Before the Glitches (Book 0)

Apocalypse

"Lara!" Regina's shriek echoed through the small house, and her sister came hurrying to her. 

"What is it?" She snapped, walking to the window. Her sassy attitude was gone as soon as it had come when she laid her eyes on the sight outside. 

Disease-mottled bodies lay crumpled in the streets and powerful lightening struck repeatedly, incinerating buildings in a single flash. People fled their homes, conglomerating in the city's lowest points to avoid the lightning. The sun shone brighter than ever, red as a tomato in the sky. It was no longer a source of life, but a force of destruction. The Scorching had arrived in all its twisted glory. 

"No!" Lara shouted as she rushed for her phone, her thumbs shaking as she attempted to dial her husband's number. "Regina! Get the kids, and get in the basement! I'm calling Lucas, we'll see what he says," she told her sister. 

No, no, no, this was all wrong. It wasn't supposed to happen so soon! The Module wasn't ready! Lara almost burst into tears, but she steeled herself. She was the oldest one in the house, her sister and children were depending on her. 

Static filled breathing manifested on the other end of the line and Lara breathed a sigh of relief. There was still service. 

"Hello! Lucas!" She screamed, hoping he was there. 

"Yeah," he responded

"Oh, Lucas, thank god you're okay! It's here, sooner than anyone expected!"

"Know...coming...home...soon," he said between crackling before the line went dead. 

Slamming the phone down on the table, Lara rushed down to join her family in the basement. Regina sat against the cold stone wall with Jade and Calvin on her lap and Kate huddled against her shoulder. 

"He's alright, for now, and he said he's coming," Lara said between heavy breaths as she turned and sat down beside her sister."

"Mommy, what's happening? Why are we down here and why are people yelling outside?" Kate asked Lara, looking at her with innocent, curious eyes. Lara almost envied her childish cluelessness. 

"It's okay, sweetie," Lara stroked her daughter's head, trying her best to soothe her. "Daddy's going to be here soon, and you're going to finally see that big project he's been working on, the Module. Isn't that exciting!?" 

"Yeah!" Kate beamed. "I've wanted to see it ever since he started building it! I wonder what it's going to be like." 

"Me too!" Jade said with excitement. "Mommy, are me and Calvin going to see Uncle Lucas's Module too?" She asked. "Of course!" Regina faked a smile. 

And you'd better like it, because you're going to spend the rest of your life in it. 

Suddenly, there was a terrifying crack and the ground vibrated. Lara and Regina squeezed their eyes shut and pulled their whimpering children close. Only when it was completely still did any of them dare look to see what happened. 

Cautiously, Lara turned on a flashlight. The basement felt normal, but she smelled something burning. Opening the hatch with a creak, she stepped out onto the ground. 

"Oh no..." she trailed off. Her entire living room and two of the bedrooms had been destroyed, and the remaining rooms were charred and damaged beyond repair. The entire area was smoking and smelled a bit metallic. The house had been struck by lightning. And not just any lightning, but the super-powered Scorching lightning. 

Lara heard a small gasp behind her and turned around to see her sister and the kids standing there, staring at their ruined home. "It's the end of the world, isn't it, Mommy," said Kate solemnly, looking into Lara's eyes with maturity even her mother didn't know she had. She wanted to tell her that it wasn't, that they were all going to be okay, but she didn't want to lie anymore. Kate knew the truth already anyway.

Soon, she saw her husband's van pull into what used to be the garage. A tall, well built man with messy blonde hair and serious eyes stepped out. 

"Everyone, in the car," he commanded, eyes only widening for a second at the sight of the house, and no one hesitated to obey. Once the six of them were in their seats, Lucas turned his keys in the ignition and the engine roared to life. 

Their van was one of the few vehicles in the street. Most people were in full panic mode, too busy fleeing and shouting to think of getting in a car. People of all religions gathered to pray for help. Disaster and imminent death had erased all boundaries. 

Lara turned her eyes to her lap, unable to look out the window at the dozens of bodies on the street and she realized she was too far away to cover the eyes of the kids. They were in elementary school, they shouldn't be seeing so many disfigured corpses. She probably shouldn't be seeing so many disfigured corpses. 

She began to stare at the sky, thinking of the selfish, evil alien race that would do this to her planet. All because they wanted to be all powerful. All because they didn't want any irritating humans standing in their way. Hatred for the Lessaenites fueled Lara as she exited the van along with the rest of her family close to the location of Lucas's Module. 

"Help!" She heard a small voice in the rubble of a collapsed building. "Wait! Lucas!" She called to her husband who walked in front of her with determined strides. "I don't have time for...oh! I'm coming!" He replied when he heard the call too and jogged back to Lara's side. 

"It's coming from over there," she pointed to what was left of the local public library and the two of them walked over, following the cries. 

"Help! Please! Someone!" The voice was definitely young and female and it pulled at Lara's heart. She and Lucas soon reached the spot the cries were coming from, a pile of the shredded remains of books and broken bricks. Scraping away the charred paper and rock, Lucas pulled out a frightfully skinny little girl who looked to be about Jade's age. 

"Thank you," she whispered, revealing a toothless smile. 

"Who are you?" Lara asked. 

"My name is Claire King and I'm seven, but I don't remember anything else ," she said. 

"That's weird," Lucas frowned. "But it doesn't matter. You're coming with us." He gently took the girl's hand and led her back to where Regina, Kate, Jade, and Calvin stood. 

"Who's that?" Asked Regina, pointing to Claire. "Just a girl we found by the library. I'm taking her to the Module to be a Glitch," said Lucas. 

"What? Just a random girl? But you don't know anything about her! For all we know she's a Lessaenite!" Regina yelled. 

"Does that seriously look like a Lessaenite to you?" Lara rolled her eyes, pointing to the small, frail girl. "Lessaenites have weird bluish violet eyes and blue laser things shooting from their hands. This girl is perfectly normal, she probably got lost in the confusion."

"If you say so..." Regina narrowed her eyes, still not trusting the strange girl. 

She was very right not to.