Not the greatest of all of my writings... but... it's an idea I've played with for a really long time. :) I promise I'll finish it... or at least try to c.c

Chapter One

Trisha moved down the street like a fox. They were nearby, she was sure, damned bastards. She didn’t take any chances when it came to them. Street gangs were dangerous and they didn’t want her around. She didn’t have much of a chance against them, moving solo as she did.

She wouldn’t join any of them and they knew that, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t decide to join one later, in their minds. They all knew she could kick ass better than any of them and that scared them a bit. They wouldn’t find her now though. She was fairly sure of that. She was good when it came to blending with the crowd. Trisha preferred not to fight if she didn’t have to. She knew one day she would meet her end here on the street, she welcomed it, but she didn’t invite it. She would fight to her death.

Sometimes she wondered why she stayed here. What was the point? Maybe it was her death wish. Trisha really did want to die, but she was to much of a fighter to just let her self be killed, or to kill herself. She wasn’t her mother. She wouldn’t go out like that.

Just a little girl, nine years old, she walks into her mother’s room thinking that her mother must be passed out. “Mommy?” the little girl calls. “Mommy?” But Mommy isn’t moving, and there’s something sticky on the floor.

Trisha smiled to herself as a small house came into view. It is old and dilapidated, but for Trisha, this is a safe haven. She opens the door. “Mar! Hey, ya here?”

“Trish!” An elderly German woman came out of the kitchen smiling. “Where have you been, you silly child.”

“Getting into trouble. Where else would I be?”

Marion laughed softly. “Silly girl.” She wrapped Trisha in a tight hug. “I don’t understand why you do this to yourself.”

“I don’t either.” Trisha returned Marion’s hug, smiling as well. Marion always told Trisha that she should get off the street and stay with her, but the girl would not listen. She was stubborn as a donkey. Silly girl.

“Are you hungry?” Marion asked.

“Starving.”

“Good, then come into the kitchen.”

Trisha followed the old woman into the kitchen and leaned against the counter top. Marion reached into a small container in the cupboard and pulled out ten dollar bill, handing it out to Trisha. “You left this here yesterday.”

Trisha raised her brows. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t pull that with me. I know what you’re up to. And I know where you got this too.”

Trisha shook her head. “I think you’re going batty, woman.”

Marion laughed and muttered something in German. “Batty you say?”

“Must be. Few beers short of a six pack, I’d say.”

“Never. Now take this back.”

“It’s not mine. I don’t want your money.”

Marion sighed in exasperation and Trisha smirked. She had left the money sitting on the table the day before, but she wasn’t going to admit to it. Marion needed the money and every little bit would help.

Marion set the money down on the counter. “One of these days, young lady.”

Trisha arched a brow. “Is that a threat?”

Marion wagged her spoon at Trisha, making the teen laugh. ‘Not that’s classic!” Trisha exclaimed between laughs.

Marion sighed. “You are impossible!”

Trisha grinned. She made a halo over her head using her index fingers and thumbs.

Marion shook her head. “It doesn’t suit you in the least.”

Trisha sighed. “Shucks.” She put her hands down. “Well, I tried.”

Little girl, what are you doing out here?

“I’m not little! I can kick your ass!”

“That wouldn’t take much. I’m just a little old lady. You look hungry. Can I buy you something to eat.”

“I don’t need your charity, bitch. Get away from me, grandma!”

“Well, then in exchange for my buying you something to eat I’ll let you do something for me. Then you’ll earn your lunch instead of taking it as charity.”

“Um . . . well . . . I guess that’ll be okay.”

“Set the table Trish.”

“Yes, master.”

“Don’t start, young lady.”

Trisha grinned and winked. “Start what?”

“I can see the kind of wife you’ll make.”

Trisha took two chipped earthenware bowls down from the cupboard. “I’m not going to be married, remember?”

“Oh, but you will. I know.”

“I know you’re batty.”

“Have it your way.”

“Look at this.”

“What is it?”

“It’s your future. Isn’t he handsome?”

“He is. Who is he?”

“He is your husband.”

“That can’t be. I don’t want a husband.”

“You will change your mind.”

Trisha placed the bowls on the table. “I don’t know why you insist on this.”

“Have I ever had a reading not come true?”

“Marion, my future is to die in the gutter. We both know that.”

Marion shook her head. “No, you will see soon. You are not nameless as you think.”

The paupers’ cemetery. This is where we all go. There are no names. No one cares about them. They just go down the hole and are forgotten. There are no names. No names.

Trisha shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

Marion set her pan down on the table and started spooning soup into the bowls. “Silly girl.”

Trisha gave a half smile and went for spoons.

-::-::-

Another part of her daily routine. Trisha stopped at a sandwich shop and bought a sub. This wasn’t for her though. She paid the man and left the shop with a wave. The man knew her well, and he wisely never asked her where she got her money.

He was sitting in the park just like he always did. Trisha called him Padre. She didn’t know his real name. In one hand he held a bible, with the other he waved at people calling that God loved them and wished them well. Some people gave him money, which he accepted which much thanks and God bless.

Trisha sat down on the bench beside him. “Hey, Padre!”

The elder Hispanic man looked over at her. “Trisha, angel!”

Trisha laughed. “I don’t think Marion would agree.”

“Bah, what does this Marion know? You are an angel.”

Trisha laughed and held out the sandwich. “I got you something.”

“Mmm . . . “ Padre took the sub and unwrapped it. “You want some?”

“No, I already ate.”

Padre dug into the sandwich eagerly. Chances were, he hadn’t eaten since Trisha had brought him a sandwich the day before.

Trisha leaned back against the bench and looked out over the park: people walking, jogging, playing with children. It was so beautiful. Trisha loved sitting here and watching people. Sometimes she envied them a little, but a family wasn’t for her. She’d given up on that.

The gun cracked a forth time, deafening in its thunder. The little girl screamed. Now the man turned to her. It was her turn. She could see it in his eyes. No mercy.

“I had a dream last night,” Padre said between bites.

“What about?”

“The end of the world. The riders came from the sky.”

“That’s encouraging.”

“You were in it too.”

“Was I the first to be skewered?”

“You were glowing with holy light.”

“Yeah, right. You’re delusional.”

“Don’t mock. It was a vision.”

“I thought you didn’t drink.”

Padre gave her a sidelong look. “You doubt.”

“Damn straight.”

Padre sighed. “You shall see.”

“Yeah sure.” She stretched and looked up, then blinked. What was that?

It looked like a star, except it was three in the afternoon. There shouldn’t be a star out. A comet? No, it wasn’t that either. It flashed a few times then disappeared for a moment before reappearing even brighter. Some other people had noticed the phenomenon as well and were looking up, pointing it out to other people.

It was growing. Trisha blinked in confusion. Was a meteor going to crash here? Was this some movie style end of the world? Was this Padre’s dream? Padre had told her that dream not two minutes ago. Oh, the irony, she thought and almost laughed.

The Star continued to get bigger, but it was spreading out too. It gained four blades and started to swirl like a fan. It wasn’t a meteor, so what was it? A UFO? That seemed just as idiotic as the meteor.

The fan stopped spinning a moment, then started rotating in the other direction and picked up speed so that Trisha could no longer make out the separate blades. It looked like a portal from some of those science fiction movies. It was red and orange in color. Trisha couldn’t make out the exact size, but it looked big.

There was something coming out of the portal now. Padre’s eyes widened. “The riders in the sky!” Half of his sandwich dropped to the ground and Padre dropped to his knees. He began to pray in Spanish, his arms reaching toward the sky. There were tears in his eyes.

Trisha stood up. These were the riders in the sky? Whatever they were, Trisha didn’t like them. “Get up, old man!” Trisha grabbed the old man by the shoulder of his coat and pulled him up. She ran as fast as she could, pulling Padre along with her. “Get out of here!” she screamed as she ran. “Run, you morons!!!”

Padre stumbled and fell, but Trisha pulled him back up. “Move it, old man!” She wasn’t sure where she was going, but she soon realized she was going in the direction of Marion’s house. That place was as safe as any, she figured.

-::-::-

Oddly enough there was no panic. People just stood where they were, looking up. Where they idiots? Trisha gave up yelling at them. They weren’t going to listen so there was no point.

A loud explosion knocked both Trisha and Padre down. Trisha looked back and couldn’t believe her eyes. The “riders” were human in appearance and rode on some sort of hovering crafts that made Trisha think of what the Green Goblin from Spiderman had rode. These were smaller than that though, and not so colorful.

A building was on fire and several people lay in the street. Now people were panicking, running every direction. Some of them were shot with some sort of electrical gun, others were picked up and carried away by the things back toward the portal. Trisha got back to her feet and grabbed Padre. She needed to get them out of here before they were trampled, or worse.

Trisha turned them down an alley, pulling Padre with her. She knew where she was going. There was an escape ladder here, and Trisha jumped for it, pulling it down. “Come on, this way.” She tried to coax Padre up the ladder.

“But, this is God’s way,” Padre protested.

“Did you see those dead people? Is that God’s way? Are you a complete moron?”

“No, this is God’s way.”

“Padre-“

There was a strange electric noise and Padre screamed, falling. “Padre!” Trisha screamed. She looked to see one of those humanoid things on its hover craft, hovering at the end of the alley. For a moment Trisha was frozen in place. Padre lay at her feet. The thing at the end of the alley began to move toward her, slowly, so as not to run into the walls.

Trisha sprang into action. She leapt up and grabbed hold of the rungs of the ladder and pulled herself up. She flew up the ladder and slipped into a broken window. Once through, she landed on her feet in a bare room with wooden floors. Dirt and dust covered everything around her. Light could barely penetrate the dirty windows. Trisha made her way across the floor toward the door.

This was insane. She was running from, what, aliens? She was halfway across the floor when there was a crash behind her. Trisha turned, ready to fight, but the humanoid creature had a different idea. It just pointed its electric gun and her and fired. Trisha screamed and fell. The lights went out.