Disclaimer: Mass Effect and all its characters belong to Bioware.

Hellhound

Mindoir, 2170

"C'mon, Izzy! Hurry up!" John had his hand clasped firmly around her wrist as the two of them sprinted through the cornfield. He had been pulling Izzy behind him as he ran frantically through the rows, lightly tugging at her whenever she started to slow, but now he was practically dragging her.

"I can't!"

John finally stopped and looked back at her, her bare feet dirtied from running through the muddy fields and her formerly bright white sleeping gown thoroughly soiled and soaked through.

"You saw what they did to them! We have to keep moving if we don't want them to catch up and kill us like they killed Mom and Dad!" he shouted through the pouring rain.

It took a moment for him to realize that Izzy had started crying – the sound of the freezing rain pelting the ground had surrounded the two in a dull roar and John could barely make out her face in their near-pitch black surroundings.

John bent down (he had grown another half foot in the last year and now stood multiple heads above his sister) and wrapped his arms around her. "Please, Izzy. Just a little while longer. We'll go to our fort in the forest like Mom told us. It'll be just like when we used to play." John could feel Izzy's body shivering violently in his arms and squeezed tighter. "Please."

After another moment, John felt her nod slowly into his chest where she had buried her face. "C'mon."

The two resumed their frantic escape.

"Hey, I think I saw something move over there!" Though John's ears were pounding and his breathing was ragged, he just barely made out the sound of the batarian's voice. The same voice, he recognized, that had taunted his father in the moments before he had been brutally killed.

"John, I heard something!"

"It's nothing, Izzy." Despite his words, John's grip on Izzy's wrist tightened considerably.

Less than a minute later, John saw thin beams of light crisscrossing the stalks just a few dozen yards in front of him. He stopped suddenly and Izzy, not expecting the halt, bumped into him, tripped, and squealed as she fell.

John turned quickly to cover her mouth with his hand but it was too late. The beam of light was now pointed straight at the two of them and he could hear multiple sets of heavy footsteps approaching them from both sides.

"They're here!"

Cursing his carelessness, John picked up Izzy, held her to his chest, and started moving in a path perpendicular to the one they had just been traveling.

Izzy clutched onto John's shirt and started crying again. "I-I'm sorry, John. It's all my fault."

"Nothing's your fault, Izzy," John managed to say through a strained voice. It was taking every ounce of his willpower to fight off the fatigue of the wet, of the cold, of his burning legs, and of lugging his sister through the fields.

Izzy looked over John's shoulders and could see the batarians closing in on them. "They're catching up!" Izzy squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face into John's shoulder. "…I'm scared," she whispered to him in a small voice.

"H-heh." John attempted to laugh but was too out of breath. "Izzy Shepard, scared? I don't believe it." John could feel his legs getting heavier and himself slowing down. "We're going to be fine, Izzy. Everything's going to be fine."

John looked up at the cloudy sky as he ran. He tried to inhale deeply but his breathing had become uncontrollably rapid and shallow. His chest felt like it was being crushed and his heart felt about ready to explode. Finally unable to run, he still struggled to drag his legs forward through the mud. He managed to take a few steps like that before finally collapsing to his knees. He fell forward, heaving, his palms dug into the mud.

"You have to…keep running, Izzy."

Izzy shook her head stubbornly. "What about you? I don't want to leave you like we left Mom and Dad!"

"I told you….to…run!" John pushed Izzy forward violently. He saw the hurt flash in her eyes before being quickly overcome by a steely determination. She gave one last look at him before she turned to go.

Shepard watched her back as she ran down the row. As long as Izzy can get away…His eyes started going dark; he was on the verge of passing out.

It was then that he saw another batarian jump out of nowhere and grab his baby sister.

"John! John! Help me!" The batarian had grabbed Izzy around the waist but was having trouble managing the small girl who was kicking out frantically with her legs and pummeling him with her small fists.

"Iz-" John, still unable to get his breathing under control, couldn't even manage to get out her name.

"Don't worry, kid. We'll take care of her." Another batarian came up behind Shepard and pushed his head down into the mud.

"John! John!" John could hear her screams becoming more distant. He felt a surge of adrenaline course through his body and let out a guttural roar. He rolled on to his back and grabbed the batarian around his neck with both hands. Using what strength he had found, he slammed the batarian to the ground and tried to stand up. He slipped at first, but eventually managed to get to his feet. He started running after Izzy, still just barely able to make out her and her captor further down the row.

"John!"

"Izzy!" John could hear Izzy sobbing.

"I love you John!" All the sudden, John saw an assault rifle come down in front of him as a batarian wrapped his arms around him from behind. John struggled to break free, but couldn't.

"I love you Izzy!" John screamed out into the darkness – he could no longer see Izzy or her white gown. He swung his head backwards into the batarian's face, causing the alien to stagger and loosen his grip. Shepard used the opportunity to break free and then squatted down, readying himself for a fight.

The batarian he had managed to fight off before was coming up behind the one whose chokehold he had just escaped. Behind him, from the direction Izzy had been carried off in, another batarian came out of the corn stalks.

John squeezed his hands into fists. He looked down at his hands and remembered his biotics.

… you have the potential to become one of the most powerful biotics humanity has ever seen…

He looked up at the batarian with the assault rifle. John unballed his fist, drew his hand back, and pushed it forward in the batarian's direction.

Nothing happened.

The batarian laughed and took the butt of his assault rifle and swung it into John's face. John reeled at the pain in his temple and fell to the ground. Another batarian – John couldn't tell which – walked over to where John was crouched on all fours, lifted his leg, and brought it down violently on John's back. John's arms gave way and his face slammed painfully into the ground. The batarian spit on Shepard's face and began kicking him savagely, repeatedly in his stomach. Shepard tried to curl into a ball, but the batarians' attacks were relentless.

Just when he thought he couldn't take any more, he heard a short grunt come from one of the batarians, a terrible crack, and a short burst of assault rifle fire.

"John? John, get up. We have to go." John slowly opened his eyes and saw the battered old face of the town recluse.

"Mr. Ermingild?"

"Al Burkhard, actually."

"Who…?"

"Let's just say I'm a friend of Miranda's."

"Miranda?"

"Don't tell me you forgot." Of course, John hadn't forgotten. Recollections of their brief encounter had consumed him for years, and hardly a month went by where he didn't dream up a new scenario for how he might have stopped her leaving.

"No, that's not what I mean. I thought she left – for good."

"Cerberus doesn't pass up finds like you that easily. Miranda's still in charge of recruiting you. She's also working on her degree in Nos Astra, making her the closest operative to our location. Contacting her is our ticket out of this mess and that means we have to get to my place, now."

"I…I can't. I have to get Izzy!"

The man shook his head. "She's dead."

"She can't be!" John screamed out desperately. "I mean, did you even really see—"

"John, she's gone. Now—"

"No! I can still save her!" John tried to get up, but felt a searing pain on his side.

Al saw John gasp sharply. "Probably just a couple of broken ribs. Here." He reached out and tried to help John up.

"No! Get away from me! If you're not going to help me, I'll get Izzy back myself!" John lashed out with his hand, unleashing a massive biotic wave that bent over rows and rows of corn stalks.

Al had managed to drop down quickly enough to avoid getting pushed back by the throw field. Once the danger had passed, he leapt back up and tackled John, who had just managed to get to his feet, back to the ground.

He climbed on top of the well-built teen and pinned his arms and legs down. "Sorry, kid. I didn't want to do this, but you're not giving me much choice."

The last thing John saw was Al's fist coming straight at his face. Then everything was dark.