• MICRO-BULLET - PROLOGUE

    Who trains us, and who holds the key to set us free. It's you. You have all the weapons you need. Now fight! - Sweet Pea, Sucker Punch

    The micro-bullets had torn through his skin, ripped him apart and poisoned him. He lay on the ground, the drugs pumping through his body as his heart struggled to keep him alive. Everything around me was fast and loud but I was frozen and quiet – I had to get to James...

    I was running but I felt detached, like this body belonged to somebody else and fear wrapped its fist around my mind and my heart. Shards of debris tore at my skin as I ran, bombs went off around me but nothing would prevent me reaching my destination.

    I fell to my knees beside him, wiping the grime and blood from his face as I called out to him, my voice muted to my ears as James’s eyes fluttered open. I gasped, hopeful that he was strong enough and my thoughts escaped my head and rolled off my tongue as I screamed down at him.

    Bodies rushed past me as I cried out to him, shaking him violently before hands ripped at me and tried to pull me away. I pulled away from James, reaching inside my jacket before I span around, aiming my handgun up at my assailants – my back-up.

    They’re eyes widened in shock and they stepped away, their hands held up in surrender as they tried to calm me down but I couldn’t hear. My finger curled around the trigger and I fired at them, watching through squinting eyes as they dodged the bullets before running off, everything still in slow motion.

    Suddenly as another bomb went off and the heatwave struck me, every sense returned to its standard level of functioning and the adrenaline kicked in. I shoved my gun back in its holster before I ran after my friends.

    I saw James’s body one last time, looking to it sadly before I heard the mangled battle cries of the enemy behind me and with a painful sob I ran back towards the ruins that we had set up as our base. The war was spilling over the lines and into what had once been safe territory. I stopped again and looked around before I saw Dan, his messy hair and eye-patch catching my attention – why had I tried to shoot my best friend?

    “Come on, Bumble-Bee, let’s get outta here before the Filth gets us,” he suggested calmly. When he saw me glance back towards the battle field, he put his hand on my shoulder. “He would understand, Bee, he would but right now we’ve gotta get outta here or we’re dead too.”

    I nodded slowly before I grasped Dan’s hand and we ran off.