The Epitome of the Infinite

Two

Dawn broke over the horizon, casting rays of pink and orange over a farm and its silo. A lone cockrel flapped up to an exposed beam at the top of the silo and began its morning call, marking the start of another beautiful day...

Before it was promptly relieved of its duty with the appearance of a leather boot.

I cracked open a sleep-encrusted eye, hearing the fowl land with an angry "BWAK!", and closed it again, grumbling all the while into my pillow. "Could've waited five more minutes but nooo. Could've done it on the barn like every other time but nooo. Had to come up here at this time and scream into my face." With a final groan, and fighting the urge to remain in the warm embrace of the sheets, I rolled out of the bed-

Straight into freefall.

In case you forgot, I was sleeping at the top of a silo. But in case you forgot, just stop reading. It's not worth carrying on any more. But why was I at the top of a silo? The feeling I get, the adrenaline rush, beats coffee hands down any day. The wind wakes me up, better than any water wash. And the gigantic waste of space up there, enough for a large-ish mattress, a well stocked supply cache, and my go bag, 72 hours' worth of food and drink. And other stuff.

Throwing a hand out, I caught an overhang of cobblestone, seizing my fall on the side. Kicking off the side, I dropped the last five metres to land nimbly on my toes.

I do it, because I can.

I may have failed to mention the whos and the wheres. I am, *ahem* Lynne del Felis Chydae (kai-day) von Lytrix. Yes, it's a mouthful. You can call me Lynne von Lytrix, Lynne even, but say 'Lee Lee' and you'll be eating with a straw. Touch of psycho, sprinkle of bipolar, and a heavy helping of murderous tendencies makes me the perfect institute lab rat. And I was, in a wonderful building called LIVE Corp.

Fantastic in its concept. What it was, was a pit viper, concealed under its unshed skin of hope and a better future.

They performed human experimentation. Augmentation. Kidnapped kids and ran tests, in an attempt to create supersoldiers. I was one of them. Nothing worked, however. But they still kept us there; something about a conveniently non-existent contract. Over time, as more people were called to arms, coupled with the consistent failure rate, our numbers dwindled. Until it was me, my brothers, and hardly any security.

That's when we broke out. Knocked out half of the building on the way out, but at the cost of one brother. It wouldn't have mattered. Our world was torn. Each step crunched on bone and ballistics, each breath thick and acrid with black and crimson. And the faint but unmistakable whine of a 'Shiva' missile as it raced across the skies to meet us in a blinding white fate. My brother was lucky, I realised, that he didn't have to wait to die.

Still we ran. Human instinct pulled us from the city and to this place, far from the destruction, to live our last moments free.

When it came, the earth roared in pain. Opened wide and licked its jagged lips with its molten tongue. Mountains vanished, oceans receded, and massive chunks were volleyed into the black beyond to join the infinitesimal volume of debris.

Just as the planet could take no more, the ancient power of the Glow revealed itself again. With a wave of its cosmic arm, the carnage ceased, and the earth returned to equilibrium. But the damage was done, and would remain a permanent scar until the end of time.

Now three weeks on, and life has returned to some semblance of normalcy.

"LYNNE!"

Or maybe not.

My big(ger) brother, Tyrion von Lytrix. Middle name unknown. He refuses to tell me. My calm, collected grounding rod, preventing me from floating away in my mind. He strode over to me and stopped, tapping his foot impatiently, a stormy look brewing on his face. As I opened my mouth to speak, he stuffed his hand in, stopping me short. Only he would know how to effectively shut me up. No one else would dare stick their hand in a lion's mouth. "Now before you answer me, I want you to think, very carefully, about what you did. Yes?"