The Invasion

Chapter 1 / Teaser

  I wake to loud pounding on my door, my eyes snapping open to scan my whole room before I calm slightly. "I'm up!" I shout, and the pounding stops.

  "You better be, Allaban!" Commander Rowly barks, and I'm instantly alert again. I'm on good terms with him and I've done nothing that would require a punishment, so there is only one reason he could sound so harsh.

  I'm shimmying into my combat gear before he can even get his next words out. "There's been an attack on Pluton."

  My hands slow their task of strapping on weapons as my mind whirs. Pluton is far away, and they have an even bigger brigade than we do. "Pluton? Why are we going there?" I ask.

  When I don't receive an answer, I realize he must have already gone to tell my five hall mates. He's the highest ranking official in this brigade, and from what I heard he got his pick of what group he wanted to manage. He chose us, the smallest and most overlooked.

  Not that he made a mistake in choosing us, he certainly didn't. We're the elites. We're the ones who have a special affinity for slaughtering the Invaders. At least, my hall mates have an affinity for it. They all lost someone to the Invaders, and they're out for blood. I don't enjoy it like they do, but I'm certainly as good at it as they are.

  We're not on the front lines, or even in the midst of the action, which is why we're so overlooked. However, it is undeniable that our task is the hardest; hand to hand combat. The Invaders are well trained in it, and they carry six foot poles that glow with whitish blue power. One touch can evaporate a human instantly, a shimmering waviness hanging in the air for a split second before every trace of them is gone.

  Those are the better trained Invaders, the ones who infiltrate cities by sneaking around our defenses. Their job, once they've entered the city, is to kill anyone and everyone they see.

  The Invaders fighting our forces on the front lines carry an assortment of weapons. Mostly guns, similar to ours but with the same devastating effect and glow as the poles.

  The invaders themselves shine with the blue light. It's faint, only really noticeable from dusk until dawn, and the color range varies. Their skin is like a muted version of their glow, some of them noticeably tinged with a lavender type of blue, others almost bordering on teal, and some such a pale, pure white they're almost translucent.

  Not even five minutes have pass until I'm completely suited up, all my close combat weapons strapped on, and standing at attention outside my door. Within the next minute, my five hall mates are doing the same. Our Commander paces up and down the hall in front of us, looking us over to make sure we haven't forgotten anything.

  I'm barely tall enough to be at eye level with his shoulder when he walks in front of me. I'm shorter than pretty much everyone here, a side effect of growing up in orphanages and giving all my food to the younger kids. Not to mention the beatings I received regularly, until I learned how to fight back. I'm strangely glad for them now, because if it weren't for those lowlife bullies I wouldn't be where I am today.

  "All right, let's load up!" Commander Rowly hollers. We jog quickly through the doorway toward the waiting helicopter, strapping ourselves down as soon as we're in our seats.

  While my comrades joke around and talk about their latest strategies, I double check all my gear, make sure I have more weapons than I'll need, and mentally prepare myself for the fact that I might die today.