《The Runner and The Machines》 00: Prologue I awoke from my bed when I heard it. A low, unusual rumbling in the far distance. Definitely not an earthquake that¡¯s for sure. But it did felt like one, because the whole house shook with it¡¯s every step. I heard it again, and again, and I knew then that it wasn¡¯t normal. It sounded like a pattern of sorts, unlike an earthquake. My parents came inside my room with worried looks on their faces. But my mom had a gentle smile, a smile saying ¡°it¡¯s going to be alright Anna.¡± ¡°Mom?¡± I said, my voice barely working from the lack of sleep. I stayed up very late last night watching my favorite TV series on my Alienware laptop. I think it was about one-thirty in the morning or something before I passed out on my bed. I checked the time with my blurry eyes and saw that it was at least a quarter-till-three in the morning. ¡°Wh-what¡¯s happening?¡± I asked, my voice a bit raspy ¡°Nothing really important sweetie.¡± mom said ¡°But you need to get dressed sweetheart and gather Zane as well.¡± Zane was the name of my dog. A German Shepherd mixed with a Golden Retriever. I found him when he was but a puppy, about two months old, left alone, starving, scared of anyone who came near. But ever since then, we grew close to each other. He began to trust me after a couple of weeks when I brought him home and fed him properly yet secretly. I had to hide him from my parents for a little while, but since we¡¯ve moved around a lot, I had to show them Zane so, I told them about him. I got out of my bed and changed into my tomorrow¡¯s clothing. Blue Jeans with big holes at knee level, a rugged t-shirt with cool looking symbols on it, and into my black Levi¡¯s Standard Trucker jacket. The collar of the jacket goes above my neck and almost to my ears and the jacket just has a nice feel to it. I put my socks on, and my black boots and I grabbed my backpack. I followed my parents downstairs into the basement winery cellar with Zane, and dad went to a barrel and moved it to the side. Behind the barrel was some kind of hand scanner. Like those I¡¯ve seen in spy movies I like. He pressed his right hand on the scanner and a green light flowed from top to bottom. The scanner turned green, and a picture of dad showed up on the screen saying Welcome Lieutenant Winchester. A door opened right next to the hand scanner, and Dad gestured for Zane and I to get in. I looked at both mom and dad with a confused look on my face. ¡°Mom?¡± I said worrying that my voice might crack ¡°Dad? What¡¯s going on?¡± I asked ¡°You need to go in here honey, where you¡¯ll be safe.¡± Mom said sadly Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Why?¡± I asked ¡°Safe from what?¡± Then I felt the house shook. Dust from the ceiling fell down on the four of us and I heard our front door being blown open and yelling. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± I asked, nearing my panic zone ¡°Please, Anna, get inside now.¡± Dad said seriously with a very serious look as if I did something wrong I rolled my eyes and I heard lots heavy footsteps right above us. I forced myself to go inside the dark room with Zane right behind me, and just as Zane and I entered, I heard the door slid close. I turned around, panicked, banging at the door yelling for mom and dad. "You¡¯ll be fine sweetie." I heard mom¡¯s muffled voice from the other side "You have Zane with you. He will protect you." "MOM! DAD!" I screamed Zane came up between my legs and carried me back farther into the room. For a dog his age, he¡¯s pretty strong and surprised even me and he¡¯s two years old and I¡¯m fifteen. I shrieked a little when he picked me up. When we went further into the room, fluorescent lights flickered on, and old computers started humming to life. "The heck?" I said "Voice authorization accepted" a voice said and I jumped. Outside, I heard fighting, people going oof and bodies dropping. Then I heard mechanical sounding voice through the solid door very loudly "Hands up, you¡¯re surrounded." "Welcome Elizabeth Hannah Winchester," a female computer voice said and I flinched to my full name. "To the United Worldwide Forces. You have one message waiting." On a wall in front of us, a plasma screen turned on with a video paused of dad¡¯s face. He was in a military uniform, with a purple heart on his chest pocket, and a bronze medal next to it. He also had a lot of awards and rank awards. His face though, looked sad, as if he didn¡¯t want me to hear whatever this video said. Outside, I heard an explosion. This room only shook slightly. I felt a pang in my heart, and my legs gave out. I just heard my home bombed. "Dad, what¡¯s going on?" I asked the paused video "Hello Hannah," my dad said on the screen and I looked at him with teary vision "If you¡¯re hearing this, then it means that we¡¯ve been captured, or killed." C1: Three Years Later Authors Note: Hello everybody. Thanks for waiting patiently for my next chapter to be up. Hope you all enjoyed the prologue (which I will edit a little bit) and please review when finished. I would like some constructive criticism on my story as I''m making this up as I go. So any input would be nice. Anyways, without further adieu, onto the story! -------- Chapter 1: Three years later I woke up to Zane¡¯s low growl and I quietly grabbed my backpack and my personalized crossbow. I cocked an arrow and quietly lifted the weapon, and looked down its sights. I only saw that it was nothing, just a small child and her mother walking in the distance. I sighed as I put the arrow back in its quiver and released the tension of the string, collapsing the bow into a metal like tube. ¡°It¡¯s alright Zane.¡± I said quietly petting his head smoothly ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± We¡¯ve been on the run ever since that day my childhood home was bombed. After the first year of being on the run, I just never stay in one place for more than twelve to twenty-four hours at a time. Because at one point, they almost got us. It was lucky that they had found someone else that they were looking for, and gave us the chance to escape. Of course, I don¡¯t believe in coincidences. Though a coincidence it may be, I just think that it was just lucky. Sorry to barge in on you like this, but that much of it is true. Anyways, that video of my dad? Apparently both of my parents were U.W.F. agents. They both had a Burn Notice on them for about twenty or so years. That video was made just around the time of my birth, five years their Notice was notified. In the video, he told me about a woman whose Codename was only known as Vectra and he showed me a photo of her that looked to be about ten to fifteen years old. She was petite looking, but had a strong leadership vibe about her. She had on a dark navy-blue uniform on her and the logo for the U.O.F.F. (The United Order of Freedom Fighters) on her upper right sleeve. The woman had blonde hair in a tight pony tail hanging over her right shoulders, and she had soft looking brown eyes. She had looked to be in her early forties in that photo. On her uniform, she had a lot of medals and award commendations. But what stood out most was her Purple Heart medal. Her rank looked to be around Colonel. This woman looked a lot like my mom, though she was a brunette with green eyes and she was also quite tall and athletic looking. I was stuck between the heights of both my mom and dad, just about five feet, six inches. I also have short brown hair (just past a few inches past shoulder length) from mom, and blue eyes (from my dad) and I have a physique of a tomboy and athlete. I don¡¯t even know if my parents really had any relatives -as we had moved around a lot- we didn¡¯t really keep in contact with anyone for long periods of time. Anyways, my personal mission for the past three years is to find this woman. For the first few months of trying to leave my home, I just couldn¡¯t do it. When I had climbed out of that bomb shelter bunker (that I had no idea that was there before I went in [We had been there for about a couple of years]), I just couldn¡¯t leave. My home was nothing but rubble and I had tried to scavenge everything that was scavengable. There was a photo of me, Zane (When he was one years old) and my parents that was mostly intact (a couple of the corners were torn), and there was a big safe vault that had surprisingly survived. Inside of it (after I discovered the combination [Apparently they loved Mel Brooks as well. Oh the irony!]), there was just over a hundred thousand dollars in rolled up hundred dollar bills. They must have been saving up like their entire lives or something. I had thought. There was also hard copy files on where the woman Vectra was. There were a lot of Blacked Out information on her, leaving only where her last form of residence was and whether she was in Active Duty or not. She was. There was also a PDA Bracelet stored away and I took that as well when I packed away the money into the duffle bag that was also there. Apparently they were ready for whatever happened to them in the case I survived. Back now in the present, I had entered a public internet pub (as I had no available laptop on me at the time) about ten minutes ago and I looked up the location of Vectra from her report (that I burned after inputting the location into the Bracelet). I had to leave Zane outside as there was a No Pets Policy except for Service Dogs, and Zane wasn¡¯t exactly a Service Dog. So he stayed right outside as close to me as possible while I printed out a Maglev Train ticket. The reason I hadn¡¯t done this yet, was because I didn¡¯t want to be discovered until I was ready to be. And I think that I felt ready. I had finally finished my Personalized Energy Crossbow (P.E.C. for short) that had several different modes to it. It could fire regular arrows like a regular crossbow, it could fire EMP arrows and it can also fire Energy Arrows with an Energy string instead of a regular bowstring like the other two modes would require. Anyways, I printed out the expensive ticket (A little while ago I realized that I would need a debit card and so I had created a concrete fake identity and gotten one and then I put about a little over half of my money in that bank) and left a little cash in the jar for Use of Public Service. Just trying to be a good citizen without being conspicuous much. When I walked out of the P.I.P., Zane instantly came to my side and we both headed towards the Maglev Trains underground station a few blocks away. We walked by a few Venders and I picked up a couple of burgers and hot dogs and a few water bottles. I had a bowl in my backpack for Zane to drink from, and along with that, was my P.E.C. that was currently collapsed in a metal tube about the length of a two and a half foot long metal table leg and about as small as well. The ticket I got said it would come around 3:30 in the afternoon. So I had time to get there as I checked my Bracelet for the time: 2:30pm. I opened up my bag and dug out the bowl for Zane and poured a full water bottle in it for him and he happily slurped up the falling water as it drained into it. I smiled as I watched Zane and drank my own water bottle. Now, I don¡¯t have a leash for Zane, as he didn¡¯t really need one. He stays by my side practically at all times when he can and is actually quite friendly with other people (probably his Golden Retriever side) unless they make a wrong move towards me and he¡¯s in instant protective mode. I glanced down and saw him looking at me with a gleam in his eyes. I rolled my eyes and said ¡°Here.¡± in a bored tone and gave him the hot dog as I started on my second burger. He ate the thing in a few bites and went back to his water bowl. When we were done eating and drinking, I checked the time: 3pm. The Station was about a ten minute walk and so we started heading out. When we got to the lobby of the station, there were hundreds of people walking around, going to do whatever it was that they do for a living. Me? I sat down at a bench that¡¯s close enough to the train but far enough from other people. That was after I showed the Security Booth my ticket for two (for Zane) and collecting a brochure of the place that I¡¯m heading to and of one of the history of Maglev Trains. The place I¡¯m heading to is a military installation called the John P. Klacks Air Base. It¡¯s a state-of-the-art Air Base with commercial flights that go to the moon. I remember reading something about how the U.S. actually got an operating moonbase about three decades ago in 2128. At first, at least for the first fifteen years or so, it was purely military. Then, around the time that I was born eighteen years ago, it became open to the public. But only the rich people could get up there. Trust me, I looked up those tickets and they were expensive. Not even I could hope to afford to go up there if I wanted to. The security is even top-notch. Meaning if you try to be a stowaway on the shuttle to the moon, you¡¯ll be discovered within the first ten minutes and then arrested and fined for trespassing. While I was reading this brochure, I couldn¡¯t help but feel someone¡¯s eyes watching me. I glanced up from the brochure and I saw a guy quickly look away as if he just wasn¡¯t looking at me. I raised an eyebrow at this and looked down at Zane to see him just curled up beside my feet. ¡°Zane.¡± I whispered and his ears perked up ¡°eleven o¡¯clock.¡± He opened his eyes and looked in the direction I indicated, sniffed at him, and went back to sleep. I relaxed slightly as he didn¡¯t react badly to the guy and I went back to reading the brochure. Once more I felt the eyes on me and I looked back up and saw him coming towards me casually. ¡°Company coming boy.¡± I whispered to Zane, keeping my eyes on the guy. I realized that he had company (there were two others with him), but they stayed where they were posted. I put away the brochure in my backpack and felt my P.E.C. right there. I decided to keep my hand there. Just in case ya know. This guy looked to be about my age, maybe a bit older. The way he walked, had a look of confidence about him which I find a bit charming. Suddenly I felt my face heat up a bit. Was it me or did it get suddenly hot in here? The guy was tall, probably about six feet or so, military cut blond hair, turquoise eyes and was wearing a leather jacket with blank velcro patches on the shoulder sleeves and a white t-shirt underneath it, blue jeans and black boots. I relaxed my hand on the P.E.C. but I still kept it there as he came to a stop at a respectable distance. Well, that¡¯s something for ya. ¡°Hi,¡± he said ¡°I¡¯m Alex. Alex Storm-Hawk.¡± ¡°Anna Winchester.¡± I replied, answering his obvious about-to-be question. FYI, I¡¯ve never liked my first name; Elizabeth. Nor any shortened form of it. It just doesn¡¯t suit me at all. Though I do agree that Elizabeth Hannah Winchester is a strong sounding name, but it¡¯s just not me. I suddenly got a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach. Other than Zane, I¡¯ve never spoken to someone in three years. And other than when my parents were alive, eight years. It was mainly so I don¡¯t get attached to someone in the case we have to move. And when I found Zane, I had a companion to talk to and I was so glad that my parents had let me keep him when we moved next. ¡°Train Car Twenty-Seven Tripoli will be arriving in ten minutes.¡± a female voice said over the intercom. ¡°Mind if I sit down next to you?¡± he asked after about a minute of silence and I felt my face heat up a bit more. ¡°S-sure.¡± Damn, I hate it when my voice cracks. I heard Zane grow slightly at Alex, giving him a single warning and I smiled at my dog. ¡°He¡¯s just warning you to be on your best behavior.¡± I said in the questioning look on Alex¡¯s face and he nodded and now cautiously came over to sit next to me. ¡°So...¡± I started awkwardly ¡°What made you came here?¡± I asked, and felt my face heat up again. ¡°Couldn¡¯t help but see something beautiful over here.¡± he said casually and I choked on my own air at that statement. ¡°You alright?¡± he asked quickly, concern in his voice and probably his face as well. A minute or so later I got control of my breathing again and nodded saying: ¡°Yeah, sorry ¡®bout that. I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± he sighed ¡°I was worried that I might have to call the medics for a second there.¡± I gave a short laugh at that. Oh he¡¯s good. I thought. ¡°Five minutes for Twenty-Seven-Tripoli. Five minutes.¡± the same announcer said ¡°Well, I¡¯ve got a train to catch.¡± I said getting up and slipping on my backpack. While at the same time making sure that my P.E.C. is reachable. ¡°Where you heading?¡± he asked ¡°Klacks Air Base.¡± I replied ¡°Funny,¡± he said ¡°I¡¯m heading there too.¡± ¡°Are you serious?¡± I asked and he nodded ¡°I¡¯m a First-Class Petty Officer of the United Order of Freedom Fighters.¡± he said Well, that¡¯s new news. I thought, surprised. I¡¯ve never met anyone from the U.O.F.F. The United Order of Freedom Fighters is a military operation in space which is funded by the worldwide government that started about five decades ago (that was in the brochure I read). Anyways, for some reason, I felt that I could trust Alex. Even though we¡¯ve just met, it just feels that way. ¡°Cool.¡± I replied, then ¡°Zane, c¡¯mon boy.¡± I patted my left leg for the command ¡®heal¡¯ He got up and stretched his legs, then wagged his tail as he came around my left and looked up at me, anxious to get moving again. As this was happening, Alex also got up from the bench and the three of us all walked together, avoiding the other people in the busy subway station, trying to get to the yellow waiting lines. There are three lines. A green line that¡¯s ahead about five feet so that we can get on the train, a yellow line for waiting (ten feet away), and a red line (twenty feet) for safety precautions as there is usually several blasts of wind whenever the train comes to a stop. The train moves at a very high velocity while traveling (around five hundred to seven hundred miles per hour or so) and the way to slow it down is with several bursts of sonic-like wind and also a protection barrier activates at the red-line just before the wind-boom (in layman''s terms) happens. A light signal turned red indicating that the first wave was about to happen and all the new passengers (about thirty to forty in total) moved behind the red line and an energy shield activated just as I felt the first wave of the strong wind. Then I heard the other two sonic-like wind-booms and then I heard the high-pitch whistle of the Maglev Train as it came to an almost sudden stop. It lurched about an inch or so forward and then the doors opened and the current passengers got off with the announcer saying ¡°Train Twenty-Seven-Tripoli has arrived. Would the following passengers please board after clearing:¡± After about twenty people, my name with Zane¡¯s was called up and the both of us boarded the train. The way we board is in an orderly fashion and by the number on our tickets. My ticket was number P23-T27+1 (Passenger 23 train Tripoli, Car Twenty-Seven plus one [that would be Zane {there¡¯s a certain weight limit for all the Maglev Hover cars, so even pets have to have tickets now and you have to add their weight to your own}]) and when you¡¯re called, you board, instead of trying to hoard onto the train like they used to do about a century ago in train stations. When I got on the train I saw that Alex and his two companions were sitting close to each other and there was an open seat in front of him. He gestured to the empty seat in front of him when he saw me looking and I smiled as I walked over to him and sat down in that seat with Zane following me. Zane lied down next to my feet, curled up in a ball after I sat down. ¡°Well hello again.¡± he said with a smile ¡°Hi.¡± I said quietly, my hair covering about half my face. I moved the bangs behind my right ear as I leant down to scratch Zane behind the ear. ¡°I¡¯d like you to meet a couple of my friends.¡± he said and then pointed to his left ¡°This is Jake Finland¡± I looked at Jake and saw that he was about the same height as Alex. Maybe just an inch or so shorter. He had dark hair with the same cut, and same outfit, except with a black t-shirt instead of white, and he had brown eyes. He had a muscular build, and looked like he was in the military, probably as a soldier. Jake smiled and nodded to me as he said ¡°Hey.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s Ashley Selene.¡± Alex said pointing to another figure on Jake¡¯s right. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Did I say you can introduce me?¡± the girl snapped at him ¡°Well, I was making introductions. And I already said who I was to her. And Jake.¡± he replied calmly, as if he¡¯s used to her snappy remarks or something. The girl, Ashley, was around five foot eight inches or so. A couple inches higher than me. She had light-blue hair just ending at her shoulders and framed her face almost perfectly. She also had green eyes and high-cheek bones, kind of elfish like features. What? I liked reading a lot when I was on the run and I couldn¡¯t help but read one of those old stories called The Inheritance Cycle. Anyways... Just then we were pressed to our seats at the speed the train started going at when it launched and I almost lost my lunch just then. I glanced down and saw a thin barrier around Zane holding him in place when the train lurched forward suddenly. After a few seconds, the pressure was released and so was the barrier around Zane. Zane didn¡¯t flinch at all, but he did look up at me with concern in his features. I just smiled at him, leaned forward a little, and scratched behind his left ear where he liked it. ¡°It¡¯s alright boy.¡± I whispered to him. After a few seconds, everyone on the car relaxed and so did I... well... sort of. You see, this is the very first time since my parents had passed away that I have ridden a Maglev train. Usually I would curl up to mom and she would hold me and comfort me as the train started to zoom away. But now I didn¡¯t have her to do that, and I closed my eyes shut and tried not to whimper like a small child, even though I¡¯m eighteen. ¡°You alright?¡± I heard someone ask me. It sounded like Ashley I think. ¡°I¡¯m alright.¡± I lied. I felt a little sick actually. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have had those burgers earlier. ¡°No you¡¯re not.¡± She said, seeing through my lie. ¡°No. I¡¯m not.¡± I repeated her. Then I felt someone sitting next to me and I opened an eye to see that it was Ashley. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± she asked. Probably trying to get my mind off the motion sickness at high-speeds. ¡°Anna.¡± I said quietly. That¡¯s when I felt Zane¡¯s head resting on my left thigh and his tail wrapped around my right ankle, giving me comfort. I opened my eyes fully to see a look of concern on Ashley¡¯s face. I gave a small smile and rested my left hand on Zane¡¯s head and slowly scratched behind his left ear. I slowly relaxed a bit too after a little bit of doing this. ¡°Anna Winchester.¡± I said ¡°Well, like this idiot over here said,¡± she gestured to Alex, whom slightly flinched at being called ¡®idiot.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m Ashley Selene.¡± Ashley continued ¡°We¡¯re part of the same squad in the U.O.F.F.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cool.¡± I said ¡°We all have different reasons for joining up,¡± she continued and I gave her my undivided attention at this. ¡°Alex here wants to be the CMO someday. Chief Medical Officer.¡± I glanced at Alex to see him smiling a little in mischief. ¡°And you wanted to call a medic earlier.¡± I said as I pointed at him when I said ¡®you¡¯ Ashley and Jake both laughed a little at Alex¡¯s misfortune. ¡°Jake wants to be a soldier.¡± Ashley continued and Jake nodded his head and gave me a short salute ¡°And I¡¯m going to be a pilot with engineering and technical skills.¡± ¡°So, a Techy eh?¡± I asked ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m into computers and stuff.¡± she replied as she glanced away and scratched the back of her head in slight embarrassment. ¡°Why you embarrassed? I¡¯m into that kind of stuff as well!¡± I said, getting excited a little. I unzipped my bag and brought out my P.E.C. in its metal tube form and showed it to her. ¡°I made this.¡± I said ¡°It¡¯s my Personalized Energy Crossbow. P.E.C. for short.¡± ¡°Looks like half of a metal table leg.¡± Ashley commented as I let her hold it ¡°And surprisingly light too.¡± she said as her eyebrows shot up. ¡°It can shoot three different kinds of arrows.¡± I said ¡°And there they go.¡± I dimly heard Alex say to Jake and saw Jake nod in agreement. As I was explaining my Crossbow for the next twenty minutes to Ashley, I showed her how it can form into one by twisting a couple inches of the metal in a certain direction and the limbs popped out with a thin purple energy string connecting where the cams appeared. The Energy String disappeared after a few seconds though because it wasn¡¯t in immediate use. Why waste the energy supply? ¡°You made this?¡± Ashley asked, giving me a certain look in her eye. ¡°I had plenty of time on my hands.¡± I said. In hindsight, it was kind of true. I did had a lot of time on my hands. And then that kind of reminded me about them. Even though I had used my fake identity to buy the ticket online, I knew that it was only a matter of time before they find me. Suddenly I looked around, a little nervous about the situation I just gotten myself into. I¡¯m in a metal box, about ninety-five feet long and twelve feet wide. Glass windows sturdy enough to handle the wind-booms and of course they are also bullet proof. And rocket proof. I looked outside and saw a lone twin gyro matte black V.T.O.L. hovercopter of about fifteen meters long and two smaller mean looking gyro predator drones following just behind it. One of those drones (they are about five meters long) were flying sideways and had a red light on and it looked like it was scanning the train for something. Crap. I thought. Not good... ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Ashley asked me. ¡°Them.¡± I whispered, my voice sounding scared for the first time since this morning and I pointed with my chin at The Machines. I lowered myself below the window as much as I can to avoid detection and when Ashley looked out the window, her eyes widened in fear at the strike-craft that crept up on the train. This train has no defense systems on it like most other trains do these days. It has shields, but they¡¯re very weak. They¡¯ll only hold up a single barrage of fire for at least ten to fifteen seconds, then it¡¯s just a matter of how well the armor itself held up. I know I could have gotten a train with better defensive systems on it, but I didn¡¯t want to be too conspicuous. Plus, I didn¡¯t think that The Machines wouldn¡¯t find me this fast. And I still don¡¯t know why they¡¯re after me. And that¡¯s when I heard the whir of a Gatling laser cannon powering up and then hitting the thin shield barrier. The glass is bulletproof. Not laserproof. So it was no surprise when the shield failed and the laser just went straight through the glass and into the other side. I saw Alex and Jake duck the laserbeam and I grabbed my P.E.C. from Ashley and quickly fired an EMP arrow at the drone through the whole it just made for me. The arrow luckily landed on the drone and it short circuited and crashed to the empty fields fifty, seventy feet below. And that¡¯s when the Strike-Craft turned around and started to open fire on the Maglev Train. The top of this passenger car blew off completely and I tried to fire more EMP arrows at the drone strike-craft. That¡¯s when I heard U.O.F.F. fighters coming in and engaging the strike-craft. Well, I thought At least the response time is very fast. The Strike-Craft broke its engagement on the train and retreated to wherever it came from. But it didn¡¯t make it far, as it got incinerated about two hundred feet away. The thing was at least fifty feet away from the Maglev Train when it was flying alongside us. When I looked around, I saw that there was at least fifteen people injured, some of them even killed in that one attack. I paled at the sight of this and looked to see that Alex and Jake were fine, and when I looked at Ashley, she looked okay to. Just a few scrapes and scratches from when the roof blew off. ¡°You okay?¡± She asked me over the blowing wind I smiled and nodded. The train slowed to a stop a few minutes later and there was a U.O.F.F. emergency transport ship hovering above us with its ramp lowered. The ship itself was about thirty meters long with gyro engines on either side of the front of the ship. It had a hangar bay that looked to hold about fifty people and at least a small contingent of soldiers. The color of the ship was a digital camouflaged sky-blue. A ramp lowered from the backside of the ship as it hovered in place and gently touched the middle between the rows of seats and U.O.F.F. soldiers stepped out. By this time, I had already collapsed my P.E.C. and put it away in my bag. Then I saw the medical teams helping with the injured and the dead up to the transport and the soldiers escorting the unharmed civilians. There were forty people on this train car, and thirty including me, Alex, and his team, were walking. Ten were dead. Five injured. And it was because of me. I lowered my head a little as I walked up the ramp and headed towards the back with Zane right beside me. I sat down in a corner of the bay as the transport ship took off towards where ever it came from. I looked up to see that Alex, Jake and Ashley were being pulled aside and talked to. And from the looks of things, from where we¡¯re heading, it looked a lot serious as Jake and Ashley went to an upper level were more soldiers were and geared up. An older caucasian man in a commanding officer uniform approached me and I heard Zane from beside me growl at him in warning. I rested my right hand on his head in comfort and got up from my spot in the bay and gave an even more awkward salute to him than what Jake gave to me not long ago. ¡°It¡¯s alright citizen.¡± he said to me, he had a deep baritone like voice ¡°I heard you helped out a little.¡± I nodded, not really trusting my voice. ¡°My name is Colonel Sylvester Rein.¡± he said, introducing himself ¡°Perhaps you¡¯ve heard of me?¡± At first I was going to shake my head ¡®no¡¯, but then when I thought about his name, it sort of clicked in my mind. ¡°Aren¡¯t you one of the leaders of a strike-force team for the U.O.F.F.?¡± I asked quietly and he nodded. ¡°I was indeed.¡± he replied ¡°Commanding Officer of the fifth battalion strike-force. Those three that you were with are rookies to the battalion. But they¡¯re the best rookies I¡¯ve trained so far.¡± ¡°So far?¡± I asked ¡°Yes ma¡¯am.¡± he said ¡°The others are not that good. They just say they are.¡± ¡°All talk and no guts?¡± I asked and he laughed at my comments which made me smile a bit. ¡°I like your attitude miss.¡± he said after he settled down. ¡°How bout an offer?¡± ¡°An offer?¡± I asked warily. What¡¯s he playing at? ¡°I saw on one of the air cameras that surrounds all trains what you did when the Machine drones attacked. I zoomed in on when that first drone was taken down and saw you looking through the hole it made through the window, with what looked like a crossbow.¡± I blushed and looked down at Zane. He seemed more relaxed now than a minute ago. ¡°You can stay cool under pressure.¡± ¡°Three years of being on the run helps.¡± I said quietly. Then my eyes widened as I realized what I said and snapped my head up to see that Colonel Rein¡¯s face take on a look of concern. ¡°What¡¯s your name miss?¡± he then asked ¡°Winchester.¡± I said quietly ¡°Hannah Winchester.¡± ¡°Winchester?¡± He said to himself as if my last name was somehow familiar. ¡°Any relation to John and Katherine Winchester?¡± he asked I took a step back at his mention of my parents names and Zane took a protective guard in front of me and gave him a warning growl. ¡°How do you know their names?¡± I asked, letting Zane get in his protective mode. ¡°Because they used to be in the same battalion.¡± he said ¡°We were leading co-officers. And I ask again, who are you, in relation to John and Katherine?¡± ¡°Daughter.¡± I said very quietly and I saw his eyes widened just before I lowered my head and sat back down. -------- A/N: *Dodges things being thrown at* Okay Okay! I know... another cliffy... Hopefully, I''ll be updating weekly on this story. If not, I''ll will update when I can. A/N update: I updated a description of the attack on the Meglav train. Basically a better understanding of what was attacking if you didn''t know what I was talking about earlier. C2: Unlocking Abilities A/N: Here''s another chapter for you folks hope you enjoy. C2: Unlocking Abilities About half an hour later we got to an air base. During that time I just sat alone with Zane curled up by my side. Ashley did come up to check on me towards the last ten minutes of the flight. She didn¡¯t talk or anything, just sat there with an arm draped over my shoulders in comfort. She must have had good hearing because she was glaring at the Colonel that I was talking to when I took a glance up at her. Is this what it feels like to have an older sister or something? I thought to myself as the medical transport landed smoothly on the base. She gave me a reassuring squeeze on my shoulders and helped me up to my feet. I grabbed my backpack and patted my left leg twice. Zane instantly got up and circled around us until he stopped at my left side looking up at me expectantly. I just patted his head as the ramp in the middle of the transport bay lowered itself onto the airfield. ¡°Where are we?¡± I asked curiously to Ashley ¡°Where we were all heading originally on that train.¡± she responded ¡°Welcome to the Klacks Air Base.¡± By this time the five of us (Alex and Jake had joined us by this time) had stepped off the ramp and onto the airbase. The base was bigger than I thought it would be. Internet does not do it justice. When I came back to reality (my mind was coming up with many different possibilities of tweaking things here and there. What can I say? There¡¯s a motherload of technologies at this base!), I noticed that the injured were heading towards a medical looking facility and that Alex was heading in that direction as well. I noticed that Jake stayed nearby the three of us and suddenly I had no idea what to do now. ¡°So why were you heading here?¡± Ashley asked suddenly ¡°I... I was looking for someone.¡± I said quietly. Suddenly my Bracelet bleeped several times at me and I tried to discreetly open the holographic map on it (it instantly updates wherever I am so I know how to get around myself). However, I noticed that Ashley was looking at me when I pulled up the map of the base. She had a combination of a surprised look and confusion on her face. Surprise probably because I have something like this, and confused... well, probably because of a green dot that¡¯s showing me the location of the person I¡¯m looking for, and probably wondering how the hell I got all of this information. But for now, her face turned suddenly serious as there were quite a few red dots surrounding the green. Probably about twenty or so. Ten in front and ten behind in a two by two formation with the green dot directly in the middle. And this was being taking place in a large hangar bay about several hundred meters away from us. I quickly scrolled around towards that hangar and noticed that there were more of the red dots surrounding the building. About ten more. ¡°Is that who I think it is?¡± Ashley asked ¡°The person I¡¯m trying to look for?¡± I asked back, turning off my Bracelet and already pulling out my P.E.C. and opening it, turning on the energy string. ¡°Yes.¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°How¡¯d you get the Commander¡¯s Bio-Signature?¡± Jake asked as he was right behind me when I had the hologram out. ¡°Later.¡± I said, already rushing towards the hangar with Zane right behind me. Then something Jake said caught up to me and I stopped for an instant and turned around ¡°Commander?¡± I asked weakly ¡°Yeah, how did you get her bio-signature?¡± he asked again, more sternly this time. ¡°My father.¡± I said and turned again, heading towards that hangar. I heard a couple sets of footsteps and I knew that Ashley and Jake were both following me. And of course I knew that Zane was right next to me on my left. When we got closer to the hangar, he started growling loudly. A clear sign that there are Infiltration Machines here at this base. Though these kinds have human skin on the outside, they have a metal exoskeleton body on the inside that looked like a regular human¡¯s skeleton. Except, no internal organs. How do I know this? It was in a file in that safe box that survived my childhood home bombing. I shook myself from those thoughts as I neared closer to the hangar. Zane suddenly barked twice loudly and I instantly dodged to the left, taking Ashley with me, avoiding a laser blast right in the path I was heading. I rolled to my feet and noticed that Zane and Jake had dodged to their right. Then I aimed my P.E.C. at the nearest Infiltrator machine and fired a low powered energy arrow at it. The energy arrow struck it¡¯s right shoulder and blew up half of its right side. I fired another one, and it incinerated the rest of it. And that¡¯s when the others outside guarding the hangar bay started open firing at us. However, just before they did, I froze when I heard them all say one line: ¡°Past Designation Located: Invalidate, Elizabeth Hannah Winchester.¡± Immediately I shook out of my frozen state of shock at turned my P.E.C. to full power and turned one of its setting to a widespread attack. I aimed it at the nine infiltration machines that are in a line now, and fired at full power. All nine imploded on themselves leaving nine two meter wide, and a foot down craters where they had stood. What can I say? I really, really hate the name Elizabeth. The hangar doors opened then and there was more laser fire from the inside. However, for the first time that I could remember, I feel like blacking out. Like, I had used up all my energy or something. I tried aiming my P.E.C. at the infiltrators, but I had passed out before I could even do so. -------- A/N: Like I said before, any constructive criticism would be appreciated. hope to have another by next week.