The Invisible

The Invisible
Chapter 1

         We never had a plan for how to deal with this destruction. They just came so fast and swept away all the children and murdered all their parents and anyone who stood in their way. They were made to protect and serve us, the perfect soldier, but something went horribly wrong with their programming and their training.
         My name is Ion Smith. I was born on May 15, 2566 and according to the government, I died July 19, 2573. That was the first time that Program X-76, or better known as the plague, was released to, according to their programming, better man kind. These “soldiers” looked like the essence of Hell to the civilians, always wearing black stealth suits carrying an M-9 and varieties of grenades and ammunition. The most horrifying part of the plague was their “infra red eye” that seemed to look right through you. X-76 descended through my city when I was only seven. We were the second city hit by the plague. My parents and others always said hide when you hear the siren. I have been haunted by that day, the day I saw my parents die a dreadful death, the day everything changed, the day the Invisible saved me.

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         We are called many things, “The Image of the Shadows,” “The Saviors,” but we only go by one name, “The Invisible.” I was 22 when I became the Invisible’s leader. We have a simple mission- recover the kidnaped and shut down Program X-76.
         “Ion, New Port just got hit by the plague 10 minutes ago,” said Conan, my second in command and best friend. “If we leave now we could intercept them and-“
         ”No, the new weapons aren’t complete and the transports still aren’t completely repaired. Anyways, if we do intercept them all we do is free two or three children and lose way to many men,” I stated defiantly.
         “What? Repairs on the transports were supposed to be finished this morning. What’s taking ‘em so long, brother?”
         “The engines took severe damage and we don’t have the parts to fix them, so we have to make new ones from scratch outta spare parts from around here.”
         “Ah,” screamed Conan, “how are we gonna get rid of the plague with all these stalls?!” Conan then proceeded to punch my gun locker and to both of our surprise, dented it.
         Let me give you a little background on Conan. Conan is a really big guy of Australian decent, with a wicked sharp temper. He’s two years older then me and helped me out a lot through my first years at the Invisible. He became like a brother to me, but still, I think it bothers him that he got passed over for leader.
         “Conan, relax. We will free everyone,” I said in the calmest possible voice. “I promised everyone here that we would liberate them and that’s what I plan on doing.” I’m not sure if it helped him all that much, but he nodded his head and then walked away.
         By now it was around 10:00 p.m. and I was supposed to meet with everyone in Invisible to plan our next move.
         “Ion, are you ready?” said Lana as she stepped into my room. “Everyone is waiting to hear your next plan of attack.”
         “I know, I know. It just hard to put hope back in everyone’s mind if they think there is none.”
         “But you have to try, they count on you.”
         “Why? We’ve lost more children and soldiers with me leading then when Tane was leading.” By now I was shouting and tears were coming to my eyes.
         “But-“
         ”Do you remember when I first came here? There were maybe 70 missing children posters on that board.” Tears were now flowing down my face. “Now I’m in charge and there are at least 300 on that board. I let all of them down, now they’re all gonna-“
         ”Don’t say that,” interrupted Lana, “it’s not your fault. X-76 is just coming with power and force. Ion, you can’t give up hope and give up on all those children.”
         “But-“
         ”No. Calm yourself down and meet us in the hall. I worry about you Ion. I mean I hear you screaming at night in your dreams.”
         “I know,” a now calmer me said, “they’ve gotten worse, almost to the point where I can’t sleep.”
         I lowered my head and I heard Lana sigh and then walk out of my room. I really don’t know all that much about Lana. She only came here five or six years ago. It’s hard to remember when the majority of us got here with everything that’s going on. But Lana learned extremely quick in our ways and has become one of our elite infantry. I feel like she’s the only one that thinks I can do anything.

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         ‘But how are we gonna save ourselves,’ and things like ‘What if they find us’ kept erupting from the massive group gathered in the hall. The murmuring continued as I stepped onto the stage only to be silenced by the voice of someone in the crowd saying, ‘He actually came.’
         “They think that we’re just organic beings made of chemicals. They think that we should live and that they are superior, but they’re wrong!” I exclaimed to the crowd.
         “No!” yelled the crowd in unison.
         “Who are we?!”
         “The Invisible!”
         “We can’t allow any of this. Their quiet cull is coming to an end! What are we?!”
         “The Invisible!”
         “We have free will and the right to choose and there is no chance in Hell that they will take that away! We’ll never let go! Who are we?!”
         “The Invisible!”
         “To ‘the plague’ we’re nothing more then a blip on their radar or the static on their communicator, but we’re not, are we?!”
         “No!”
         “We’re emblematic of the unknown! So, what are we?!”
         “The Invisible!”
         I walked over to the massive missing persons board and grabbed a picture of a small girl no more then the age of eight. “This could of been any of us, but we were liberated by the Invisible.” I pointed at the picture of the girl, ”Why should we let any of them suffer through the devastation of “the plague,” we must get rid of Program X-76 and stop their reign of terror once and for all!”
         “Yeah!”

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         “Just think,” said Lana to Conan, “a half an hour ago he had a complete break down in his room because he thought he couldn’t do this.”
         “I know, I know,” replied Conan, “but this just sounds like a rave not a plan for an upcoming battle.”
         “Chill out Conan, he had to make everything seem fine before he could do anything like that.”
         “Fine, we’ll see if he can do it.”

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         “We all we’re lost, but the Invisible found us. We all have names and now we are known by all. No one will ever walk alone because we are unstoppable together. We have to liberate everyone so they will never be forgotten.”
         “Yeah!”
         “I need thirty of our best infantry to assemble into a special forces brigade to follow me out to X-76's headquarters and wipe them out. Who’s with me?!”
         There was complete silence only to be broken a second later by Lana screaming, “I’m with you Ion!”
         Conan followed with a, “Me too,” only after Lana elbowed his ribs.
         Soon the hall was reverberating with screams of, ‘I’m with you Ion,’ ‘Count on me,’ and ‘When do we leave?’
         “Okay, okay. That’s all the personnel I need. Everyone who volunteered, meet me in the weapons bay at oh-six-hundred tomorrow. I’m counting on you.” I began to leave to the side of the stage but I didn’t hear the shuffling of feet or muttering of people, there was nothing. “Oh,” I returned to center stage, “Invisible dismissed.”
         Everyone filed out in a mass clump, muttering things like, ‘I had no idea he could do this,’ or ‘Ion’s really becoming a leader.’ It made me really proud when I heard that. I turned around and then it hit me as if a bullet had torn through my body. It was the missing person board, with all their faces seeming to stare right through me. Suddenly I felt real light headed, like I was going to pass out only to be held up by an affectionate Lana.
         “Ion you were wonderful,” she said after she kissed my check. I must have blushed because she giggled.
         “Really,” I said unsurely, “it was good.” I was trying to keep my eyes fixed on Lana the whole time, making sure I didn’t get another fatal glimpse of the posters.
         “Yes really. The people seem to be warming up to you as a leader.” She proceeded to walk me back to my room and then leave me there with her turning around and winking at me. She giggled so I must of blushed again.

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         The sirens were emitting a horrid blare which I remember immediately could only mean one thing, they were here. I could feel my heart beating through my chest as I hurried, frantically looking for a place to hide. I finally came to my piano and stopped, looked at the door then rushed to the top of it so I could hide within its confining walls. I left only enough room to see out of it. The silence was abruptly interrupted by the loud crash of shattering glass. Then I heard voices, a women’s voice saying, ‘No, there’s no one here just us’ only to be followed by the reverberating sound of gun fire, exploding out of the cold chamber of their weapons. Bullets were flying through the wall adjacent to my hiding place. The woman’s scream was joined by that of a man. Their screams were echoing through the halls of the buildings, then there was complete and total silence. The sound of footsteps broke the silence. The footsteps were coming closer and closer to the door joining the two rooms together. As soon as I heard the footsteps, no later did they stop was replaced with a high pitched beeping that kept quickening in pace. The beeping was so rapid, it was almost impossible to here the gap between two beeps. No more then fifteen seconds later did the beeping seize and the door erupted in a spray of wood splinters.

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         “Ion! Ion! It’s okay, wake up!” Lana yelled as she shook me from my slumber. “You were screaming terribly. Your gonna wake up the entire barracks.”
         “I’m sorry I woke you.” I said groggily.
         She smiled, “Ion,” she hesitated, “Could I ask you something?”
         “Yeah, sure anything.” I was still wiping the sleep out my eyes.
         “What were you dreaming about that frightened you so much?”
         I immediately stopped and answered in a breaking tone. “ The last time I ever was normal. The day my parents died.”
         “Oh . . . I’m so sorry, but you’ve always been normal. It doesn’t matter ‘bout-“
         ”Yes it does. Without my parents I was raised here, by people I barely knew.” I rose from my bed and looked her directly in her lavender eyes, “Do you know how it feels to see the image of your mothers face every single time your close your eyes? Come on, tell me since you seem to have all the answers.” I looked at Lana with a raging face only to be softened by her face changing from a caring smile to a saddened face flowing with a torrential flood of tears.
         “Ion, how could you say that to . . . to me!” She screamed through the tears, “ I didn’t even know my mother, she was killed before I could formulate any memories of her!”
         “But Lana, I . . . I didn’t-“
         ”Yes you did I can’t believe you!” She ran out of my room so fast that on the way she gashed her arm on a large, stray nail protruding from the doorframe.
         “Lana,” I chased after as fast as I could, “Lana I didn’t mean to! I really didn’t know!” I screamed after her only to be replied with ‘I hate you’ and ‘go away.’
         She turned the corner to what was the corridor to her room.
         “Lana, please just let me say something,” I exclaimed as she turned the corner. “ Please wait up.” I grabbed the edge of the wall as I slipped on something wet on the floor, whatever it was, it was dripped throughout the corridor. Disregarding the fact that whatever the substance was was warm I ran toward Lana’s door. I latched onto the handle as soon as I reached it and tried to open it only to be denied by it being locked.
         “Come on Lana, let me in I didn’t mean it.”
         “How could you not of meant it? You said it so coldly, so why would I even consider letting you in!”
         “‘Cause,” I thought as quick as I could then I looked straight down at the floor. Light flickered off a drop of the liquid revealing its true color, “‘Cause your bleeding and need medical attention.”
         There was silence for about ten seconds when I heard footstep coming toward the door, followed by the sound of the door unlocking, then “Fine, come in.”