The Fall of Man

Chapter 2

Okay, so the nomads were liars. I was told that inside the safe zones everything was fantastic. People could live just like before the Xyclonians invaded, have a normal peaceful life, they made it sound like the streets were even paved with gold, evidently they were wrong.

Where the city began, most buildings were destroyed, children were so thin you could see their ribs as they laughed and played with each other.

And the parents watched on with hollow, saddened eyes. I stared awestruck, this wasn't the city I had heard of from the nomads, this looked more like a hell than paradise.

I fell back from walking beside Lance, I fell in step with one of the soldiers until we were walking side by side, the name on his uniform was Erik. He was tall and skinny with scratched glasses set on his nose, he couldn't have been more than 19, he had no place being a soldier, he should be in school or something, but I guess The Collapse messed up a lot is lives.

"What happened here?" I whispered, "Why are they living like this?" He leaned towards me "They came here without a lot of money, and work is hard to find here, this is the best they could get."

We passed through a checkpoint that easily was meant to separate the poorer part of the city to the middle and upper class. Lance flashed his I.D. and the guards separated to let us through. I was brought to what would be considered the town center where a large building rose into the sky.

We marched in and walked through some sort of office where people sat typing diligently on their computers, I entered a hallway and was soon shoved into what looked to be a interrogation room, a single table and two metal chairs on either side.

A woman in a suit came in soon after and showed her I.D. for a second before putting it in her pocket. "I'm Agent Janson, I'd like to have a few words with you. First off your name."

Okay, straight to the point "My name is Connor Delany, and is this really necessary? I feel like I'm in a episode of some cop show. I didn't do anything wrong did I?"

Her mouth twitched up in an (almost) smile. "Yes, it is. It's not every day someone shows up to The Wall on a Xyclonian bike, as far as we know, no one has been able to capture that kind of tech. I suddenly remembered the device in my bag, I brought it on my lap and noticed for the first time,my rifle was missing, they must've taken it and I hadn't noticed, I'd need to pick it up on my way out.

I reached in and grabbed the device, it was humming slightly and it felt warm in my hand. I handed it to Agent Janson and told her the story about the Xyclonian.

She frowned when I finished, "As far as I know, no one has survived contact with them like that, heck as far as I know, they haven't even tried to make direct contact before. And you said he was missing a leg?" "Yeah." The agent leaned forward, "We'll send a search party out to see if your story checks out. As for now we've made accommodations at this address." She handed me a slip of paper with a address scrawled on it in messy hand writing.

"Oh and Mr. Delany I have a feeling that we will be seeing each other much more often."

I flopped onto the bed exhausted. I had a fairly nice room on the top floor of some hotel a few blocks down from where I was interrogated, I had found Riley already curled up on my bed snoring.

Not wanting to disturb her I decided to take a shower and then go directly to bed. After I had dried off I found a note on my bedside table telling me to be at the front of the building in the town square at ten a.m., it had been hastily signed by Agent Cheryl Janson, I guess she was right, we would be seeing more of each other and soon. I laid my head on my pillow, I couldn't remember the last time I had a warm safe bed, it felt nice, and it wasn't long before I drifted off to sleep.

I woke with a start to a loud crash, I leaped out of my bed, months of having to sleep on edge kicking in. I grabbed my rifle that was placed by my bed. I ran into the other room where a couch and old T.V. sat.

There was a tall figure hunched over my bag where my meager belongings still laid "Hey, what are you doing?" I yelled pointing my rifle at the intruder. The figure turned and stared at me, the face was covered by a pale blue mask with two slits cut out for eyes. The thief stared at me for a moment longer before leaping out the broken window into the black of night.