Chapter 18

It was a good shot.

Not good enough, however.

The round sliced through the air, soaring like a screaming eagle down the long road. Time seemed to slow but I tracked the bullet as it a little too low and collided into the Prophet's chair. It exploded in a ball of flame and the prophet was engulfed, thrashing about as it tried to put itself out. Erun rushed to him and tried to put him out as a little voice screamed at me.

RUN!

I picked myself up and bolted, darting to the door, around the corner and jogging up two flights of stairs before sprinting across the bridge that connected Orestech with a set of apartments along the side of the street. Glancing to the side showed the covenant hive awash with activity and my body threatened to collapse as phantom after phantom rose into the sky.

That was so fucking stupid!

I pushed that to the side and slowed to a jog as I entered the darkened building, jogging through empty corridors like a rat through a sewer.

Who the hell do you think you are?

My mind ruthlessly assessed the situation as I climbed a set of stairs, following the path my VISR laid out for me.

You're only advantage, Maddie! You are one small person, easy to hide, quick on your feet! They didn't know where you were!

I had to stop for a moment and catch my breath. There was no helping it now. I had overplayed my hand; my inexperience had gotten me killed within hours of being alone. Slowing my breath to a crawl made things better and I realised that they don't know where is was.

Exactly, anyway.

My gut seemed to be telling me what I needed to hear and I channelled that as I crept methodically along the route my VISR had highlighted. My stomach tightened, in the distance, banshees seemed to rise into the sky by their hundreds. I crossed another building but I knew that I would have to descend to street level if I wanted to avoid detection.

The two buildings I had crossed had cut my journey by about four hundred metres.

Only 1800 more to go.

Forcing myself to my feet, I checked my wounds and trudged on, my body throbbing as I walked along the gangway to a sleek door that hid the elevator from sight. The door was locked tightly and my damaged hands and arms couldn't grip the crack long enough to yank it open.

It just wasn't going to happen. My only choice was the stairs, or continue along the roof. The skies seemed to have quietened and I risked a look, moving up the fire escape to the roof.

I risked crossing another, it would cut another two hundred meters in no time, and that was something in short supply now. Heading out onto the roof I crouched as low as my injured body would allow and moved as quickly as possible to the ledge on the opposite side of the building. The gangway was crude and rickety but I willed myself onwards, crossing it as wind smacked and pelted my face like a flurry of hammers whipping at my face.

Banshees wailed and Phantoms glided about the city. They must have mobilised the whole damned army after me because the night sky was lit by hundreds of craft spreading out over the city. A large group was leaving their base and I watched in abject terror as a pack of them peeled off in my direction. The sight was enough to shatter my nerve and I darted forwards towards an open hole in the building's roof, throwing myself through a skylight, dropping 12 feet on to the floor below.

I rolled and splayed out with a groan across the deck of the upper floor. My body screamed in pain but my heart calmed as I waited for a while and saw the vehicles pass over head, without so much as a first look.

Goddamn, that hurts…

It was quiet, although from the windows I noted that the transports hovered around various buildings, unloading troops deep across the city. One had landed not far from the Orestech building and another much further along my route out of the city.

I crouched low and made for the gantry linking the buildings. The sky burned hot; the orange glow of morning crept at the horizon in a battle with the purples of the glowing alien craft. There was no sign of the Lotus or any other UNSC fleet above us. Perhaps I was all alone on this soon to be charred rock.

Regardless, it wouldn't matter.

I would get off this planet.

I had to.

A short sprint carried me to another building and I half threw myself over the threshold and into the adjacent building with an unceremonious clunk. Taking a moment, my breathing quickened and it took a lot of effort to slow it. Just how out of shape was I? Cursing my lifestyle once more, I sat up.

The longer I stick around, the quicker I get caught.

With that truth hanging over me, I continued on, crawling towards the glass gantry I had just crossed and looking down towards street-level. What I saw was an army of patrols, combing the ground floors of every building in the area.

They must have figured out where the shot came from.

So, my idea to move through the alleys was out of the question. That meant I would have to continue along the rooftops. I shook my head at my own stupidity and cursed from beneath my pained groans as I forced myself to my feet and trudged onwards down the halls.

With that many of them about the place, they're probably inside the building!

The opposite side of this skyscraper only had a crossing along the roof, and I cursed again as I moved inelegantly towards the stairs. When I reached the top, I pulled the door open with the most delicate and minute tugs that I could manage, peeping through holes in the gaps to spot enemy craft. When I was finally satisfied, I slipped out onto the roof and moved to a nearby garden area.

That was when the banshees returned. Their engine's screeched that terrible low squeal as they circled overhead and I pushed myself up against a dark corner between two planters. The smell of burned soil filled my nose as I tried to collapse in on myself, hiding from their prying eyes as they hovered about like robotic vultures.

Please leave. Please leave…

The noise subsided and I poked my head out from cover. The banshees had moved on. I kept an eye on them as I moved out of cover and towards the next building. It was a ghastly sight; the building had been ravaged by fire and looked like the charred husk of some kind of ungodly hive. When I hopped the barricade and planted my feet upon its roof, it felt as delicate as it looked.

It bucked and yawed beneath my feet expectantly. A groan sounded as I approached the opposite side, moving delicately and quickly towards the adjacent building. A low noise caught me off guard and I froze, willing myself to turn.

Up in the sky, a phantom dropship loomed. For an eternity it hovered in place, just looking at me.

Then it turned. The doors dropped and a grunt hobbled out and took hold of the gun. I didn't stop to see any more. My muscles stopped screaming in pain, adrenaline fired. It flowed through my blood like a hot sword through butter.

Plasma splattered around me but I ran. I ran as hard and as fast as I could, up over a walkway and across to the other side of the ruined building.

Grunts poured from the ship and hobbled towards me. I gripped the pistol and aimed it squarely at the advancing party of grunts, resting it on my injured shooting arm. Oddly enough, aside from warning shots to keep me pinned in place, they hadn't begun to shoot at me.

That made what I did next only a little bit more difficult.

In three short yelps of the gun, two of them fell dead. They stood, itching to attack me as I dared them to advance to my little perch.

What are they waiting for?

My body tensed as I saw the other phantoms arrive. As usual, grunts seeped from it like blood from an open wound. Only this time, a giant zealot Sangheili followed them.

They want me alive.

That meant two things. Firstly, that I was now being hunted by Erun, the Elite whose friend I'd helped kill; and secondly, that if I ran, this lot wouldn't try to kill me.

It was decided. I stood up and sprayed down two more grunts before spinning on my heels and charging towards the opposite roof.

I heard panicked warbles behind me but no plasma streaked my way as I leaped over onto the crossing between buildings and bolted across it.

A great roar came from behind me and I ran as fast as my tired legs would carry me.

I'll be caught if I don't get off this roof.

I slid behind cover and emptied my clip into the crowd that pursued me, they bunched up and I reloaded quickly before sprinting again the direction that I had been heading. The morons actually began to follow me, stopping halfway as they realised the bridge couldn't take their weight. My fingers fiddled with the lock but the door refused to flick open.

I shunted it.

Nothing.

The grunts crept towards me slowly and in a way that was almost funny.

I could use the grenade? No. There was no guarantee it would snap the bridge.

My gun levelled on the frontrunners and spat at them violently. Each round connected with gruntflesh and a whirr of panic ripped through their ranks.

The door snicked, it was beginning to dislodge.

Another burst sent the grunts at the fore into a frenzy and they tried to push back at the mass of bodies trying to get onto the bridge, spurred on by Erun who stood glaring behind them with his sword drawn.

It groaned, the bridge was wailing under the pressure and it was starting to give way.

The door swung open and Erun roared. He reared up on his legs and step several paces back.

He's going to jump!

That sealed it, I'd stuck around for too long again and fear throbbed in my chest as I flew down the stairs. I went down seven flights before I noticed a loud crash above me and slipped inside a corridor eight floors down from the top. The building was dark, with the city's reactor now fully dead. As fast as I dared, I moved down the hallway. At the far end was an elevator, its doors stuck open by a corpse. There was no elevator there, which reminded me of our escape from the mall and the way we clung to the chord that ran down the shaft.

A crash erupted from behind me and I threw myself to the left, into a room that ran along the western length of the building.

In broken English, a loud and deep booming voice echoed across the walls. My hands filddled with the rifle in my arms and I rushed to replace the clip. Two left.

"Where are you, Nishum?" he cooed, stalking along the corridor. "I know you are here…"

My heart raced. A thousand beats of a delicate humming birds wing's a second.

There was nothing around, no cover and even fewer hiding spots. All of a sudden, the armour seemed like a bad idea. From my crouched position, I moved quickly down the long conference room to the far side of the building as loud footsteps stalked in my wake.

"Don't make me send the Unggoy to flush you out, they're very hungry."

My throat dried up. No one had ever said that Grunts eat people.

"Repent and your death will be quick, heretic. There is no thrill killing worms."

His English was good. That made the torrent of fear building in my spine all the more apparent. It coursed along every nerve in my body as I searched for a way out, just in case, I readied a grenade. He was close. I think he knew that too.

"Not so bold now that your demon isn't here to save you. I wonder what you do to make them. Is it painful? Abhorrent, I expect. Your kind has always been barbaric. Devious like Kig'yar. Numerous, like Unggoy. Brutes, like Jiralhanae. Clever, like the San'shyuum you tried to kill." He paused, his words like venom, or noxious gas that filled the entire floor.

From behind the open door, I could hear him breathing. My heart pounded so loudly that I thought it would give me away but he seemed frustrated, panting like a hungry animal.

"Truly a puzzling species. It is a shame you commit heresy so wantonly. I have even seen honour in your kind, honour in the vein of my people."

The tip of his sword hummed, its tip hanging expectantly just beyond the outline of the door.

Just turn away damn it!

He didn't. I think he knew. I think he wanted a challenge. He wanted an honourable end to his hunt.

He sighed.

Now!

His blade moved but I had reacted quicker, kicking the door at him as he swiped upwards. I fell backwards as he yelped, still managing to cleave the door in two. He roared, not in frustration, but definitely in, what? Admiration? Relief?

I didn't have the time to speculate, whatever it was, I hadn't unbalanced him, just started the final phase of the hunt. He was upon me instantly and only my small size saved me as I rolled to the side, missing a swipe at the ground. Scrambling away over the table gave me no respite as he advanced on me, his blade hissing as he dragged it menacingly along the floor.

"Draw your blade" he cooed, silkily. "I will not kill you without a weapon in your hand. Not when I have all the time that I need to make this fun." His mandibles clicked and flexed.

Is that their smile?

My skin reacted by exploding into goose-bumps and slowly, as though I could feel each dimple rise, motivated by a thousand gallons of fear.

I stood slowly, and he allowed it, the jaws braced inside his impressive armour.

"Nothing to say, defiler?"

My chest heaved and I reached for the blade, gripping it firmly in my hand and slipping the other into my pocket.

"Well?!" he roared, "Speak!"

"I'm a heretic. You shouldn't be speaking with me, Erun."

His jaws smacked and his eyes widened.

I drew the blade and grenade and turned starting out into the main corridor. A roar erupted behind me. My head felt dull and ached.

Damned smoking.

He caught up in no time, missing a swing by a mile as I turned and drove up at the opening, lodging the blade in his free arm. He growled as I tugged it free, spinning away. He stabbed the wall. My injured arm stung ice hot.

The grenade pin ejected. I ran for two seconds, waited, and let it fall.

He roared again.

I'm so close!

The doors were open.

The grenade shattered all the glass and prefab plastered walls behind me, throwing my body forward and into the darkness of the shaft. My hands flung outward and for a brief moment found nothing, only for me to start plummeting. My leg brushed the cable and my hands snapped into place, burning red hot as I slid down the shaft. The gloves took most of the punishment and I thanked them as I flew down the shaft in a controlled fall.

The base neared and I readied myself, trying to swing the cable towards an open exit above the ground.

I missed.

Slipping into the darkness, I crashed several feet below into a dark corner of the shaft, retaining consciousness for a moment before slipping into the depths of a memory, tugging at my mind from the edges of my being.

}{=}{

This was different for Maddie. An experience she would not understand.

I would not understand.

Something was wrong. I could see me.

She was an observer.

I am an observer?

Yes.

Maddie walked home from school on her own. The tree's swayed gently in the breeze, swinging in a lazy dance as they lined the road like soldiers on parade. It was the first time she had been given such responsibility and she looked the height of innocence, trudging rigidly along a route that her father had planned for her. She hadn't realised at the time, but her father followed several car lengths behind, ensuring that his twelve-year-old daughter made it home safe. It was a test he had set her. He needed to trust her.

I would never have disobeyed him, not then. Not when the world still scared me. Wait. What's going on?

The girl continued on, delving deep into the suburbs in the height of the afternoon sun. She desperately wanted to go straight to the ash tree, the one she loved so dearly, was closer than her home but she knew this was a test. She needed to prove herself.

On she moved.

I had been furious when Dad told me that he'd followed me. That he hadn't trusted me.

On and on the road wound, past familiar houses and well-known cuts and through-between's. The road was new and well kept, and relatively quiet for the time of day. Her friends had wanted to join her but the girl refused, determined to do it alone and show that she was capable.

It had seemed like such a pivotal moment that she paused at the front door, waiting and drawing out the experience. She savoured it, smiling as she rapped on the door expecting her father to enter. Instead, he pulled up behind her.

The young girl scowled, expecting the worst. Her father smiled, having prepared for this already. He held aloft a bag of goodies from the store. "A gift for my big girl" he said, grinning.

Maddie placed her hands on her tiny hips and continued to scowl.

"I don't need sweets now that I'm an adult."

Her father laughed dismissively.

"I guess these mint Ice Creams will have to go to Maggie and Eliza then"

That softened her expression. At this age, the inter-sibling competition was fierce. Maddie's problem was that she never knew which siblings to compete with. Each game was entirely different. Her sisters played a complex game of subterfuge and point scoring, all of them vying for attention and praise. Generally, it was a game the young girl lost. Maggie was as smart as Maddie only less trouble and Eliza benefitted from being the youngest. She was smart too, already she was well aware of the control she had. For an eight-year-old, she was formidable.

Her Brother's played a simpler game. For them, the game was about besting the other, about strength and speed and cunning. Points of pride dominated their dynamic, who could resist ice cream the longest? Who was the fastest up a tree? It was intensely good fun to Maddie and it was them that she thought of as she looked at the bag of treats as it got closer.

Was it okay to take it? Maddie was rarely in contention for the win, only in challenges of agility and intelligence had she ever won. As such, she rarely dictated the terms of the game.

Her father took the pause for endorsement and knelt in front of her.

"Did you follow all the instructions?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"Yeah" Maddie replied, eyeing the ice cream.

"Good stuff!" he beamed, pulling her in for a tight hug.

"Dad…"

"You're growing up too fast, you lot. I can't believe your brother is eighteen!"

"Not until tomorrow!"

Her father smiled at her petulance. Her innocence radiated like heat from those bright and striking blue eyes. Those sharp Harper eyes.

"Come on, your mother has food waiting." He said, unlocking the door.

As it happened, the Harper house was its usual miasma of chaos. Maddie's mother hurried around like a wounded hen, tending to pots of food as though they were chicks. Eliza and Maggie were having a rare argument, loudly shouting at each other about some nonsense that Maddie now believed herself above.

"We're home!" Maddie's father yelled.

The fighting stopped and Eliza, smelling opportunity bounded over to him, throwing her arms about him like a baby bear. Maggie and Maddie shared a glance. The former rolled her eyes and Maddie giggled, knowingly. Eliza's games were expertly played for their parents but as transparent as glass to her sisters.

I know this day…

Maddie had felt a palpable sense of grandeur that day and she thought it was about her, as all children on the cup of teen-hood did. Naturally reality had begun to crack through the façade and trickles of angst dribbled in.

"Oh, thank god!" Mum cried, "hurry up and be useful, all of you. Come on! Maggie, go get your brothers from the shed-"

"I'll go!" Maddie shouted, bolting for the door as Maggie and Eliza erupted into angered discussion once again. In moments she was out of the door and into the large suburban garden. Running along the soft manicured grass in her uniform as she bounded down the path to the shed at the bottom of the garden that doubled as her brother's ship, headquarters, and hideout. It hadn't been used as such for many years, of course, but Maddie still saw it as a magical place. It carried an alien male energy about it, with its oily industrial looking tools and polished wood smell that dominated her nose every time that she entered.

She used the special knock and let herself in. The air was tense and quiet.

"Um, dinners ready…" Maddie said, sheepishly.

"We'll be out in a minute" Preston said, not turning to look at her. His voice faltered a little and Maddie saw in Alex's face that something was wrong.

"Are you okay, P?" she asked, timidly, "were you two fighting again?"

"Tell her, Al."

Alex crossed his arms. For a young man they were large and bulky, there was a clear difference between the two brothers as they stood, feet apart. One a vision of commanding strength and resolve, the other playing at it, trying desperately not to show how hurt he was.

From Maddie's estimation however, he wasn't succeeding, and it wasn't often that the pair toyed with each other emotionally so she could rule out bullying, at least on Alex's part. That sort of thing was her and her sister's inclination, so the young girl knew that something was wrong. Very wrong.

Alex sighed as if to prepare himself. His piercing blue eyes had changed with age, where once they had been bright like hers, their now pierced her, violently, like two great shards of glass striking her flesh.

"I'm… going away." He began, "for a long time."

"What do you mean? Going where?"

"I want to be like Grandad, Maddie. I'm joining the Navy."

Maddie, high on her triumphant return from school crashed like iron tossed into water. A torrent of emotion surged through her, her face reflecting each one in a matter of seconds. Confusion, realisation, dread, anger.

And finally, she rested on worry.

"Why? Stay here, don't go to war, we'll…" she paused, tears falling from the corner of her pallid eyes.

"I'll miss you…"

Alex scratched the back of his head, breathing deeply. It was harder than he had expected, telling his favourite siblings that he was leaving them, maybe forever.

"I'll miss you too, Mads"

"Then don't go, stay here, we can even play like we used to-"

He held up a hand and shook his head,

"I want to, I really do, but I want to follow in Grandpa's footsteps, I want to do my part. I'm not a kid anymore, Maddie."

"Neither am I! If that's the problem we can just be adults here!"

Preston, who had remained silent stood abruptly, he had been holding Alex's first tool. It was a sharpened hatchet he'd bought when he was Preston's age. Maddie and Preston had talked for hours in a jealous rage, watching Alex and their Dad remove buried tree roots with it. Their father insisted that he picked something more useful as his first tool but their brother refused and paid for it anyways with mum's help.

He gave Maddie the axe, which felt heavy in her tiny hands. Even now, it was always well kept, its blade sharpened regularly over the four years he'd had it. Without saying a word, he turned and left the room, heading for the house.

Alex had turned, placing his large body against a beam of wood near the workbench.

"Did you know we have a family motto?"

Maddie nodded, "Grandpa Joey told me it. It's in Latin"

"Yeah, do you remember what it was? I can never remember the Latin."

Maddie beamed, her good mood returning a little at the chance to prove herself.

"Victoria primum ergo ad astra. Victory first. Then, to the stars!"

Alex smiled but it was forced. It was a lie. Maddie knew it, he knew it…

I know it.

Who knew it? I did. But I know that. What is this…

"I'm sorry that I have to go just as you're growing up, Mads. I imagine I'll regret it one day." He sighed, "I'm telling mum and dad over dinner, don't worry I'll wait until the end" he added winking hollowly at his sister, who chewed on her lip nervously.

"Can I have a hug?" she asked, holding back sobs. Tears had already marked the make-up she'd applied that morning but it was too late to stop those.

Alex wrapped his arms around her and she lost herself there, in the love of her brother. He was always uniquely in tune with those around him and, if real battleships were anything like their pretend ones, Maddie reasoned that he would be among the UNSCs best. He broke the hug and grinned.

"Let's go have a really crap meal, huh?"

Maddie laughed, "yeah, okay, one last time."

They went slowly back to the house, both of them wishing to draw it all out for as long as they could. Maddie rushed to the bathroom, cleaning her face to hide the tears that had ruined her make up. Alex sat down at the head of the table, usurping his father as he usually did, these days.

Dad grunted and begrudgingly sat at the opposite end. Barring Preston, the meal was a light affair. Alex made every effort to give Maddie the last family meal that she wanted and she loved him so dearly for that hour that she could scarcely thank him for it. No one mentioned the foul mood that Preston was in. He was fourteen and a miasma of raging hormones, it was a given for the Harper family in those days and indeed for many years after, that hormones would ruin at least one person's dinner.

I miss those meals. Mum wasn't even that good a cook but she always brought us together.

She had tried so hard that day, hadn't she?

So hard.

Did she know?

No…

She eyed Preston suspiciously as he quietly excused himself from the table and left the room without Maggie and Eliza even noticing as they continued the squabble that they had taken up.

I suppose that was the give-away. When Preston was just being a teenager he'd storm off, make a show of it. Slipping away was different, that was dread. Mum probably noticed it, too. She could be perceptive like that.

"What's going on between you two?" she said, "you were in the shed for hours, I don't remember the last time you played together in there. It was very good of you; I expect he'll be too old for it as well soon." She sighed looking off towards the stairs.

Alex met Maddie's eyes and nodded, letting the moment hang for a moment as the pair of them enjoyed the last moments of innocence. "We uh, we weren't playing, Mum. We were talking."

"If he needed advice about girls, he should've come to me" Dad said proudly, winking at my mum.

"Oh, don't flatter yourself, honey, you were about as much a player as I am a singer." That earned a laugh from everyone, Mum was famously terrible for her Karaoke.

Maddie and the girls didn't exactly get what she meant by a player, but they knew their mum was a bad singer so it landed well enough.

"No, I was telling him something important." Alex said evasively as the laughter petered out.

"Oh, is something wrong?"

Maddie's throat dried up. Of course, there was, her greatest role model was leaving.

"I'm signing up for the Navy. I got a place at Reach's Naval Academy, just like Grandad."

The air fled the room like a vacuum and the knot in Maddie's chest finally gave way. She sighed as Alex waited for a reaction.

Their mothers mouth simply gawked. Her hands shook and she placed the piece of cake and Ice cream back into the bowl.

The table cracked loudly as Dad slammed his fist down hard on the surface.

"Kyle!" Mum shouted.

"That son of a-" he seethed, he stood up and growled at his wife. "We let him back into our life and this is what he does? That slimy weasel. I'm gonna kill him. Where's the damned Compad."

Alex and Maddie shared another look.

"It was my decision, Dad. It has very little to do with Grandad, really."

"You just said you want to follow in his footsteps." Mum said, surprising everyone at the table. It wasn't like her to take her husband's side unless he was genuinely right, which she usually insisted that he wasn't.

"You're not going." She said, "I won't let you."

Alex looked like he'd been defeated, he didn't want to play the only card in his hand.

"You can't stop me" he said softly, "this is too important to sit out and I won't stay here because it makes everyone else's life easier."

"You've bought their propaganda, haven't you?" Dad roared, he was enraged and not in control of his words now, "I knew Maggie was the brains of the family but I didn't realise that you were this damned gullible. All that effort just to become an officer" he spat.

"Yes." Alex said, giving his father no quarter.

"You disrespect me. And your mother. I can't believe you would do this to me, you know what this means, right? No family, no amenities, just duty and death."

"I have some idea-"

Dad flung a plate across the room and it smashed into a frame that hung from the room.

"No! You have no idea."

"With respect, neither do you." Alex replied, unflinchingly, his voiced was raised and resonant but he remained in control. "You decided not to make that sacrifice and I don't know if that's something you regret or what but you are way out of line." Alex began to stand.

"Get the hell out of my house." Dad said, quietly, his fists clenched tight.

"You know I expected something like this. It's not an easy decision and it hurts you personally, I get it." They squared up to each other, both men vying for supremacy. "but this?"

He looked to his mum, "Son, don't do this, please, please?" she said half begging, "I can't do this."

"Maddie can. She understood. Apparently, she's more mature than the lot of you."

He stood up, managed a half smile at me and left.

"If you love him so much, go and live with my goddamn father." Dad said storming after him.

Alex took dad's suggestion to heart of course. He moved into Joey's place on Reach just a week later.

He and your dad made up?

It took a while but yes. I don't think there was any forgiveness between them, but there was an understanding at least.

Maggie took Eliza, who was now crying for real, to her room and spent the night together. Dad, of course, went for a long drive with mum, trying to find the hotel that Alex checked into. That left Maddie to clean up the mess, as per the usual.

What a mess it had been. The house was quiet and it felt distinctly less alive than before, Maddie thought as she washed the dishes in the looked down at her plates. She'd barely eaten.

You think this is where it all fell apart? Your life?

I suppose it is, we didn't eat together again for another two years. That empty chair was haunting, Dad especially couldn't bear it. When Preston announced he was leaving for the marines, we stopped using the table altogether.

That being said, I can hardly blame Alex for what came next. Smoking was my choice. Giving up on my grades was my choice. Partying and casual relationships was my choice. Growing distant from the lot of them… well that might have been my choice but there wasn't much holding us together after that. Dad slowly became more distant, I think he saw something in me that my Grandpa, and now Drake, saw too. That not only would I run off to war too, but that I would be the best at it.

You feel responsible.

Do I? No. Of course not. It couldn't be helped; it was Alex's choice. It was Dad who had the problem. Family life is tough but that's all it was. I was still happy for the most part. My life fell apart over a week ago when the aliens came from the sky.

Wait… who are you?

What are you, are you me?

You will know, in time.

You will know.