"Nami, mom says to get up! You're going to be late on your first day." A small voice yelled.
Nami awakens, not really caring. Her parents had moved once again, for her dad's job as Colonel in the Marine Corp, which means another new school. She understands he's responsible for keeping the country safe, but what benefit could she get from constantly moving schools, never being able to keep any of the friends she managed to make.
"Whatever. I'm coming," she responds to her younger brother. Chase hasn't quite felt the weight of having to constantly move, because friends for him come easy. All he has to do is give another child a juice box and he has a new friend. The only friends she's had as of late, is the friends on her Call of Duty game. They were mostly ten and twelve year olds, but at least they were people that weren't going anywhere.
Throwing on some khakis pants and a blue shirt, she then places her long locs into a ponytail. Seeing that she looks decent enough for a first day, she goes to brush her teeth and wash her face.
"Good morning honey, would you like anything to eat?" Nami is greeted by her mom. Her airfro sat boldly atop her head, a wide smile on her face. Since Nami's father spent his time working, Michelle decided staying home with her children would be good for them.
"No thank you" comes her daughter's response. "I'm not really hungry."
Her mother sighs, wondering what it would take to get her spunky little girl back. She guessed that not having to move every few months would help, but it couldn't be helped at the moment. Her husband had a job that provided a good life for them. The least she could do is support him the best way she could.
Before Michelle could respond, a knock on the door grabbed she and her daughter's attention.
"Were we expecting someone?" Nami asked. With a shake of her head, her mother went to answer the door, Nami following closely behind.
When they went to answer, the one thing they prayed not to happened had come to pass. Standing at their door was a Navy Chaplain and a Marine Colonel in full dress uniform.
"No no no no no," Michelle begins to chant hysterically.
"Mrs. Davis-" was all the commander could say, before a bright flash of light blinded everyone, followed by a loud boom that rocked the base.
Everyone was knocked to the ground, their heads swarming in pain. With a groan, Nami is the first back on her feet.
About five minutes after the disorienting blast, Nami arises to her feet.
"What was that?" She questions, ears ringing.
However, she doesn't receive an answer. In fact, something worse happens. When she looks around, her mother, her younger brother, and the military men at her door, seem to have no capability to move. Blood dropped from their ears and nose, and their eyes were as lifeless as could be.
"Mom? Chase?!" She screamed.
Now hyperventilating, Nami tried, with no success, to wake someone. It seemed she was not alone. As she walked out of her home she realized that throughout the neighborhood, a handful of teens walked out of their homes, looking as panicked as she felt.
Chaos erupted twenty minutes thereafter, government issued vehicles swarming the neighborhood.
"This is not a drill! I repeat this is not a drill! All survivors come to us right now!"
One of the military men began to speak into a megaphone.
"Do not go" Nami heard a foreign voice in her head. "You must not trust them." It told her more forcefully.
Terror gripped her heart. Why was this happening? What was this voice?
She didn't have an answer to any of those questions, but a feeling in her gut told her to trust it, and so she bolted in the opposite direction. There was no way she was going with the behemoths that showed up, shouting aggressively for her to come with them.
"She's making a run for it!" One of the men from the military van yelled. He aimed a rifle at Nami, poised to shoot. She thanked the voice in her head for warning her, but wondered how she would get out of this mess.
"Stop!" One of the kids In the neighborhood yelled, and the sharpshooter did. In fact, all of the men did. They were frozen in place.
Everyone looked at the men, and then back to the young kid that had yelled for them to stop. Not bothering to find out why the men had suddenly stopped threatening her, Nami continued to run away, a host of young children in the neighborhood following suit. They didn't know where they were going, or what was going on, but they weren't to keen on finding out from the men with guns.
"Where are we going?" One child asked, tears in his eyes. He was only thirteen, and watched as his mom fell unconscious outside the house.
"Anywhere that's not here," Nami commented, not bothering to stop. There was no immediate danger, as long as those men stayed frozen.
"New skill unlocked, escape. Skill level three" The voice in Nami's head spoke.
Ignoring the voice, she continued forward, everyone following close behind.
"I'm tired," another one of the children speaks up.
Looking around and assessing their location, Nami decides that it should be okay to stop for a moment.
"Danger not detected. New skill unlocked Detect, skill level 1."
"What was that all about" Daniel asked. He was the only other teen in the neighborhood that Nami talked to, as he and his mother had greeted her family when they first moved in.
"No idea, but something weird is definitely going on." Nami responds. "Hey kid, how did you make those guys stop moving?"
The blonde looked up from his hands, and up at Nami. To say he was in shock would have been an understatement.
"I don't know. A-a voice told me to tell them to stop, that I shouldn't let you get hurt."
"A voice, what exactly did it say?!" Nami nearly screamed at him.
"I-it said 'tell t-them t-to stop, s-she must n-not be h-hurt'. S-so t-told t-them to stop, a-and t-they did."
Nami paused before responding, a strange pit in her stomach.
"We have to move, now!"