A group of Tereliva’s guards ride in a caravan to the first borough of the city, it’s loud, you can hear the screams of the crowds of people fleeing for their lives as well as the stomps of a giant derelict in the distance. The Sun is at its highest point but begins to descend indicating dusk is coming soon. The roars of the caravan truck speedily driving down the road can be heard from inside the truck as the guards sit in rows: 2 against the walls of the truck and 2 benches in the middle allowing 2 groups to sit back-to-back, with the squad leader sitting against the wall of the driver’s cab. A grim aura struck the convey as it proceeds to travel. Murmurs of regret and repentance could be heard from several members of the 20 guards. Reading the room, the squad leader signals his subordinates by standing, he holds the helmet to his official guard uniform, a somewhat superior suit of armor to the standard guard armor.

“Alright, we’ve all been gathered here on short notice but here’s the gist of it, a couple of hours ago a group of miners informed us that a large derelict horde had amassed, they’ve destroyed the mining town to the east of us & now they’re here to destroy us. I know, since it was the festival today, everything was sort of out of whack there seemed to be a break in command and several officers have gone missing. That is why we are all a mismatch of different units and departments and many of you haven’t faced a derelict raid like this and honestly neither have I, but we are the sworn protectors of this city. The people screaming outside depend on us, So I'm prepared to lay my life down for them and I’m going to assume everyone who got on this transport is ready is to as well.

A young recruit named Nathan is sweating in his seat, he’s nervous, a nauseating feeling sweeps his body as he begins to regret jumping on the caravan. He runs his fingers in his long dark hair staring at his reflection in his helmet.

I had joined the city guard because it was a sure route to a secure life. Generous pay, accommodating procedure, with no real promise of danger. After all this is the most secure city in the South, with all of the Southern gangs viewing it as a safe haven, a consecrated zone. With the only access to the city being funneled through 2 giant bridges at opposite ends with daunting gates no one should have been able to get through.

He recalls being approached by a senior of his, who had tried to enticed him with delusions of glory and honor by throwing himself into battle, that wasn’t the reason why he left on the convey. On this day, he was going to tell the woman he loved his feelings.

Julia, You're the reason I got on this Convey; I was supposed to meet you in the first borough: Terelin by the AquaTran, so we could watch the fireworks from the highest point in the city but now I don’t even know if you're-.

Several different grim thoughts filled his mind about what happened to her, he had to know if she was safe or not. Nathan cracked a nervous smile

Julia, I have to find you but I’m scared shitless and I don’t know if I’ll be able to desert with this many guards around.

Flying debris rocks the transport vehicle as it crashes next them, it persists. The squad leader knocks on the roof of the transport to gain his squads attention again.

“So here is the strategy, this truck, along with several others are going to bunker down in a chokepoint. Your expected to set up defenses then get into standard formations with those that have Blood Perks on the frontline and those without, supporting them to hold that line! No derelict should be able to break through that point! Now, how many of you have perks?”

Hands start to raise slowly until 6 hands were in the air. The rest of the guards without perks began to murmur, Nathan leans down further into his seat, trying to keep out of sight. The squad leader shuts down the unrest.

“Okay, what are these perks?”

A chubby looking guard speaks up “I have hardening sir, with a 1 activation rate!

The squad leader nods and looks at another guard “invisibility Sir with a 2 Activation rate”

The squad leader speaks again “Okay, and you?”

A rugged guard speaks up “Hardening sir! With a 3-activation rate Sir.”

The squad leader nods agreeably “We are definitely placing you in a key point. Okay, does any of you have a Strength, Peak, or Node perk? It could be a turning point in any battle, speak up.”

Noone speaks up, the guards fall silent. Grimly the squad leader sighs as he hears the remainder of the perks.

A frightened guard raises his hand. “Question sir!”

“What is it?” the squad leader says firmly

“What are we to do about the Class A sir?”

The Squad leader inhales then exhales “The Class A is caught in one of our containment traps along with the bulk of the horde, now we are expected to hold that line until The Lance shows up with support to put down the son of bitch!”

Another guard raises his hand “Sir, question, sir”

The Leader nods his head to the guard, prompting him to answer.

“How many Transport trucks are going to meet us in this Choke?”

“We are a team of 12 Convey. Honestly, we have our work cut out for us, the only thing that can go wrong is if we lose containment of the class A, but the facilities operating this boroughs water system is already heavily reinforced and protected. So, we just need to do our jobs.”

Nathan’s hand nervously rose up next to ask the squad leader a question. The squad leader address Nathan telling him to ask his question.

A golf ball size knot was in his throat with anxiety, fearing the answer for his question.

“Sir, what is the damage done to the first borough, sir?

The Squad leaders pauses tilts his head down then raises it back up “A lot of you must have family or friends in Terlin so I’m just going to be frank, the First borough was hit pretty hard in the initial invasion. Debris flew everywhere when the class A busted through the Gates of Tere and proceeded to rampage until it got trapped. As it stands the places with the heaviest damage is the boroughs square, Market district and Aquatran area, we do have transport for citizens on the move so there is a chance your people could be alive. Best I can tell you is to keep hope and prepare for the fight in front of you so that we can protect others!”

The squad leaders' words fell mute on Nathans ears as memories of his times with Julia raced through his head, it was settled.

The transport stopped and the doors opened, the guards that leapt out were surrounded by the severely damaged first Borough. Buildings with gaping wounds and the streets peppered with debris the size of the truck and larger. Nathan looked left and right seeing other transports doing the same. They began to set up defenses forming a perimeter spanning several miles away and around the Derelict Containment area. Nathan who was mockingly doing his duty setting defenses began looking for a route to escape. he couldn’t waste time staying there he had to go find Julia.

I just need to find one opening to escape. Straight ahead I could weave through this debris easily while I make it look like I'm getting more supplies.

As he’s drifting into thought another guard taps his shoulder to get his attention. Nathan gets spooked but calms down once he sees the familiar face.

“Don’t do that Kess!” Nathan says

“What? Don’t tap your shoulder? Haha for real?” Kess say

“No, Nevermind I’m just a little on edge.” Nathan says adjusting the rifle he’s carrying over his shoulder.

Kess looks around at the other guards who are stumbling around setting up as well with grim expressions on their faces “Yeah so are them, it seems like we’re the only ones in that caravan that are from the same squad.”

Nathan nods his head agreeing then a shocking revelation crosses his mind when Kess inches closer to him. “So, I kinda gotta ask ya why didn’t you raise your hand when they were talking about BP’s earlier?”

Nathan and Kess lock eyes as he asks his question, Nathan, unsure how to answer had a desperate look in his eyes.

Kess could ruin my chances if he speaks out. If the squad leader finds out my perk, then he’ll keep his eyes on me indefinitely. I have to make sure he doesn’t talk, but how?

As they continue to stare at each other Kess waiting for an answer, a red beam appears on Kess’s chest.

What is that? A beam? Wait, a beam?!

Nathan turns his head in the beams direction and sees a sniper posted on top the wreckage of a building behind cover. Quickly Nathan pushes Kess out of the way milliseconds before an energy round could pierce his armor. The round doesn’t go unnoticed as other guards begin to look around trying to assess the situation but that’s when dozens of beams begin taking aim at them. Abruptly a Caravan in the distance blows up and a flood of rounds from energy rifles rains upon them, Nathan falls behind cover as several guards begin to drop dead around him.

What the fuck is this?!? An ambush? From who?!

A body of a guard drops behind a towering piece of debris Nathan found cover behind. He frighteningly moves the body over as he begins to frantically looks up and around him. A confused expression sweeps his face as he doesn’t recognize who is shooting at him and his fellow guards from the roofs of building and pillars of wreckage.

From atop the nearest perch point to Nathan, in the wreckage of a building a squad of these soldier's fire upon Nathan and the group of guards he came with. The yellow energy rounds from they’re semi-automatic rifles reflecting on their polished red and purple armor. A solider with long blonde hair protruding from their helmet taps another solider playfully ruining their shot. The other solider taps them back returning the favor. This was easy for them like shooting fish in barrel.

Of the guards that weren't cowering behind cover, those that could still fight began to rush into formation at the squad leader’s orders. They were trying to mount a comeback but it seemed to be futile, they are pinned and outgunned. Nathan begins to panic as the debris around him starts to crumble, his breathe is heavy and frenzied, he can't stop shaking.

Is this where I die? Without telling her-

He grits his teeth and clenches his rifle.

No

Nathan looks over at Kess who is huddled and not firing his rifle. He yells for him “Kess!” he yells for him several times until he gets his attention.

A frightened Kess looks up at Nathan “Nathan, What the fuck is going on!? What are we going to do?”

Nathan inhales deeply, piercing Kess with his stare, he firmly yells to Kess “Shoot!”

Kess doesn’t understand “What?!”

Nathan repeats “SHOOT!”

Nathan then pokes out of cover to see where the firing is coming from and once, he gets his barring he begins to fire back.

I might not be the best fighter, but dammit, I can put up a fight.

Kess sees Nathan going on the offensive and begins to fire as well. The twos bravery is infectious as the other cowering guards begin to gather in formation wanting to defend their lives against this mysterious attacker. Nathan firing his rifle like a madman and manages to hit the soldier next to the long-haired one. The armor around the neck of the solider pierced and leaking blood forced them to fall back.

The long-haired solider puts down their rifle as they tend to the solider that fell back. They pat the soldiers neck trying to stop the bleeding.

The long haired solider speaks, his voice deep and slightly quaking “Ty, Ty? You're okay right? We can fix this.”

Ty tightly grips the long-haired soldier's arm with their eyes connecting thru the slits in their helmet. “Zale, I-” Ty coughs blood that spills onto the purple of Zale’s gauntlet. “Zale” he says weakly coughing more blood. The fear of lose could be seen through Zale’s helmet. A solider of high rank was in the back of the snipers nest they had set up, Keeping an eye on all of the soldiers under they're command. They noticed Ty beginning to perish, he signals a solider, halting his attack on the guards, he is then prompted to go to Ty and Zale.

The solider stands before Zale who is gripping Ty’s neck with his hands covered in blood. The solider attempts to grab Ty but Zale thwarts it by shoving his hands out of the way. The solider looks back at the higher ranking solider who has begun his approach to Zale. “118, both of you knew what you were signing up for this is procedure and stopping procedure is punishable by death. Now relinquish the body.” The high ranking solider looked down on Zale who slowly let go of Ty. The solider began to drag Ty’s body away a safe distance before opening the chest plate to the armor they’re all wearing. After pull out a small level attached to the undercarriage of the armor's plates the solider twist and presses it inward into Ty activating a charring energy field that begins to consume his body. Ty and Zale’s eyes are locked as the field envelops Ty’s body disintegrating it. Zale is in disbelief but his disbelief is shrugged off to the high ranking solider as he speaks again. “Get back to firing, this mission isn’t over. Or do you not want the credits, 118?” The high-ranking solider falls back to his original post in the back of the Nest. Slowly Zale reaches for his rifle, grabbing it with anger and hate in his eyes he goes back to his vantage point and begins to look for Nathan. He spots him but can't get a shot on him, he peeks out of his scope and looks at the debris Nathan found cover behind and begins to shoot at a loosely connected point at the top of it. Once Zale finishes firing at the only support the large tip of debris had, it fell.

Nathan was firing tagging another solider knocking them back, Kess looks at Nathan surprised he’s doing as well as he is when he notices the large piece of debris that was going to land on him. Kess screams for him “Nathan! Watch out!” Nathan looks over at Kess who was pointing above him. He then notices the shadow of the large piece of debris that was about to fall on top of him. Nathan lets out a loud yell as the debris crashed on top of him. A dust cloud flooded the guard's area of operation and the soldiers stopped firing since they're view was obstructed.

Kess stared with shock at the spot Nathan was located

Is he...Dead?

Kess stared deeper into the dust cloud and saw that the large piece of debris began to move, he was even more shocked that he saw it started to be lifted in the air

“NATHAN!” He screamed as he witnessed Nathan lifting the large piece of debris. The armor plates around his biceps and legs creaked and busted at the inflation of his muscles. The red veins brightly glowing through his body indicating the activation of his Blood Perk.

Almost thought I was done for there. This could actually be the opening I need!

Zale stares into the dust cloud and identifies Nathan carrying the piece of debris he shot onto him. Zale frenzied as he began to aim back down his scope. Once he had Nathan in his sights, he fired several rounds around Nathan hoping to hit him. None of the rounds hit their mark, as Nathan steps back several steps. Zale Reloads his Rifle when Nathan lunges forward, hurling the large piece of debris through the cover where he was hiding behind crashing into the sniper's nest.

The already devasted building crumbles even more taking the soldiers with it. The destroyed building leaves a large dust cloud that Nathan saw as an opportunity to escape. He jolts down an alley toward the Aquatran area deserting his squad. Once he gets a fair distance, he removes the busted pieces of his guard's armor leaving only his pearl-like blue body armor plates attached to the similar shoulder pads. He reaches into his white uniform cargo pants bringing out his mobile device. He inputs the destination: AquaTran.

Moments and miles later, Nathan arrived to the Aquatran station to find it completely devasted. The tracks covered in debris and pieces of its sign hanging from the roof of the collapsed station. His eyes widen at the sight as several grim possibilities flood his mind.

She could be buried in all this...

Nathan rushes over, slides on his knees and begins tossing pieces of the destroyed building to the side. He digs his hands deep scratching himself on loose nails and wood. “Julia!” he calls for her with no response! “Julia!” he digs deeper until he lifts a piece of the fallen wall that reveals the hand of woman. He Jumps back frightened. “Oh, no.”

That hand is too pale to be Julia’s but there were definitely people in here when it got destroyed.

He leans forward on his knees and slams his fist into the ground “Dammit! Julia!” he continuously beats the ground frustrated.

There was so much I was going to tell you! You, you were the only comfort I had in my life, how you cared for me after my father died, you and your family showed me so much kindness

Tears began to form in his eyes and fall onto his shadow as he perched over on the ground.

I should of told you earlier, I don’t know why I waited, I wanted the moment to be perfect. I thought you deserved that, but now.

“I can’t tell you at all now!” he screams at the tops of his voice. He stops abruptly as the sealed class A derelict roars echoing through all of the first borough. Loud thuds begin to be heard as the ground trembled. Even though Nathan was miles away the giant water dome surrounding the Derelict could be seen. Large splashes of water flew out of different sides of the water dome simultaneously with the thuds. Nathan kept on his knees but leaned back staring at the dome dumbfounded.

It's trying to break out.

Soon another roar could be heard from the Dome with it echoing the streets once again. Nathan’s ears perk up once he hears roars from smaller derelicts near him.

Are they communicating? I don’t care honestly. Wouldn’t it be better I just left too? And joined you.

Stressed weighted heavy on his mind until a small glimmer of hope shined. When the pack of smaller derelicts near Nathan let out a combined roar, faint screams from a woman could be heard thereafter. Quickly Nathan turned his head in the direction of the womans scream.

Was that?

To Be Continued...