Chapter One

A city that was once full of life and people now lay in ruins. An eerie silence was now upon the city. The city was completely deserted, rubble and remains of buildings scattered all about. It seemed that the entire city had been attacked. Cars were wrecked, windows were broken in houses, blood, but no bodies drenched the ground, papers flew in the brisk wind, buildings were set a flame. Now, dusk was beginning to fall, which made the devastation site even more dreadful.

A woman lay in her car that had wrecked and was flipped upside down. She had been wearing her seatbelt, which kept her upside down and off the roof of the car. She had several abrasions and deep lacerations on her arms and legs. The woman moaned as she opened her eyes. Her long, blonde hair was messy and in her face. Her eyes were a smooth and bright blue. She reached for her seatbelt and released the lock, falling onto the roof of the car.

She grunted as she pulled herself out from the wreckage. She crawled through broken glass and pulled herself up. She looked around at the city with a horrified look. Tears filled her eyes as she walked deeper into the city. She looked in several buildings trying to find any sign of life. But there was nobody.

“Hello!” she cried. “Somebody please answer me!”

She looked around to see if anyone had decided to come forth. A sense of abandonment fell upon her. Was she the only person that remained in the city? Where had everyone gone? Perhaps everyone died. If that was the case, where were the bodies? The woman continued to walk deeper into the city, hoping to find someone. She walked with a sort of limp, holding her side time from time.

A brisk wind blew, making her shiver ever so slightly. The woman started to think back at the beginning of the day, before she had wrecked her car and before everyone disappeared.

The day started out like any ordinary day. The woman was sipping coffee while watching the news and getting ready to leave for work. She lived in a small apartment, just big enough for maybe two people. Her cell phone rang, and she quickly answered. She looked over at the clock and mumbled under her breath.

“Hello?” she answered.

“You’re late! Where in the hell are you?” someone shouted.

“I’m leaving my apartment right now.” She calmly stated.

“You mean to tell me you haven’t left!” the man screamed.

The woman pulled the phone away as the man continued to scream at her. When the screaming finally stopped, she put the phone back to her ear.

“Look, I’ll be there in ten minutes. I promise.” She said.

“Ten minutes!” the man yelled as he hung up.

The woman closed her cell phone and sighed as she grabbed her car keys and rushed out of the house. She started her car and sped out of her driveway.

The woman grabbed the side of her head, as if her memory had just quit. She remembered flipping several times, but she didn’t remember why she had wrecked in the first place. She continued to walk through the rubble. She didn’t see or hear anyone. She wrapped her arms around herself. Her heart was racing from the fear of being alone and not knowing what was going on.

That’s when she heard a noise. She spun around, looking in every direction for a sign of life. She didn’t see anyone.

“Hello?” she called out. “Is anybody there?”

Nothing; just the eerie silence and the howl of the chilly wind. She continued to walk again. Again, there was a sound. She spun around fearfully.

“If anyone is there, please, say something! This isn’t funny! What the hell is going on!” she screamed.

She started to panic.

“Someone! Anybody!” she screamed as tears streamed down her face. “Can anyone hear me?! Please!”

Atop a building stood several men in black leather coats. The man with blonde hair and green eyes spoke up.

“As soon as they come for her and grab her, we’ll go in.” he said.

“You aren’t going to go there now?” asked the man with black hair and deep brown eyes.

“No. She’s the perfect lure.” The man replied.

“Are you insane?! They’ll kill her before we get there to stop them!” he yelled.

“Silence, Osiris! I will not tolerate your back talk!” the man yelled.

Osiris glared at the man but turned his attention back on the woman. She continued to scream and yell.

“Here they come.” Another said.

Osiris quickly looked down. He could see several people making their way to her. He looked away.

“This isn’t right!” he yelled.

“Nothing is anymore.” The man replied.

“God damnnit, Brad! For one fucking minute, quit being so high strung! You know it’s wrong!” Osiris screamed.

Brad only smirked. Osiris shook his head.

“Unbelievable. Fine! I’ll do it myself.”

Brad quickly turned serious.

“You’ll be killed!” Brad thundered.

Before anyone could stop him, he had jumped down, landing close to the ground, almost like a shadow. He ran over to the woman, who was still screaming. She turned around to find several people rushing towards her. She stood there in confusion. All of a sudden, one of the people pulled out a gun. She quickly turned to run. The person shot at her, but Osiris tackled her to the ground. Before she could react, Osiris pulled her up and shot back at the people. Within seconds, they were surrounded by people.

Osiris held the woman by the waist and pulled out a grappling hook. He shot it and pulled them both from the crowd. They landed on top of a building. The woman jerked away from the man. She stepped back away from him. Osiris hung his head.

“Who are you?” she asked in a shaky voice. “What’s going on? Why are those people trying to kill me!” she started to scream.

“Stop screaming! Do you want more to come looking for us?” Osiris yelled at her. “I’ll explain what’s happening, but not here. It’s not safe. Come with me, and you’ll learn everything.” Osiris held out his hand.

The woman was very hesitant. Everything in her body was telling her no, and to run away. But his deep, dark, mysterious brown eyes seemed to captivate her. She slowly took his hand. Osiris smiled.

“I’m Osiris.” He said.

“I’m Aileen.” She said.

Osiris looked down to see that the people were still down there. He backed away and checked the other side of the building. People had begun to surround them there as well.

“All right, I’m going to take out who I can-”

“Take out! You mean kill them! But they’re-”

“Not what they seem, Aileen.” Osiris said seriously. “I’ll explain later. But right now, I have to clear a path before we don’t have an opening anymore.”

Osiris went to the edge and jumped down. Aileen gasped, almost screaming, and rushed to the side. Osiris quickly shot several people. Those that got too close, he’d kick away. Some of his gunshots would go through two people. He noticed out of the corner of his eye, several more were coming.

He took out a long sword and with one quick turns, several people lie on the ground.

“Jump!” he screamed.

Aileen was taken aback.

“What!” she screamed.

“You have to jump! I’ll catch you!”

“Are you insane? I can’t jump from way up here!” Aileen backed off.

“You need to jump now before it’s too late! Come on, Aileen!” Osiris encouraged.

Aileen hesitated but climbed up on the edge of the building. She got real dizzy.

“I can’t!” she cried.

Osiris fired his gun at the closer people. He had to kick several away. Aileen started to get dizzy. She began to have flashbacks of the accident. A kid had jumped in front of her. Aileen fell forward, falling from the edge. Osiris looked up.

“Shit!” he said as he kicked away several more people.

He didn’t have time to react, but he was able to catch her, only it was more of her landing on him. He collapsed to the ground, knocked silly. He tried to move, but he was still delirious. They were almost surrounded completely when gunfire took place. It was Brad and the rest of the black cloaks. One of them grabbed the unconscious Aileen and threw her over their shoulder. Osiris just laid there in pain, unable to move.

“I told you, you were going to end up getting yourself killed.” Brad said smugly as he grabbed Osiris and helped him stand to his feet. They made their way through the rubble, shooting whoever dared to approach them. They made their way through the city, almost into the pitch black of darkness.