Zeno Act 1 Chapter 1 The Beginning of the End

The flowers was blooming, the birds were singing and the sky was clear. Without a single cloud in sight the sun rained it summer rays unto the earth. 

Me and my 'little sister' Prim were practically chilling however. We were in a forest, embracing the contrast of the warm heat and the cold shade.

"Prim!" I cried out to her. "What you want?" she replied without even giving me a glance. Her mind and body engrossed into the computer she was crunching away in. "Come train with me! I'm bored!"---"Then do something else. I'm busy."

"Busy? You're just reading some boring ass book." Though she probably was doing something else by the sounds of the keyboard. I threw three sharp jabs that pierced through the air. "What Dad say about unnescary cursing?"

"Sorry...." Prim rolled her eyes and contiuned to type. "All you ever think about is training these days. Don't you ever get tired?"

"Tired? You crazy? I barely let out any steam!" From a one to four jab combo I turned my hips about and went into a powerful roundhouse kick combo. The kick shaved through the air and sent a thin wave of wind from its trail. A near supernatural kick had shaked the air around me.

"What you think about that one!?"-----"It's a bit stronger then before. Thats the "sword" that Dad taught you isn't it?"

I nodded, being happy with the progress in this modified techinque that we was learning. With a bit more years of practice Mom and Dad said I would be powerful enough to kick or punch strong enough to put a hole in a person like a bullet. Though a 'railgun' was more up my speed. However that could only be done through constant discipline and dedication. Something I was more then ready to be committed to do.

"It honestly astounds me how you can be so upbeat and hyper, yet have such a cold front for all the others....espically for that tomboy."-----"What does she got to do with anything?"

I could tell Prim was considering her words, but decided not to contiune. Instead she reached for her glass of juice for a sip only to notice it was pretty much empty. A rumbling sound from my stomach was later heard.

"Getting hungry?"----"Maybe?..."----"Why don't we get a snack from the bar then."

"No way! Not happening! I gotta save as much space as possible for Gramp's cooking!"----"Oh yea....Mom did say Pa was coming today didn't she..."

"Yeah, but nobody told us whats the occasion."----"You don't need a reason for a family get together."

"Sure....if you was a normal household." Prim knew exactly what I meant by this. She closed her laptop and looked at my profile. I relaxed my combat posture and a slight breeze passed through. The smell of BBQ and charcoal tickled our noses.

"We both know they got something to hide, or just straight up not telling us in general."

Prim placed her hands on her chin and zoned out trying to think. It was true. With the way how we worked and how the family operated, even if it was in a safehouse somewhere in a remote location, they wouldn't bring powerful relatives from god knows where for no simple "get together".

"You got any ideas?" she asked. "I don't know, but if it involves the usual, I sure hope they bring us into the mix."----"I highly doubt it. Mom, Dad and even Judy told us to take a chill pill and focus on our training and studies."

"Yeah yeah, but that gets boring eventually. We haven't had much to do lately. Being in this place kinda sucks not going to lie. I miss the action! The excitement!"

"That excitement would be what gets you killed if you didn't learn how to maintain a cool head."-----"You got a point there." Cool head... more like numb to the corspes and constant fighting.

Prim's phone buzzed slightly, interrupting our converstation.

[ Come on back. Food's ready and we got some things to discuss to you guys. ]

A message from Father. 'Things to discuss' huh? 'Speak of the devil' she thought. "What's up?" I asked. "Dad. He wants us back at the house. He got something to talk about appearantly."

"Shit really?"--- "Language..." Okay Captain America. "Anyways hurry up. I'm getting hungry too."----"Aight, I'mma be there. Just let me hit another fifty.."

Prim got up and waved dust of her pretty dress before leaving with her computer and glass in tow.

Ten minutes later after she left, I had sped through fifty pushups like I intended. Though something had interrupted my train of thought on the forty-ninth one.

~~~

A sharp yet deep rumbling sound was heard from the sky. The sound eventually grew louder and judging from its sound pattern it seemed to be moving straight....closer to where we was located.

"Thats werid. Didn't Mom liscensed this land to be a no-flight zone?" I looked back in the direction of the large safehouse manor and saw small figures of something flying through the sky. It was accompanying another giant figure like an escort.

"Helicopters...? There isn't a place to land though?" However those helicopters was not here to land.....no...far from it.

~~~

A rasping and heavy sound of gunfire was heard not to far away. My well trained instincts clicked in not even a second later and had me rush to the near thicklet of trees and rocks. Hiding underneath my cover, I began analyzing the gunfire and flight sound.

Judging both the sound patterns from the helicopter blades and guns that was being fired, I assumed they must have been atleast military grade.

The gunfire only lasted for about five or six seconds, but this moment that felt like an eternity had my heart racing. "I TAKE IT BACK!" I exclaimed, immediately regretting my comment about missing the action and the excitement.

The gunfire stopped and the sounds of the helicopters roared over my cover. Thankfully that exclaimation had alleviated any tension in my body. Though I was caught off guard and worried about what was going on, I had been taught to always maintain a cool head no matter what the situation may be.

Silence the Adreanline.

"If we're catching bullets from above...the enemy must be planning to follow up their attack with ground troops!"

Even if they wasn't, it still was important I'm not left alone in this situation. Carefully calculating the amount of moves I could make, I prioritized the need to check on the manor, and see if anyone was alive, ESPECIALLY Prim.

I remained underneath my cover, trying to silence any and all of my swift movements while I dashed towards the house.

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Five minutes later the house came into view. I checked from afar and analyzed the situation again. Seeing as how this was an air strike I started with the roof. According to the head construction officer the roof, which was supposed to be heavy plated to withstand even the deadliest of explosions, was torn to absolute shreds by the gunfire. Even the second floor had sustained some damage.

Moving on lower, the first floor had behold some bittersweet news. The backyard patio was a bloody mess.....family members had caught a serious barrage of bullets and got reduced to lifeless corspes in an instant. However there was people on the inside who were still alive. People like my mother and father was busy attending to injuries and recollecting themselves from this random attack.

"ZENO!" The sounds of Prim cried out to me. Hearing that, my heart ached in happiness when I saw her alive and well. Seems like she too seeked for cover the very instant we heard the helicopters. She even had her small pistol which hid in her dress and was already battle ready...but what was soon to come....was something no simple pistol could fix.

Another rumbling sound soon followed suit after the helicopters. It was alot louder and this plane was on par with half the size of a military transport aircraft.

"GET TO THE HOUSE!!" I cried out to Prim. Didn't need to tell her twice. She was already making a dash for it. Our father however caught wind of our voices and he immediately rushed outside to the back patio.

Judging from his face it was like he knew something we didn't. His pale face warped by dreadful realization.  Whatever it was he screamed out with all of his heart. "GO! GET AWAY!!!! RUNNNNN!"

We couldn't hear him properly because the presence of the plane drowned out his shouts, but his arm movements spoke volumes.

And that was when my instincts SCREAMED out towards me. "We....shouldn't be here..." Words that my very soul seem to annouce in and out of my skin.

Though my instincts spoke to me a little too late.

~~~

I took a moment to look towards the giant plane above. A hatch was opening as it was coming to fly over. Some heavy looking capisules dropped from above... Two bombs rained down upon us.

Eyes widen with surprise, I immedatiely wasted no time, and slammed the brakes on my legs and darted sideways towards Prim instead. However.....

An ear breaking massive explosion consumed the entire manor in its hellish glory. While we didn't get hit by the inital blast, the tremendous shockwave had sent us flying back a couple dozen feet or so.

~~~

My ears was bleeding and my vision was blurred. Explosions are never no joke when it came to intesity. Being near a simple grenade, hell even a flashbang can completely destroy the guard of a well prepped veteran soldier.

The simple recoil created by the secondary 'impact' of any bomb can easily break bones or atleast shatter a person's senses. Your sixth sense along with your sense of sight are the ones that take most damage, followed by your ears which suffers from the dramatic change in air pressure. Even my sense of time was extremely damaged. All that I could remember was the sensation of the unforgiving blaze and the world fading into a pitch black abyss.

Was it a second? A minute? Hours? Perhaps days? However long it was I couldn't tell up from down. Left felt like Northwest and so forth.

Eventually I came back.....conciousness still fading...I rather not talk about the many places to where I was leaking liters of blood from God knows where. The funny part was that I couldn't even tell if I was alive or not. The only thought that my brain could barely process...was Prim.

'WhEre'S PrIm.?...' 'Is pRim AlIvE?'....'I dOn't see pRIm.....'

My ears was ringing badly and blood was even leaking there. I could have sworn I saw an angel or two wave hello, or goodbye(?) to me while I was dragging myself across the ground that was pierced by sorching debris.

Flames licked my feet and legs, my skin was charred black by soot and ash like BBQ. I was in so much damn pain I didn't even have the strength to scream or change my expression. But at the time none of it even mattered. My legs was intent on moving forward, searching for anything that looked like my sister. So I wandered about the battlefield like a wanderless zombie looking for brains.

Eventually I found Prim who was slouched against a rock. She was alive with all limbs intact like I was. A fucking miracle I know. However unlike me, Prim was closer to the explosion and wasn't physically or mentally prepared for what had came.... She was in an extraordinary amounts pain. In a pain she had never felt before....or thought was even possible.

Her senses were probably more damaged then mine was, and so the only thing she could do was scream and cry....and scream, and scream and cry, crying more, screaming louder, screaming in confusion, crying out of regret, screaming, crying again....and again and again, and again....

For the years that followed after, the very sight of her mangled self and her screams of pain would forever curse me till the end of time.