A Friend Closer than a Brother

        "Run!" I shouted to Ray. Our legs pumped as we ran down the dark hallway, away from the sound from the Chasers scraping along behind us. We ducked into a room, and I leaned against the door as Ray, holding a flashlight in his mouth, searched for the next computer. Breathing hard, I began to reload my gun. He turned around and motioned for me to be quiet. This is life for us now. Always running, always hiding and fighting for our lives. I owe everything I know, everything I've learned since the invasion, to Ray Whinnoh. I would never have survived without him.
       
         When I first fell into this mess, the year was 2032. The war with the terrorist group ISIS had been going on for eleven years, each year bringing new weapons, new technologies, and new bio-hazards that the world had to look out for. ISIS had taken over fourteen countries, implemented their own monetary system, infiltrated the U.S. Army to make converts and had killed over 60 million "infidels." We, however, on United States soil, were told things like not to fret, to continue with our daily lives, that peace negotiations are having high success rates, and our military was also having success. This was being told to us via sky projections, every night at 8 o'clock PM. Televisions and phones were outlawed. Five years prior, the government banned all electronic devices not distributed by the government themselves. It had been three years since all non-direct, non-government-regulated news agencies had been shut down. My family was essentially clueless as to what had been going on in the world. The Whinnoh family, on the other hand, had connections to the military, so they got information on events regularly. You see, Ray's uncle was a sort of general or something. They never really taught me about how the army works in school, so I don't really know much about that sort of stuff. But Ray does. Ray knows a lot.
         It was about a year ago. We were neighbors, Ray and I. It was my little brother's 8th birthday that day, and while he was at baseball practice, I decided to bake him a cake. They didn't sell them in stores anymore due to sugar restrictions, health regulations, and all sorts of other government implemented rules about what could be sold in stores and what U.S. Citizens could eat. But my grandmother was a baker before the war, and my mother had her cookbook. I began to mix everything up, thinking about how excited my brother would be when he found out I had made him a real cake. I imagined him coming home, and realizing what I had done, he would jump up and down, yelling and saying "Terra, you're the best sister ever! Cake! Cake! Cake!" I mixed all the dry ingredients, and when I went to mix the wet ingredients, which called for three eggs, I realized we only had two. I thought I'd just run over to the Whinnoh's and see if they had any.
         I pulled out a pair of sneakers, and a light jacket in anticipation of the chill autumn air. I stepped outside and immediately regretted not putting on a warmer jacket. I walked briskly across the driveway, through the yard, and up the Whinnoh's front steps. I oped the screen door and pulled the knocker back, rapping quickly three times. I stood waiting, wrapping my jacket tighter around me and tucking my hands under my arms. I bobbed up and down on the balls of my feet, partly from the cold, and partly from impatience. It had probably been a minute and a half, and I reached for the knocker, intending to knock again, when the wooden door swung open. There stood Ray. I drew my hand back and let it fall to my side as a small gasp escaped my lips in surprise. He gave me a glare and sternly said, "You woke me up from my nap." But his smirk betrayed his grumpy demeanor.
         At the time, he was 18 years old, graduating at the end of the school year. He stood about 6 feet tall, with dark features and fair skin. He was the very typical handsome Japanese man. His hair was shaggy, his teeth were straight from the once corrective grip of braces, his sinewy stature leaning slightly against the door frame, and his plump lips pursed in a half frown, half smirk. His plaid pajama pants stopped short at his ankles, giving him a funny sort of juvenile look. I knew he got his Asian looks from his mothers side, but his father's long American heritage played a stronger roll in their house than his mother's Japanese culture.           
         I'd known the Whinnoh family since I was 10 years old. Ray and I spent a lot of time together growing up; he was a bored only child and I was the only companion available in a neighborhood full of mostly senior citizens. It didn't mean we liked each other too much though. We had a sort of mutual tolerance for each other out of necessity, especially since we entered our teenage years. Him being two years older than me, he hated having me hang around when he brought his "cool" friends over, and I hated him embarrassing me in front of said "cool" friends, who I happened to find very attractive. But when they were gone, we were together a lot. We were like siblings.
          "Who cares about your nap? Can I come in? It's cold." I asked him, a shiver running through my body. It was getting colder by the second. He didn't respond. He just turned around and walked away, his bare feet slapping on the hardwood floor. I shuffled inside, letting the screen door bang shut behind me, and began to follow him. Thinking better of it, I turned around and shut the heavy wooden front door as well to keep out the cold. I then threw my jacket off onto the foyer floor and walked in the direction he'd gone. I ended up in the kitchen, finding him drinking out of the half full milk jug.
         "Gross..." I grumbled as I sat on one of the stools at the breakfast bar. He screwed the lid on, put the milk back in the fridge and sat across from me. He stared at me.
         "So." I said.
         "So." He replied.
         "I need eggs."
         "Why?"
         "I'm making a cake for Cade."
         "Cake for Cade." He repeated. He sighed and hopped off the bar stool.
         "You couldn't have told me that while I was standing right by the fridge?" He said, drawing out his question with an annoyed tone. But yet again, his smirk betrayed him as he walked towards the fridge. He grabbed the fridge handle then stopped to look out the window.
         "Your parents are home." He stated boredly as he yanked open the fridge. I leaned forward in my chair to glance out the window. Sure enough, there they were. Just as he was reaching into the egg box, I heard his garage door open.
         "Your parents are home." I said. He gave me a stern look, and very firmly said,
         "Do not copy me," He waggled a finger at me, "or no eggs for little miss Terra." I rolled my eyes. He walked back over and handed me the eggs. I wondered why nobody had come inside yet even though his parents had opened the garage door. Ray came to sit at the bar again, chair scraping against the floor as he sat down, snapping me out of my thoughts. Realizing he had given me three eggs, I set one down on the counter and got up to put the other two in the fridge. On my way there, I looked out the adjacent window and saw the two eldest Whinnohs walking up to my parents in the driveway. I leaned on the counter and watched them interact. The wind was whipping the two mom's hair around, and everyone looked uncomfortably cold. I searched to see if Cade was with them. He was. I watched as he ran up to Mrs. Whinnoh and gave her a hug. I read her lips as she said happy birthday to him and my father motioned for everyone to go inside my house.
         "Your parents are going to my house." I said, leaning on the fridge and looking at Ray, one hand holding the handle to the fridge, the cold metal making goosebumps rise on my arms.
         "Looks like we have the place to ourselves." He said with a ridiculous voice, wiggling his eyebrows. I laughed and turned to open the fridge when a low whomping sound began in my ears. I thought it was just the central heater coming on, but as I opened the fridge to put the eggs back, I noticed the various foods and jars vibrating. I closed the fridge and the sound grew louder, like a steady bass note penetrating my ears. I turned around and looked at Ray. He was staring at my egg on the counter, watching as it shook violently. He glanced at me just as the China began to shake, setting a-play a cacophony of clinking sounds throughout the kitchen to go along with the bass noise, which was gradually getting louder and more distinct. It reminded me of the wings of a helicopter whooshing through the air. I pressed my hands to my ears to try and muffle the sound. Ray glanced behind me and nearly jumped out of his chair, practically flying to the window. He gripped the counter, knuckles white, his eyes growing wide. I joined him, and looking up at the sky, I saw a huge hovercraft floating slowly down, directly towards our houses, as if it were going to land on them. The ship shimmered as it's shield faded. I looked at Ray, my mind racing. What in the world was going on? Is that seriously a freaking hovercraft? The words that came from his mouth next scared me more than anything else. He just looked at me, dead in the eye, his usual smirk gone, replaced by a grim, serious, expression. He whispered, "Oh no."
        He grabbed my shoulders. "Terra, I need you to listen closely." I began to tremble. I'd only seen him this serious once before, and that was when his uncle came over for a week two years ago. I wasn't allowed to see Ray during that whole week, so the day his uncle left, I came and knocked on the door. Ray answered, and he had had a black eye. I asked him what happened and I remember, with this same sort of serious demeanor, he had said "I was training." But it was different now. Scarier, somehow. Maybe it was because his eyes had the flame of panic burning in them. He looked up out the window again, and under his breath, murmured, "No. Oh no."
         His grip on me tightened as his eyes bored into mine. "Okay. We have 2 minutes tops, maybe three. Go to the basement. In my dad's office, in his desk, there's like... It's like a hidden thingy... You know what, never mind, I'll do that. Terra, go lock the front door and grab some blankets from the living room, a jug of water from the garage, and do you know where the first aid kit is?" I shook my head no. He let go of my shoulders and ran his fingers through his hair.
         "It's in the laundry room," He said, pointing in that direction with one hand, the other now gripping a chunk of his hair. "Above the dryer in the cabinet. Now go. Meet me in the basement." I nodded my head and turned to go, but just as I turned away, he grabbed my arm. He almost had to yell over the incessant noise of the hovercraft descending and the rattling of various things in the kitchen. His smirk returned just for a moment. "If you remember while you're in the laundry room, grab me some pants!" He said, motioning toward his pajama bottoms.
         I practically ran to the front door. I shoved my shoulder against it and turned the bolt lock. My hands were trembling so hard it was hard for me to turn the key-lock, but I did it. Yanking the keys out of the door, I grabbed my jacket from the floor and put it on, placing the keys in the pocket. I grabbed the basket of blankets from the living room. I then sprinted to the laundry room, on my way, retrieving the water jug from the garage, which was still open from when his parents pulled up. The orange fall leafs were being blown inside the wide, open door. I had only just stepped in there for a moment, but it was as if the cold had gotten colder, and the wind was blowing at a rate that I'm sure could've been classified as a tornado. All it did was increase my terror and shaking. The open garage made me feel so exposed. I pressed the button to close it then locked the door to the garage as well.  When I got to the laundry room, my first order of business was throwing the first aid kit into the basket. Then I began frantically searching for Ray's pants. I saw a pair of dark grey sweats and threw them into the basket as well. I ran to the basement stairs, barely touching the steps. Next thing I knew, there was a huge booming sound, the house quaked, and I was falling down the stairs. I knocked my head on the last step, and was seeing white stars as I tried to sit up.
         "Terra?!" I felt a hand grip my arm, yanking me up. "Are you okay?" I nodded, unable to speak out of shock. I could hardly understand what was going on. Ray was holding the basket under one arm and gripping my wrist with his free hand. As he pulled me along, my vision cleared up. When we entered the office, the wall behind his father'a desk was gone. Where the wall should've been was now a large cavity occupied by what looked like a sort of bunker. I couldn't really tell because the only light was the light coming from the green office lamp on the desk. He dragged me inside, threw the basket onto what seemed to be a normal twin sized bed, then picked up a remote-like object and began punching buttons. The wall began to slide closed and we were thrown into a world of pitch black.
         The ground was still trembling, but the bass noise ceased. Ray was still gripping my wrist and I was still trembling like a leaf. All of a sudden, there was another earth shattering boom followed by an enormous crunching sound. I let out a small scream as the earth teem mired beneath our feet. This time it didn't stop. I struggled to stay afoot. Ray's hand slid up my arm and came to rest at the back of my neck. His other hand gripped the same wrist that he had held before. He lead me somewhere and I felt him sit down. He grabbed my hand instead of my wrist and placed it on what felt like a fluffy comforter. He pulled my head closer to his as he whispered.
        "Sit down." I obey. The bed wavered back and forth. The crunching sound continued. He pulled me closer to him so that my ear was right by his mouth.
        "I know you don't understand what's happening. But I do. I can't explain right now, so I need you to trust me. Right now we just need to be silent and stay in the dark until the first wave is over. Then if they don't find us, we'll be safe for a while. I can give you a pill to sleep Terra. It will help calm you down. Do you want it?" I nodded my head yes. I don't know how he could tell the difference between that and my previous trembling, but he pressed a small hard pill onto my closed mouth with his finger. I opened my mouth and he slid it onto my tongue.
         "Swallow." He said. I gulped the small pill down and he whispered for me to lay down. I did, my legs on top of his lap and my head laying back on the bed, staring at what I assumed to be the ceiling. The basket of supplies pressed on my right arm. I closed my eyes, not that it  would have made any difference against the pitch black of the room.
         Just as I was about to drift off, I felt him lean over me. He pressed his forehead to mine, and I felt his breath tickle my face. "I promise to protect you from them, no matter what." I drifted off thinking about who "they" were and what he meant by "first wave" and before I could think about why in the world he had a secret room in his basement, my mind went dark, like the thick blackness that surrounded Ray and I on the first day of The Invasion.
         The next day consisted of Ray briefing me on the situation. Apparently, ISIS had been working on creating a super soldier. It started first with human experimentation, trying to   merge robotics and human flesh into one, creating a controllable cyborg monster. When Ray's uncle first encountered one of these atrocities, he barely escaped with his life. After the encounter, his uncle became obsessed with observing and learning how to fight these super soldiers. He found where they were being created, and how they were only in the first stages of their Frankenstein like experiments. Their ultimate purpose was to search out and kill weak infidels. Not only this, but they would also take the strong ones captive, and also turn them into these atrocities, creating an army. Ray's uncle began calling them "Catchers" for this reason.
         Ray's uncle went under cover as a spy in the Catchers' production facility. He discovered the ultimate plan was to use these Catchers to invade America. There would be random attacks, known as waves, in which Catchers would rampage through cities and towns, destroying everything, killing all except those who would themselves become
Catchers. However, they had one weakness; their robotic half, which controlled the legs, could be momentarily disabled by a weak EMP, then giving you time to kill the human side, thus killing the whole Catcher. When Ray's uncle told the army what he had discovered, they dismissed him, saying that they had more important things to worry about. He became enraged and deserted the army, returning to America. He began telling everyone he could what was going to happen. He trained people on how to create an EMP pulse with a computer, how to fight and use weapons to defend themselves from  the Catchers, and helped people build bunkers that would protect them in the case of an unexpected invasion. This is what Ray's uncle taught him to do that week two years ago.
         As Ray was telling me all of this, he was ambling about the room, turning on lights and switches, computer displays blinking to life and maps, buttons and panels being illuminated by the white-blue glow of fluorescent lights. I was too shocked to do anything else other than sit cross-legged on the bed and stare at him, my jaw dropping at all the illegal things that were down here. The bunker was a lot bigger that I had initially expected. It had a tall ceiling, and I noticed a corridor leading to another room, which I couldn't see. Concrete steps carved into the already concrete wall lead to a loft. Once he finished turning on all the lights, he sat down in a swivel chair in front of one of the many computer screens and turned to look at me.
         "What is all this?" I asked him, completely dumbfounded by everything that was going on.
         "This," he said, spreading his arms and spinning his chair, motioning to everything in the room, "is how we're going to train you."
         "Train me? What do you mean? Can't we just go get your dad and my dad and-" I was on the verge of tears, but he cut my off.
         "I need to show you something." He stood up and grabbed the remote, opening the wall-door again exposing the office.
         I stood up and walked slowly towards the entrance to the office. If you could even call it that anymore. The once pristine, neat room now had dust covering everything, chunks of the ceiling had fallen apart and were strewn across the floor and desk. The bookcase had fallen over, crashing into the glass golf trophy case and littering books and glass over any given surface. It was a mess. Ray, who had changed into the sweats I had gotten him, picked his way through the rubble. I stepped down and began to follow him.
         The rest of the house was no better. The stairs were a mere skeleton of what they were before, the roof of the house had collapsed on one side, the kitchen sink had ruptured and was spewing water all over the place. We kicked books, dust bunnies, decorations, plates, and chunks from the demolished ceiling out of our way as we walked across the floor. The electricity was off. I tried not to think about how creepy it would be at night. But scariest of all were the scratch marks along the walls and hard wood floor. Some of them were only a few inches long, but others were feet long. Two, maybe three feet long, and deep too. Deep enough to expose the pink padding inside the walls.
         We couldn't get through the front door due to the roof collapsing, so we decided to go out the back door, which was in the basement. As we made our way back, I caught Ray wiping his eyes. I touched his arm, and he paused long enough for me to stand almost in front of him. "It's just the dust." He said, his red puffy eyes refusing to make contact with mine. I let him go and we continued walking. He pushed open the back door and let me step out before him. I made it about six steps before I collapsed, my knees digging into the frosty ground. I began sobbing, and Ray slowly walked to my side, kneeling down to put an arm protectively around me. My house was completely flat. There were burn marks all around it, as if the Hovercraft's engines had burned the ground and house upon its decent or takeoff. I didn't care which. My parent's car was rolled onto the street, the hood of the red SUV ripped off, the glass in the windows gone, the same deep scratch marks that I had seen in the house covered it all over, the metal curling into ribbons like some sort of demented Christmas present. Another sob wracked my body and Ray began pulling me to my feet, dragging me towards the door. Once I was inside, he closed the door and locked it. Putting an arm around my shoulder he helped me back to the bunker.
         I laid on the bed sobbing for hours. I heard Ray moving around, and I could tell he was clearing out the office. I heard the bookcase slam back against the wall as he righted it and the clink of glass as he swept it into a corner. Periodically he would come and sit beside me, rubbing my back and asking if I wanted some water and saying he was sorry. Then he would go back to working on whatever he was working on. He should be sorry! I was so mad at him. I couldn't believe he kept all of this to himself for years. I couldn't believe his family wouldn't tell anyone that this stuff was going to happen. It could've saved everyone! The bunker was plenty big, we could've easily fit everyone inside. I hated him. We could've gone to my house and got our parents and my brother out, but instead I got him a stupid pair of pants and some blankets. I couldn't believe it. A while later, I can't say how long, he came and sat by me again.
         Pushing my hair over my shoulder and stroking my head, he said "I'm going to go to your house and check if anyone survived." I let out a wail and swatted his hand off of my shoulder. I didn't want to be reminded that all of my family was probably dead! And just as I was finally calming down too.
         "Whatever." I growled out as I  curled onto my side. He sighed and I felt the bed shift as he got up.
         "I'll be back in an hour and a half." I heard his steps fade as he turned the corner outside the office.
         I began to panic as the sound disappeared. I couldn't lose him too, I thought. I couldn't lose both of my brothers in one day. I jumped off the bed and screamed "Wait!" as I began to run after him. I turned the corner, and saw him running full force towards me as well. Neither of us able to slow down in time, we bashed into each other. As we fell on the floor, I started crying again. I threw myself onto him, hugging him with all my might.
         "I'm sorry!" I sobbed. "I'm sorry I was being horrible!" He sat up and hugged me back.
         "I just can't lose anyone else Ray. Especially you! I don't know what to do. I'm sorry." I felt his chest heave and his tears dropped onto my head.
         "It's okay." He replied, his voice thick with sorrow. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have shown you the house without warning you first. I'm the horrible one. I could've saved them Terra! I could've sent out an EMP as soon we got into that bunker, but I just..." He choked up, and I hugged him tighter.
        "I'm going with you." I said, sitting up and wiping my eyes.
        "What? No you don't need to do that to yourself Terra." He said, standing up, and helping me stand as well.
        "Yes, I do. I'm going to have to eventually." I tried to steel my nerves, but I was still trembling despite myself.
         "Okay..." He gave me a look. "Are you sure?"
          "Yes I'm sure." I said as I smoothed out my shirt and wiped my eyes. "Let's go."
          I walked down the hall, Ray on my heels. I opened the door and caught a glimpse of the darkening sky. As I walked toward my house I saw the blood red sunset in west. I wondered how many other people died in the past day. The neighborhood was in shambles. Some houses were on fire, others were just trashed. Most of the cars were just as bad as my own family's. I looked down at my shoes going over the still green grass and made my way towards my house. I couldn't look at the destruction anymore.
         Ray came into stride with me. I was still looking down, but I felt him looking at me. When we reached my driveway, I stood there for a moment as Ray started walking in amongst the ashes of what used to be my home. It hadn't been a minute and I heard a faint whimper, and then Ray was on his knees, yelling for me.
I rushed to him, careening over the loose pieces of smoking rubble. Burned things were crunching and falling apart under my feet, the sound making me sick. I finally reached him, and saw the charred body of his father. Ray was desperately trying to lift him up, but he was obviously dead. I kneeled beside him, trying to stop him, his hands were black with soot.
        "Ray, let it go. He's gone, he's g-"
         "Cade!" He interrupted me and shouted my brothers name over and over. I was confused for a moment until I heard the faint whimper again.
        "Oh my god, Cade!" I fell to my knees and began trying to shove Ray's father's body to the side. When we finally succeeded, we began ripping away pieces of wood and metal, and I saw Cade's chubby leg, still clad in his blue and white striped baseball pants. I frantically began trying to unburry him, and in the process, grabbed a human arm. I screamed and fell backwards, scrambling away. This arm was a pale pinkish color, nearly untouched by soot or dirt. I recognized the ring on the feminine hand.
         "Mom..?" I crawled forward. I pushed the rubble off of her. A stream of blood escaped from the corner of her mouth and a large piece of rebar was protruding from her chest, her eyes still wide open. Dust and dubree were entangled in her long mousy hair. The sight of her grew blurry as my eyes filled with tears. I covered my mouth to stifle a scream. Ray looked over, and his eyes widened. He stood up and grabbed my mother under her arms, dragging her away and laying her beside his father. I sat numb, the world falling away with only the image of my dead mother remaining. He rushed back to me, grabbing my shoulders. He kneeled downs, slipping a little on the rubble.
         "You okay?" He asked. I nodded my head yes, though I was definitely anything but. My eyes staring into the empty distance, her limp, bleeding body the only thing i could think about. The tears fell in rivulets from my eyes. He continued to speak.
        "They were protecting Cade. Our parents. Terra, he's alive. Don't quit now. We got to get him out." I nodded again, and we went back to digging him out. I pushed a piece of pink wall insulation away, and his face was underneath. I yelped. His nose was definitely broken. His choked breath and whimpering told me something was very wrong.
        "Ray?!" I called, my voice wavering, but he was already beside me. In an instant, he lifted Cade's small but pudgy body in his arms, and began walking back to his house.  I ran ahead of the two boys, opening the basement door for Ray, and again, rushing past him in the hall. I entered the bunker, and shoved the basket of supplies off the bed. He laid Cade down on the bed. His breathing was labored and both of his eyes were swollen and purple. I sat down beside Cade and held his hand. Ray was going through the first aid kid. I began kissing Cade's forehead and face, smoothing his dirty hair out of his eyes.
         "Terra?" He choked out. I smiled and kissed his cheeks again.
         "Yes it's me buddy, I'm here. I love you Cade. I'm here buddy. It's okay." I was laughing and crying and I didn't know quite how to feel. I squeezed his hand tighter and he winced.
         "Am I gonna die?" Cade asked, coughing. Ray stood and squeezed my shoulder.
         "No way! No Cade! No. You are not going to die." I was almost hysterical. I looked at Ray for help.
         "We're not going to let that happen buddy." Ray said calmly, but the look he gave me said death would probably claim him anyways. I knew Cade would die. It was just a matter of time. It was then I noticed the stripe of red on Ray's light blue shirt. I didn't remember it being there before.
I looked at Cade and then back to Ray. My head started spinning, the buzz of a million ideas spurring me into action. I got up and rushed to the other side of the bed. I tilted Cade on his side for a moment, and what I saw confirmed my theory. A long red gash about a foot and a half long diagonally crossed his back and had left a blood stain on the bed. He was losing blood, and probably had a collapsed lung. The Catchers had got to him. I looked at Ray, my vision swimming.
         "Hey Cade, I have a pill that will help you go to sleep, do you want it?" Ray said to Cade, holding the small green pill I front of his face to show him. Cade nodded and tried to sit up, coughing and sputtering. I helped him sit up, my forearm become red with the blood from his back. I gave him a cup of water and he swallowed the pill. He then laid down, breathing still labored. He closed his eyes, but then snapped them opened again, a look of terror crossing his features.
        "Those things, Terra, they were so scary." He looked at me, his eyes glassy. I shushed him and stroked his hair, but he continued speaking, taking labored breaths after every few words.
        "They took dad, and then they tried to get me, but mom wouldn't let them. Then the house fell down and Mr and Mrs Whinnoh and mom all laid on top of me. Then I fell asleep, but I woke up because I was cold and then you came and got me." His eyes began slowly shutting as he was giving his little tale of events. I was crying again, and Ray was sitting there like a statue. I held Cade's hand.
        "Terra, I love you. And I love Ray too." Cade reached out and took Ray's hand as sob shook my frame. Then his eyes closed, and he fell asleep. We stayed like like that for a while, and eventually Cade stopped breathing. I fell on top of him and hugged him.
         We buried Cade in the backyard. Ray made a cross and stuck it onto of the grave. We didn't say anything. Ray was openly weeping, but I had no more tears to cry. I was angry. No, I was furious. I hated those stupid Catchers. They killed my brother on his 8th birthday. He was innocent. They took my father and killed the rest of my family. I vowed then and there that I would do anything and everything to fight ISIS's invasions and the Catchers. I would survive and Ray would teach me how.
         For the whole rest of the fall we went in search of food, firewood, tools and weapons, stocking up for the cold months ahead. In winter, Ray trained me how to fight and how to make a computer generated EMP. I wasn't great at the computer stuff, but I was a good fighter. Ray said I was fueled by rage, and I guess he was right. I would never forgive the Catchers for what they did to our families. We spent hours drilling and practicing in the bunker. We stayed inside mostly, the loft had a fireplace, and the room down the corridor is where we did our training, so we didn't really need to go outside except to get supplies. Ray set up a signal on the computer, hoping to find other survivors and people who his uncle had trained. There wasn't another Invasion until next April, but we didn't know about it until it was too late to help fight. We stayed in the bunker for that one, but we were ready to fight. The next day, we got a transmission from Ray's uncle. He gave us a location to meet him at. It would take 4 days to get there by foot, and so we set on our way. We packed up and haven't looked back.              
         For the past year, Ray and I have been working with his uncle, fighting Catchers and saving people, and training them to fight as well. This is my life now. Ray and I are  often times sent to lead missions against the Catchers. He's my teammate and brother; maybe not by blood, but in every other way, he is. We've changed a lot since the first invasion. Ray's sarcastic ways and smirk have been a rare thing to see since then, and I'm no longer so afraid of everything. Whether this is a good or bad thing, I don't know. But there's one thing that hasn't changed: Ray has always been by my side. Without his training and protection, I never would've made it this far. Cade's death was not in vain, and maybe I lost one brother, but I still have one. This is our life now, and we fight for what we lost, we fight for freedom, and we will always fight as a team.