Chapter One (1)

It's a long chapter. Will post it in two parts.

The desk was lit in a sudden flash of lightning originating from the storm outside a house in southern California. Tyler Arbourne frowned at the paper on the desk that had been illuminated by the lightning. The term paper had taken him many sleepless nights to complete, and now he hated its guts. The time was ten in the evening and that was a time for sleeping after a long night of class work. Thankfully, it was only Friday, and the paper wasn't due until Monday, so his college professor would just have to wait until then. College was hard when it came to the work and studying, but thankfully living didn't have him in a struggle as it did with everyone else. 

The thunder clap finally sounded as Tyler approached the window of his bedroom. Peering outside there was a single car in the driveway, not two, not three. No, Tyler lived alone and he had for the better part of two years. His parents had disappeared sometime just before entering college, leaving him with an inheritance and his childhood home in his possession. The house was paid off, so there was no mortgage to pay, same with the car. College was on behalf of a scholarship he'd received. That scholarship gave him a full ride through college, one hundred percent paid for. The rest of his expenses were easily covered by the inheritance he'd been left.

While he had much in the way of money, Tyler did not live in a fancy home, there was no need. Instead, he shared his parents' taste and voted to stay in the home he grew up in. It was a simple two story home in the middle of a middle class suburb. It was quiet, and Tyler liked that.

The only real thing that disturbed his peace was the fact that he had no real idea what had actually happened to his parents. What he did remember was that neither of them were around much, but they had at least taken the time to ensure he had everything he needed and was staying in school and out of trouble.

One day they just stopped coming home. No explanation, no note, no nothing. A state official had come to the door and informed him of the inheritance and the scholarship, seemingly out of the blue. That was two years ago, and somehow things just fell into place on their own. 

With a sigh, Tyler climbed into bed and stared at the ceiling for a long moment before drifting slowly off to sleep.

The sun shone through the window almost with a vengeance. The brightness forced Tyler's eyes open. Either that, or it was the heavy pounding on his front door. With sleep still clogging his eyes, he looked over at the clock on his nightstand, which told him it was seven o'clock in the morning.

Who the hell comes to the door at seven in the morning? On a Saturday? Tyler thought sleepily. Getting out of bed was easy enough, but his legs were stiff and walking down the stairs was a bit of a challenge. Taking them slow, he advanced to the front door. Whoever was at the door pounded on it again four times.

"Yeah, yeah, gimme a minute!!" Tyler yelled as he opened the door. He barely had the door open a fraction before the stranger outside was forcing it the rest of the way open, pushing past Tyler and slamming it shut behind him. Abruptly he grabbed Tyler by the arm and hauled him upstairs and back to his room. He glared out the window as if looking to see if he'd been followed then lowered the hood on his sweater and turned to face Tyler.

"Isaac?" Tyler asked. "What the f**k is wrong with you? bursting in here like that?"

The stranger was, indeed, Tyler's friend Isaac, and he looked like he'd seen a ghost. Without a word he sat down on the bed and let out a relieved sigh.

"There were four guys out there following me. I was on my way by to see if you wanted to hang out for a while but those guys..." Isaac panted and hunched over a bit trying to catch his breath. "... Those guys started following me six blocks ago and they kept a steady distance. They looked sketchy, man, I don't like it."

Thud thud thud!

Isaac and Tyler both jumped out of their skin at the sound of yet another person slamming their fist into the front door. The two boys exchanged glances and then ran downstairs toward the door. If the person hadn't known they were home before, they'd made enough noise for them to know someone was home now. This time, instead of just opening the door, Tyler looked through the peephole.

On the porch stood four men dressed in all black analog camouflage. They were big, each stood at least six feet tall and looked as if they were very well acquainted with the local gym. At the sight of them Tyler's heart leapt into his throat and his stomach felt like it was going to turn itself inside out. He sank downward with his back against the door while mouthing something vulgar with a long syllable at Isaac. "It's those four guys who followed you here," he whispered frantically.

"What the hell do we do?" Isaac whispered back.

"I don't know!" Tyler replied.

Thud thud thud!

"F**k!" Tyler and Isaac yelled at the same time.

"Okay!" Tyler yelled. "What do you want?"

"We are looking for Tyler Arbourne and have reason to believe this is the location of his home. Are you Tyler Arbourne?" The voice was a baritone and the boys had no idea who it belonged to.

Tyler looked up at Isaac who shrugged in response, clearly unable to decide what to do. "Who wants to know?" Tyler asked.

"That is of no concern to you." The man replied.

The boys cast a confused glance at each other.

"What?" Isaac said.

The door suddenly lurched forward and snapped off its hinges, then proceeded to knock Tyler and fly past him onto the floor. The goons had kicked in the door and were coming in of their own accord. Isaac doubled back to help Tyler up and together they ran through the kitchen and out of the back door, but they were being trailed closely.

"What are we supposed to do now!?" Isaac yelled as they leaped over a fence and into the backyard of someone else's home.

"Just run until there's no one to run from!" Tyler said. When he looked back the four men chasing them were not far behind them, and they didn't seem to be tiring either.

The boys finally turned out of the suburban area and into the more populated main road, which at this time of the morning on a Saturday was pretty empty. On either side of them two of the pursuers broke out onto the main road as well and had them trapped. So the boys took the only route they could, they crossed the road, but on the other side more men dressed the same as their four pursuers appeared from the side streets and attempted to trap them on the road.

"I don't know who you pissed off Tyler, but it's officially killed us." Isaac said smartly as a car they'd never seen before screeched to a halt right next to them.

"Get in." Someone said from inside the car. The windows were tinted and only rolled down enough for them to be able to hear the female voice. Without asking any questions the two did as they were told and got in the car. Their rescuer began driving before they were even all the way in the vehicle and she was driving fast. She turned around and looked at them through icy blue eyes. She wore digital camouflage of mostly black with a golden tan color splashed into them. Her brown hair was kept in a tight tail and she was armed with a pistol at her thigh.

"You boys got lucky I was in the area. Those Walkers were about to pick you apart." The female said.

"Walkers? Pick apart? Who are you? What the hell is going on?" Isaac yelled as he panted heavily. It seemed as if he were about to have an anxiety attack. Tyler could only stare at Isaac with a raised eyebrow.

"Shadow Walkers, they're an underground criminal organization bent on rendering the world's militaries obsolete. With violence." The woman paused for a moment. "The name's Teresa Vale, I am the Commanding Officer of the Golden Legion. The Legion is a government special operations battalion whose sole purpose is to neutralize the Shadow Walker threat. They were targeting one of you, which one?" Teresa asked, looking at them intently through the rear view mirror.

"It was me," Tyler said calmly.

"What's your name?" Teresa asked, looking back at the road as she turned off the main street onto one of the back roads leading out of nowhere.

"Tyler Arbourne," he responded. Teresa gave no response, only locked him with a gaze once again through the rearview mirror. She stared for what seemed like forever before pulling off the road completely and into the dirt.

"If I may ask, Teresa, where are we going?" Isaac asked when he'd finally calmed down.

"Unfortunately, it's going to be a long time before you boys go home again. The Walkers have made an attempt on your life and they did so in the open, which means that you are not safe and I need to take you underground to ensure you don't run your mouth." Teresa replied without much emotion. A small smirk played at her lips.

The boys simply blinked at her for a minute. "So..." They both began.

Teresa rolled her eyes. "I'm taking you to Legion Headquarters and you'll be joining our little crusade." She said. In front of them the dirt seemed to lift up, creating an opening which Teresa pulled into revealing a very, very large underground parking structure. There were many cars here but Teresa pulled into one right next to a set of double doors.

"Alright, get out of my car," Teresa said, then ushered them out of the car and through the double doors. On the other side of those doors was a long hallway with a single elevator door at the end of it. The walls were devoid of any kind of decoration or tasteful color. It was the most unexciting hallway Tyler had ever seen. Ever.

The three of them piled into the elevator which, at first, didn't seem out of the ordinary. When Teresa pressed the button for the first floor, however, the elevator dropped and as soon as they cleared the cement of the parking structure they found themselves riding a clear elevator running down the near center of an enormous room. It was at least seven stories in depth and it seemed as if there were networks of hallways leading off in various different directions. There were seven stories of balconies and the ground floor sported a huge founded and very clean granite walls and floors. People walked about as if they spent every day of their lives here. At the very top of this area was an opening allowing sunlight to filter down into the structure, adding natural lighting to the artificial feeling. 

"This is insane..." Tyler said in shock.

"It's pretty impressive, isn't it?" Teresa replied with a smirk on her face. She turned to them as soon as they stepped off the elevator and another individual approached from behind her. "Alright, boys, this is Evelyn Brooks. She's the head of the medical staff here, she'll get you two started with your medical paperwork and tell you where to go from there." Teresa said. She turned to Evelyn and they looked at each other in silence for a moment, their expression forming a hidden conversation.

"Right. Evelyn. I leave them in your capable hands." Teresa said, and with that, she hurried off in the direction of the fountain.

Evelyn cleared her throat. "If you boys will follow me we will start with your nano treatment." Evelyn said casually and waved for them to follow her.

Isaac and Tyler exchanged glances yet again and followed obediently, both of them wondering exactly what a "nano treatment" was. Fortunately for them, that question was soon to be answered. Also fortunately for them, the procedure was quick and relatively painless.

Evelyn led the two of them past the fountain and out of the main hall into one of the winding hallways that led through the base. Near the entire time a smile lay on her face and periodically she would glance over her shoulder at the two. Tyler caught her gaze just as they stepped through two white double doors, which slip open upon their approach. Through these doors was a space with a very high ceiling, white walls, medical equipment, and small curtained off areas for operating . The space smelled as sterile as it looked and appeared to be used when servicing many many patience at once.

The trip continued toward the back of this gigantic room and through another set of double doors. They walked down yet another hallway lined with other doors. There was signage on the walls but Tyler and Isaac had no idea what they meant. At the end of this hallway they entered a room through a door on their right. This room was smaller, though still fairly large and had actually walls rather than curtains. The room contained a chair, which was attached to a large apparatus with a syringe at the end of a robotic arm. The base of the arm was larger and held a container filled with a strange purple liquid. It looked normal and harmless, but every once in a while Tyler could here it shifting, or pulsing. The needle attached to the syringe was frighteningly thick, but panicking would help anyone.

"Now then, we'll do this one at a time. Tyler, could have a seat for me please?" Evelyn asked sweetly, motioning to the chair.

Tyler gulped. "A-alright." He replied nervously. Slowly and gingerly he seated himself in the chair, which was surprisingly comfortable. "If you don't mind my asking, what is that stuff?" He asked timidly.

Evelyn smiled at his question and rested a hand on his shoulder as she strapped his arm into the apparatus on the arm of the chair.

"It's a liquid containing many tiny little microscopic nanobots designed to modify the genetic structure of your body." She informed him and moved to the wall on her right where a projector created a holographic image of a strand of human DNA. The hologram animated along with her explanation. 

"The nanobots will rearrange your genetic makeup in order to augment your natural abilities. These include your strength and stamina as far as physical abilities, though you'll still have to keep an exercise regimen. As far as mental abilities there are proven increases in the ability to process information, critical thinking, and information retention. The most important function they serve, however, is the halting of the body's aging. In other words, we become immortal through science! Of course this is a gradual process so you won't notice a thing until later."  Evelyn said as a smile grew on her face seeing the boys' eyes widen with amazement. 

"Immortality through science? That is the coolest thing I think I have ever heard!" Isaac exclaimed, causing Evelyn to let out a small chuckle. "How does it do that?"

"Well, the nanobots also boost both white and red blood cell replenishment rates and makes them even stronger. This effectively makes our bodies immune to any and all diseases. The lack of aging was an unexpected side-effect and we're still trying to figure out what exactly causes it, though we're almost positive it comes from the genetic reconstruction." Evelyn explained.

Tyler and Isaac were so wrapped up in Evelyn's explanation and presentation that neither noticed the needle depositing the liquid into Tyler's arm until Evelyn loosened the strap holding his arm and told him he was done.

"That's it? I didn't even feel it!" Tyler said with a raised eyebrow.

Evelyn chuckled and helped him out of the chair. "It's not that bad. Quite a few Legionnaires are bad when it comes to needles, but you did very well. Isaac, your turn!" She said cheerfully as Tyler jumped out of the chair.

While Tyler had been distracted, Isaac got to see the needle and as a result his face had gone very pale and he was trembling. Both Tyler and Evelyn took either arm and helped him into the seat attempting to distract him long enough to allow the machine to work unhindered. After a few false starts and a near-escape the needle went in along with the nanobots. Isaac was still trembling as he and Tyler followed Evelyn to her office in order to get their paperwork out of the way.  As it turned out, there was not a lot of paperwork involved in getting them into the system. Most of the actual processing did not require their presence. Once they were finished, they exited the medical center.

"Please tell me I don't have to do that ever again," Isaac said, looking pathetically at Tyler.

"We just got chased by armed gunmen not even two hours ago and you were terrified of a needle?" Tyler chided, walking down the hall toward the armor which was their next stop in their check-in process. Hearing the jab, Isaac straightened up, looked around as if he hadn't just been whimpering and briskly walked to catch up to his friend. This was either going to be the strangest day, or the worst day of their lives.