All That's Left

Prologue

Five years earlier...

I was eleven, living with my brother and my mum in a shabby little shack on the edge of a small settlement. If you could even call it a settlement. My dad had died only months before from an illness that was brought on by a nuclear accident. We struggled to get by, he used to be the one who hunted for our food, now we have to trade with others.

My brother was a couple of years older than me, he was thirteen and extremely stubborn. He'd gotten into so many fights with the other boys who even dared to look at him funny. There was one time when he'd been beaten by another kid, the son of one of dad's enemies. He'd come home with a broken nose and a large gash running down the side of his face.

His name doesn't matter now, neither does my mother's. All I remember is the smell of smoke and the screams of the people outside. My mum rushed my brother and me up to the attic to wait the attack out. But they charged into the front door and knocked my poor mum to the ground, a gun to her head. My brother, being protective, ran to her rescue. Or so he thoughts. He told me to stay, no matter what I heard whilst he dashed towards the one who captured our mother.

More men burst through the doorway and surrounded the both of them. Leading them out into the dusty street where they were forced to their knees with their hands on their heads. Six soldiers, bandits more like, were formed around the group of my old neighbours, and their children. High-calibre pistols were pointed at their faces so they could see their deaths coming.

I remembered the features of the leader, the man who ordered the execution of my friends and my family, the little I had left. As soon as their bodies all fell to the ground and they took their aim on the remaining townspeople. My mother flopped and my brother flopped, both lifeless as the brightness in their eyes faded slowly.

I curled further into my body heat as I could hear them talking outside the house through the window in the attic. They left the settlement without any more trouble, but to me it had ruined my life. Only hatred for them was left.

When I was eleven, my world was split in two. Those who fought for freedom were losing but they still managed to rescue me from my old home. I trained with them for five whole years, through the tears and the pain.

I became their secret weapon...

E