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Zack woke from his bed. Same crap, different day. He got out of his bed, stretched, and went by his daily process. He threw on a pair of jeans and a black shirt, slid his wallet into his left pocket, slid his pocket knife into his right pocket, quickly cracked his back, and then he went to his wardrobe. Inside, resting against the furthest side, was a dual set of smooth silver swords. Zack had found them in the garbage pile that belonged to the City, all the way out near the edge of town, and he immediately stole them. Was it stealing if no one else was going to use them? He shook the thought from his head, shut the wardrobe door, and turned to his bedroom door as he heard it open. A girl who looked like she was eight stepped inside, looking around curiously and then stopping when she saw Zack.
"Out," was all Zack said, but the girl did not move. "I wondered when I can have this room?" she asked innocently, and Zack smashed his fist against the wall he leaned against. The girl flinched and scrambled out of the room. Zack muttered something unpleasant under his breath and headed out of his bedroom, letting the door swing shut behind him. He locked it, put the key in the same pocket as his pocket knife, and then headed down the many stairs. He had lived in this place for over five years, and he still hated it. The Orphanage was always meant to be good. The staff were kind and the children less so, but he hated it all. He did not want to stay in the Orphanage. He wanted to get out of this place. But it was the only place he could get fresh food, clean water, a bed to sleep on, and electronic equipment. So he put up with it, still hating every second. He did not know anyone there after five years. He preferred to keep himself away from other children. It made things easier to deal with.
"Now, children, make sure to get yourself some breakfast before starting the day!" said the Matron cheerfully, and Zack stepped past her, rolling his eyes angrily. He headed straight toward the food bar, grabbed a bowl, poured milk and Milo into it, and then stepped away, making his way to the table at the end of the room and sitting down, alone, the way he liked it. He selected a spoon from a large spoon dish before him and began eating, chewing on the chocolate cereal he had been eating ever since first arriving in the Orphanage. He still remembered that painful night as though it happened yesterday. He had learned his mother died during her surgery, and then his father told him his displeasure in him. He had been taken from the hospital, in a regular car driven by an undercover police officer, directly to the Orphanage.
The Matron cheerfully greeted them inside, and when the police officer explained the situation, the Matron took full responsibility for Zack, but he had not really been listening. He just stared at the wall opposite him and wished he could curl up into a ball and die. "Would you like to see your new room?" The Matron asked sweetly as the officer quickly left, and Zack slowly nodded. His parents always taught him to be polite. The Matron led him toward a wooden staircase leading upward, then up another two flights before stopping outside a wooden door and using a key to unlock it. Zack had liked his bedroom. The walls were a perfect blue color, matching his hair, and there would a large bed in the corner of the room with red sheets, and two wardrobes, both empty. Now, as he sat in the Eating Room, chewing on his Milo moodily, he decided that he would go to the playground yet again.
He didn't so much like being there, but it was the only real place where he could be alone to his thoughts. So, the very second he finished the Milo and gulped down the remaining milk, he got to his feet and headed toward the large doors of the Orphanage. "Where do you think you're going, young man?" asked the Matron playfully as she waited by the door, and Zack shrugged, "I was going to head over to the park again." The Matron sighed and nodded, "I think the new girl said she was going there ten minutes ago," she mentioned, standing aside and letting Zack through. Great, Zack thought, bored, a new girl. The walk to the park only took two minutes, but Zack barely even recognized his own feet proceeding one after the other, until he came to a stop at the playground.
He could see the usual bullies at the playground, four of them, and their leader, a teenager in all black, were surrounding a figure. Zack ignored it until he heard the female sobs, and then he turned around again. They were bullying someone who he had not seen before. Possibly the new girl the Matron mentioned. "Here, let me help you to the ground," said the leader, and he raised his right leg, striking the girl in the chest and sending her sprawling onto the ground, crying. "Enough!" Zack said before he could stop himself, and the four swung around to face him, ugly leers on their faces. "Trying to be a hero, kid?" asked the leader mockingly, stepping away from the poor girl who got in their way, and Zack stepped forward. He did not even know why he was doing this, all he knew was that he had to stand up for what is right. "Leave her alone," Zack murmured, and the leader stepped right up to Zack's face, chuckling. "You should have backed down when you had the chance," he whispered, and then he delivered a powerful punch to Zack's gut. Zack doubled over, gasping for air, and the leader spun on the spot, twisting back around to face Zack and then kicking him across the side of the head.
Zack flipped through the air and landed on the grass, hard, barely able to breathe as stars burst before his eyes. "That's two down," said the leader, laughing loudly and nudging Zack with the tip of his shoe. Something red leaped forward and smashed into the leader, sending him onto the grass next to Zack, and a boy the same age as Zack rose. He had brown, pointed hair, dark eyes and he wore a bright red shirt, as though screaming through his appearance that he wanted to be noticed. "Leave them alone," said the boy, his fists half raised as he stared at each of the four teenagers. "Don't listen to him!" snarled the leader, raising his own fists menacingly, "Aight, boy, let's do it."
The leader jumped forward, but the boy was quicker, ducking under a kick and then delivering several strong, quick strikes to the leader's stomach and then shoving him back. A teenager ran forward, and the boy sidestepped past him, kneeing the teenager in the thigh, cracking his elbow onto the teenager's back, and then wiping his feet from out underneath him. The teenager groaned as he landed on the grass, and another ran forward, but all the newcomer had to do was jump upward and kick the other boy in the face, sending him spiraling backward. The third charged forward, striking several times and then kicking twice, but the boy either parried or blocked these hits. The teen snarled as he shoved the boy to the ground and towered over him, but the boy entangled his legs against the teen's and roughly rolled to the side, sending the enemy crashing to the ground.
The leader was on his feet again, holding a large branch that had fallen from a nearby tree, but the boy did not slow his approach toward the leader. "Get back, I have a weapon!" yelled the leader, looking afraid, and when the boy kept moving, he took a swing. The boy ducked under the branch and stood on the leader's wrist, making the leader shout out in pain before punching him once in the face, and the leader fell backward, barely able to speak from shock. "You alright?" asked the boy, helping the girl to her feet, and she nodded quickly. "Shoot," the boy murmured, seeing Zack still on the ground, but Zack didn't remember what happened next. Darkness was creeping into the edges of his vision as the boy and girl quickly made their way over to him, and by the time they rolled him onto his back, he was out cold.
***
Zack's eyes snapped open, and the immediate pain in his head washed over like a powerful wave. He groaned softly, waiting for the blurriness in his eyes to disappear before slowly, very slowly, sitting up. He looked around, realizing he was in his bedroom, but before he could do more than a sigh, his door opened, and a girl walked inside. Zack was about to tell her to go away, but then he stopped himself. He recognized her, but from where, he did not know. "Hi, I'm Lauren," she said, sounding nervous as she spoke. "I'm...Zack," murmured the boy uncertainly, and the girl stepped closer, sitting next to Zack on his bed. "I'm new here," she said hurriedly, but Zack could barely think straight. Something about her voice was almost heavenly, and he couldn't put his finger on what made it so. "Trae...he told me what happened to your parents," said Lauren, and Zack cocked his head to the side slightly.
"Trae?" he asked, confused, and Lauren laughed lightly, the sound sending goosebumps up Zack's skin. "The other boy who helped us against those bullies!" she exclaimed excitedly, and Zack made an 'ah' sound. It was all coming back to him now. The playground, the punch, the boy running in and saving him and the girl. "I'm sorry about what happened to them," Lauren continued, and Zack let a small smile appear on his face, "Thanks. I appreciate it." Lauren smiled too, and then the door opened slightly more, this time the boy in his same red shirt entered. "I'm Trae," he said immediately, and Zack slid off his bed, approaching the boy his age. "Thanks for what happened back at the park," Zack said, reaching his hand forward, and Trae did the same, both of them shaking hands. "If you guys want, you can come over to my room. I have some games we can play," Trae said, and Zack chuckled, nodding his head, "I would like that."
Lauren nodded too, and both she and Zack followed Trae out of the bedroom, across the hallway, and then through a wooden door. Inside, almost everything was red, and it shocked Zack to see so much red in one room. He guessed it was Trae's favorite color. "Where did you get all this?" Lauren asked, tapping several large bean bags with her foot as Trae sat beneath a large TV and turned on an old-school Xbox 360. "Mostly dumpster diving. The stuff people throw away is gold," Trae replied, inserting a disc into the Xbox, grabbing three controllers, and then setting himself down into a bean bag, motioning for Zack and Lauren to do the same. They sat down on a bean bag each, Zack sitting on a blue one and Lauren sitting on a green one. "Alright, let's play some Mario Cart," said Trae, and Zack nodded, excited. He had never played this game before, but he could tell that, from Trae and Lauren's faces, it must be a good one.
So, they played. "I'm going to win this!" Trae called aloud as he headed closer to the finish line ten minutes later, but Lauren cut across him. "Nah, I've already got this!" Unknown to them, Zack had just used a power-up to turn his racer into a rocket, and he shot right past Trae and Lauren, passing over the finish line with ease. "I'm the champion!" Zack said excitedly, standing up and punching a fist through the air as Lauren lay on her back, muttering, "So close!" and as Trae put his head on the ground saying "Goddamn it!" Zack couldn't wipe the grin off his face as he sat back down, feeling thrilled he had won something. The months of friendship stretched onward, and by Christmas, they were in Lauren's room, playing a game called Super Smash Bros on her new TV. She was clearly an expert.
Then, months later, they relocated to Zack's room, where they all played a different game. The months stretched into years, and on the few days when Lauren decided to do her own thing, Zack and Trae played together. Then, on the few days when Trae even decided to do his own thing, Zack and Lauren played together. It was on those days when they drew close. Lauren started covering Zack's eyes playfully while they played Xbox, and barley even weeks later, they sat on the ground, hugging one another while watching Titanic on the TV. "I hate to break up this honeymoon," Trae said, running into the room with fear in his eyes, "But we need to hide. Now!" Zack helped Lauren to her feet, and she asked, "What's wrong." Trae looked over his shoulder and then said, "The Zodiacs, they're here! We really need to hide, like, right now!"
Zack didn't know who these Zodiacs were, but he, Lauren, and Trae jumped into a wardrobe as the sound of running feet filled the room. Through the crack in between the doors of the wardrobe, they watched with bated breath as someone dressed in all black and a black mask covering the bottom half of their face entered the room. The figure looked to the left, and then to the right, spotting the wardrobe within the corner of the room. He edged forward, crouched slightly as he withdrew a pistol from his belt, stretched his hand up to the handles, and then pulled the door open, leveling his gun and firing. Nothing was inside, only a smoking bullet hole in the pale wood. "Looks like I was wrong," he murmured, and then red and blue flashes lit up the room. "Damn it, the police!" he hissed, and then he exited the room, the sound of feet fading.
He did not know he passed the wardrobe behind the open door, and he certainly did not know that, inside, hid the three children, Trae, Lauren, and Zack. Time ticked past like a bomb ready to explode, and then the wardrobe door swung wide open. They shrank as far back as they could, but only to find a man in a United States Alliance uniform staring back at them, equal shock and surprise on his face. "We thought you were a Zodiac!" Trae exclaimed, and the man sighed, crouching before the wardrobe and offering out his hand, "Let's get you three outside." So each of them took the man's hand as he helped them out the empty wardrobe, and he led them down the three flights of stairs and outside the Orphanage, where many other kids were sat and the staff were talking to police.
"Over here, you can join them in a few moments," said the man, leading the three over to the front of an Army Jeep and then turning around to face them. "You kids are very lucky to be alive," said the man, who was reaching behind himself and grabbing a jacket, sliding it over his uniform, and then continuing. "Especially you, Spectre, the Zodiac's really don't like your people." Zack nodded, and then he noticed the word on the left side of the jacket, in silver: Captain. "You know," said the Captain, "I don't think I've ever seen a Spectre hide from Zodiacs the way you did, little man. You're like a Phantom!" Zach smiled to himself, and the Captain sighed, looking over their heads at the staff talking to the police.
"You can run along back inside. We swept the whole building," said a soldier as he passed, and the Captain nodded. "You heard him, kids, you can head back to bed. It's almost ten at night." The three of them nodded, and the Captain turned away, heading toward other soldiers as the police kept searching the outside of the Orphanage. As they began the very short walk into the Orphanage, the three kept talking. "I can't believe the Zodiacs came here!" Lauren hissed, and Zack had the courage to ask, "What are Zodiacs?" Trae and Lauren exchanged quick glances, apparently seeming hesitant. "They are terrorists. The original Zodiacs were, like Spectres, made in laboratories to try and improve the basic genetic structure of humans. Scientists back then? They decided to make humans from scratch with rather different genetic codes.
"So, boom, Zodiacs were made. They were set out into the world, and for a few years, they got a lot of attention. But then Spectres were sent out, and everyone just took more liking to Spectres, because they were by far more friendly than a majority of Zodiacs. So, their leader, the General, decided to prove that they were superior. They killed many Spectres in terrorist attacks, and that is why Spectres are so few. The Zodiacs are trying to wipe them from existence completely." Zack was in shock. Was there really a war coming over this?