A monstrous fire was seen spewing from the crumpled remains of the fallen buildings hot enough to distort nearby structures into nightmarish shapes. Explosions loud enough to be heard the next city over as yet another home was engulfed in flames. "Bang bang bang" the deafening sound of gunshots piercing through the night sky, shrieks of terror as civilians ran from their homes narrowly avoiding the intense flames only to be mowed down in a hail of gunfire.
A local news van logo illuminated ominously with shadows from the inferno dancing down the street as embers from the nearby raging flame gently rest against the asphalt before quietly dissipating.
"What the hell" the cameraman shouted toward the reporter in a panicked fervor "th... they just killed those families, for what... for wanting to live?" The cameraman quickly spun away before a violent stream of vomit spewed onto the asphalt splashing back into the camera lens.
"The criminal is down I repeat the criminal is down" an officer was heard over the nearby police cruisers' loudspeaker. The reporter swiped the camera from the cameraman.
"you are such a disgusting pig, Jerry! Wow, you even managed to get vomit on the lens." Even with the camera lens covered in the man's dinner, it was easy to see the anger on the reporter's face, the thin line between sanity and insanity was reaching its breaking point.
"But Janet... I'm sorry" Jerry spoke with a stutter as he wiped his dinner from his chin
"You are going to be sorry if you don't get out of my sight you disgusting sack of garbage! This is my chance to get into the big leagues and you're ruining it" Janet spoke under her breath jaw clenched turning her back towards her colleague. "Ben get over here Jerry is going to be taking a vacation."
In just a matter of seconds, the camera was taken control of by Ben followed by a quick wipe down of the lens. "A-All right we are r-ready" Ben spoke nervously as he pointed the camera back towards Janet.
The reporter ran her fingers through her luscious strawberry blonde hair, flowing down to the center of her back. The glow of the flames reflecting in her beautiful sky blue eyes as she licked her perky pink lips.
"Why does such beauty have to be wasted on such a dreadfully bitter woman," a 16-year-old Cole Evans thought to himself as he sat next to April his mother in the comfort of their lower-middle-class house located on the other side of town from this tragedy.
"The scene behind me isn't the set of an action movie." Janet began to narrate the crime scene in front of her as officers surrounded a man lying seemingly lifeless just a small distance behind her.
"This is real life and just another example of why all of the Bellum scum must pay for their crimes against humanity."
A well-known phone number flashed across the screen "The Bellum parasites are a threat against our way of life, you too can help by calling the number on the screen, making a report of any strange activity, and as always any tips leading towards the capture of a Bellum will come with a hefty reward!."
"How can people believe any of this." Cole turned to his mother "any non brainwashed sheep can see that the 'Criminal' was simply using his abilities here to save those poor people by making a path through the flames and what does he get for it, an award maybe? No! That man was immediately branded as a threat and shot on sight"
"Unfortunately, Cole Honey we just can't trust that these people with the Bellum gene won't someday turn on us and cause history to repeat itself."
Cole knew his mom was speaking of World War Terra and found himself thinking back to class earlier that week as they were once again going over the subject.
World War Terra is known as the terrible war that took place at the tail end of the 21st century. No one knows exactly when the war started or when it had ended, only that it had been the bloodiest war in recorded history.
The world population hit an all-time high due to the advances in medicine, with nearly all disease eradicated and the average lifespan exceeding one hundred years of age it wasn't surprising that resources and land would become scarce as the world population crossed the twelve billion mark.
Everyone always believed that World War 3 would be unimaginably devastating with the threat of nuclear war on the horizon, little did they realize just how much worse it turned out.
The world fought for decades over land and resources leaving weapons of mass destruction out of the question as that would make any land won unusable. As the war stretched on many countries began to use their advanced medical knowledge to commit a taboo that the world may never forget, tampering with their soldier's genetic code experimenting in secret on humans and their DNA until the super soldier was born.
At first, it was just men and women with the strength and durability tenfold a normal human, this shifted the balance of world powers for a time but of course, once other countries caught up the world found itself once again in an endless stalemate.
Next, we would see soldiers with minor wounds healing in a matter of seconds and normally critical wounds that would be likely deadly to you or I healed in their sleep overnight.
No one is sure which country contributed to the final desecration to humanity, spawning what eventually could only be described as the modern superhero, people flying, lasers shooting out of eyes, super reflexes fast enough to dodge bullets, soon these individuals became known as Bellum.
The name came from a tumor-like growth found in X-ray exams attached to the individuals cerebellum. life now looked like something straight out of a comic book just with much more bloodshed.
This plague of violence continued for years but just when it seemed like there would be no end to the fighting everything stopped, all across the globe people collapsed, the war was ended in an instant along with the lives of 99% of the human race!
In the blink of an eye, the human race went back to the dark ages. Power plants shut down with no one to operate, planes fell out of the sky, livestock starved to death, humanity had to return to its roots of scavenging and hunting for survival.
About six hundred years have now passed, humanity has built itself back into stability, with the help of the new world government we have recently passed the world population of one billion. If only we knew that the much sought-after cure for cancer would have come at such a hefty price!
Coles Attention was brought back to his television as a blinding flash of light enveloped the living room as if the morning sun itself had made his dwelling it's new home. After a few short seconds, the light had begun to dissipate.
"What the hell" an officer on the scene shouted "where did he go" the Bellum that was previously lying on the ground seemingly dead was now gone. "Damn it search high and low he couldn't have gotten far, he is too important to let escape!"
As the police dispersed in all directions the camera turned back towards Janet who began to go through her usual sign off before switching back to the newsroom, "click" the screen went blank as Coles mother spoke "alright son it's about time you head to bed, you have school tomorrow".
Cole begrudgingly lifted himself from the couch and slowly begun his nightly routine of brushing his teeth and setting out his school uniform for tomorrow before crawling into bed dreading the test that his history teacher had prepared for tomorrow making it all the more surprising when he quickly drifted off to sleep.
"Bang, Bang, Bang!" Cole woke from his sleep drenched in a cold sweat from a loud repeating noise seemingly coming from the downstairs living room. "BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG" the sound getting steadily louder and more frantic not unlike the sound of a deadbeat ex-husband beating down the front door drunk after a night on the town demanding to see his kids.
"what do you want? It's two o'clock in the morning" April grumbled from downstairs followed by the steady sound of many people entering the comfort of Coles home like a miniature stampede. Cole threw on his pants passing on his shirt to save time and made his way out of his room to the top of the stairs laying down on his chest giving him the perfect view of the front door.
Cole learned of this trick a few years back when his dad bought a new movie that he had been dying to see, unfortunately, Coles mother swooped in at the last moment swiping the remote and popcorn away claiming that the movie was inappropriate for a kid his age, to be fair she wasn't wrong as the then ten-year-old Cole experienced nightmares for nearly a month afterward.
Cole inched his way towards the sweet spot on the carpet revealing a good majority of the living room now wishing he had grabbed his shirt as his stomach burned with an insatiable itch provided by the rough flooring that had its way with his uncovered abdomen.
"Ma'am I'm going to need you to step aside while we search the premises" A very tall man built like a fortress spoke in an intimidating, booming voice. April draped in a blue and white striped nightgown braced herself in front of the man and stood her ground arms spread like a bird in flight.
"For what possible reason could you have for coming to my house in the dead of the night demanding to look around". In one swift motion, exuding little effort, the man lifted April, pivoted his heels ninety degrees, and gently set her down proceeding his search all while calmly saying
"Our fair government has reason to believe that there have been Bellum energy spikes coming from this part of your neighborhood" before loudly speaking in a firm tone "Bring in the Hound!"
A man on all four came crashing through the front door foaming at the mouth smashing into the walls hard enough to knock the décor from their nails.
"So that is a Hound, I've never seen one this close up before" whispered Cole. "A Hound is a beast type Bellum controlled by the government to use as a tracker, with an acute sense of hearing and smell they make great tools when tracking down convicts being able to detect even faint amounts of residual Bellum energy not detectable through man-made tech some even days later after a storm" cole muttered to himself.
"That's preposterous" April interjected before being struck back to the ground by the passing hound with only its task on its mind. The hound continued its patrol while colliding into its surroundings nose to the ground with seemingly no rhyme or reason.
The hound continued in this manner for several minutes as Cole watched curiously from his perch at the top of the stairs. Abruptly the hound stopped in its tracks taking a big whiff as its gaze turned to Cole.
"There master, I see the culprit" the Hound snarled with an excited inflection in his voice.
"Seems we have a prying eye among us men" spoke the stranger in a menacing tone "Fetch" with that single demand the hound darted towards Cole with breakneck speed matching that of a wild bloodthirsty beast on the hunt. Before Cole could even register what was happening the hound had found its way to the second floor bypassing the stairs entirely choosing to instead ascend the wall using its inch-long razor-sharp claws for leverage.
"Agghhh" Cole screamed as the hound sank its teeth firmly into his leg tossing him down the stairs like a rag doll smacking his head into the stairwell banister.
"stop thi... instan..." Cole's ears were ringing and his vision was blurry "...t did my bo... do to yo..." April was attempting to push the stranger back out the door to no avail. "leave me and my family alone" Cole's vision and hearing were beginning to return to normal.
"get out of my HOUSE!" April shouted as she slammed her fist square in the man's chest.
"out of my way" the man grunted in a still neutral voice as he casually lifted his fist before striking April with the back of his hand swiftly knocking her to the floor with enough force to crack the hardwood.
"Mom!" blood began to trickle out from the back of April's head as she laid there motionless "mom, get up please get up". Tears streamed down Cole's face as he stared in disbelief dragging his ragged body towards his mother "you monster!" Sadness quickly turned to anger and hatred for this man.
"Why so angry kid? She did hit me first, and besides, she isn't dead... probably" the stranger spoke with a smirk as he walked towards April "now come with me for some questioning, or I can make sure she doesn't recover" the man's massive boot pressing into her chest slowly pressing his full weight into her threatening to flatten her like roadkill. "Agree to come with me boy, before I lose my balance" the stranger laughed as he continued to press down onto April's chest, "crack" the sound of multiple ribs breaking followed by a small spurt of blood spewing from her mouth like a geyser.
Cole still struggling from his torn up leg now oozing blood just barely managed to clamber to his feet.
"Get off of her, you BASTARD!" Cole leaped with everything he had towards the man, fist clenched, striking the seven-foot monster of a man square in the jaw managing to get him to stumble back a few feet releasing April.
"Good punch, I actually felt that" the man chuckled while wiping a trickle of blood from his lip "but that punch won't get you anywhere without a bit of passion behind it, let me show you what a real punch feels like" The man grit his teeth while flexing his right arm, suddenly almost comically his sleeve burst at the seams as the muscles in his arm swelled doubling in size glowing in a crimson light "brace yourself, little man, this is going to be a doozy" The stranger Swung his fist at Cole aiming for his jaw.
Before Cole knew it his body reacted on its own as if a puppet on strings, he couldn't even process what was happening as both of his arms sprung up in front of his face blocking the punch but still sending him flying through the air colliding into the wall mounted tv and collapsing on the floor. The last thing Cole could remember was the man saying "collect the runt and his mom, we better get going" before blacking out.