Dark Times

Chapter One

Jasper Mcree. That's my name. I was born fifteen years ago as one of the unlucky suckers. Why? It's because of them. They came seventeen years ago. They took our sun and replaced it with a dull white glow in the sky. It happened all too fast. Plants died. Famine. War over what was left. Bloodshed. Death; and finally, they came.

They swept across like a plague. They took down Russia in two hours, Europe in 12. Asia was like child's play. They blew away China. Like, literally. There's just a big crater where China once stood.

Africa, America, and the other continents put up a fight as an alliance but our efforts were futile as our weapons had little to no effect on them. Our nukes didn't even reach their mothership.

What was left of humanity came together. We call ourselves 'The Forgotten.'

Why?

The Aliens left us alone. Well, sort of. Whenever they felt like it, they attacked us and killed some before disappearing again.

A few years back, when I was younger, there was a loud drilling noise, followed up by an earthquake. We took cover and when we came back, we saw it. A massive alien base a few hundred kilometers away from our encampment. Some said we should run, some even commited suicide, but our leaders told us to stay put.

Now, we wait. Awaiting our doom. There's no way to escape it. It's just a matter of time now.

I remember someone saying that there is no God, but I disagree. I believe that this is God's way of putting an end to the evil in humanity, leaving those who are worthy to start afresh. Just like Noah's story.

I just hope I'm good enough, bec-

"Jasper!"

"What?!"

"Come out here."

"Look little lady! Do you know how hard it was to get my hands on an empty bio-flash?! Do you know how long it wil take for me to wipe it just to get rid of your voice?!" I roared as I stormed out of my little apartment.

"Geez. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. You should mention it next time." Sylvie, my best friend retorts, crossinng her arms around her chest.

"I did!" I whine, stomping my foot on the ground angrily.

"Lookie here, little Jasper's yelling at me." Sylvie giggles. "Don't forget I'm two years older than you." She smiles down at me.

I groan in defeat, respecting the fact that she mannaged to survive all that chaos when the first came. She laughs and pats my back. "Don't worry, you'll win one day." She laughs again.

"Why were you calling me?"

"Oh, right, your dad was looking for you. He said to meet him in the town hall." He says and runs a hand through her newly dyed purple hair.

"I wonder why. The town hall is only used for important meetings among the council." I mutter to myself and stand up then begin my short journey to the town hall. It's not actually a real town hall, but a renovated school, but we just go with the name 'town hall' to make the council happy.

I knock on the door and it opens on its own accord. Wow. They did some renovating while I was away. It definitely deserves the title now. No walls now. Just a big empty space that could fit our whole population with some sort of platform in the middle and a table on it. Dad sits on one of the chairs around the table with six others. There should be eight members but the last member committed suicide a couple of months back and they haven't found a replacement yet.

"Jasper, welcome." One of the council members greet me with a smile on his face. "Please sit" He motions to the empty seat.

I look at them, confused but they just offer warm smiles, something that is not too commonly expressed by the inhabitants of this small settlement. I hesitantly sit down and look back at them expectantly. They all turn their attention to dad and he clears his throat.

"So... We've been thinking. We need a new member to fill the empty spot in the council.."He speaks up.

"So you want me to help you find someone?" I query.

Dad chuckles before speaking. "No. We want you as the last member on the board. You have proved yourself in so many ways. You're our best engineer, despite your age. You're a great strategist. You are great with people and that could come in handy someday." He sums up.

"Not to mention, he knows our tunnel network like the back of his hands." Another man speaks up. He looks younger than the others.

"So do you accept the offer?" A lady speaks this time. "It's not like you have a choice, though. We've already decided so you can't refuse."

"I- Don't I have a say in all this?"

"No!" They all chorus.

"At least give me some time to let it sink in." I plead.

"Sure, you have three days."

I just get up and stagger out of the hall without bothering to reply her. As soon as I step out of the hall, a loud boom sweeps across our encampment. I hear screams then another loud boom followed by more screams. My feet move on their own as I am now jumping over the hoods of cars. I thank God for giving me my agile prowess.

I make it across the town in record time after using all possible shortcuts. Soldiers are scrambling about with our state of the art 'New Age' weapons. Blasters are being fired at the various alien mechs that are trying to get past our defences as I run towards my very own private mech garage.

"Man the sentries." A soldier screams over the sounds of explosions before nearly having his head blasted off. I open the garage and let our new mech prototype come into view. This particular mech belongs to me so I spray painted it with my initials 'Jazz'. I climb into the cockpit and put on the wireless control gloves for the mech. I flick my wrist and it roars to life. I really need to handle that noise.

I guide it out of the garage and towards the frontlines firing random spider like aliens that are the size of a car split in half vertically. We call the spyders. I use the railgun on my left arm for a while before it overheats and I switch to the cannon on my right arm. I fire until the wave of aliens have been defeated. We have no casualties on our side, which is quite an achievement. I open the cockpit of my mech and climb out to celebrate with other men and women.

"Hey, Jasper! That was some awesome piloting.!" A few ladies compliment.

"Thanks!" I exclaim while running to meet the soldiers by the borders of our defence line.

As we laugh about how weak the enemy mechs were, a whirring sound comes from our far right. We all turn to face it and see a mech on its feet, pointing its cannon at me.

"Jasper Mcree. Human engineer. Mech chassis pilot. Exterminate threat." The alien screeches before shooting at me. The blast comes in contact with my torso and I am blown several meters away. I hear an audible crack and pain surges through my leg, torso and shoulder. I slam into a wall and my head hangs low.

I look up and see several soldiers destroy the mech with their blasters while nurses rush to my aid.

I feel my consciousness slip through my fingers like sand. There's nothing I can do to stop it. It is slowly blown away until there is nothing left and my mind is sucked into darkness