First Rule: Survival → Falling Skies

Chapter 1: Live and Learn

Somewhere in the dark alleyway, three figures were running as fast as possible to the other side of the street. Each one had a weapon to carry because they were soldiers for a resistance group. The youngest one had an MK12 MOD 1 SPR rifle while the others had either an M4A1 Carbine or an AK47 rifle with them.

The youngest had to be closed around fifteen-turning-sixteen years old with dark hair and brown eyes. His pale skin and his dark hair were showing health signs after serious sleep deprivation over the past six months. 

He quickly crouches and peeks his head to scan the area the trio is in. "Street's clear, Tom," he told the oldest one of their group.

Tom was a middle-aged man, close to being around his early thirties with messy brown hair and a beard all over his face. His brown eyes stoned behind them. He breathes steadily and looks back to make sure they weren't followed. He pants heavily from all the running he had to do.

"David, Hal, go!" he commanded. Right on David's tail was Hal. He was seventeen years old with black hair and hazel eyes like his father. His pale skin made him look like he has just gotten out of being homeless. In the dark and desolate place, the street is littered with abandoned cars, garbage, and scraps. All the buildings around them were abandoned. Some had giant holes in the front of the shops. Broken windows. Trash everywhere.

Tom, Hal, and David make a break for the other side of the street as fast as possible. They weren't the only scavengers on the street. A few dozen other people were taking whatever they can find: gas, food, water, tools, knives, and even tape. They were under pressure of taking as many supplies as they could until the thundering stomping sound came close.

HRRRRMMMMMMMmmmmm!!

Clunk-clunk-clunk!!

Hhhhrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmm!!

The mechanical and thunderous stomps are not a good sign for the people on the street scavenging.

"Go! Take the gas!" Tom ushered the scavenger who was getting any gas left in abandoned cars. He paused on what he was getting and take the canisters of gas somewhere else.

"Hurry!" David shouted to the other guy who was scavenging for food in an abandoned mart. "Get the food!" Before he picks up the box of food; however, four rays of blue light appear from the other end of the street, and it was aimed at an unsuspected man who was picking up cans of food in a box.

"Bryan, Mechs! Stay down!" Tom shouted while he pointed in the direction of where a Mech could be. Before Bryan could turn around, he screamed in pain when he was met with several dozens of rapid projectiles hitting him, jerking his body with every impact before he fell dead.

"No!" David yelled, watching his body drop dead to the ground.

"No, you can't help him! It's too late!" Hal shouted, pulling him away from the body. He pulls David by the arm to hide behind a wall with Tom.

"Get the food," Tom ordered Hal. When the spotlight was passed, Tom and Hal both grab the trolley full of collected food and push it to the end of the street.

David covers them from behind to make sure that the Mechs aren't close. He would always turn around every ten steps he took to make sure that the Mechs aren't following or close behind.

Up ahead of the road is a makeshift barricade used to create a blockade for the people who are coming in and out of the neighborhood. David didn't know that he was being tagged by a blue laser beam. The lasers had a beat on him and just as Tom glances back, he saw not only David but Hal being painted by the blue rays.

"Hal, David, get down!" Tom shouted, letting go of the trolley and pushing Hal out of the way.

David didn't have any time to think as he obeyed what Tom told him to do. He ducks down just as the bullet zips through and shreds the trolley apart.