Prologue
Usually the summer day would be unbearably hot; one look in the horizon and the heat could be seen wavering like a sea. The hot pavement created illusions that there were puddles on the ground, but only upon closer inspection would it show that it was only a trick from the heat. Usually about this time, everyone would be groaning and complaining about the heat and how it was impossible to cool down in the high ninety degree heat. But not on this day, at least not the teenagers.
Crowing in excitement, a group of kids walked down the street, dressed in green and gold cap and gowns. Some heavily decorated with chords to signify they graduated with honors, a certain GPA, were apart of certain clubs, and some with just a single chord.
"We're finished baby," one gentleman cheered as he jumped on a bench and banged the head of another male before hoping off once more, chuckling as he was swatted at.
"And even Baby made it, look how decorated she is too," another boy pointed out, pinching the cheeks of the obviously youngest in their group.
The youngest hit the boy away that started to play with all of her tassels as she grinned at the mockery, as she walked with her friends back home. The heat was causing all of them to sweat, creating not only disgusting body odor, but also making their hair damp around their foreheads and small patches of sweat on their back, arms, and other embarrassing places. But by their grins they couldn't have spared any sort of care for their appearance. The group was speaking excitedly about a party that they should throw when a shadow casted over them, this made them pause in their strides as they looked up…
A large ship had passed over the sun, the five of us stared; open mouthed in pure awe and wonder at the sheer size of the ship that had provided shade. On closer inspection on the monstrous, purple ship…they realized that no ship from the Military would look like that. Or be even close to that size, at least none that they knew of. Ships were starting to be released from the larger one, of course they were smaller but that didn't make them any less intimidating.
"It's the Covenant," one breathed out, he had a green tassel across his neck, he had been in the Army JROTC program at our school. Looking to us, he ordered, "We have to get out of here, somewhere we can be safe until the Military can get us off planet."
Everyone headed one way...but Baby didn't follow, she shot off in another direction. Her friends shouted at her, telling her not to go, but she was gone. She wasn't that great of a runner, Baby couldn't run too fast but she made it down the street and was about to turn a corner when she saw small aliens waddling off of a ship, she ran into the front yard of a house and started hopping fences to get to her own home. She was breathing heavily, but adrenaline was pumping through her veins and so she didn't seem to notice the stitch in her side or how sore her legs were as she ran up to a two story house, her home.
Opening the door to the back, she was about to bolt through the kitchen when the sight of her parents had her frozen in fear. Her father was on the floor with a bleeding chest, his matcing brown eyes were staring right through her as his head had landed so that his head was facing her. Her mother with her matching black hair was on the table, face down…a hole in her skull. Opening her mouth to scream, she suddenly heard a barking noise and hid in the hallway, putting a hand over her mouth to quiet herself. She heard their heavy footsteps in the kitchen, but she mimicked their's so she was closest to the stairway and the wall of the kitchen and staircase separated them. Carefully she walked up the stairs, taking one step at a time and being as quiet as possible-
Creak. The alien gave a bark and Baby shot up the stairs, running into her sibling's room and slamming the door shut and locked it, though Baby knew it would do little against a 6 foot, heavily armored alien. It might buy them a little bit of time as she quickly scanned the room, luckily her younger brother Cody was clutching onto their baby sister, Maria.
"Come on Cody," Baby whispered as she shoved open the window, there was a bang on the door where the alien probably slammed into it, he was making clicking and barking noises, the both of us flinched at the bang and Baby quickly took Maria from Cody. "Jump, land in the bushes, okay? Relax your body." Cody leaped out, landing in the bushes he looked up at his older sister expectantly, just as the door banged open, Baby leaped as well, clutching onto Maria but relaxing the rest of her body. Grabbing her brother, Baby didn't look back as she shot from the side of the house and towards the front yard, tugging her brother along as she ran.
"Johanna! Jo, he-" Baby responded, revealing her true name to be Johanna as she turned to see who it was, her next door neighbor, Maria, was being chased by one of the taller aliens were chasing her. She watched as she was shot in the back and fell into her front lawn, the alien looked towards her running, aimed his weapon and-
Gunfire and we came to a halt immediately as soldiers swarmed around us, shoving us towards some sort of plane. We watched as they shot at the alien, keeping him at bay but only seeming to make him more angry as we were loaded into the ship, more citizens were loaded as well as quickly as they were. Finally, the ship took off and Cody sat, clinging to his older, obviously scared and confused as he looked at all the other families…or at least people that had lived on their block.
Reach was supposed to be safe.
Everyone looked the same, it had been two days since the invasion of Reach and I still wasn't used to being in a Military installation. Everyone dressed the same, all in a freshly pressed, dark, green suit of some kind. Everyone's hair pulled back and out of the way, everyone speaking in low, monotones so that their conversation wouldn't be overheard by others or possibly the wrong people. And everyone was walking at a very brisk pace, as though they had somewhere that they needed to be, everyone had a purpose. Johanna looked quite out of place as she walked at a leisure pace towards Social Services in hopes of good news.
"I don't have good news," the woman said as though to spite Johanna who sat in a chair before a metal desk, "Since you have graduated we can't send you anywhere, you're an adult. But your siblings, we can put up for adoption-"
"No, you can't send them to Earth? We have an Aunt there," Johanna persisted with the lady.
"I'm sorry Ms. Cole, but we're doing all that we can for you and your family," the woman explained, "there's a reason why a trip to Earth is so expensive, it is not only a long travels away, but it also takes us a while to get there because we are trying to throw off any Covenant that might be tracking us. The only persons who could pay for something like that are…"
"Well? Are who," Johanna demanded, hating how she trailed off as though it was obvious. It wasn't to her, and being in this office almost every day had her pulling out her hair. Johanna hated worrying about money, never had she had to do so until this point and time, and she was finding being a grown-up was very stressful and tiring.
"Those associated with the government," she stated carefully.
Thinking for a long moment, Johanna wondered if she should talk to her friend, Crossgrove, who was in the JROTC. Did he even make it off Reach? She was yet to see any of her friends, granted the space port was rather large, making it feel more like a planet itself than a floating piece of metal in space with its own gravity. "So what if I enlisted, what then," I asked.
"If you took in your siblings as Dependents, they could be sent anywhere you really wanted them to, ma'am. Within reason of course," she said with a sort of smile as though that was funny.
Johanna didn't smile as she pushed her black locks back and out of her face as she frowned in thought.
"Where do I sign up?"
So just the prologue, but please leave a review and there shall be more!
