The beginning

Uhhhh...the beginning.

There it was again.  The sound of their accursed metal boots outside the door.  They were after me.  And whatever was in this box.  I didn’t know what it was or what was in it; all I knew was that it was important, but I couldn’t fend them off with only one bullet.  I was given them by a resistance fighter who was shot while trying to escape with it, and he said that I needed to take the box to someone named Chief.  Whatever was in it, it was important enough to risk death. 

I managed to find an abandoned storage shed that had the symbol for the resistance but there was no sign of anyone inside.  That’s when I heard the vehicles outside.  I quickly bolted the door and covered it with anything available.  I knew it wouldn’t stop them for long.  They felt nothing and were stronger than any man.  They were the Senate’s army.  Robotic machines called Wardens that were created by the Senate’s scientists.  After they were created the scientists expected to get paid.  But the Senate couldn’t allow anyone who knew the Wardens weak points to be alive to fight them later.  So they got rid of the loose ends.  The scientists were locked in their facility as it was filled with anthrax and left to die.

I began searching for some kind of escape tunnel that usually came with these temporary bases of theirs, but my fingers found only the bare wall.  It didn’t take long for the Wardens to start banging on the door.  I turned toward the door and took aim. At least I could take one of them with me.  I jumped as a click sounded behind me.  I turned around to see the escape tunnel I had been looking for with a man standing in the doorway.

“Follow me if you wish to live,” was all he said and all I needed to hear.  I jumped into the tunnel waited for him to lead the way.  He quickly closed the door and began running down the corridor.  I followed close behind.  We soon came to a dead end, or what I thought was a dead end, but my new friend merely pushed on the wall and it opened to the back entrance.  There a car was awaiting us.  We just closed the secret entrance when we heard the Wardens break through my barricade.

“Let’s go,” he said, “Now.”

I didn’t argue I just got in.  There were two other people in the vehicle, a woman driving and a huge guy in the passenger seat.  The other guy followed closely afterward and closed the door.

“Step on it,” he said to the driver, than he looked at me.  I just sat there staring at them.

“Sorry about the cliché statement earlier, it was the only I could think of at the moment,” he said, “The name’s Drey.”

“Grem,” I replied, “and it was pretty cliché.”

“Grim?” Drey said, I didn’t bother to correct him, “Well Grim, I’d like to have that box now.”

“No.” I replied simply.

“No,” he repeated, “Heh, I just saved your life and you don’t even know what that box is.”

I held the box closer to me.  “A man died giving this to me and I won’t give it to anyone but the one called Chief,” I told him.

His eyes narrowed as I said the name.  “How do you know that name?” he asked.

“That’s who the dead guy told me to take it to,” I replied.

He stared at me for a long time before saying, “Fine, if that’s the way you want it then we’ll take you to the Chief.”

“The Chief?” I asked, “I thought that was his name.”

“No one knows his true name so we just called him Chief,” Drey replied.