Before The Sun Rises

⇝Introduction⇜

Intro (Ashton-Ash)

Once upon a time... is for losers. So I'll start here. I walked up to the tiny building that I have become very fond of. Above my head sat a huge sign marked, "The ISTT." Since the association of International Spies of The Tower, was over 30 years old, the S was starting to fade into metallic brown, revealing rust. I inched closer to the door nearest to me, which happened to be the side door. I looked down the long road to my left, and then my right, making sure nobody was watching so I could safely make it towards the door without anyone seeing me.

Behind me a few cars were crashed into one another but were no longer in motion or running. The area was practically silent. There was still a light mist of morning humidity so I knew it was still early. I looked one more time towards the wreck even though I knew it was a bad idea. I felt a few tears prickle in the back of my eyes, but I held them back.

The tower, our government, our lifes, has been in ruins ever since the Power Killers took over, and that his how my brother died. He was in a car crash just like this one. My head started pounding just thinking of him. Ever since he died, I made it my mission to figure out who turned the power off, because they killed my brother. He was always there for me when I needed him, and now I’m here for him. Alive or not, Oliver is my brother and he’s the reason I’m doing this.

I took one last look at the beat up cars and turned back to the door wiping my eyes even though there were no tears. I rotated the door handle and opened it ever so slowly. An ear piercing wail was heard as soon as I stepped through the doorway. I cursed under my breathe-It was then that I realized that it was the door alarm instead of a cry from a child, which it honestly did sound like.

I panicked and quickly closed the door behind me after running inside the small building. I pressed the backside of my body on the door and slid down running my hands through my ashy brown hair. The loud cry of the alarm was still piercing through the air, but I ignored it the best I could.  A whirling sound brought me out of my thoughts and I looked up, only to meet the eyes of five guards. One of them was standing in the back corner with a gun in her hand and another behind her with a small pocket knife.

The ISW was chuck full of spies and guards and other important people that come all around the world for safety and or help. Therefore, these guards were like strangers in a parking lot to me. I had no idea who they were so it was going to be harder to convince them that I was part of the Association too.

The only reason that we have guards is because we get people coming in from the districts to find food and shelter. Whoever shut off the power  most likely intended to ruin the state because now, all around you, are homeless people, empty homes and all of the food markets are empty- abandoned and robbed.

I focused on what was going on. It wasn’t normal for me to daze of when in action. The other three guards were closer to me and had one tranquilizing gun held out in front of them. They shot the gun again and it barely missed my ear before I tumbled away. I ran throughout the endless halls, swerving as I ran so I wouldn’t be much of a target any more.

The more I slowed down the more I could hear the pounding of feet as they approached. Suddenly, the nonstop grey carpet and tan walls ended as I came to a dead end with only two doors around me that led to offices. I weighed my options. "Freeze!" said a gruff voice. I turned around with my hands up.

"I'm one of you guys." I said, my bright blue eyes begging them to believe me.

"Hannah, Diego, it's alright she isn't lying." another man said emerging from the dark ends of the hall. His light blonde hair sent relief through my whole body- It was my boss, Tobin. He had a chiseled chin and shiny bluish grey eyes that were always wide open, ready for anything.

"Tobin! Thank god you're here I thought-" I was caught mid-sentence before Tobin interrupted me. It was something he did quite often since I was usually late at least three times a week.

"Yes, Ashton I know but you're late again. Go get your schedule and get ready for your days' work." I nodded slowly and turned towards the door branching off in another direction, towards the offices. All the guards kind of grunted realizing they had just wasted a few darts and bullets.

As I opened the door, feeling a breeze of chilly air, "Tobin we've talked about this... call me Ash." I added with a small smile playing on my lips, and slipped through the door to find my schedule.

(Kailynn)

I was sitting in my cubical, my eyes glued to the screen, when I heard the alarm go off. I wasn't a big fan of violence or action, so I kept in my seat trying to hack through the New York stock market since there really wasn’t much to do. After a while I realized it was no use since New York has one of the best stock marketing protection programs in the country.  

It was unusually quiet in the office cubicles today, which was weird because today was Monday which meant that everyone was supposed to be getting their new schedules today. I sighed and propped my feet up onto my desk and repeatedly braiding the smallest pieces of my hair together, something I did when I was anxious. I heard the lightest of footsteps but I acted like I didn’t recognize them.

From a mile away you could hear Ash clomping towards you and shuffling her feet in her brown combat boots. It was fairly obvious that she was the one that tickled me from behind since she was the only one childish enough to do such a thing at the age of 18.

I squealed in half surprise and half of just trying to make her think she scared me. “Hiya Ashy-Poo.” I giggle poking her in the side. She laughs and pushes my hand away saying,” "Don't make me hurt you Bennett. Anyways I need my schedule." using my last name.

I opened the file for Ash's schedule and checked the small slip of paper to make sure it was the right one. I handed the sheet to her which included who she needed to find before the sun rose on the Friday of the same week. Everyone in the ISW compound has their own schedule and each of them has a set of five names to which they needed to find and bring back into the building, so they could be interrogated.

To me, it was an odd process to follow but since our government was entirely corrupt it was probably the only way of figuring out who the Power killers were. And that leads me to say that, the names on this slip don't belong to innocent people however, they belong to criminals. Many people that come in and out of this building are murderers, thieves or worse. But that is exactly our job. Our main goal is to find the Power killers, a nickname we gave to the group of people who shut off the city powers.

"Thanks Kailynn, I'll see you at the ditch at 10:30." Ash said pointing a finger in my direction. I nodded but didn't turn towards her to say goodbye. I simply just stuck my hand out with my thumb and pinkie finger and shaking it back and forth.

"You do know that means aloha in Hawaiian right?" Ash asked laughing. I smirked at her only slightly turning my head and laughing with her. I waved her off and she continued laughing down the hallways. I then, turned back to the computer and finished my work.

-A/N- HELLOOO! Thank you all for reading the beginning of this (hopefully) amazing book! You guys are probably aren't reading this but, I'm Lizzy and i will be co-writing/editing this book for my friend Zoe! Hope you all enjoy and stay tuned for the upcoming chapters! :) xx