Chapter 1
Beyond the Veil
Dylan stood on a grassy outcropping and stared out over the valley that encased Veil City. The grass surrounding the perfect model homes radiated with the purest green, as if little emeralds were sprinkled over the landscape. Trees stood proud and tall while they basked in the bright sunlight. Flowers bloomed with cascades of radiance as they adorned every yard and business front. Smiles and laughter were found on every corner, alleyway, and street. But it was all a lie. A lie orchestrated from a society driven by fear and the inability to control something bigger…and Dylan was determined to bring it all down.
The need to obliterate Veil City was Dylan's focus for the past two decades. It consumed every part of his life and the lives of those willing to help him. Veil City sat as a kingdom in an oasis, but its inhabitants lived in ordinary importance. Its presence defined the turmoil on his side of its walls. Veil City was everything wrong with the world.
The Alpha War decimated the earth 20 years ago. It left the world in ruin: major cities destroyed, hundreds of thousands slain, and now chaos with a dark name ruled the lands. During the time of recuperation, a tyrant snuck in right under the human race's nose and took control with little resistance.
Veil City was a direct consequence of the Alpha War, a prison for the guilty parties, but mostly on a volunteer scale. Its residents were the bad guys… and the good guys. They had volunteered to relinquish their power as punishment for the mass destruction they caused. Their memories were wiped, new identities planted, and they were nestled into the valley under the sun.
A force field was placed around the city to prevent anyone from leaving or getting in. The inhabitants led lives as government leaders, butchers, florists, street vendors, and office workers. Any knowledge of the outside world and their past was a lost memory.
Dylan Runnalls was 13 during The Alpha War, and it still felt like a fresh memory when he thought of the moment when the sky turned crimson. The smell of scorched earth and flesh encompassed the world on that day. Buildings flattened, dead piled on top of dead, creatures roaming the streets, and firefights in the atmosphere above. Explosions, lasers, cries of the injured echoed throughout the night. In one single day, the earth was ruined.
Dylan lost his entire family that day except for his younger brother, Jake. Their neighbor, Richard Cashman, took them in after the war and raised them until Dylan was 19. A 72-year-old widower, with no children of his own, had plenty of room to raise two orphans. As a former Marine, he had a lot to offer a teenage Dylan. Richard taught him to take care of himself and his home. Jake took no interest in the militant lifestyle and stuck to books. No matter how much Dylan pushed Jake to learn it all, Jake delved further into studies and fantasy worlds.
Two weeks before Dylan's nineteenth birthday, he found Richard in the garden, dead from a heart attack.
"He left us, just like Mom and Dad. He left us," Jake sobbed.
Dylan had not been able to grieve for his parents and was faced with another caretaker's death on top of raising a 12-year-old boy…all by himself. Despite losing his parents at Jake's age, he was still able to grasp it without dealing with it, but he and Jake were two different people.
By 33, Dylan had done the best he could do. Jake went off to rebuild the world, and Dylan was had to save it. Over the past five years, he recruited a team of misfit individuals set on a rebellion against the new world regime. Rebel armies stationed all over the world always fell short of their objective to reclaim the earth, but the world's new dictator was always a step ahead of them. Rebel factions were obliterated or captured, having their memories wiped and free will taken for perfect placement in the world's new army.
Veil City stood as the last resort for earth's salvation. Its destruction would bring about a resolution... or it would backfire in Dylan's face. Pure luck was all he had left once he was able to disable the force field. He stepped back from the ledge and sighed.
"Are you ready?" he asked his technology expert, Jim.
Jim Spencer, a tall, lanky man in his forties, was an ex-CIA agent before the war. He told Dylan to never ask what he did, because he may find out things that he did not want to know. Dylan left it at that but let Jim work his magic to gather technology to break Veil City's electronic spell.
"I'm as ready as ready can get, Dylan. We keep putting this off, and we'll never get in," Jim said.
Dylan nodded in agreement and turned around to face the group of onlookers waiting for his command.
"Guys, this is it. There will probably never be a moment better than this one." He motioned to a woman standing next to him. "Emma?"
A statuesque redhead in her late twenties stepped forward.
"Ok everyone, you know your positions. We won't have much time, but if the military shows up, you have to keep them off of our backs and not tip them off to what we're doing. As Dylan said, this may be the only opportunity we get."
Emma Conrad turned back to Dylan and gave him a wan smile. He, too, felt her unease. The lives of his crew were in his hands. A knot in his stomach pulsed. He had not succumbed to nerves before, and he wasn't about to start. He placed his hand on Emma's shoulder and feigned a smile.
"We got this, Emma. The world can't afford for us to lose this chance. Make sure you stick by me at all times and don't forget the plan if we get separated."
"I know, I know. Meet at the cemetery. I got it, Dylan," she said.
She was so beautiful in that moment that he longed to kiss her. His feelings for her had blossomed into something he thought might be love. The past two years had been new territory for Dylan, because he had made a promise long time ago after Richard's death to never get close to anyone. Death followed him like a shadow, and he did not want another loved one to suffer the darkness that surrounded him. Even Jake was a stranger now.
"Let's go," he said.
He led her to the edge of the cliff, and she strapped into her repelling gear. Before getting into his, he sauntered over to Jim. Beeps and clicks chirped as Jim rifled through programs on his transmitting modulator.
"We're headed down now, Jim. Let's get going," Dylan said.
"Yeah, ok. Just testing some last minute scenarios, so I can prepare for the worst."
"You don't know how much better that makes me feel," Dylan chucked.
Jim looked up at him from his sitting position on the ground and appeared confused about what was so funny. His left eyebrow arched.
Dylan lightly smacked him on the back, "Never mind, man. Just make sure it works."
He helped Jim up and wondered if this was the last time he would see his friend. The cliff stood two hundred feet above the bottom of the valley, the only spot out of view of surveillance. They spent months traversing the area around Veil City looking for weak spots in the security and came across this lucky gem.
Dylan strapped himself in and saluted to the onlookers as he swung off the ledge. Every 15 feet, his feet sprang off the face of the cliff, and the sound of the rope buzzed through his hands. He descended faster than he wanted, but the impending mission had his adrenaline pumping. Emma followed suit alongside him, but she struggled to keep up. When his feet hit the ground, he looked up and signaled for Jim to head down.
"Ok, when Jim gets this thing open, we're going to head straight for the house at the end of the block. Harley and her husband are at work for the next two hours. We will set up a communications station in the shed out back. Once we are finished there, we head out to the pharmacy to make contact with Diana. Remember, stay with me, Emma. No matter what happens. Veil City isn't a place for us. We're completely outmatched here."
Emma stared back at him, unmoving in her expression.
"Dylan, we've been over this a million times. I promise you, I got it. Once we've made contact with Diana, we head for the grocery store to stock up on supplies. There's no telling how long we're going to be here. Once we're done there, we head over to the hotel to set up base camp."
Dylan nodded and gleaned a sliver of hope from Emma's reassurances.
"Ok, ok. I just wanted to be sure. We don't have a lot of room for error. Even while we're in there, we'll still be winging it. There's no telling what these guys are going to say or do. They may laugh us off, or they may lock us up. We're strangers here. A small city like this engineers quick gossip. Stealth and speed are our only allies here, Emma."
She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek, "Dylan, stop worrying. This isn't like you. I promise. Stealth and speed."
She had never touched him like that before, and he resisted the urge to recoil. Genuine human contact had been a foreign concept in the many years since his mother's passing. He'd had girlfriends…more like flings or one night stands, but he'd never let a woman get close to him on an emotional level since the world fell apart.
"Do you have your extra set of clothes packed? We don't want to look out of place on first contact."
She unzipped her backpack and flung a t-shirt at him.
"Ok, all right. I believe you now," he chuckled. The chuckle appeared alien to him. He cleared his throat to shake the tension from his voice.
A thud echoed off the rock face as Jim touched the ground. Dylan and Emma quickly helped him get out of his gear so they wouldn't be seen before they could open the portal. Jim kneeled and placed the transmitter at his feet. After he pushed a few buttons, heard a few beeps, and ran a few programs, he gave a thumbs-up to signal that it was almost ready.
"Ok, Dylan. This thing will be ready in three minutes. You and Emma need to be ready to jump through. I'm going to warn you, though. This opening won't stay open long. Get through it as fast as possible," Jim said.
Before Dylan could interject, Jim added, "One more thing. I can't promise you that I'll be able to reopen it either. You never know what's going to happen. Your only help may have to come from them," Jim pointed to downtown Veil City. "Just be back here tomorrow. That's all we have…one day."
Dylan knew the consequences of what would happen if they did not succeed. They would be stuck in Veil City unless they could start an all-out revolt, but he was afraid to face the ramifications of awakening the savages. A fight between two caged dogs never resulted in a good ending. Dylan wanted no more bloody carnage. He had seen enough of that for many lifetimes.
He patted Jim on the shoulder and walked over to the edge of the field next to Emma. She looked at him, and the expression of worry danced around in her eyes. He was worried, too, but he was not going to give up.
"Ok, guys. Ready in 3…2…1…go," Jim exclaimed.
In unison, Emma and Dylan stepped forward past the barrier and onto forbidden soil. They were inside Veil City. He turned back to get a glimpse of Jim and waved at him. Jim threw a saluted wave back, and they ran toward their first checkpoint.
