The sound of a muffled gunshot rang through the room followed by a thump. A woman screamed and a man hit the ground with a bloody hole in the center of his forehead. A figure, dressed in all black, stepped over the body of the man and pointed his silenced Glock at the woman. She was on her knees and begging, “Please don’t do this! He was your father and I’m your mother.” The figure in black had moved out of the shadows for the woman to see him as he spoke, “Your claim as my parents ended the moment you let that monster touch her. Our family has been in this line of work for generations and there was always one creed that we were to always follow!”

The woman scooted forward towards the young man, “I had no control over him and you know it!” The young man shook his head, “You had every opportunity to stop him over the years! Our fucking job even gives you every tool needed for said opportunity!” She was in tears as she looked at her son, “Remember that creed you talked about! It’s, ‘Family first. Forever, without question, and against all!’”

He shook his head, “I have followed that creed since the day I was able to begin my training mother, oh wait... You lost the right to be called that, so enough talk. It’s time to end this. Time to put an end to this so-called family. A family that puts their own needs above the rest, but don’t worry, mother.” The young man mocked. He smiled, “I will start another family. One that follows the creed to the letter. One that will cull the virus before it becomes incurable.” With those last words he pulled the trigger causing the silenced handgun to fire. The woman let out a squeak before the bullet hit her between the eyes just like the man before her.

The young man pulled an object from his pocket that resembled a remote. He walked out the front door leaving the bodies on the living room floor. As he walked outside and looked around, he tried to count the bodies of the guards scattered around the property. He gave up on counting and moved down the road away from the house. A couple of miles down the road he walked off into the woods. A few minutes of casual walking he came upon a hill with a giant willow tree perched atop it.

He sighed and began the trudge up the hill to the tree. Finally making it he sat down beside a little makeshift cross. He put his hand on the ground at the base of the cross, “It’s over. You can rest in peace now. I’m sorry that I couldn’t do more than this.” He picked up his hand with the remote in it and pressed a button. In the direction of the house there was silence, followed by the sound of an explosion and an orange light that lit up the night sky for miles.

***

Archangel, Oklahoma, formally known as Tulsa, took over as the capital for the state sometime in the year 2028. After the brief war with North Korea that left a few of the major cities in the United States in shambles, capitals and cities were renamed and rebuilt. North Korea launched missiles suddenly and the defense system of the nation wasn’t able to shoot them all down. Tulsa was one of the unlucky targets that were hit. Luckily all of the missiles launched weren't armed with warheads and the ones that had them were shot down in the stratosphere. The blast decimated the majority of the city and when the nation struck back, quickly winning in a few months, the city was renamed and made the new capital as it grew in size rapidly. The former land of North Korea was gifted to the Chinese to help relieve some of the debt the nation owed them. This allowed for the nation to flourish for a bit, leading to the development of new technologies and medicine.

The year now is 2043 and a bus is pulling up to one of the many stations in the city. Off stepped a young man of about 6’ 4” and broad in the shoulders. His hair was tousled and medium cut in length. The dark brown color matched the color of his eyes as they scanned the area. He readjusted the back on his shoulder and looked at a map on his phone. He tapped an icon and a holographic arrow was shown in his vision. He looked in the direction that the arrow pointed at and started walking down the sidewalk. An hour later and he was walking in front of a store where a hologram was playing the national news.

“It’s been almost a year since the tragic explosion that rocked the countryside of Nevada. The famous Morningstar family was part of what seems like a random terrorist attack. No groups have stepped up to announce their involvement and claim their so-called honor, but the amount of devastation caused and the death toll can only logically be explained by an attack of terror...” the young man stood in front of the store staring at the hologram for a while, looking at the images displayed when a voice woke him from his daze, “It’s a fucking tragedy what happened to that family.”

He cursed himself for not noticing someone walking up on him as he looked over towards the sound of the voice and spotted a young woman staring at the same hologram. She looked over towards him and he got his first good look at her. She had to be about 5’ 7” and was dressed in all black. She was wearing black leggings and a black shirt that game down to just below her full rear. Her breasts were pushing up and against the shirt causing the symbol for the band HIM back in the early 2000’s to be stretched to its limits.

Her jet-black hair cascaded down her back to around the top of her ass. She had hair draped over one eye and her lips were graced with a small amount of black lipstick. She was absolutely stunning and the young man couldn’t help but stair for a minute. The young woman smirked, “Take a picture and it will last longer... of course for a couple of hundreds you could take as many as you wanted. Clothing optional.”

He almost had to pick his jaw off the ground before stuttering an apology, “I, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to stare you’re just so beautiful...” The young woman blushed a little as she snorted, “Bullshit. You must need glasses or something. Names Zolette Star by the way, but everyone calls me Zoe.” She stuck her hand out and the young man grasped it, “Ezekiel Mors, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She grinned, “No need with that proper shit with me Zeke.”

Ezekiel smiled and shook his head at the fact that she had already shortened his name. Zoe continued to speak after they dropped their hands back to their sides, “So what brings you to the city?” Ezekiel arced his eyebrow as he looked at her. She pointed at the bag slung over his shoulder, “That looks like the pack of someone moving into town or coming to visit.” He laughed and nodded, “I’m here to attend the University of Zeon here in the city.” She arced her eyebrow this time, “The UoZ huh? That’s funny, I'm actually a student there myself. This is my second year. I’m majoring in Automotive Science and Engineering, what about you?”

Ezekiel widened his eyes a little at her announcement but he quickly hid his surprise by blurting his major, “Culinary Arts.” She grinned, “So now it’s my turn to be surprised. Big strong looking guy like yourself taking cooking classes?” He felt ashamed at how he unintentionally stereotyped the beautiful girl standing in front of him. She laughed, “Don’t worry about it Zeke. Everyone is shocked when they find out my major. Hell, you should have seen the instructors and the other guys in class when I showed up on the first day.”

He could indeed imagine the looks on all of their faces when the dark attired bombshell in front of him walked into the shop. He smiled, “At least I will know who to turn to when something happens to my car.” She furrowed her brows, “What car? You did just ride into town on a bus.” It was his turn to smiled, “I didn’t drive my baby into town because I didn’t know if the place, I rented had a drive way or not. I left it in a parking garage on the outside of town and took the bus from there.”

Zoe smiled, “What do you drive? I drive a 1969 Pontiac GTO. Probably one of the best muscle cars ever made.” I smiled at her myself, “It is a great car, but it has nothing on my baby. Sally is a 1969 Chevelle SS and she is probably the most loyal and beautiful woman to ever enter my life.” She laughed, “I bet your mom wouldn’t really like hearing you say that.” The look on his face darkened briefly, but she was laughing so hard that she didn’t notice and when she looked back at him, he was smiling.

She looked at her phone, “Well, I have to get to my dorm to register. Let me get your phone number and then we can talk later.” He nodded and they swapped phone numbers before she took off with a quick wave. He waved back and then looked briefly at the hologram that was still showing images from the explosion in Nevada. As he was walking off the sub-text at the bottom stated, “Still no news on the missing family member Ezekiel Morningstar. His whereabouts are unknown as his remains have yet to be found in a year.”

***

Ezekiel found himself in front of his house that he bought. He told Zoe that he was renting because he didn’t know how she would take it if she found out he actually had a bit of money. His car had already been delivered and was sitting in the circle drive in front of the front door. The three-story brick house was away from the campus a bit and was in the center of a cul-de-sac, in a semi-wealthy neighborhood.

Sally was sitting in the driveway and looked just as amazing as she remembered her. She was a gift from his older half-sister a few years ago and he loved the car almost as much as he loved her. He ran his hand down her Midnight Purple hood before walking into the house and throwing his bag on the couch. The house was fully furnished and looked just like you would expect it to for a teenager in college. Ezekiel had just turned 18 a few months ago and was excited to be living on his own, comfortably that is.

He spoke to the room, “Sarah, when do I need to report to the registrar's office to finish my registration for classes?” A women's voice answered back coming from a hologram on the table against the wall, “You need to be at the office by three to finish, master.” A little goth girl was sitting on the edge of the table. She was about seven inches tall and translucent. She was smiling at Zeke, “You have approximately two hours to go and according to Maps... it will take you an hour and a half to make it across town to get there.” Zeke sighed and then grabbed his keys before heading out the door.

***

Zeke pulled into the registrar’s office with almost fifteen minutes to spare. When he got out, he spotted Zoe arguing with some scrawny dude dressed like some punk rocker from the early 2000’s. She didn’t seem happy to see him so he walked across the parking lot, “Hey Zoe!” She turned to him and grinned before basically sprinting across the lot. She wrapped her arm around his and squished it in-between her breasts. She looked at him, “Babe! I was just thinking about you.” He arced an eyebrow at her and she briefly winked. He immediately understood the situation and went along.

He grinned, “Oh really? What were you thinking about, babe?” She grinned and then melted her body into mine, “About last night. You were fucking amazing.” He grinned and put his finger on her chin, “Anytime sweetheart.” He looked her in the eyes and she held his gaze for a few minutes before she snapped out of it and looked back towards the punk rocker. He was glaring at them, mostly Zeke, before shaking his head, “I’ll be back Zolette Star. We aren’t through, no matter how much you think we are.” He gave Zeke the stink eye and then got into a beat-up van that looked like it came from the 80’s.

Zeke watched the van leave as Zoe continued to be plastered to him. He looked down at her, “He’s gone.” She breathed out, “Uh huh.” He smiled, “That’s means you can let go now.” She bit her bottom lip before looking like it took everything, she had to let him go. “God, he felt so... Solid...” She thought. Zeke coughed, “So what was that about and who was the guy who looked like he was spit out of a time warp from the early 2000’s?” She laughed, “That would be Spud. He is my ex-boyfriend. He plays in a band in some dive bar at the edge of the city. We didn’t end it on very good terms.”

Zeke tried not to laugh at the name and arced an eyebrow, “He hit you?” She snorted, “Fuck no. He wouldn’t have a set of balls to use on some tramp at the bar if he did that.” Zeke nodded, “He cheated on you, didn’t he?” She nodded and sighed, “Yeah, some groupie that really liked the band got drunk and passed around the members. Spud took a few turns and one of my friends told me about it.” She laughed, “Well enough of the sappy shit. What are you doing here?”

They made small talk for a minute before Zeke finished registering for his classes. He gave Zoe a ride to her dorm after he was done. He was smiling the entire time as she literally drooled all over his car. It was a ‘69 Chevelle SS, but it had more modern amenities. It had air conditioning, power windows, a telescopic steering column, power seats, dual airbags, the works. They arrived at her dorm and she leaned over the center column to quickly give him a kiss on the cheek, “Thanks for the help and thanks for the ride.” Before he could respond to her, she was out of the car running her full ass up the stairs to the dorm building. He touched his cheek as he shook his head before heading home.

***

Beep Beep Beep Beep. Zeke rolled over and slammed his hand down, silencing the dreaded hell box on his night stand. He groaned and lifted himself up to sit on the edge of the bed. He stood up to walk to the bathroom, letting the blanket slide from his naked body. He performed his morning duties and then hopped in the shower before getting ready for class. It was six in the morning when his alarm went off and by the time his shower was over it was around six forty-five. He put a pair of Levi’s on and black fitted t-shirt. As his shirt slid down his back covering the many scars marring the surface, he shuddered a bit. The scars didn’t hurt, but they always tingled a bit when something touched them. He was able to ignore the sensation after a few minutes, but that initial touch always sent a shiver down his spine.

He grabbed his bag and keys before heading out the door. Forty-five minutes later at seven thirty he was pulling up to the Art Department of the campus. He pulled Sally into a parking spot and then made his way to the main office for the department. When he walked in there was a petite blonde sitting in the chair behind the desk. She was going back and forth between a drawing on the desk and typing something into the computer. She glanced at him and then rolled her eyes before continuing to type.

He sighed and then cleared his throat, “Uhm, excuse me miss.” She didn’t stop typing, “The Physical Education department is three blocks down the road.” She went back to drawing on her paper as Zeke sighed again, “I’m actually here to possibly get some directions to my first class.” The blonde stopped drawing and sat her pen down before looking him up and down. She sighed, “He’s cute, but the way he is built there probably isn’t much in the upstairs department.” She thought to herself while out loud she said, “I’m sorry sir, but this is the Art Department. Your class is probably down the street a few blocks with the rest of the physical classes.”

Zeke was starting to get a bit annoyed at this point so he pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her, “I’m sorry mam, but my major is in Art and I need to know where Art History is, please.” She looked down at the paper and then at the Student ID that he handed her and then tried to apologize, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were enrolled in the Art Department.” He snorted, “You honestly didn’t even try to find out before judge me by the way I look.” Another woman came out of the door behind her at this moment and noticed the tension in the room.

She looked at both of them before speaking, “Is there something wrong Starlette?” The blonde, who has now been introduced as Starlette, shook her head, “No Miss Sunlake.” I was just about to show the new student where his class was.” I snorted, “Yeah, no. I would prefer if someone that doesn’t judge people based on stereotypes or looks would take me to my class.” Miss Sunlake glared at Starlette, “Again Star? When are you going to learn.” Star looked down at her drawing, “I’m sorry sir. I shouldn’t have judge you without even knowing you.” It sounded to me like she had done this before and the apology was something she has repeated many times. I sighed and just went along with it, “It’s okay. Maybe next time you will think a bit more beforehand.”

She nodded her head as Miss Sunlake spoke up, “If you would like Mr...” I interrupted her “Mors, Ezekiel Mors.” She smiled and held out her hand, “Well then Mr. Mors. If you would like I could escort you to your first class.” Zeke smiled, “That would be much welcomed Miss Sunlake.” She smiled, “Oh call me Xendla or Xen for short.” He grabbed her hand and brought it up to kiss, “A pleasure Miss Xendla.” A blush appeared on her chocolate brown skin as she stared at her hand.

Zeke took a second to really observe her as she talked to Starlette for a few minutes. She stood a little taller than Zoe. Although she was wearing a pair of royal purple heels that added probably three inches to her height. She had on a matching skirt that came down to her mid-thigh. Her blouse was the same color with little black buttons holding it together. She had the top two buttons undone showing a bit of her chocolate brown cleavage and boy was there a lot to show, at least what wasn’t covered by her long curly black hair was showing. She had her hair parted in a way that half was behind bouncing behind her and the other half was pooling on top of her breasts. The heels really helped display her calves as well as help bring attention to her plump rear.

After they were done talking Xendla gestured for him to follow her as she walked out of the office and down the sidewalk. He quickly followed her and tried his hardest not to stare at her ass as she swayed it back and forth. Heels sometimes do things to a woman that just drives a man’s libido into overdrive. Whether it is helping to insinuate a certain aspect of their body or just changing the way they walk and carry themselves. He looked up from her ass and saw that she was cutting her eyes back at him with a grin on her face. He rubbed the back of his neck and tried to act like nothing happened. This earned him a giggle from her as she looked forward and continued to walk with the sway getting a little more prominent.

Zeke was having a hard time of things in more ways than one as he tried to hide the growing erection that was resting against his thigh. He looked around at everything else trying to get an idea of his surroundings. He was starting to regret the fact that his experiences with women were limited to that woman, his half-sister, and his, what he thought she was at the time, first lover. Remembering her sent a burst of anger through his body. He wasn’t inexperienced in the sexual aspects of love, far from it actually. He just isn’t all that experienced in the wooing part that comes with a relationship.

Xendla must have sensed his anger, “Everything okay back there?” Zeke laughed, “Yup, everything is fine.” She didn’t seem to believe him, but she didn’t push the subject. A few minutes later and they stood in front of another building. She looked over at him, “Well this is the building. Art History should be on the second floor down the end of the hall on the right.” He smiled, “Thank you Miss Sunlake.” She stepped up and put her finger on my chest, “I told you, call me Xen.” He swallowed a little saliva, “As you wish Lady Xen.” She chuckled and then trailed her finger down his chest before walking away.

Zeke watched as she sauntered off into the distance and couldn’t help but wonder if she why she was flirting with him. He hadn’t done anything all that impressive. He wasn’t Adonis, but he was on the handsome side. He was also in very good shape. He filed the thought away and then went into the building to get to his class. As he walked into the classroom a few minutes later the professor stopped speaking. He looked Zeke up and down before speaking, “Can I help you young man?”

Zeke answered him, “Uhm, my name is Ezekiel Mors. Today is my first day in this class.” The professor checked a paper on his podium before nodding, “Your late mister Mors.” Zeke rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, sorry. I had a little run in at the office when I was trying to get directions.” He nodded, “Met Starlette I take?” Zeke laughed, “That I did sir.” The professor grinned, “Well I'll let you off this time. Have a seat anywhere you can find one. I’m Professor Grimly by the way.”

Zeke lowered his chin a little before looking around to find a seat. He found one open near a woman that was dressed in sweats and a hoodie tucked into the corner of the room. She was leaning against the wall and trying to make herself unnoticeable. He slid into the seat beside her and turned to her, “Hey, I’m Ezekiel, but you can call me Zeke.” The woman glanced at him from beneath the hoodie before looking back towards the professor and didn’t say anything. Zeke frowned, “Not a very good way to make a first impression on someone, but maybe she has a reason.” He turned back to the professor himself and started to take notes.