Chapter 1: How it Began

Whatever happened before, it didn't matter, for it made way for a very familiar scene, which sometimes haunted Elisabeth 'Sissi' Delmas 'till depression. The scene came up less frequent as the time flew, but still, sometimes, the nightmare appeared when she needed it last. It was the worst she's ever had, and it was even worse to know that she had lived through it, before she started having nightmares about it. For it was also the very last time they saw one of the few Kadic students that died on the first day of the invasion.

She was in Kadic Academy, at the ground floor of the living building. They had barricaded the door, to prevent those monsters walked right in. Outside, it was total chaos – the silent had been replaced for constant screaming and shots of those freaky red lasers that hit Sissi's right arm. Most students laid on the ground, unconscious, just like few students. In the building itself, along with Sissi, were two more students that fled in there. She knew these people all too well, for it were Odd Della Robbia and Milly Solovieff. Milly was hiding behind Sissi, while Odd pushed his scrawny body against the barricade, to keep it up. Milly was shaking from head to toe, fearing she wouldn't make the morning. The monsters had just started to attack the building.

"W-What is happening?" Milly managed to say. Sissi tried to say something, but she couldn't – she was also scared as hell. Before Odd could answer, the something that has been trying to break in, hit the door again. She heard how Odd hissed "Stupid Megatank." and then said aloud "When they start using their laser, I'm done for!" She wondered how he could sound so… not scared. As if everything will be okay if this was over. But when was it over? And she looked at him, eyes filled with anger – he sounded very egoistic, and she knew how it sounded. Milly didn't react.

"What do you mean, you are done for? Forgotten we are here too?" Sissi forced herself to say 'we' instead of 'I', not to make Milly worry more. Odd turned to Sissi, and he seemed calm – too calm for something so terribly happening now. And Odd didn't really seem the type to keep calm when something invaded their home grounds.
"I didn't, but you don't understand!" she heard he was trying not to scream at her – maybe he wasn't that calm after all, "I don't know what'll happen to you two, you might as well be lucky!" he turned his head to the barricade, "but if XANA breaks in… Let's just say we've met before, and I don't think he likes me. He'd rather get rid of me forever than to save me." The thing he called a Megatank tried to break open the door once more, and Odd raced back to the barricade. It didn't seem like it would hold any longer.

Which was the last motivation Sissi needed to get herself and Milly out of there. She grabbed the young girl's hand, and pulled her upstairs. She knew her way around there very well. She's lived in this building for almost three years, and memories flashed through her head. Memories of days where she only would worry about which clothes to put on tomorrow, and how to seduce the love of her life. Running to the stairs, which would lead them to the roof, the two girls stumbled when the building started shaking. The unknown 'Megatank' had probably entered the building – and had come to Odd. Sissi grabbed Milly's arm and decided not to let go of it until they were safe and sound. They had reached the roof within a few minutes.

Their jaws fell open of astonishment.

It seemed as if the monster count had doubled since she last was outside. The building was surrounded by a lot of those monsters – cockroaches, crabs, blocs, black balls, flies, strange four-legged ones… All with that strange eye onto it. A lot of them stood (or flew) ready to fire on the two girls, but they didn't. Besides, they were aiming for the door of the building, where Odd and that 'Megatank' were still 'fighting'. It really went bad for him down there, just like for everyone else in a range of a few kilometers. Where were the police forces when you needed them?

Suddenly, something happened. Something she hadn't thought would happen this soon. The building started to tremble, and Sissi and Milly lost their balance for a few seconds. It felt as if it was about to collapse. Sissi guessed it was because of that so-called 'Megatank', which could mean that Odd… she did not want to finish that particular thought. If possible, Milly trembled as much as the building itself. They could just keep their balance.

From above, those flies had decided that Sissi and Milly were their newest target, and tried to shoot them. As always, they missed almost all of their shots. Being encouraged by these type of monsters, and by the building that seriously trembled, Sissi had made a decision she didn't like, and she knew Milly wouldn't like it as well.

"We jump," she said, and she had scared Milly some more with these two simple words.

"What?"

"If we don't, we'll die for sure!" Just a guess. The building could collapse any moment, those flies tried to kill them from above, and Sissi herself was scared as hell. So you'd understand if she was exaggerating. She grabbed Milly's arm, and the two of them jumped off the building. The falling didn't seem to stop, and for a while, she felt like she was flying. The feeling didn't stay long, and disappeared completely when she hit a rough, hard surface. Her left leg hurt terribly, and next to her, she heard how Milly was sobbing. Sissi released her breath when she heard the sobbing – at least she had the confirmation that Milly was still alive. She wasn't as mean as everyone thought she was, even if only Herve and Nicholas knew her like she truly was. Eventually, Sissi noticed she had her eyes still closed, and opened them.
Even though they had landed onto something solid, they were moving. Her eyes widened out of fear, and pushed herself up to her knees with her arms. That was when she finally realized they've landed on top of one of those gigantic crabs; the reason why Milly was sobbing so loudly. She tried not to move at all, hoping the crab hadn't noticed its passengers, but Sissi wasn't sure about it – it would surely have noticed Milly's sobs.

The crab moved over to one of the bigger groups of… well, prisoners, and dumped Sissi and Milly at the edge of the group of scared students. Sissi recognized Theo Gauthier and his sister, Herve, Emily and the younger brother of Yumi, Hiroki. She didn't know anyone else as good as she did with those, except maybe their French teacher. Now, Sissi looked around the group once more. Where was her father? Was he alright? How would Jim handle this invasion? Even seeing Mrs. Hertz would be great, but she wasn't anywhere in sight.

A big, cracking sound blocked out all conversations, and all heads turned to the source of the noise. The buzzing was quickly silenced as they heard and saw how the building Sissi and Milly had just jumped off couldn't hold it anymore, and collapsed. Sissi heard how Milly restarted the sobbing and crying, and wished she could do that, too. Crying. But the tears wouldn't come, not even when she realized something. Odd is still inside, she thought, nobody can survive something like that. And she put two and two together. Odd is still inside. Odd can't survive something like that.

Odd hadn't survived that.

Odd is dead.

Oh, how she wished she just were in Milly's position. That way, she would be able to cry and not being bothered by everyone. But she wasn't; she was Sissi Delmas, daughter of the principal, well known and beloved girl, and she couldn't afford to show weakness. If they saw that the daughter of the man who had complete control over them during school hours gave up on the situation, they would lose courage and hope as well, and no 'rebel' would be born from the prisoners, to give the latter back their freedom. So, Sissi had to stay strong.

But why did she feel so weak and little, then?

The blocks and crabs surrounding them suddenly made a path for a young man walking towards them, holding a wicked sword. When he came closer, Sissi recognized him as William. Dumb William who had questioned simple expressions was a traitor! On his costume, he also had that strange eye which was present on all monsters. She could see how Hiroki made his hands into fists. Most of them gasped, or stared at him, surprised.

And when William looked over them with an evil yet satisfying smile, Sissi could feel he would do something to them, and she knew she wouldn't like it at all.

Normally, it always ended with Odd being crushed down, or when they were taken to the initial camp. But it mostly never stopped when William locked his emotionless eyes with Sissi's, and Sissi always hoped if she had the nightmare, that it wouldn't end with William's eyes fresh in her memory. Yet, she couldn't avoid the fact that it would happen, sometimes. And sometimes, she hoped that when she woke up, she would wake up in a world where all problems were solved, where she didn't have to hide to live. Where she could just walk out without having to worry if some of those monsters were seeing her. Where she could just, like all of France, be free again.

But she never would. She'd always have to hide to survive. And she wouldn't possibly know what to do if this virus – this "XANA" - were finally gone, just 'cause she got used to the hard cruel world she learned to live in.

As always, she roughly woke up from the nightmare. She couldn't tell how late it was, but it should at least be nine o'clock in the morning. They – Sissi, Herve and Nicholas, had been lucky it hadn't rained all night. It was always nicer when it doesn't rain, and because all three of them did not like waking up and find that the world around them is wet, and probably all of their few possessions too.

Sissi found Herve sitting next to a fire. It wasn't a big fire, but it had to do to keep the November cold away. Sissi disliked October, but hated December even more. And most of all, the time in between. Because it was very cold then. As if on cue, Herve looked at her. As if he would confirm what Sissi hadn't noticed up to now, and that is Nicholas. He wasn't nowhere in sight. Off course he wasn't – he liked fishing in the morning and at night. Thought it was much relaxing in those hours. And he sometimes complained of the water being plain cold, but soon shut up about the topic. He didn't say much these days. And with that, less than he normally would.

Herve turned his head back to the fire, staring right into it. Sissi wondered why he did that, until she could complete the analysis – Herve was hiding something. Normally, he would greet her with a "Good morning, Sissi." and send her a smile, however he felt that day. She frowned – it wasn't nice to hide something from another, not in their situation. They'd better share all secrets, to keep the trust within their group. If the trust is broken, it is very hard to rebuilt, and they would eventually kick the secretive one out, even if they knew that the secretive can't survive on his own.

Right when she wanted to say something, she stopped. She had learned all natural sounds since living here, but the one she heard now, was not something they would hear in the forest. No, they would better fit in a more civilized environment. Something like, you know, a prison at what once was school ground?
Herve stood up, once he heard the sound. "Kankrelats," he said, correctly identifying the noise these Kankrelats made. Herve was the best in recognizing the noise the monsters made when going somewhere. Sissi guessed either a group of Kankrelats or Bloks. The two packed their things as quickly as they could – along with Nicholas' – and they hid in the bushes. They would never stop at some place where it was open, like a field. A closed environment became handy in many situations, but most of all as hiding place for when they couldn't get away in time. As they lay down there, Sissi noticed they forgot to dim the fire. Not that smart. Normally Herve would take care of that!

Sissi heard the Kankrelats coming closer and closer, until the point they passed Herve and Sissi at four feet. When she couldn't see them, she knew perfectly how they looked like. They might be considered the weakest land creatures XANA produces, but if you were hit a few times, it could leave some nasty wounds.

She held her breath when one of them passed her at one feet maximum. For a moment, she panicked. They had already avoided more Kankrelats in the past, but none of them had ever come this close to her. She tried not to scream, or make any noise. If she moved or mad noise, the monsters would find them. Kankrelats had the reputation to be incompetent searchers, as they only went for human movement or human noise, which was the main reason they hadn't noticed the small fire they passed.

Only when they couldn't hear the Kankrelats anymore, Sissi and Herve stood up and she sighed. They were passed unnoticed, but that didn't mean they would have time to hide next time. And somehow, the longer they stayed, the more monsters crossed their paths. Which was strange, because at the beginning of their journey they would only cross the first monster after two weeks.

Herve helped Sissi to get up, and she could see in his eyes that he was feeling guilty about something. He's feeling guilty because of what's happening, Sissi thought, he's feeling guilty because he rescued us.

Because of Herve they were kind of outlaws, but because of Herve, they could also escape from that prison, that Kadic slave camp. From the first week, Herve had a plan – pretend to have sworn loyalty to XANA, as one out of many. But first, he had to gain his trust completely. The boy seemed very useful to XANA, for he was the one to give the people weapons. Soon, he got the responsibility to give these prisoners the 'punishments they deserved'. He let Laura Gauthier hang because of treason, alongside her brother, even if Theo hadn't done anything but trying to keep his big sis out of trouble. He let Sissi starve for three days and sentenced Nicholas to five hits with a whip, and if he was sorry, he did gain XANA's trust by punishing his closest friends. Not a week after that, he took some rations, weaponry, medics, got to his two friends and escaped in the night. But, apparently, XANA had expected it, because they were chased monsters immediately.

They had left Kadic prison/Academy two months ago. Sissi had been a strong girl, and Nicholas' back healed over time, but it still hurt when he bowed and his two friends told him he'd better not do something intensive. Instead of doing what he can't do, he took his fishing hook and bait and turned his hobby into a source for food, even if they barely knew how to prepare it.

Herve clapped in his hands in front of Sissi's face, as he saw that she had spaced out. "Sissi, you okay?" he said with a worried voice. Sissi nodded. He became a very good friend instead of a "henchman", but he sometimes still was a bit too worried, especially when it was Sissi who was 'in danger'.

"What do you think? Off course I'm okay!" she said. She meant it to come over friendly, but she couldn't help but sound harsh. She was still used to command the two boys around, and old habits don't really fade soon. Her voice didn't seem to realize they were equal now, and Herve grinned at her response – it reminded him of those times when they needn't worry.

"We need to move, y' know?" Herve said, en Sissi, for once, agreed with the 'dork'. They really needed to move now, if they didn't want to be found by the virus. They were lucky Kankrelats only attacked when seeing something human, and not when they passed through some refugees' camp. They were already packing their things, (out of it's hiding place) until they heard a very loud scream. Herve and Sissi didn't move. The group of five had found a person. How stupid could someone be! It couldn't have been a girl screaming, it was too low for that. That was already enough proof to confirm what both kids were thinking.

Nicholas. He was still out there, fishing, and the scream came from the same direction Nicholas usually went – to the river. No, not Nicholas. Please, not Nicholas. Sissi never thought she would hope Nicholas would still be… okay. How come they hadn't thought about how Nicholas could be an easy target for the Kankrelats. With their things, they started running. Ten minutes had passed since they heard the Kankrelats come near, which was enough time for them to reach the river and shoot the poor Nicholas with one hit, straight into the bloody cold water. It also was unfair that he was slightly deaf at his left ear, which made it almost impossible to hear the Kankrelats come.

Sissi started to run faster. She had seen the very beginning of the invasion. She had seen the cruel, emotionless look in William's eyes. She had seen how most of her classmates were being tortured, just because XANA could, and how many died of starvation. She witnessed the deaths of Laura and Theo Gauthier. She remembered how Odd refused to give up and the building – along with Odd under it – collapsed. No, she did not want to lose Nicholas, too.

Suddenly, she stopped running, en Herve ran straight into her. Herve put a step aside when Sissi, strangely enough, not moved, and his mouth opened in surprise. In front of them, mechanical parts of those Kankrelats were spread over this part of the forest. Somebody must have killed them. But it could impossibly be Nicholas, because 1) he didn't posses the right weapon to do so, and 2) he couldn't win a fight against XANA's monsters, or else at least one should still be alive. Conclusion: to Sissi, it all didn't make much sense. If Nicholas did this, he should be dead. If he didn't, someone else fought the Kankrelats. But that was impossible, since Sissi, Herve and Nicholas were the only refugees who wandered through the woods.

Her knees were trembling, and soon her whole body. The black at the edge of her sight started closing in on her sight, ready to blind her completely. Herve said something, but his voice sounded distant, even if he was standing right next to her. For now, she couldn't take it anymore. Her sight and hearing seemed to be taken away, and she felt how her legs couldn't hold her anymore. Somebody caught her and she didn't remember if he lay her on the ground or not.

Aaaaaaaaaand... that was the first chapter! Who destroyed the Kankrelats? Is Nicholas dead or not? Will Sissi ever forget what happened to Odd? And why am I asking you all these questions? You'll read it in chapter two: How people hope on the 2nd of January! On with the reviews:

Iforgottologin (Why, thank you! Hope you can wait few more days for next chappie)

BabyBird101 (Thanks! both for reviewing and reading!) (= goes for everyone who reads/reviews/favorites/follows)

See ya next time, merry christmas and a happy new year!

-DutchWriters2