before he met my mom. If I got home, I'd be safe.

5 minutes later, I was careening through my neighborhood, running between houses and climbing over fences like I'd done so many times with my friends, only this time I was running for my life. The destruction hadn't spread to the living area yet and things were mostly quiet, but there were hundreds of people out in the walkways, gathering for evacuation.

"Chris!", someone shouted. My head whipped around and I saw my best friend, Jacob, and his parents. His dad was the one who called me. "Your parents are still at your house waiting for you. Hurry!"

"Thanks Mr. Coates." My house was only about 30 meters away. Mr. Coates must have called them because as soon as I approached the door, it slid open and my mom burst out, rushing towards me.

"Oh my god Chris are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay. I'm okay", I replied burying my head into my mother's chest. I hadn't realized I was crying, but now I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks.

Pulling myself away from my mom, I saw my dad standing behind her, holding my sister's hand and carrying a large suitcase. "Dad what's going on?"

"The Grineer are attacking and we have to evacuate."

"What!? No…" I'd heard of Grineer attacks, but those were always on other ships, not ours. "Why would they do that?"

His face softened. He almost looked like he wanted to cry, but he didn't. He just shook his head, "I don't know."

A short time later we were walking next to the Coates'. I walked next to Jacob holding my sister's hand while Mr. Coates and my father were talking in front of us. My dad was intense with his eyes drilling into the other man and speaking barely above a whisper. The sounds of fighting were getting louder as we walked. It was moving towards us faster than we were moving to the escape pods.

"Chris", my sister said almost too quietly to hear, "did you see any of the Grineer?"

"No Amanda", I said back.

"I'm so glad you made it back alive. Mommy was so scared. Daddy wanted to leave to look for you but the soldiers wouldn't let him." She looked terrified and her eyes were puffy and red. I was trying to be the big brother and look brave for her, but I was just as afraid as she was.

"I think we'll be okay, dad won't let anything happen to either of us."

It was right then Jacob pulled my sleeve. "What?"

"I couldn't hear what else they said, but I heard 'Tenno'."

"What!?" Both of us looked at our fathers in wonder. We'd both heard so many stories about the undefeatable warriors. The mystical soldiers who were masters of all weapons and martial arts. If we ever met one, be quiet and avoid confronting them. "Why would they be talking about Tenno", I whispered.

"Maybe there's one here."

"Then we'll be okay!"

"No… that might be what drew the Grineer here." Jacob looked angry. He was almost 2 years older than me, so I'd always trusted what he said. I looked at the ground between my feet and sighed.

My sister then exclaimed, "oh no!"

"What is it", I asked.

"I left Buffy at home!" I smiled at Amanda. I couldn't think of a funnier thing to say at a time like this. Buffy was her stuffed puppy. She always had that with her. "It will be okay. Soon, after the soldiers clean off the ship, we can come back."

"Promise?"

"Yes." My mom then walked up next to us.

"Don't worry boo", she said reaching for her bag, "I would never let you leave without him." Tears began welling up in my sister's eyes and she snatched the small fuzzy animal from my mom.

"Thank you so much mommy." At that moment everything seemed like it would be alright.

Then, suddenly, another explosion made the ship shudder and everyone was thrown to the floor. Grineer began flowing towards us from the direction of the escape pods and everyone began screaming. The Grineer were large, disfigured and ugly humanoid creatures that looked like at some point they had been humans. Everything fell into chaos as people began scrambling to get away from the terrifying monsters. I couldn't believe what I saw. Neighbors, so called friends, were trampling one another to get away. No one cared for anyone but themselves and maybe their families. I saw several people get knocked back down and run over. I saw someone thrashing on the ground while being bludgeoned by people's feet.

My father and Mr. Coates were different though. Since they'd both been soldiers for a long time they stayed calm. My father drug Jacob and I to our feet while my mother picked up my sister and we all ran across the crowd towards a large building. We all raced through the door. Mrs. Coates was the last one in and slammed it shut. Then we heard the Grineer open fire. It was the most awful noise I'd ever heard. Loud, sharp cracks accompanied by screaming and what I could only guess was dozens of people falling.

"Get away from the door", Mr. Coates shouted. We all backed away and followed him through the building to the back. "We have to get to the escape pods", he said. My father had a short conversation with him before they continued, moving to the back of the structure.

We exited into a walkway lit by fires burning all around, the cries of dying people and gunfire muffled now. My sister was in full blown tears and both my and Jacob's mothers look flustered and scared, but my father and Mr. Coates seemed confident. After 15 minutes of sneaking around, we were out of the living area and into the ship's industrial sector where most people worked. The escape pods were on the other side of it, but the fighting sounded louder here. I felt like trying to go straight through this area was a bad idea, but my dad didn't seem to want to find another path. We continued towards the sounds of fighting. Something scared me about the sounds though, and I couldn't figure out what. Then it hit me, they weren't getting farther away, but they were getting quieter. And I had no doubt that was because the Grineer were killing the ship's guards. Why were they doing this? Why did they have to attack my home? I glanced at Jacob. He didn't seem to be thinking the same thing. He was so focused on following our fathers, he seemed to almost be on autopilot.

When we were about 100 meters from the other end of the industrial area and the escape pods a shape appeared at the end of the path we were on. It was Grineer. Without hesitation he raised his gun and started shooting. My sister screamed as we all ran. I was terrified. I ran as fast as I could, jumping from one side of the walkway to the other. I didn't know why, I just felt like I was supposed to. As we reached a break in the path I heard an awful scream and something heavy hit the ground. I clambered around the corner followed by everyone but my mom. I looked back out into the alley to see my mom lying face down with red fluid spreading around her, and several holes in her back.

"MOM", someone screamed. It took me a moment to realize it was me. I tried to run out to her, but my dad caught me, holding me back. "Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" I turned and looked at him. Tears were streaming down his face like I'd never seen before. My dad never cried. He was too strong, but now he looked like I felt.

"We have to go", he choked out. I still wanted to run out there. To hug my mom. She would be alright wouldn't she? She was such a good mom, there's no way anything bad could happen to her. She was always home to help me with my homework. She was a great cook and she cared about my sister and I more than anything. Nothing bad could happen to someone that good!

"She's still alive dad." "She's still alive right?" He opened his mouth, but all that came out was a sob. He shook his head, looking at the ground between us. "No! She's going to be fine we have to go get her", I screamed. My dad put his arms around my sister and I and pulled us into an embrace.

"I can't lose you too. Please do as I say." I wanted to push away from him. I wanted to feel my mother's warm embrace. See her bright smile. But all of that was gone. I nodded.

A few minutes later, I was following Mr. Coates down another walkway this one on the other side of the industrial area. We were coming up to a junction which would take us back to the pods. My mind was blank. I was numb. My mom was dead. I couldn't think, couldn't feel. I didn't notice Mr. Coates stop in front of me. I stopped myself just behind him as he peered around the corner. His shoulders slumped. I knew that wasn't good. My dad came up and looked too. He let out a sigh and swore. I didn't know what they saw but it was bad. I'd lost half of my world a few minutes ago. I couldn't think of what else could happen. And in that instant the rest of my world was stolen.

I heard a lot of heavy footsteps coming towards us and I turned to see 5 or 6 Grineer round a corner 20 meters away and begin shooting. I felt someone shove me down an opposite path from the escape pods. I turned as I fell and I saw my father, the strongest person in my life, the one person who I could always count on to support me and hold me up, filled with bullets. It happened in slow motion: my sister was falling with me into the protection of a different path. My father's hands outstretched, determination and love in his eyes. All these monsters around, and the only thing he could think of was saving my sister and I. I couldn't think. Couldn't process what happened. It was like watching a movie. I didn't know what to make of it. All I was able to do was listen to my body's one instinct: RUN!

I grabbed my sister's hand and began running as fast as I could. I didn't know where I was going but I knew I had to run. When I couldn't run anymore, I slowed to a stop, gulping air. My sister was frozen. A moment later, Mr. Coates and Jacob stopped next to us.

"Mr. Coates…." I looked around quickly, "where's Mrs. Coates." Neither of them answered and I knew it was the worst. All of us must have been in shock. The heavy footsteps came again.

"You three need to run", Mr. Coates said, "Jacob, take care of them."

"Dad… no please, you can't do anything."

"I might be able to give you a few more seconds. You're a responsible kid, and just remember, both your mother and I love you more than you can imagine and no matter what happens, that love will never leave you. The same goes for you two." "Your parents love you Chris and Amanda. Now go." I couldn't do anything but listen to him at this point, so I nodded and ran.

We ran and ran and ran. Neither Jacob or I knew where to go, but we just had to run and it was that which got us caught. We ended up going into a dead end and before we could backtrack, another explosion collapsed a building behind us. We became stuck with 3 buildings and a pile of rubble on all sides. There were fires everywhere. This was it. I let my father and Jacob's father die in vain to protect us. A moment later, another explosion emerged from the building that had been at the end of the walkway, trapping us. It threw the three of us against the pile of rubble. I groggily got to my feet.

"We're just kids. WHAT DO YOU WANT", I screamed at the buildings, the ship, the air, life… the Grineer. I felt helpless. I was going to burn to death as a 10 year old. Never experiencing life, never getting a chance. I was mad at life. It hadn't been fair. What did life want? What am I supposed to do? Why did the Grineer have to come here?

"Chris…" I heard Jacob say, barely loud enough to hear. I turned towards him and saw him kneeling over my 6 year old sister. The most adorable, beautiful, innocent, sweet, caring and lovable person in the galaxy, laying on the ground with her arm and neck bent at odd angles. And I knew… Time stopped. I couldn't hear anything, couldn't feel anything, couldn't SEE anything but my little sister's…. My sister's little broken body…. Laying on the ground amidst rubble and fire…

"No…. no. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. NO!" I repeated over and over rushing over to her. Carefully cradling her in my arms. "NO! NO! NO!" I was crying uncontrollable. At that moment, nothing else mattered. Not the Grineer, not the thousand who had probably died, not my home which was more than likely destroyed, not Jacob, not the fact I was trapped and probably going to die. Not even… not even the fact I'd lost both of my parents. My sister, who had never hurt anyone in her entire life, who could only think of other people had been killed by these monsters. "Why", I sobbed, "she never did anything wrong." I choked on my saliva. "SHE NEVER DID ANYTHING WRONG!" I couldn't breathe. I didn't know if it was the smoke or not. I didn't care. My world was myself, and the small broken body in my arms.