Terminator - Dying Light

Chapter One

September 15th, 2003

2:04 am

Los Angeles, much like New York, never truly slept. Even in the dead of night, the city buzzed with life. The sky was clear, stars twinkling above, while the famous Hollywood sign was bathed in the glow of large spotlights sweeping across the hills. Perched atop the "H" were three teenagers, laughing and drinking, carefree and enjoying the moment. But their night was about to take a terrifying turn.

Suddenly, the spotlights below them flickered and dimmed as a strange gust of wind whipped through the hillside. The teenagers looked down, frowning as they felt the sign sway beneath them. Then, without warning, the lights went out completely, plunging the hill into darkness. The wind picked up, almost like a truck barreling through, causing the sign to sway more violently. Panic set in as they scrambled to climb down.

Just as they began their descent, a bright flash of light erupted beneath them, making one of them cry out in shock. The light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving them in the dark once more.

"Come on!" one of them yelled, desperation in their voice.

Electricity crackled and sparked along the sign's surface, casting eerie flashes of light around them. The sign rocked from side to side, and their stomachs dropped as the structure gave out. Their screams echoed in the night as they plummeted toward the ground. On the way down, more flashes of light blinded them, the heat in the air growing intense. When the sign finally crashed into the ground with a deafening roar, a cloud of dirt exploded into the air.

One of the girls, dazed and bleeding from her nose and forehead, looked up from where she lay on the fallen sign. Through the dust, she saw something that made her heart skip a beat. Between the fallen "H" and "O," a black sphere had formed, arcs of electricity sparking off it, sending showers of sparks down the ruined sign. She sobbed in fear as she stood, pain shooting through her ankle with every step. She limped toward where her friends were, all of them slowly gathering themselves. As they stumbled across the fallen sign, another bolt of electricity shot out from the sphere, striking a nearby bush and setting it ablaze. The intense heat and the surreal sight of the black sphere left them terrified and unsure of what was happening.

The sphere gradually faded away, revealing a naked man crouching on the ground, his head lowered and his eyes closed. As the last bits of dirt floated down to settle on the surface, the man slowly lifted his head, revealing a pair of glowing red eyes piercing through the haze. The girl gasped in terror, her heart racing as she saw those eyes lock onto them. Panic surged through her as she reached out, grabbing her friend's arm and pulling her up.

"Run!" she screamed, her voice filled with fear.

The male of the group groaned as he crawled out of a nearby bush, blood trickling down from a deep cut on his forehead. Dazed and confused, he looked up just in time to see the girl and her friend start to run, their footsteps crunching against the dirt as they fled from the horrifying figure that had just appeared. The night, once filled with laughter, had turned into a desperate race for survival.

The man didn't seem to be in a hurry as he emerged from the chaos, his skin completely untouched by the destruction around him. He stood there, naked and calm, his eyes scanning his surroundings as he assessed where he was. Then his gaze shifted upward, locking onto the boy who was struggling to flee. The boy, noticing the man's attention, quickly scrambled to catch up with his friends.

That's when the man began to move, following them with deliberate steps. He climbed over the fallen sign and made his way up the hill. As he reached a clearing, he spotted the headlights of a car in the distance. The two girls had reached the vehicle and were frantically trying to start it up, while the boy wasn't far behind, running as fast as he could.