EXISTENCE

PROLOGUE : That's How It Started

Text copyright © Amine Boumaraf, 2015

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1982 - In a quiet, expansive laboratory

"Give me the syringe."

"But sir, we have no idea if this will work or not! You saw what happened with the rats! They couldn't take the serum at all!"

"Those rats lacked the proper qualities, my inquisitive assistant. What they proved to us is that normal lab rats will not do the job for us. We need smarter beings. Proper beings. Beings who can display an intense amount of qualities that no kind of animal can show us."

"Sir...you don't mean...?"

"Oh, but I do, Lucas. It's our only option at this point. You want to see this project to its fruition as well, don't you?"

"I...do. But what if an...accident happens? The government will surely come for us."

"The government will hear nothing of it, Lucas my boy. Only I know the secrets contained within the serum. It is without a shadow of a doubt that this will work exactly by the numbers. Now, FETCH ME MY TEST SUBJECTS!"

1992 - Fox Bay, California

"Alright Tarek, your move."

"I've already warned you, Rodrick. I can't guarantee your safety in this strategy."

"Oh for the love of...It's just chess, Tarek! We're not at war anymore!"

"See that's the kind of thinking that will get you killed, Rod."

"MAKE YOUR MOVE, DAMMIT."

Tarek Antar, once a renowned soldier who devised tactics on the front lines, now saw himself devising chessboard strategies. With chiseled features and a body that would age as fine as a bottle of wine, the man was quite coveted in the eyes of the many ladies he would walk past. The Algerian was quite the joker, but his comrades all knew he had a good heart.

Now away from the scorching heat and deafening bullet-storms, the 25-year old vet was living with his trusted friend, Rodrick Tanner, an Englishman who served alongside Tarek and found his way into his friend's life. Of the duo, Rodrick was the more calculating one, preferring to analyze a situation rather than make a joke out of it. The man was tall, a couple inches taller than his best friend.

Now living in the newly founded city of Fox Bay, Tarek and Rodrick had to endure the quiet life of being an average citizen in a growing city.

"You ever think back to the old days, Rod?" Tarek asked with a reminiscent look on his face.

Rodrick scowled. "You mean the days filled with the innocent screams of citizens who didn't deserve death?"

"Precisely!" Tarek snapped. "But do me a favor, try to think on the positive side of what happened instead of lamenting on all the lives that were lost."

"Hmph. You do realize we also lost our own during those fights. Not a day goes by that I don't think about the people who I shot down."

"Your fault for shooting them," scoffed Tarek. "If you had even bothered hearing me out when I called the plans, you wouldn't be in this sorry state."

Rodrick stared at his friend in awe. "I saw you kill just as many people, Tarek!"

"That's your problem. Had you been focused on the battle instead of your comrades you may have actually made more leeway and less civilian casualties."