Return Home; Maribell

Prologue... A Nightmare

The midnight sky boiled in blistering flames of molten rock that hurdled from the stars above, descending upon the many structures and people below. Bang, Bang, Bang, sounds of the clashing rocks recoiled within the unsteady air. A little boy gazed out of his window as he had watched helplessly, jaw dropped open, tears slithered down his cheeks from his eyes, red shot, full of anger and sadness, his hands clenched into fists, he grinded his teeth. Yet he could not do anything but watch as the fireballs fell and mutilated the many people. Friends, neighbors, all those he had grown close to, it was all but gone now. He had held a thin paper in his left hand, crinkled now, but still visible with the image of four people. Four people that had helped him understand this world, his family. 

When his mind had gone dark and hardened, his bedroom door had burst open and in came three people. His mother, father, and older brother, who was not but a few years older than him. They came in with full awareness of what was happening, with the mere thought of only what was at stake, their lives. 

The boy's mother came to him and pressed her hands on his shoulders, twirling him around to where his eyes could not meet the windows view. Cupping her arms around his waist as their chests met, she held him against her breast and put his head against her left shoulder. Tearing up as she held her son she spoke to him with a skittish voice. "Zack... don't look out there. You're not meant to see any of that... its..." Zack could not respond - baffled by what he had seen he was unable to speak. His father cut in as Zack's mother tried to speak. 

With a crisp tone that was firm and steady. "Jessica we have to get the boys out of here, there isn't much time that we have left. Those meteors are going to break through the shield sooner or later, we have to take them to the emergency shelter..." 

Cutting in as Jessica picked up her son, with her blond hair slouching over Zack's face she turned towards her husband and her oldest child. Feeling hesitant as the house floor shook, she looked at her husband with weary eyes. Cutting him off as he tried to convince her to use the hidden lab. 

"We can't take the boys down there, it's not ready for..." 

"It won't ever be ready for them... it won't even exist anymore, they have to be taken into the shelter" 

Tearing up as Jessica stumbled again after another meteor pounded the ground, except this time it was closer. Roaring out loud the explosions masked the many screams of the dying people that were just outside their household. 

Zack's older brother turned to his father as he fought back the tears that dwelled in his eyes, tugging at his arm. "Daddy we can use the Ark that can take use far away from all this. We can all leave together, father." 

The boys father turned towards him as he thought of the option, leaving in the ship that could potentially take them all far away from all of this. He refused the idea in his mind and nudged it back into the far recesses of his mind. Glaring at his oldest son he grinned as if it was a joke.  

"You serious, we can't leave in the Ark, we'll be blown out of the sky before we even make lift off, to hell with that idea." 

"But father..." Slap! The boys father back handed him across his left cheek. 

"When I say to hell with something I mean to hell with it! Now..." 

Jessica barged in as the house took a hit from a falling meteor. The house viciously shook making everyone lose their balance, recovering quickly as they did. Jessica re-engaged in the conversation. "Robert! How dare you hit our son like that!" 

He put out a hand to her as he tried to correct his misbehavior. "But Jessica..." 

"Don't you Jessica me! We are in a time of crisis and all you care about is your gosh dang self, to hell with you! Now you listen to me, we are going to get onto the Ark, that's that. No one is going to stay behind because of our stupid research, our boys, our family, our existence as a family is more important than that rubbish research!" 

"All of that research... for the NCG, we can't just..." 

"I don't give a damn about our research if it means having to leave our kids. If we can leave together then we should take the chance we have, now..." Just as Zack had opened his eyes and looked out the window he had seen a huge bright orange and red light just outside. Another second had passed and a devastating explosion rattled the house. Jessica was blown against her husband with Zack still in hand and her oldest son was propped against the wall just behind him. 

The mango orange wall creaked with a loud cracking sound on impact, as the Robert and his eldest son slammed against it, along with Jessica and Zack punching into their chests. As they fell on the ground the flames began to recede with over half of Zack's bedroom being smoldered with melt and wood scraps. The walls were melted over and slanting over the floor as their metal compounds were whisking away. A huge gaping hole had become the new scenery viewpoint in Zack's room. All but a few feet by the doorway were left from the meteor, that and a crater was made just below the wreckage. As a few sparks ignited from the broken conductor circuits bleeding out radiating gold and yellow light. 

Awaking from the destructive explosion the meteor had caused, the family began to get back on their feat. In pain they slowly got up as they looked out into the midnight sky where the hailstorm of meteors peppered its contents, tailed by a withering gray tail that evaporated among the night.  

Robert croaked an unsettling grunt. "Gah, that's going to leave a mark." Shaking away the confusion, he turned his gaze towards his oldest son. "Fox, you okay son?" 

Motioning his body gestures with a slow pace he nodded his head, not speaking a word. He pressed his hand against his head, dusting off the dust that had engulfed his ragged hair. His hearing had become impaired for a few seconds as a loud beeping noise rang. Fox felt his mother and his younger brother laying over his legs. He moved his arms over them trying. As his father lifted Jessica up from Fox's legs he noticed that Zack was unconscious.  

"Jessica... Zack...are you okay." His rough hands covered their backs as Robert tried to see if they were alive. 

Jessica didn't move, her body was lifeless, Zack was held safely in between her arms. Her final defense in protecting their son, Zack breathed slowly as his little chest rose up and fell back down as he exhaled.  

Robert felt tears swelling in his eyes as his hand moved around her back coming to a yield. His fingertips brushed up against a metal bar that had pierced through her skin into her back. Warm blood coated the fatal wound, as it had appeared to punctured her heart. Robert looked at it with sympathy and remorse for what he had said. Feeling guilty his mind became vacant with hopeless thoughts. Until his eldest son Fox took stand to his feat and looked at mother. 

"Dad what's wrong with mother?" His eyes swerved from mothers face towards her back where the metal object laid in her. His mouth dropped open and he began to cry. "Mother... you can't be... 

Robert took leadership into his hands and set his wife aside on the floor. Taking matters into his own hands, he sealed up the pain to where his son could not see it on his face. "Fox." His son was in shock at the sight of his mother, unresponsive. Robert called his name again more abruptly this time. "Fox!"  

Fox's eyes quickly met with his fathers as he heard his name. "..." Not knowing what to say he just stood there. 

"Help me get your brother..." 

Fox didn't move. 

"Snap out of it and help me!" His voice bulged over the falling meteors, Fox stepped to and did as told. 

They retrieved Zack from under his mother, Robert had hefted Zack up and over his shoulders. Reaching out his hand towards Fox, he heard a deep quaking sound coming from Zack's room. He had looked towards the gaping whole where multiple red balls descended over the sky and there was one hurdling straight towards them at rapid speed. Robert took Fox and Zack down the crumbled stairs. As he closed his eyes, Zack awoke. 

A loud screaming sound broke fast as another meteor struck the home. Everything went up in flames as Zack, Fox and his father were blown down the stairs. Followed by a raging cloud of fire.  

Zack saw a figure in black within the blazing fire. It stood out for a moment until the fires engulfed everything. It spoke only a few words as the flames consumed the room. 

"Come home Zack Macoy... I'm waiting... SOLDEN is calling..."