Welcome To The Zones | Frerard

Prologue

The sun shone brightly on the sparklingly clean city, as humans and droids alike enjoyed the mild weather. A cool breeze swept through the main square, weaving its way through skyscrapers and playfully knocking the hat right off a young boy playing with his friends in a copse of trees in a small park in central downtown.

"What the hell?!" The boy swore, chasing his hat across the grassy square, while his two friends laughed. The wind was relentless though, tossing his hat into a privet bush. When he finally got it, placed it on his head in triumph, and turned around, the other two were nowhere to be found. Gone. Just like that. Little did he know, this was just the beginning. The beginning of something big.

Fire burst from the top floor of the nearest building, the sound so loud it deafened him, shrapnel raining down onto him. With his ears ringing and his hands firmly clasped over his neck, he searched desperately for his two companions, but it was no use. More bombs went off around the downtown area, shaking the ground and throwing him to the ground. Getting to his feet as quickly as possible, he rushed home, deciding that maybe his friends had run off, thinking they would meet him back at their unit.

He ran through the downtown, shoving his way through the mass of screaming people. Skidding to a halt before his building, the boy fell to his knees. Dread began creeping into his body, run through him like ice in his veins before settling in the pit of his stomach. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight he was met with.

There was nothing left of the building he'd called his home ever since he was born. The building that held all the great childhood memories of him and his family. Nothing. No traces of his family or his friends. He sat there, on his knees in front of the demolished building for who knows how long, focusing on the rubble, crying silent tears.

Eventually, someone patted him on the back and wrapped him up in a hug, letting him cry on their shoulder. They pulled away and smiled at him. "My family was in there too," they said. "I'm all I have left, and it looks like that's your situation too."

The boy nodded, wiping his tears, suddenly numb. He was in shock, that much he knew. He felt nothing, none of the crushing sadness he'd felt before, and none of the rage he'd expected to feel. Just cold, dark nothing.

"Come with me, kid. I promise we'll make it out of here alive," the stranger said, helping the boy to his feet. The two walked off, both having lost everything in a split second, both otherwise alone in the shining city that no longer shone.