chapter 1-Ethan and Adeline

Chapter 1

Edinburgh, Scotland 2021 December 16th

Ethan trudged through the waste land that used to be his home, he recalled the high-rise flats and the many shops and houses too but all that was gone. Everything had been crushed and based to bits, there was no such thing as living it up anymore, a one star hotel was five stars to anyone who seeks refuge. Ever since the Pirramon had invaded everything was chaos, there were patrols in every country making sure everyone was kept in line, they came to conquer and that’s what they did and now they were ruling. Ethan was part of the army to get them of the planet; he figured he owed it to his dad after all that’s what the letter was written for. Ethan had read this letter so many times the words were stuck inside his mind and they stuck like super glue.

Ethan, I know I said I’d never leave and I figure I’m just a bad dad for doing so but I’m not doing it intentionally, I’m trying to save you but if my generation fails I guess it’s up to yours. The army demands fighters and I like many others am eligible to fight and I’m fighting to stop the catastrophe that is the Pirramon from completely ruling our planet. I know I don’t deserve your promises and for you to follow my word but I don’t want you fighting right now, if the war gets any worse you can join but please, just wait until you’re twenty at least then you’ve got more experience but please just wait. I love you very much Ethan, with much love and apology, you’re dad.

Ethan sighed and finally he reached Ocean Terminal shopping centre, the scariest place in Edinburgh. it wasn’t touched apart from a big chunk of the parking and when you went inside you knew why no one hid there, blood was splattered all over the walls and it soaked the floor, the atmosphere was so cold and wet that the blood never dried it just kept growing in amount because of the rain that always some how got in through the cracks. The bodies had been taken away at least, but the blood was just horrible and that wasn’t all, all sorts of creatures hid inside the cracks and the holes and you could never tell what was behind you, it could be anything from a snake to a giant assed rat. The General was waiting by the old Waterston’s book shop reading a slightly splattered book.
“Nice timing Redding, you got the C4’s and grenades?” said the general looking up from the book
“Of course, damn bastard tried to cheat me outta supplies though,”
“You show him whose boss?” he grinned
“Well he lost a thumb, he knows not to cross us again,” Ethan smirked
“Good job kid, you’d make your dad proud,”
Ethan nodded starkly at the mention of his dad then looked past the general for the first time to see his friend, Hartley, with horrible looking wounds on his arms. He gave the explosives to the general and ran up to him.
“Hey idiot, where’d you get those, you slip when cutting the bread again?” he grinned
“Shut-up Ethan, I recently just got new magazines for my gun; I’ll shoot you in the ankle,” Hartley warned
“You dare and I’ll feed you to Gunner,”
“That overfed mutt’s starting to annoy me,” Hartley said rolling his eyes
“Don’t be an ass, anyway where did you get those wounds they look pretty serious,”
“Pirramon shifted into a tiger and clawed me, little bastard,”
“You shoot it?”
“Obviously, I wasn’t gonna let it maul me!”
“You want help patching yourself up?”
“Yeah, probably be best”
Ethan took the first aid kit from his bag and got out the bottle of alcohol and cloth to fix the rather large gash that was loosely covered with an old rag. Ethan worked quickly at cleaning, stitching and bandaging his friend’s wounds. Hartley Banks was the biggest nutter Ethan knew, he could rig an explosive in twenty seconds and he had the most accurate aim in the world, he was also a really good friend, Ethan and Hartley had had each others backs since they’d first met in training, they complimented each other perfectly, Ethan was terrible at bombs and guns, he was good with knife work and accuracy up close and he always knew where he was going wherever he went. Hartley on the other hand literally couldn’t use a knife to save his life and he was also terrible with direction he was like a blindfolded donkey.
“You got any info from your trip?”
“Nothing much, the Froid regiment was wiped out a couple of days ago, Mitch is still being an ungrateful little shit and I just received new magazines from my uncle,”
Mitch was Hartley’s little brother, he complained a lot and he failed in all his missions, he refused to pull his weight and because of it he was putting strain on the whole army, he was recently put in detention for refusing to go to San Francisco. He was going to be in there for four months and that would be hell, detention was the worst thing that could happen to you as a soldier you were put in a big white cell block on your own often with added in punishments, most would rather be in the front line than detention. Ethan watched as the general hung up the call he was on and smiled when he realised he had another mission.
“Right boy’s this ones for both of you, it’s a pick up mission there’s a girl wandering round near Pirramon territory, we’re not sure if she is Pirramon or human, we need you two to pick her up question her and if she’s human find somewhere for her to go, Pirramon…well you know what to do,”
The two guys nodded and the general handed Hartley two of the grenades Ethan had picked up for the army.
“Good luck,” the general said saluting
Both of the guys saluted back and started running on their way to the Pirramon infested areas of Edinburgh, which was down by the borders of East Lothian and Edinburgh.

The girl was easy to spot she kept tripping up on stuff and swearing, this gave no information as to what species she was. The guys had a very simple and easy way to capture her, Hartley took out the syringe full of a fairly powerful drug he’d picked dup in Hong Kong, it was herbal and it had no side effects either which was good when you were knocking out actual people. They both sneaked up behind her and as they got closer they saw more of what she looked like, she had long blonde hair, slightly baby like features on her face and dark brown eyes. Her clothes were slightly worn but still this gave no clues, Pirramon were tricky and would do anything for a kill. Hartley went for the attack and it was successful, she dropped like a brick landing with a heavy thump and Ethan lifted her up in his arms and grunted when he was feeling the strain room carrying her and a one hundred and twenty pound bag on his back, but he was strongly built and he knew he’d be able to last until they got back to the car.

An hour and forty minutes later they’d reached the car and managed to get to their base in Glasgow without the girl waking up, Ethan made sure of it, he made Hartley sit in the back with his old shotgun, so if she woke he could knock her out with the barrel or shoot her if she got violent. As soon as they got to Longway House, Ethan picked her up again and dumped her in the room where they questioned all the Pirramon that got way to close for comfort. He had no remorse for the Pirramon they came to earth to conquer and he was born on earth to kick their asses. As soon as Ethan got out the questioning room, Gunner his overly hyper half wolf half husky all fat dog jumped up on him and he responded my kneeling on the floor and hugging his dog. Letting him lick his face and hands but it wasn’t that long after that they noticed the girl was waking up. Ethan fetched his slightly rusted knuckle duster and slotted them comfortably onto his fingers.
“Let’s do this,” he sighed
They both went through the open doorway, turning the light on before entering, and firmly closing the door. They watched as she mumbled and groaned something to unintelligible for anyone to understand and then she opened her eyes and looked up in fright at the two men standing threateningly above her. She tried to retreat into the wall then Ethan picked her up yanking on her arm and watched as she shivered.
“I’m gonna make this real easy, you let us take you’re blood and test if you’re actually human and if you’re not we kill you nice and fast, if you don’t let us take any we’ll assume you’re one of them and make it painful, which is it too be?” Ethan growled
She nodded, her voice was lost and all she could do was shake and nod, she hated guys from the army they were so annoying and very scary, you get the assholes and the nice one’s, she thought. Hartley got another syringe and started to take her blood and paused when she yelped and continued. When there was enough, Ethan let her go and was about to go before pausing.
“What’s your name?”
“Adeline,” she whispered