I'm Friends With the Monsters (AOE)

Prolouge: Do or Die

I guess you could say I should have seen it coming.

I mean, with the world as it is now, you can expect that things like this were to happen. But I never imagined that it would happen to us. That the monsters would come. And they weren't all just human either.

My name is Gabriela Vanell Yeager, but you can call me Gabby. My mom nicknamed me that because I was so talkative when I was little. I don't speak as much as I used to, since Chicago...

Allow me to clarify.

Less than ten years ago, it became obvious that something was amiss on earth. Like, there was this mysterious meteor shower, and then less than three days later Mission City expirienced some sort of... well, the government called it a natural disaster. Yeah, right.

Seven years ago, there was a 'battle' recorded in Egypt, near the Great Pyramids. The goverment tried to keep things closed, but everything leaked out in the following years. We were not alone.

Four years ago, was the worst thing that could ever happen to humanity. Something so devastating that didn't just affect thousands, maybe millions of people... something that affected me.

Four years ago was when the Battle of Chicago occured. Nobody could understand who or what they were, these giant metal robots. Only that they came, they saw, they conquered. Ironically, it was like Juluis Ceaser's army and we were the poor sods they'd decided to exterminate.

At that time, I was eleven years old and living in the city with my mom. My dad, I don't even know who he is or what happened to him. I have no clue whatsoever even now. It was always just me, mom, and the hustle and bustle of the Windy City. That is, until that fateful night. I still remember that date clearly.

June 23, 2011.

It was a seemingly ordinary evening. I was at home with mom, and we were relaxing, watching TV. I remember looking at her face and smiling, thinking how awesome she was. She'd single-handedly raised me without any help at all, and though she worked a lot as a secretary, she did what she could to spend time with me. I loved her. I remember squeezing her hand, and she looked at me with that big smile of hers...

Then it happened.

There was a loud crack and our apartment shook. Our lights flickered and I thought I heard something. I stood up and pulled away, walking to the window, and my jaw dropped.

Against the darkness, there were ships. Floating, FLYING ships! I couldn't believe my eyes! And what was worse, was that these ships were definitely UFOs, but they weren't like ALF's from that old TV show. There were hundreds of them, from what I could see. And they were shooting at buildings.

'Independence Day' flickered in my mind before the power went out. Mom stood up, took one look outside and dropped her coffee cup. She immediately grabbed her purse, told me to get whatever I could carry and meet her downstairs. I didn't think twice about it, and grabbed my journal, a present from my mom, my IPod, and stuffed it all into my backpack. I met her downstairs and we took off. Just in time too, because we hadn't made a block before the entire apartment complex fell over! The aftershock sent us sprawling to the ground, but we got up and just ran. We didn't have a car, we'd always taken the bus. But now I was kind of wishing we at least grabbed our bikes!

But that wasn't the end of it. Two blocks down was when I witnessed something I swear I will never, ever forget.

The monsters.

Giant, metal robots that were shooting at fleeing and panicking people, who turned to ash and bone. And guess what? WE were 'fleeing' people!

"Mom, we're sitting ducks!" I recall telling her quickly as we banged a right, trying to avoid getting barbequed.

"I know." That's all she said. A simple, calm, 'I know'. But I knew she was just as scared as I was. Man, now I was really wishing I'd paid attention to how all those people in the Sci-Fi horrors survived!

I don't know how long we ran, ducked, and hid as those robots patrolled the streets and the ships flew overhead. It was just us. We had no help, no where to turn to. We could only run and pray we'd get out alive. It was the worst night of my life. And it wasn't even half-over. Finally, we were reaching the city limits, but the swarm of robots became thicker, and were closing in on us.

And that's when mom twisted her ankle.

"MOM!!!" I turned around and ran back towards her-

"GABBY RUN! GET OUT OF THE CITY!"

"Mom! Mom I can't-"

"You CAN Gabriela! You can make it! You are a Yeager, you are my daughter! Believe in yourself!"

I remember staring into her eyes, and I saw she was crying. That was the first time I'd ever seen mom cry. Ever.

I looked up and saw the robots get closer. It was do or die. Run or stay behind. Run for my life or stay behind and get killed.

With a hard swallow, I backed up. "I-I love you mommy!!!" Without another word, I turned and ran.

I didn't look back as I heard my mother's scream and a shot fired behind me...

......

They didn't find me until a couple days later. I'd taken shelter on the outskirts of town, hiding in an abandoned warehouse. I was dehydrated, exhausted from running and crying, terrified and starving, bruised with a couple abrasions.

But I was alive.

Mom wasn't, even without them searching for her body, I knew it....

There was a small funeral that was held. My uncle Cade showed up, and my cousin Tessa. I hadn't seen either since I was much younger, maybe around the time those... 'Transformers' were first heard about.

I couldn't stop thinking, throughout the funeral, why.

Why did they do this?

What did they want?

Why did they kill everyone?

Why did they kill my mother...

I wish someone could tell me the truth.

....

It's been four years since that night.

I'm fifteen now, and the anniversary of my mom's death and Chicago's attack has rolled around. I was placed into my Uncle Cade's care since her death. I went through therapy, all hellish six-months-worth of it and then some after my nightmares wouldn't quit. Tessa's been actually nice to me, considering it's 'Tessa'. Texas is a huge change from the Windy City, though I still miss it. Somewhat.

The government is now hunting the ones responsible for everyone's deaths. If you see any of them, call in immediately. But over those four years, I've been thinking. I've been researching. All over the internet is contradiction, but there are familiar names, pictures and patterns that keep reoccurring. And then there's this book, 'Codename Hero'. The one my mother got me. It's talking about THEM. These 'monsters', except, they're not all monsters. There are two sides, one called the Autobots, heroic and protectors of earth, and the others are Decepticons. The ones that killed my mother.

Apparently they've been on earth longer than humanity knows about. But the truth of the matter is that, if the book, the stories ARE true, the Decepticons outnumber us a hundred to one.

And what scares me the most, is that they could be preparing for another attack, as I say this.

And I don't know who to call friend or foe among these monsters.