A sudden threat makes special abilities evident, yet trouble remains in the journey ahead.

Part I


I was enjoying myself at a party at my friend Pip’s house, although his house was different on the inside and was on my old block in Manhattan. There were quite a few people there, mostly friends from high school. Not too much was going on there, as I was just walking around, talking a little with each person I saw.


At one point, it dawned on me that it was getting late and I should find a place to sleep. I started looking through the house, and turned a corner where a long hallway had many doors on both sides. I opened the door quietly and saw three beds pushed together, with two girls on the two outside beds. I walked over and made my place between them and fell asleep.


I woke up very quickly and noticed the others waking up. I turned my head and saw my friend Vanessa next to me. I smiled in surprise and we started talking. She took a quick look to the door and asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. I agreed, and soon we were outside.


We started walking down the block and stopped at recess in a gate. I sat up on a ledge, and we continued our conversation. I looked back to the house and saw a couple cats and dogs running out of the house and started moving toward me. I went to pick up the first cat that got to me, but right at the moment I looked at the terror in the cat’s face everything went into slow motion. Vanessa started running and grabbed my hand, and I followed. I looked back at the house and saw a completely black figure emerging from the house. Even though it was in slow motion still, the figure was moving at full speed. I started planting my legs hard into the ground and started running as fast as I could, building up speed to the point where Vanessa was no longer running; her whole body was in the air as I pulled her forward and away. A horizon of water got closer and closer, and even as fast as I was moving, the dark figure was still gaining. The amount of ground I had left was running out, and as I got closer to the end of the line, Vanessa yelled at me to slow down. I started to slow and she regained her footing. The short brick fence that marked the end of the line was dangerously close now. Vanessa then planted her feet, and in an instant she leaped so high that I was now the one being dragged. We floated through the air in a weightless glide and I looked behind to see the dark figure move farther away. I looked down at the water, which was flowing down to a huge waterfall, and noticed that tons of human bodies floated lifelessly along and went down the fall. We continued to climb up and as we got higher, I started to black out.


Part II


Things picked up once again with me walking in line with a large group of people. We were in some kind of old fashion movie theater and were moving to an unknown location. We entered a large doorway that led to stairs going underground. We got underground and then we were sectioned off and put into these classrooms. Everyone took a seat and then a guy in light armor walked in.


He started things off by saying “Those of you who escaped the hunt may have believed that you were unique and special, but now know that there are many just like you.”


Everyone exchanged looks to each other and listened on.


“That is no longer important,” He said. “It’s up to you to work together now. Follow me.”


Everyone got up and we followed through the small door. There was a curving tunnel with light at the end. Even though we seemed to be far underground, when we got to the end of the tunnel, we were outside once again. There was a huge field of sand with a heavy duty metal structure surrounding it. There were many people populating the area. They were running, throwing medicine balls, and performing other activities. I started walking across to the other side of the field. I was close to the center of the field when the ground started to rumble. Seismic waves created a huge circle that took up almost the whole field, and the ground started to dip. I started running towards the safe area outside the circle, and the ground started to spin. I pushed hard and ran as fast as I could. Everyone was running to the outside, some faster than others, but no one was running as fast as I was. The sand started to liquefy which then made people sink into it. I just kept on running to the outside, and even though the sand was slowing me down, I still made it to safety. I looked back and the ground sunk into the depths taking out many people. A huge hole was there with only darkness seen where the ground once was.


I took a breather and everyone was in panic mode. I was moving around trying to find out what was going on, but no one knew. Everyone thought the threat was over, but they were wrong. Another rumbling began to shake the fortress, but the source could not be seen. I looked around to locate the source, but then one of the huge walls was pummeled by a wave of sand. The force made little work out of the giant metal wall, and continued forward toward the group of people that remained. One person yelled “Run!” and another person yelled “Jump!” I did both. I got a running start and took a giant leap. Just as my friend did before, I soared through the air. Many others did the same thing and we moved through the air higher and higher. I looked to my left and right and saw hundreds of people jumping and flying through the air. I took a deep breath in an as the air entered my lungs I ascended at a greater rate. As we went up more, we were now above a city that looked like it had been destroyed. I reached the peak of my jump and started making my way down. I landed on a rooftop and things flashed forward a bit.


Part III


I met up with a few others who escaped, and we developed our own little sector in the remnants of the town. According to a chart I saw on a chalkboard, I was the leader of the clan. I walked outside of the building and saw that I was in a post-apocalyptic city. I turned the corner and saw a car speeding after me. A guy stuck his body out of the passenger side and started shooting at me. I ran behind a burned car and hid from the bullets. The car stopped and two guys came out. Each guy took one side of the car I was hiding behind and came at me from both sides. I stood up quickly and made eye contact with one of the guys and realized it was one of the people that escaped the fortress along with me. He told the other guy not to shoot and said that there was a lot of work to do.


Apparently he was a leader of another clan, and said that there were 4 big clans that fought against each other for no reason. I told him that we needed to call a meeting and figure something out. He took me underground through a series of tunnels where we met up with the other three clan leaders. I told them that we need to unite and form a brotherhood in order to progress at all. We agreed that there was no reason for us to go at each other, and that we needed to band against whatever force attacked the human population. At that moment I started to hear another voice. It was a voice with a foreign accent attached to it, yet it belonged to no one in the room. I asked where the voice was coming from, and one of the guys held out a video tape. He said that the voice belongs to a guy that died and was planted inside, but had a “reclaimer” card that would bring him back to life. The only problem was that the card was lost. The man inside the tape told us where to encounter the enemy, and we were on our way.


We had a good amount of people with us marching through the city. It was daytime now, and we reached a large intersection. A large group of creatures wearing samurai-like armor emerged from buildings and formed a line in front of us. Their leader stepped forward and tossed a sword to me and then pulled another one out. He started yelling and everyone began to charge at each other. Out of nowhere a portal opens up behind me and these Viking-looking warriors riding on horses emerge from it and one of them picks me up. The horses start flying, and we are heading towards a broken electronic billboard screen, like the ones you would see at Times Square. I tell the guy to look out but as we get closer the screen lights up and the Vikings start flying through it as if it were liquid. We got through the screen but the Viking said “I don’t have clearance to bring you through, but I’m going to put you here and I’ll send for them to get you. He opened up a shelf and put me inside of it. Somehow I was now inside of a compact disc.


I was now seeing things from a third person perspective, as I was looking at the CD I was inside of. I was in some kind of archive, and there wasn’t really anyone around. It was very quiet, but I tried to call out for help. Nothing. Then my view switched to a hand grabbing mine and pulling me out.


Part IV


I was now in a floating transport, accompanied by the man who was stuck in the video tape box before. He was a Russian guy and wore a Russian military uniform with all kinds of pins and such on his chest. I asked how he got me out and he said that he was tired of waiting for a reclaimer card and figured out a way to get out without it. He said that my reclaimer card could come in handy though.


He was directing me around a top deck where huge sails were full of wind and pulled the ship in some direction. We were up so high that it looked like we were flying through space. It was very dark and stars filled the sky. There were people wearing regular clothing walking around. A little peace and quiet was nice, but it wouldn’t last for long.


Sirens began to sound off and people ran off in different directions. There was a slight blast and the huge sail that was propelling the vessel came down with a hard crash. I ran over to the top portion of the sail that had fallen. I grabbed the top piece that had a huge hook in it and I took a few steps back. I ran forward and jumped, flying up to the top of the ship. I zeroed in on the anchor for the sail and put the hook into the anchor hole. I then jumped back down to the ship.


There were no more blasts, but only an amplified voice that echoed from every direction. “We have you surrounded. Prepare to be boarded.”


Everyone yelled to run inside and get into the inner cells. I followed people and made my way into a small room. There was a big window that looked outwards. I opened the window and saw a ship outside of us to the left, but we weren’t really surrounded. I started to climb out of the window and then I got a good foothold on the window frame and pushed off. I jumped with as much strength as I could, and I went into flight down towards the ground, which was miles away. The enemy vessel seemed to take note of my departure, as they started shooting some kind of laser beam at me. I had made too fast of an escape though. None of the beams reached me.


It was right about then that I started thinking how the hell I was going to be able to land on the ground without becoming a pile of mush. Luckily, there was a ship flying across in the distance. I controlled my flight a bit and went along in the same direction as the ship, getting closer in distance but not going straight down and crashing into it. My body was getting really hot and my skin felt like it was burning. I was matching speeds with the ship and was getting very close to it. Soon I made contact with the ship and held on for dear life. Things flashed forward and faded away.


Part V


I was now in a military uniform. I had segmented armor all over my body and had a backpack that had an assortment of items in it. I was in a large building that had both civilians and military inside of it. Parts of it looked like a hospital, and other parts looked like a food court. I was in a line of soldiers making our way through the complex.


I asked the person ahead of me what was going on, and he said “We were the lucky ones chosen for a tunnel mission.”


I had no idea what that was but I still followed. People were talking to me as I walked through, saying good luck and such. Every time someone talked to me, I assured them that I would be back. We got through the complex and went down a large amount of stairs. We finally reached the end where there was a large circular doorway with some kind of vehicles in front of it. We got closer to the vehicles and I noticed that they were actually living creatures that were kind of like elephants, except they were covered with thick metal armor. Each one of us, about 20, hopped on top our own creature and then the door open revealing a circular tunnel.


“Get ready, and when it starts, stay low!” said the guy at the front.


We started moving, and I took the advice, and stayed as close to the body of the animal I was on. They started to pick up speed through the tunnel, and then from the outer walls of the tunnel, huge spikes started sticking out very fast from many directions. The elephants dodged all the spikes while still moving through very fast. It was like the tunnel was a living thing; it expanded and contracted as we moved through. The elephants made for a safe passage, and soon the spikes disappeared after we traveled a great distance.


We were all told to get off the creatures and pull out our “pads”. We all reached to our bags and pulled out two large devices that were kind of like the electro-shock pads used to bring people to life. I clicked it on and they started to glow a bright blue. We now entered a different section of tunnel, which was like a jungle of spikes. Before we walked in, the guy at the head hit a button that was exposed on one of the outer panels of the tunnel. “We should be safe, but if anything comes at you, use the pads to block it.”


We made it through unscathed. Now there was a new section of tunnel that was pretty bare, save for a set of lights at the upper part of the tunnel. There were red markings on the walls and looked like meat was stuck to the sides. We started to make our way through it and the leader pushed another one of the buttons. This time was different though. Instead of the buttons making for a safe passage, the lights turned on. I jumped out of the way and looked behind me. Everyone that stood in the direct range of the light was vaporized. In an instant they were all gone. I went to get up, but it seemed like I didn’t jump in time. I had no legs, and my left hand was gone.


From that moment on, I went into panic mode. At first everyone ran back, leaving me behind. I yelled to one of the guys in back and convinced him to take me back. He carried me back and hopped back on the elephants for the return trip. Things flashed forward and I was back in the complex.


I was lying down now in a section with other wounded soldiers. People walked by and watched but someone stopped and ran to me. It was Vanessa, and she was wearing a military uniform and had her hair up. She grabbed my hand and looked very sad. At that point I felt weaker and weaker. I was starting to fade and I fully collapsed to the ground. I looked to my hand in front of me and saw a shiny black shoe take a step in front of me. A small business card sized piece of paper with a string attached to it fell next to my hand. I picked it up and looked at what it said. There was a picture of me on it with my name below the picture. At the top of the card said “Reclaimer”. As soon as I saw the word I felt my legs and hand start to grow back.


I was completely healed. I went to stand up, and things flashed forward again. The room was now empty. I walked out and was in a food court. People were walking around. I went to go grab a tray for food then it was over.