Chapter 1: First Glimpse

If I had to start the story somewhere, I believe this is a good place than any to start.

I can barely can remember what happen, I was walking home with mum and dad, we just came back from dinner, but then the power went out, and I look over seeing a man holding something in his hand.

It look like a sphere of some sorts, but then it suddenly started to power on, I didn't know what was happening, but mum took my hand and we make a run for it but the blast went off and engulf everything in it's wake, dad shielded me and mum and everything went white.

~8~8~8~

Cole could hear sounds around him, they were the sounds of sirens and everything was blowing up. He shot open his eyes and looks around the area and saw that he was in a creator. His whole body was rack with pain as he slowly push himself up, "What the hell happened?" he mumbles and looks around, "Oh God." he mumbles then stood up.

Then a helicopter shines a light on him, "Hey look up if you can hear me." the cop ask him, Cole shielded his eyes and looks up at the helicopter, "If you can walk, get out of there, head for the bridge." he orders and the chopper took off and Cole lowers his arm. He then heard a moan, looks down and saw a girl that look to be 15 years old, he watches and saw that she started to move. "Come on, Cole, move, move." he tells himself and started down the way, he passes as pipe that blew and kneels down next to the girl. He slowly gathers her into his arm.

"Hey, you alright?" he asks, gently shaking her. She groans and flutters her eyes open and looks around, "Mum, dad… where are they?" she mumbles, Cole then pulls her onto his back and stood up, "Just hang on, OK?" he tells her, she gave a weak nod and laid her head against his shoulder and continued along the pathway and makes to the bus and then his phone goes off. "Cole, Cole, man, you there? Come on, man pick up!" Zeke said through the line, Cole then jumps on top of the bus and onto the pavement. "Zeke, what's going on, I think there was an explosion." Cole informs him. "No shit there was an explosion, TV said terrorist are blowing stuff up all over the city. Meet me at the Free long bridge. We'll get Trish and find someplace to bunker down." Zeke tells him. "I'll see you there." Cole informs him.

Cole walks into the destroy car lot, and suddenly electricity shot out and hits them both, they both let out painful grunts and suddenly stops. They both pant, "What the hell – should be dead." Cole mumbles and the girl raise her head, "Mister Cole, please put me down." she asks, he looks at her and does so. She gets off his back and stood on her own. She moves her legs and arms as they both were in perfect condition. Cole stood up and looks at her, "The hell…" he mumbles and she looks up at him, "You alright, kid?" he asks her, she looks at him and nods.

"Good enough to walk on your own?" he asks again and she nods at him. "Alright, lets go." he tells her and they both take off. They both turn the corner and the ceiling gave out and a car from the second floor drops. "Damn." Cole mumbles and the walk pass it, they head for the pavement bridge road, but a car, drops down, rolls forward and blew up, destroying the bridge along with it. They stumble back and then the young girl looks over at the pipe that was broken in the middle, she ran over to it and steps up, "Kid, what are you doing?" he questions, limping over to her as she ran along the pipe and then jumps and lands on the next pipe and makes a makes a perfect landing.

She turns to him and waves her arms, "It's alright, it's safe to cross." she tells him and then lowers her arms and makes her way to the next half of the of the parking lot, Cole follows her and he limps up to her, "Here take my hand." he tells her, she looks at him and she places her hand in his. And they ran along avoiding the explosion, but as they pass another outlet and the electricity shot at them, coursing through their bodies, the power was so much, the two let it all back out and the electricity shot to to the lamp post and car, triggering the alarm.

"Whoa!" Cole said as they stop and he covers the little girl as the floor gave out and makes a way down, "What's happening to us?" he questions as he slowly moved from the little girl and they both stood up, then they make their way down the made-ramp, the little girl stops, Cole looks up at her, seeing the fear in her eyes, he then held his hand out to her, "It's okay, I'm right here." he tells her, she looks at him, places her hand in his and he lead her down the ramp. "There you go." he mutters as they were on even ground.

Cole looks around and ran forward, pulling the little girl along, "If you are able to walk, please evacuate across the bridge to the Neon. Remain calm, emergency are en route." an officer said over the intercom, the two walk onto the street and ran for the bridge. But Cole falls to his knees as he was in pain, the little girl quickly kneels down next to him, pulls his arm over her shoulder and helps him back up to his feet, he looks down at her, "Come on, we're almost there." she tells him and helps him walk, Cole just sighs as he didn't mind the help the little girl was giving him. They walk pass the cars and make it to the bridge. "Cole! Over here, man! We gotta go!" Zeke shouts out to him, Cole looks up at him and then down at the little girl. "Can you help me cross the bridge?" he asks her.

Her eyes turn to determination, then nods, "Alright, lets move." he tells her and they started to step onto the bridge. But electricity shot out and entered their bodies. "God, no!" Cole calls out. "No, no!" he shouts as thunder clashes down onto the bridge. It destroys the cars and killed a few people, the little girl pass out from the amount of energy that she had release, Cole looks down at her, then throws her over his shoulder. "Oh hell, it's the terrorists! Run for the bridge, Cole!" Zeke calls out and Cole ran for it, dodging the thunder that still was clashing down onto the bridge. "Come on, move it!" Zeke shouts, Cole's arm on the little girl's waist tightens as the electricity kept shooting out to them, but then he felt his own conscious slowly leave him, "Move your ass, Cole! This whole bridge is comin' down!" Zeke shout at him.

As Cole reaches the end of the bridge, he then falls onto the ground and the little girl falls next to him, "Cole!" Trish calls out to him as she and Zeke ran to them and his whole world went dark.

~8~8~8~

While sliding into unconsciousness I could somehow, I don't know… hear voicesof the dying. Thousand crush by falling buildings or burned alive in the fires. Trish lost her sister.

Almost lost me. Zeke was always there, somehow sure I would wake up. Even that little girl was there.

Ihaveno idea who she was or how she even survived the blast, let alone where her parents where. But outside, the city fell apart. A plague struck.

Followed by rioting. Theft. Rapes. Civilization committing suicide. In a bullshit attempt to contain the biological threat, the federal government locked down all access in and out of the city. Now we're stuck in this cage with the psychos.

Cops are all but gone of the streets. Either dead or too chickenshit to stand against the gangs that control things now.

Outside things where bad… but inside – inside me – something was beginning, but I wasn't the only one experiencing it. Scary as hell at first. Gotta understand there was no one to talk to, no expert to consult.

But with time, we're learning to control it. Master it. I've even taught the kid parkour and man she was a fast learner.

I've learn that the kid is Cassandra O'Connell, but she preferred to be called Cassie, she too learn how to control her abilities, master them.

Just hope it's not too late…

~8~8~8~

Empire City,

Day 14 of the Quarantine.

Zeke sat on the couch reading a book as Cole and Cassie were standing next to the couch, looking down at him. "I thought you were going to watch TV?" Cole asks him, "Batteries are dead again… you mind puttin' on a freak show?" Zeke asks him, "Sure. Glad it's good for something." Cole answers as electricity course over his hand. "Probably need to charge 'em all – TV's a hog." Zeke informs him.

Cole looks at Cassie, she looks up at him, she wore a red long sleeve shirt, a black coat, jeans, sneakers and a necklace around her neck. He smiles down at her and ruffles her black hair, she smiles up at him, he then pulls his hand away, turns and fires at the generators, charging them all up. "Whoa, that's what I'm talkin' about!" Zeke shouts out as Cole finishes off the last one. "Nice job man, booth tub's workin!" Zeke calls out as the TV came back on. "Weird – feels like I got more power." Cole states and Cassie walks over to him. "Yeah? Try fryin' those dummies over there. With all the nut-jobs runnin' around. It'd be nice to see how much juice you're packin'. Take Cassie with you, she might have some more juice in her too." Zeke tell him.

Cole places his arm on her shoulders and pulled her along, they walk to the back where the dummies were at, both took their stance, raise their arms up. And fired at the dummies, they both blew the heads off the dummies and the electricity courses through the fence. "Yeah! Lay into it, fry those suckers!" Zeke shouts to them, Cassie chuckles to herself as she was a bit excited about her growing powers. Cole looks at her as she fires again, "Cool it, kiddo." he tells her, she stops looks at him and calms down, "Sorry, it's still so cool." she states, looking down at her hands. Cole just chuckles. But then they heard a rumble, look up and saw a plane fly over them, "Whoo, you see that? Flyin' so low, thought it was going to crash into us!" Zeke states as Cole and Casey watch the plan fly off.

But then the TV started to glitch, the two turn and walk up to the TV, "Hey, it's the TV jacker. I love this guy!" Zeke states, they two just paid attention to what the man on the TV was going to say.

-Just got word that the feds drop some legit packages into Archer square. The liar from the Corp. Media tells us that we're going to get our fair share, that more is coming? Heh, that's easy for them to say, they're not the ones that's living in this hell hole and the truth is that we've been abandon! And no one is coming to save us. So head over to Archer square and get that food before the Reapers show up. Voice of survival out.-

The man said and the broadcast cuts out. Then Cole turns to Zeke, "Told you they'd drop food." he states, Casey turns to him as Zeke stood up. "Man, you must be out of your mind. You think any of those pencil-necks gives a crap about us? This is a PR stunt." Zeke informs him as Cassie zips up her coat. "That isn't going to stop you from pigging out, though, is it?" Cole questions him with a smirk and cross arms. Zeke just laughs, "Hell no it ain't. Zeke's gotta eat!" Zeke said proudly, "You take the stairs, Cassie and I are using the express elevator." Cole tells him as he passes electricity between his hands. Cassie watches with wonder. "Man, you get to have all the fun." Zeke whines as Cassie did the same thing.

Cole pats Cassie's head and she looks up at him, they then walk to the edge, Cassie looks down seeing it was a long way down. She looks up at Cole, not sure how to feel, but he just smiles at her, reassuring her and then jumps off. Casey nods at herself, steps back and runs then jumps as well. Cole looks up as he saw her come down and lands on her feet next to him, she stood up and smiles at him, "That's what I'm talking about!" Cole exclaims with excitement as Cassie giggles. "Can we go again? Can we?" she asks with her blue eyes and with adrenaline running through her vein. Cole places his hand on his hip as he places his other hand on her head and ruffles her head. "Next time." he promises him. Then Zeke runs up to them, "Whoo, that was one hell of a jump, man. Wish I could do something like that – runnin' down all those stairs, that sucks donkey balls." Zeke said as he pants.

Then they started to run, "Hey Cole before we head over to Archer, I need to pick up a new six shooter." Zeke tells them as the pass over the wounded people. "Here we go…" Cole said, Cassie giggles to herself. "Nah, that was bad-ass. The second you touch it, the electricity in your hands cooks off the gun power and the whole thing goes KA-BAM! The look on your face was priceless." Zeke reminds him, "Damn near blow my hand off and I think I scared Cassie to death, making her refuse from touching a gun or evening going near one." Cole reminds him, Cassie frowns. "I couldn't sleep for weeks." she mutters as Cole looks at her "Which is why you won't be touching the new one. Traded this guy one of my home-made barriers for it." Zeke tells them, "You mean the ones that explodes when you use 'em, uncle Zeke?" Cassie asks him, he just chuckles.

"Hell he doesn't know that. C'mon, told me that he was going to leave the gun in a parking lot a few blocks from here." Zeke informs them. "Hey Cole, you know what I miss? Pizza. A big, sloppy slice drippin' with grease and pepperoni. And payday. Havin' a big, fat wad of bills in your pocket." Zeke tells them, "I'd settle for some hot water." Cole reports to him, "I would like to settle for a warm bed to lay on." Cassie mutters to herself, but Cole heard her. "Hey, remember that time when we were comin' home from Duffy's and I had to take a leak? And that bike cop was yelling at me to put up my hands?" Zeke asks him, Cole chuckles. "You pissed all over him." Cole laughs at the memory.

Cassie just laughs, "He told me to put up my hands! While he's fumblin' around. I jump back and we take off. Awesome!" Zeke exclaims, Cole scoffs. "Yeah, awesome. Until we run into a wall of cops." Cole reminds him, "Like I said, awesome! Bummer we won't be able to do something like that again." Zeke said sadly. "Not unless some genius invents a car that doesn't explode when I or Cassie sit in it." Cole mutters and Cassie looks away.

They make to the parking lot to find a row of cars. "Ah, C'mon… he told me he was going to leave it under a car, I figured there'd be only one. We'll never find it." Zeke complains and then Cassie looks up at Cole, he looks down at her seeing the idea in her eyes. "Stay back, we've got an idea." Cole tells his friend and the two sent out shockwaves, sending the cars flying away. Once they were done, Casey bends over and pants heavily as she presses her hands to her knees. "Hellacious!" Zeke shouts out as he ran over and picks up the gun. "Hell, I didn't know you could do somethin' like that. "Me neither… there was this surge." Cole informs him. Then Zeke looks over at them and saw how pale they become. "Hey man, you and Cass do look so hot." Zeke informs them.

"Drained all of a sudden… hang on a sec…" Cole informs him, and help Cassie walk up to a power outlet and then they both drain it of it's power and they both exhale as they both were recharge. "Did you see that?" Cole asks him as the life returns to Cassie's features. "Man, you and Cass are a walking batteries! Must have to recharge whenever you fire off a bunch of juice." Zeke informs them as Cassie shakes off the extra adrenaline. "I can feel the electricity surging through me, almost like I'm being healed by it." Cole informs him as Cassie dust herself off. "This rocks hard man. C'mon, lets haul tail over to Archer Square 'fore before someone takes all the brewskis." Zeke informs them and they take off.

Then Cole's cell went off, "Cole, you there?" Trish asks as she was on the line, "Hey babe." Cole answers her. "You hear they drop some food?" she asks him, "Yeah, Zeke, Cassie and me are heading over there." Cole answers her. "How are you and Cassiefeeling?" Trish asks him, "Alright, I guess. Powers all over the place. Used to be Cassie and I could barely power a light bulb, now we're jumping off of buildings and frying the junk on Zeke's roof." Cole answers her again as Cassie just giggled. "You jumped off a building and you let Cassiejump off as well? What were you thinking?" Trish questions him. Cassie knew that Trish was protective of Cassandra after her sister. "Relax, we're fine. Cassie is a tough little girl." Cole informs her. "Just take it easy. After what happened to Amy. I couldn't…" Trish tells him and Cassie hung her head. "Yeah." Cole said, knowing what she meant.

"See you guys at Archer Square. I love you." she tells him, making Cole smile a little. "You too." he tells her and hung up. Then the three ran along the sidewalk and up to Archer square where people were gathered. They stop and look up, seeing the food was up way high. "Whew, boy that's way up there. I hate to say it pal, but you and Cassie are the only ones who'd live from a fall like that. Gotta climb up there and knock that stuff free." Zeke informs them and they two ran up and started to climb the statue, then then make it to the food, Cole raise his hand and fires at the metal, making the food drop. "Yeah, we are eating!" Zeke said with such joy as people gathered around the crates. But Cassie gasp as Cole was kneeling down on one knee. "Damn, too late."

~8~8~8~

That's where I caught my first sight…

The Reapers.

Before the Blast, they were a bunch of junkies dealing drugs. Now they own the Neon district…

Taking whatever they want.

That changes today.

~8~8~8~

Cole and Cassie then jump from the statue and did a thunder-slam near the Reapers. Then split up, fighting and shocking electric at them, "Damn, those freaks are brutal!" Zeke calls out as he fires at them. Then Cassie jumps at one, nailing the souls of her shoes right into the Reaper's chest, making him fly back and she flips onto her feet. "Well, there's more on the way!" Zeke calls out. Then Cole turns and fires at them, "Woohoo, well that's the last of them. It's chow time." Zeke calls out as Cole and Cassie regroup with him and watch everyone gather back at the crates.

-Lot of food here. Enough to feed the four of us for weeks. Maybe longer. Bet if I fry a couple of people in the crowd, the rest will run away. The food will be all ours, but some of these guys will starve…-

Cole tells himself, then looks down at Cassie, who was smiling to herself as people were gathered at the crates. Cole smiles down at her and places his hand on her head. Making her look surprise and up at him, he just chuckles and ruffles her black hair. "Hey, Cole!" she complains, but he kept chuckling. "I got one open! Lets eat!" a man calls out, getting the two' attention, then Cassie took her chance and tries to ponce on Cole, but he presses his hand to her forehead, keeping her at arm's length. Then a doctor ran up to them, "Hey Trish." Cole greets her, Cassie stops and looks at her as well. "Trish!" she said with glee. Trish just giggles at her, "I am so glad you got the food down. These poor people are starving." Trish tells them.

Cole smiles at her and wraps his arm around Cassie's shoulders. "Just doing what we can. Someone had to help them." Cole tells her as he leans a little against Cassie, making her smile. "Those idiots drop us can prunes. Now who the hell'd want to eat this stuff?" Zeke questions. But then the big screen glitches as The Voice of survival was now broadcasting. Making everyone look up at the screen, -Take a look at this Empire City. The pictures you're seeing was taken by security camera near Peram Daria.- the man said as two pictures of Cole and Cassie with her parents came on, "Hey Cole, Cass, you're up on the big screen!" Zeke tells them.

-These are the two that destroy our city, out lives. If someone from your family died, well now you know who to blame. If you know anything about this two, let me know. Because we're going to get the word out on these Terrorists. Whoever they are, we're going to make them pay.-

~8~8~8~

Ever been called a Terrorist?

All I remember from that day is going to work, and then running for my life. That video, though.

How'd I get that package?

Why would I deliver a bomb?

For who?

And why was Cassie being blame? She was just walking with her parents.

Regardless, the consequences are everywhere. Whatever there'd been between me and Trish was gone. She didn't say a word, no emotion, nothing. Just walk away.

By then people near were starting to recognize us. It was going to get ugly. Even Zeke was giving us weird looks.

I felt Cassiegrip my arm tightly, I knew she was scared, I could feel her trembling.

But Zekeand I made quick glancesto meet up at Stampton Bridge, try to get out of town.

I just hope he shows, cause right now Cassie and I are a little short on friends.