Rise Up

Chapter 1 - The Darkness

He ran. Fast. Faster than he thought was possible. He had never seen anyone run so fast—except for maybe cheetahs in the zoo, when they were feeding them on display. He could hear the mellow buzzing of the long electric poles they were holding as they chased after him. He turned the corner sharply, but they had bikes. Suddenly, a thick blast of pain coursed through his back. It was like a bolt of lightning struck him. The sharp tingling sensation rippled down his spine all the way to his tailbone, and his spine cracked backwards when he fell to his knees. Everything in his blurry vision dimmed, and he could only smell wet asphalt and bike exhaust as he fell hesitantly into a drowsy darkness, and he felt his knees scrape backwards across the jagged ground.

"Dominic," called a soft voice through the darkness, "Jason Dominic. I didn't think I'd see you back here so soon, hey?" He was confused. The air smelled weakly of blood. He was in a seated position and everything on his body and in his mind ached. He couldn't tell what direction the voice was coming from, but it was undeniably Leo.

"Hey?" Leo shouted, and the lights dimly illuminated. Jason groaned. He didn't want to answer, but he knew Leo would kill him if he didn't.

"Well, here I am," Jason mumbled through a cough. Leo looked disappointed. He meandered across the room, passing along in front of Jason to do so. As he walked by, without looking at him, he slid the small blade in his hand across Jason's knee. Jason winced but tried to hide his pain out of fear of what Leo would do next. Knowing Leo, it could be anything, really. He became tense as Leo rested his hand on a lever, but to Jason's surprise, he didn't pull it. He just waited, motioning his forehead towards Jason.

Jason spoke, per Leo's silent request, "what do you want from me?" Leo snickered.

"You know exactly what I want. Where is she, Dominic? Nobody in HQ has seen her for weeks." Rachel. He was talking about Rachel. Rachel was an eleven year old girl that Jason helped escape. She was being held in the same ward as Jason, but unlike him, she had a family to return to. She needed them and they undoubtedly needed her equally. So, he smuggled her out. Leo didn't like that. When Leo didn't like something, well, bad things happened. That goes without saying

Meanwhile, at a peaceful family home in Paradise City, five soldiers smashed down the door with their black steel-toed boots. The family immediately recognized the sound of the cracking wood and inside hurried out the back door to the manhole cover in their yard, grabbing small items like money and family portraits as they raced against the soldiers. The father desperately scratched his fingers around the edge of the cover again and again. He knew the soldiers had come for his daughter, Rachel. The baby was crying, the mother trying to shush him as she too began to try and open the cover. The soldiers walked through their rear screen door, and they gave up trying to open the cover. They knew they were done for when the soldiers began to move forwards. They looked like skeletons in their dark motorcycle helmets. The leading soldier, who could be identified by the golden stripe on the shoulder of his suit, removed his helmet. Leo. Rachel knew immediately that Jason must've told Leo, but Jason would never tell. How did Leo get him to spill? Rachel began to float away from the situation thinking about the horrible things Leo must've done to Jason. She felt discomfort and her head started to hurt. Her vision became blurry, and eventually she just closed her eyes because there was nothing to see. Her family watched in horror as the soldiers handcuffed Rachel's lifeless body with a bloodstained rope and dragged her away by her leg. Her hair drifted through the grass like a dry wind. The soldiers advanced towards her family.

"Please!" Cried her mother, "you got what you wanted! You got her! Just leave us alone!" The baby began to cry again as the soldiers grabbed her wrists. The mother tried to hold onto her with all her strength but the soldiers were too strong, and the baby was torn from her arms. One of the masked soldiers held the baby up by her legs in one hand, and muffled through his helmet he spoke.

"This one will make a fine soldier," he asked the others, "don't you think?"