CHAPTER 2 – This Isn't Real

Will hopped onto his bike and headed toward the town grocery store. Dodging trees, feeling the breeze ruffle through his hair and breathe through his shirt; gave Will the essence of flying. Will had to grin to himself as he kicked up a giant dust ball making a sharp left turn towards the main street into town. The ride into town took him about thirty minutes as a bit of sweat dripped from the side of his head. He was so excited to ride his bike into town that he didn't even bothering checking to see how much his mother gave him. Finally arriving to the Mom & Pop Convenient Store; which was actually a converted two-story house with a front porch, William parked his bike against the wooden steps that led to the porch.

Walking into the store, the door's tinny bell gave a brief jingle. He looked around the store and nodded to the cashier as he reached inside his jean pockets pulling out a ball of lint, the cash and the list that his mother gave to get. He looked down at the list and compared it to the amount of money his mother gave to him.

"Yes!" Will said and smiled.

Whenever Will made these solo treks into town his Mom usually gave just a little bit more money for him to buy a trinket or snack; usually a loving gesture and incentive to doing these errands for her. William looked at the bottom of the list which read,

"Thanks for doing this honey. Love you OXOX"

"Thanks mom."


The grocery sack still in hand he walked out to the front porch to sit in one of the wooden chairs. After sitting down, he placed the bag in between his legs to sift out the items that he got for himself; a Snickers bar and Mountain Dew.

All was still and right with the world as he stared out into the street. All he could hear was the buzzing of bugs and murmur of people gossiping just down the street. He opened the bottle of soda and took a couple of cool bubbly swigs before un-wrapping the candy bar. After a few bites of the candy bar he heard a soft rumbling from down the road.

At first he thought it was thunder, because the sun had receded behind a wall of clouds, but the sound was much lower to the ground. He got up from his chair to look at the sky and then down the road. A train of large black Chevy Blazers and Hummers were barreling their way down the road leaving a cloud of dirt to trail their quick passage. The commotion alerted the rest of the residents inside the stores which brought them outside to see what was going on. The oddity of the vehicles left William feeling very disconcerted because they were not commonly found in a town like this. The odd vehicle train blew past the stores, going three times faster than what was printed on the speed limit sign. The vehicles blazoned past William in the most frightening way. From where he stood on the porch, the gust of wind that trailed behind the trucks nearly knocked him off his feet. While the vehicles' passage did frighten the people around him, the locals remained close to the buildings. William immediately followed the last truck onto the street; he was more concerned about the direction in which the vehicles were rushing to get to.

From where William stood he could see the trucks heading down the road which led to other excursions to peoples' residences. The first road was coming up on the right; the only road that led to his home.

"Please don't turn right, please don't turn right." Will was getting a horrible feeling about this.

Something's wrong.

The hurried vehicle train made an abrupt turn to the right.


William could feel the pain in his chest as he desperately tried to breathe while pedaling at what seemed warp speed. He was taking the dangerous short-cuts his mother warned him about getting to the house. He didn't care at this point.

Mom! Dad! No, no, no… Please, this can't be happening.

The same hair-raising-tingly sensation from back at the shed earlier this morning was starting to come back; this time in full force. The pain in his chest was immediately alleviated.

What is going on? My feet are still moving? Why am I not out of breath?

He was no longer out of breath. He continued pedaling as if he had just started this adrenaline-spiked bike run. He smelt a weird kind of smoke billowing out through the woods. Tears started to fall out of his eyes as he busied steering himself away from exposed stumps, hidden holes and familiar bushes. He could just see the clearing while the smoke which led to a dark cloud was getting bigger and bigger.

When he arrived at the house, he could not believe what he was seeing.

A giant black floating air craft about fifty yards long gave off vibrations which had been the source of the buzzing and tremors he had felt all day. It hovered just yards away from his home which was set ablaze. The fires soared ten feet in the air. The property was crawling with what looked like soldiers in black uniforms, setting the property on fire. Each soldier was determined on getting their goal accomplished in a short amount of time, all of whom carried large army sized guns and torches. The tree house he and his father had built was now burning to the ground, the garden his mother had planted every year was decimated, the giant oak tree that birthed beautiful leaves in the fall, all those memories, just obliterated.

Will was starting to feel the ground beneath him shake as his anger and anguish began to overwhelm him.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" William bellowed.

Some soldiers turned to see a young boy run toward them. At first they braced for impact to halt the boy, but an invisible force pushed them out of Will's way as he moved forward.

"DAD! MOM!"

William was blind-sided by a man who grabbed Will and tackled him to the ground. Will blacked out for a second after his head bounced off the ground from the impact. Only slightly winded, William lay on the ground and started to whimper. The guy that tackled Will immediately stood up on his feet and pointed his gun at Will. The soldier stepped back in line with the rest of the firing squad, who also took aim at Will. William took a deep breath and stood up from where he was tackled. His heart was racing and his face became flushed.

"Where are my parents?" he demanded. Will was furious. Dirt was smeared across his face. An energy he never felt before engulfed his body. He was staring into an emotionless crowd.

~Those people must have been his parents~, ~They're dead~, ~The Tower~, ~They needed to be eliminated~, ~Accomplish the mission~, William heard simultaneously in his head. From what he saw, nobody's mouth was moving.

"Wha…" Will cried out.

"…They're right you know," interrupted a man from beyond the row of gunmen.

With William's short stature it was difficult to see beyond the wall of men. From what William could see he saw a much older Caucasian man, possibly thirty-five, dressed in a light brown trench coat. Leaning up against one of the Hummers, stood the mysterious man who was nonchalantly watching his house burn.

"What you don't realize is that this location is most ideal for the landing of our… ships." He gave a short chuckle before continuing,

"You know what?" The mysterious man pushed through the line of gunmen to fully expose himself to William. The mystery man's hair was slicked back and his eyes had a cold familiarity.

"I always thought that saying it out-loud sounded too cliché."

~But then again, William, you don't need me to say anymore. You already know too much.~

"Shoot him."

So much was happening at once. Will closed his eyes. Everything all of a sudden felt as though in slow motion.

This can't be happening. Will thought.

He heard every gun release its individual bullets.

This isn't real. This is not how it ends. My parents are alive. I want to live.

Will raised his hands to his head as if to shield his body from the bullets inevitably hurling toward him. William's body had gone numb and an overwhelming surge of energy came bursting out from within him. He opened his eyes to see the bullets stopping dead in their tracks. The soldiers stopped shooting, seeing as that the bullets weren't accomplishing their task. The bullets fell to the ground before them. William, who was exhausted by the whole ordeal, fell to his knees. His vision blurred as he fell backwards to the ground. Right before he closed his eyelids he heard,

~Fascinating.~